Beware of Bogus Dietary Supplements
alternative medicine,
complimentary alternative medicine,
critical thinking,
dietary supplements,
food,
health,
nutrition,
skepticism
Dietary supplements have been making headlines lately,
and not in a good way. The issue of the healthfulness and safety of many
commercial brand dietary supplements continues to crop up as study after study
reveals disturbing truths about their contents. Recently the Harvard Health
Blog published an article that fleshed out some of the
latest discoveries in the ingredient lists of some dietary supplements.
The
article explained how some popular “dietary supplements” for erectile
dysfunction contain chemicals that can cause hazardously low blood pressure
when combined with certain heart medications. Some of the ingredients in these
dietary supplements don’t even exist outside the world of pharmaceuticals. This
is but one example of dietary supplements found to be potentially unsafe long
after it’s been produced and marketed as anything but.
How
can companies get away with producing these sketchy products?
The article also explains how companies can easily design
and produce dietary supplements with virtually little or no initial oversight
from the FDA. Unlike with conventional drugs and medicines, dietary supplements
don’t go through a long and arduous vetting process to prove that they’re
healthful. As long as the dietary supplements contain “established
ingredients,” they can be sold without worry. If the ingredients haven’t been
“established,” the company producing the dietary supplement need only propose
how the ingredients should target a
person’s health. In other words, a dietary supplement could be approved as
potentially healthy long before hazardous side effects ever surface.
But not all dietary supplements are snake oil by another
name. Some products out there legitimately exist to improve the health of their
targeted customers, and their “all natural” list of ingredients is just that:
all natural. But how do you distinguish the snake oil from the real deal? I
have two pointers to offer in the way of advice.
1) Be
wary of quick solutions to long-term health problems
As a rule, I question the reliability of a pill marketed
as a cure-all for serious health problems. For instance, I’m highly suspicious
of dietary supplements that advertise as a fast an easy solution to obesity.
This is partly because the particulars involved with weight loss are so complex
and so specific to every individual that I have a hard time believing that one
pill will work for everyone. Normally weight loss or “diet” pills are nothing
more than hunger suppressants with negative side effects. But these
questionable dietary supplements aren’t limited to diet pills; “natural” sleep
aids, extracts that treat depression, and herbal remedies for anxiety are also
to be met with caution, simply because they claim to treat such serious
conditions.
2) Watch out for aggressive
ad campaigns
It might seem counterintuitive, but products with the
most confidant and aggressive advertising tends to arouse the most suspicion in
me. The results, not the packaging, should speak for the efficacy of a dietary
supplement. If I only know about a dietary supplement because I see billboards
featuring their slogan all over the city, I’ll steer clear of it. The same
applies if I only know a product because of a catchy radio jingle. In the
pseudo medicinal realm of dietary supplements, smart advertising does not make
for a smart product.
How
do you identify bogus dietary
supplements? Leave your comment below.
This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at accredited online colleges about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.
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