Are You Supplement-Safe?

“When choosing a dietary supplement, remember the first rule for evaluating any health claim: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” [Quotation source]

In the past, it was the responsibility of the supplement manufacturers to prove to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that their products were safe and effective. Now, however, this obligation has been reversed and it is up to the FDA to, instead, prove that a supplement is harmful or falsely advertised. The flaw of this method is that it is highly probable for a product to cause harm before the FDA can take action (declaring a supplement dangerous and subsequently proving this claim in court), due to the vast array of new supplements introduced to the market and the limited resources of the FDA.

According to an Iowa State University Extension entitled Food and Nutrition, a mere three members of the entire FDA personnel are currently appointed to evaluate unsafe or undesirable outcomes in the $12 billion dietary supplement industry. The website remarks that “it would be pretty hard for only three FDA staff members to monitor the supplement industry when the Harris Poll in 2002 reported that seven out of ten U.S. adults take supplements.”

In addition, the website defines health fraud as “a business that sells false hope [and] preys on people who are victims of diseases that have no medical cures, such as HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer.” This, in most part, explains the reasoning behind the enormous prosperity of the dietary supplement ‘business’: it guarantees quick and easy solutions to better health or personal appearance.

In order to help prevent such deception, the website also lists some of the typical phrases and marketing strategies used to mislead consumers, such as “miraculous cure,” “ancient remedy,” or “secret ingredient,” impressive-sounding terminology to disguise a lack of scientific proof, or undocumented case histories claiming fantastic results.