Dietary Supplements: What is Safe, What is Risky?

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1. Organo-natural Based Supplement Medicine/Prescription Drugs Guide
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The use of dietary supplements has skyrocketed in recent years. Increasingly, people are taking herbs and other “natural” substances in addition to vitamins and minerals. Nutritional supplements are not as strictly regulated by the government as drugs, however, and to use them wisely consumers should know about the risks and benefits associated with supplements. A special feature in the October 1996 installment of the Encarta Yearbook explored this issue.

Dietary Supplements: They are billed as “brain power,” immune power,” weight-loss wonders, broccoli in a bottle, muscle-expanding elixirs, and much more. They can be plucked from the shelves of health food stores, drug stores, and supermarkets. They are dietary supplements—a category that used to include just vitamins and minerals but now also encompasses herbs, amino acids, fish oils, hormones, and many other substances.


Not only is the array of supplements dazzling, but also their popularity is soaring. In 1995 sales of vitamins and minerals alone in the United States reached $4.1 billion, up nearly 20 percent over the previous year, according to Euro monitor International, a market research firm. The more exotic substances—herbs such as ginkgo and Echinacea and hormones such as melatonin—have drawn an even more impressive crowd. In 1995 Americans spent $2.7 billion on herbal remedies. That represents a 65 percent increase from 1993, reports Euromonitor.

Why all the hoopla? Americans have always been interested in healthful products, but their eagerness to try vitamins and natural remedies has gotten a lift lately. Part of the reason is rising medical costs, which encourages both prevention and self-care. But in addition, science has lent credence to a handful of the claims made for dietary supplements. Some studies have suggested, for example, that vitamins may help prevent serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.

All this has fed a media frenzy regarding the latest research into natural remedies. At the same time, supplements of all kinds have moved from niche retailers such as health food stores into drugstores and supermarkets, making them more widely available and also more appealing to the mainstream public. And the claims are appealing indeed—to everybody from athletes to people with chronic diseases—and they go far beyond what science has shown. Here are some of them:

*For vegetable haters, “Broccoli Extract” and “Vital Veggies” promise the natural disease-fighting potential of produce—without, of course, the taste.
*The mineral chromium picolinate allegedly promotes weight loss, prevents or reverses diabetes, reduces cholesterol, and builds muscle.
*Garlic is supposed to lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure, boost a weakened immune system, unstuff sinuses, and ward off some cancers.
*Dong quai, a root from China, will supposedly relieve menstrual cramping and other “female” ailments.
*Amino acid mixtures suggest a power to produce muscle-bound individuals without barbells or sweat.


While a few of the claims have scientific backing, most do not. And many supplements have unmentioned, but documented, dangers. Even ordinary vitamins such as vitamin A and niacin (a B vitamin) can produce gruesome ailments from birth defects to liver damage at excessive doses. And the recent spate of illnesses and deaths from the stimulant ephedrine, sold in druglike potions under such brand names as Herbal Ecstasy and Ultimate Xphoria, underscores the potential risks from taking herbs that have not been studied for possible side effects.


There are no safeguards or guarantees. Government regulatory agencies do not sanction these pills nor do they evaluate most of what is written on or inside their bottles. Unlike over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin, dietary supplements are only very loosely regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, supplement manufacturers have more leeway than food producers and can legally print all manner of unsupported claims on their labels.


Many nutrition scientists are skeptical of these claims, even those supported by sound scientific reasoning and a smattering of studies. Why? Only rarely does a consistent body of research, including large studies in humans, buttress a health claim for a vitamin, mineral, or herb. For instance, chemical analysis shows that dong quai contains compounds known to expand blood vessels (which may help relieve cramps), but no study of its effect on humans supports this claim. The evidence for the benefits of chromium picolinate and garlic is conflicting, and the claims made for vegetable pills and amino acids are little more than wishful thinking, top scientists say.


Some people seem to be helped by supplements that prove ineffective in scientific studies. That is often because of something called the “placebo effect,” in which a substance works only because a person believes it works. The placebo effect is quite real, and because of it, all reliable studies include a control group, a group of people who get dummy pills or sugar syrups instead of the real thing. By comparing the control group to subjects who get the substance under study, scientists can see whether the supplement has a genuine biological effect or is no better than a placebo.

Organo-natural Based Supplement Medicine/Prescription Drugs Guide

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Dr Irem Bright Chimezie