We went shopping to see what warnings, if any, we would find on labels from 14 varieties of supplements. Likely effective treatment for reducing symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee. Many supplements can also interact in dangerous ways with prescription drugs. Supplements Can Make You Sick. Likely effective for improving symptoms of some forms of depression. Dangers listed are not meant to be all-inclusive. Multivitamins. So there are hundreds of supplements to avoid, including many that are useless, mislabeled, contaminated, or adulterated with pharmaceuticals. Likely unsafe. In the meantime, here are steps you can take to make sure the supplements you use are safe and beneficial. “When we see a product that makes claims above and beyond what a dietary supplement might do—above supporting health—and within a time frame of a few minutes, it tips us off that we might have a spiked product.”. To stay safe, get antioxidants from food, not a pill bottle. You can also learn about interactions in our free “Guide: 100+ Commonly Used Supplements” (funded by a grant from the Airborne Cy Pres Fund). Possibly unsafe. The table below shows the maximum daily intake of key nutrients that the Institute of Medicine has determined is unlikely to pose a risk of adverse health effects. I subscribe to Consumer Reports on-line, and ironically I just saw their cover story in my email edition, “10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins & Supplements.” I didn’t bother to read it because it’s ridiculous, and from past editions of Beware of these categories. While it’s known that St. John’s wort can reduce the effectiveness of certain prescription drugs, including birth-control pills and blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin), only two of the 17 samples of it we purchased warned explicitly about those hazards. The FDA has yet to inspect a single factory there. The investigators warned that the implications of their findings were worrisome given that more than half of people 60 or older take supplements containing vitamin E. Moreover, 23 percent of them take at least 400 IU per day despite a recommended daily dietary allowance of only 22 IU for adult men. People who might need a multivitamin include women who are pregnant, breast-feeding, or trying to conceive; dieters consuming fewer than 1,200 calories a day or cutting out an entire food group (carbs, for example); and those with medical conditions that affect digestion and food absorption. And there’s more bad news, from a study of 35,000 men reported in the Oct. 12, 2011, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association: Daily vitamin E supplementation may increase the risk of prostate cancer among healthy men. Robert Houser. But when Consumer Reports sent a Spanish-speaking reporter on a shopping trip to several New York-area botánicas in 2011, he came away with incomplete information and bags of mystery herbs. Consumer Reports published a list of 15 supplements to avoid. The list of interactions and side effects is not all-inclusive. Vitamin pills can be synthetically, and legally, produced in a lab. Possibly unsafe. But specific warnings were rarer. Consumer Reports also has concerns about its safety. The latest blow against calcium supplements was a report by German and Swiss researchers who followed almost 24,000 adults for an average of 11 years. The FDA advised manufacturers to remove comfrey products from the market in July 2001. And close to 12 percent have been linked to safety concerns or problems with product quality. Antioxidants. More typically, Blumin says, pills irritate the esophagus, causing a muscle spasm, or get physically stuck or slowed. Healers offered a variety of instructions and herbs, but none volunteered relevant facts about possible side effects or the risky interactions that can occur when an herb is taken with a medication. If you suspect you’re having a bad reaction to a supplement, tell your doctor. Consumer Reports has concerns about the safety of Kratom supplements. But even with the new law, consumers can't easily find out which products are involved because the FDA doesn't routinely make those reports available to the public. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), it is difficult for the FDA to put together strong enough evidence to order products off the market. And if you end up with a serious side effect, ask your doctor or pharmacist to report it to the FDA, or do it yourself at www.fda.gov/medwatch or by calling 800-332-1088. Build muscles by weight training. In this case, it’s based upon an article in Consumer Reports, “15 Supplement Ingredients to Always Avoid.”.” Meticore is a healthy metabolism support formula known as a recognizable leader for being a natural fat burning weight loss supplement that specifically targets and successfully triggers the spark of real metabolic rate regeneration. Consumer Reports: Dangers of kratom supplements. Pain, infections, glaucoma, liver problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, cancer. Fungal and other infections, Lyme disease, rosacea, psoriasis, food poisoning, chronic fatigue syndrome, HIV/AIDS. A vitamin E overdose may increase a person's risk of bleeding, especially for those taking blood-thinning medication, according to Consumer Reports. But those that do are still useful because they can raise red flags about a developing problem. Dangers of Dietary Supplements: A Closer Look Researchers from Consumer Reports worked with experts from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive … Our investigation left us concerned about product quality and identity at the shops. Nausea, heartburn, diarrhea, constipation, headache. Most of the products we bought had warning labels, but not all did. "I woke up in the morning and the doctor was sitting by my bedside," Gunter said. Vitamins and supplements could do more harm than good in some cases, according to a new report in Consumer Reports. But the FDA says kratom isn’t just a plant — it’s an opioid. It's against the law for companies to claim that any supplement can prevent, treat, or cure any disease except some nutrient-deficiency conditions. that Consumer Reports is willing to take on the supplement industry and shine the light on the dangers of supplement products. Insomnia, vivid dreams, anxiety, dizziness, headache, skin rash, and tingling. But they might be getting fooled. In 2005, eager to make the most of his baseball scholarship at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., Jareem Gunter started taking a supplement he found online that promised to improve his athletic performance and claimed to be "legal," he recalls. And FDA rules covering manufacturing quality don't apply to the companies that supply herbs, vitamins, and other raw ingredients. The Consumer Reports article points out that contamination of supposedly natural supplements with toxins, such as heavy metals, and with prescription drugs, is a serious danger due to the exemption of the supplement industry from the quality control regulations the FDA applies to pharmaceutical companies and other providers of medicines and healthcare products. The supplement turned out to contain a synthetic steroid, which cost Gunter his scholarship, he claimed in a lawsuit that was settled before the trial date, according to public court documents. Possibly effective for preventing recurrent urinary-tract infections. In one case, a salesperson told an investigator that a garlic supplement could be taken in lieu of high blood pressure medicine. That’s a medical emergency that requires immediate intervention, such as the Heimlich maneuver. It said the ingredient lacked safety evidence and warned that synthetically produced DMAA was not a dietary ingredient at all. Dietary supplements taken by millions of Americans can cause serious health problems and even death. The agency has "the authority to immediately remove them from the market, and we would follow the FDA recommendation," said a spokeswoman for the Vitamin Shoppe chain. Possible dangers linked with its ephedrine alkaloids banned by the FDA in 2004. Save thousands off MSRP with upfront dealer pricing information and a transparent car buying experience. They identified ten hazards and warned consumers: “Don’t assume they’re safe because they’re ‘all natural.’” Dietary supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other supplements… Possibly effective for preventing diarrhea while taking antibiotics. But much more needs to be done to keep consumers safe. SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Millions of Americans have reportedly tried a supplement called kratom to treat a number of problems from chronic pain to opioid withdrawal. For instance, last year the agency noted seven reports of serious health problems regarding consumers who took Soladek vitamin solution, marketed by Indo Pharma of the Dominican Republic. Photo: As a result, the supplement marketplace is not as safe as it should be. In the article, entitled, ‘Vitamins & Supplements, 10 dangers that may surprise you’ , Consumer Reports warns shoppers about overdosing - and choking - on vitamins, supplements … Avoid any product that is claimed to contain "megadoses.". Current laws make that so difficult for the FDA that to date it has banned only one ingredient, ephedrine alkaloids. But there’s a big difference between the two, notes Pieter Cohen, M.D., an internist at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts with a special interest in supplements. Might reduce the effectiveness of some medications, such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), other heart medications, birth-control pills, HIV/AIDS drugs. “Other companies say, you know what, I’m not going to warn for possible things that I don’t believe are a serious concern to my consumers.”. Usual doses can cause high blood pressure, rapid heart rate; high doses can cause severe low blood pressure, heart problems, death. It can cause skin to become extra-sensitive to the sun. "It just tore me up," he said. Likely unsafe. In other words, botanicals and their extracts must come from actual living plants, not a test tube. She’d already be coming close to the upper tolerable daily calcium limit of 2,000 milligrams. Likely effective for lowering cholesterol in people with mild to moderately high cholesterol. Consumer Reports found that an estimated 23,000 people end up in the emergency room after taking supplements every year. Can decrease the effectiveness of a wide range of drugs, including birth-control pills, heart medications, HIV/AIDS drugs, and warfarin. Last updated: October 30, 2019 In 2016, with the help of an expert panel of independent doctors and dietary supplement researchers, Consumer … Calcium. Deciding When It's Time to Upgrade Your Child's Car Seat, vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other nutritional supplements. Please call Member Services at 1-800-333-0663 Source: Institute of Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. “It doesn’t make sense to me to take huge doses of vitamins and minerals unless there’s a diagnosed problem, because there is so little evidence that they do good and sometimes a possibility that they might do harm,” says Marion Nestle, M.P.H., Ph.D., a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. We then shopped for them online and in stores near our Yonkers, N.Y., headquarters and easily found all of them for sale in June 2010. We found products with those ingredients readily available in stores and online. We worked with the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, an independent research group that evaluates the safety and effectiveness of nutritional supplements, to develop this list. You can also report your problem to the FDA at 800-332-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. “Some companies go with an overabundance of caution, and that’s certainly their right to do that,” says Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a leading industry trade group. And some supplements might be fine on their own but interact with certain prescription drugs. Indeed, 14 percent of people 55 and older use them, according to a recent survey from the … Andy Potts. Symptoms included signs of heart, kidney, or liver problems, aches, allergic reactions, fatigue A version of this article appeared in the September 2012 issue of Consumer Reports magazine with the headline "Vitamins & Supplements.". Consider the path to market of Go Away Gray, a product that is claimed to "help stop your hair from turning gray." Symptoms included signs of heart, kidney, or liver problems, aches, allergic reactions, fatigue, nausea, pains, and vomiting. Nasal congestion, allergies, asthma, weight loss, bronchitis. A law that took effect in December 2007 closed that loophole, and in 2008 and 2009 the FDA said it received 1,359 reports of serious adverse effects from manufacturers and 602 from consumers and health professionals. When the FDA learned that tested samples contained vitamins A and D at concentrations many times the recommended daily allowances, it issued a consumer warning. Amazingly, for the first 13 years after the enactment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), supplement makers didn't have to inform the FDA if they received reports of serious adverse events, an obligation that's required for prescription drugs. "We're talking about very serious risks and injuries that can happen to people—and often young people—who do not understand that they're taking prescription drugs and steroids," Joshua M. 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