Caution needed when using dietary supplements
 

Consumer Reports, the periodical from Consumers Union, has an article (August 1, 2020) warning about the risks of using dietary supplements. They are poorly monitored by the FDA and can be dangerous.

The title of the article is "FDA's Tattered Safety Net for Dietary Supplements":

FDA's Tattered Safety Net for Dietary Supplements - Consumer Reports

P.S. I'm not opposed to supplements. In fact, I take a couple of them (vitamin D, Centrum Silver, Viactiv calcium). I do think that we need to be very careful about what supplements we take.

Amazing how a group here forever worries about the supplements some of us take...and for me and many of my friends years of supplementing has kept us much healthier.

Yet, here none of you ever bring up the deaths from pharma drugs every year.

Medical System Kills: FDA-Approved Drugs Kill over 1��,��� Annually

Amazing to put it mildly.

And I neglected to add, that there are MANY on this group who use supplements for their health issues and some with their pharma drugs and whatever they use, it works for them. These members have not been heard from for some time now but I wish they would post now and then......

And as I've said to you Agate, if only my sister had used some or more supplements, maybe we'd still be talking on the phone today.

I noticed there was no medications/ supplement interaction checkers in the sticky thread - so I added a link with many of those..

Caution & awareness is good, healthy foods & activity is good.

If anyone chooses to use vitamins & supplements, do your best to make sure you are getting safe & reliable products.
Supplement Ratings and Reviews - Labdoor

vitamins & supplements ratings-
vitamins & supplements ratings - Google Search

Maybe this info will open minds.

Vitamin Deaths: Where Are the Bodies?

I for one have been concerned for years about the deaths and other adverse events due to pharma drugs. I'm constantly calling attention to the cases of PML (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) resulting from some of the highly promoted MS disease-modifying drug treatments, for instance.

Caroline, you and I are on the same page, I think. We both believe that people should be very cautious about what we decide to take in.

That goes for what our eyeballs take in as well though. The Webpage you have linked to in your post looks very up-to-date and well maintained but if you poke around in it just a bit, you find that the person in charge of it has no listed qualifications as an authority on health matters. The only information given is that he is "a longtime researcher and writer whose articles on the subject of natural health have been at the core of Natural Society’s social reachability and continued readership."

There is no information at all about the author of the article you linked to. Usually you can find out at least what affiliations an author has.

I'm not saying that everyone who has any reliable knowledge about health should have an institutional connection. Far from it. But there should be some evidence of experience to back up that person's claim to be speaking authoritatively.

The Website you've linked to does have "STORE" prominently showing, at the top right in large type. Clicking on "Store" leads you to an array of products you can buy.

I don't read thru the webpages word by word and so what if the website "sells" Vit C or D or Zinc, and it could be a website of Linus Pauling, wonder if any of his info sites sold Vit C?

I could write my own pages on the years of supplementing and what positive benefits I've achieved....I am no scientist, just one of my body. We may be on the same pages somewhat and I guess it's my turn to post on Medications and Treatments on the 100,000's deaths every year from pharma drugs. As I said if only my sister heard me more instead of the sceitnists MD's and all their MS drugs...her body was overloaded....and yes I'm angry.

And know the FDA and their cohorts are like hawks ready to put some supplement companies out of business. Supplement companies know their business and know the hawk eyes on them.

I do believe that there are some very reputable supplement companies who make consistently good quality products - and not necessarily only most expensive. However I am very cautious, and do carefully check ingredients, sourcing, reviews etc when it's a company I am not familiar with.

Our family has had tremendous benefit from a variety of supplements over many years,

An alternative is to seek the advice of what is called an Accredited Practicing Dietitian here. Some of them work in hospitals, designing diets which meet the needs of the patients in collaboration with their clinical colleagues.

Others work in private practice.

I have taught APDs in their pre-clinical years.

Can't agree more, and my family too all take supplements me the longest over 30 yrs..and one issue I had yrs ago was with St. John's Wort so got off it right away, it did raise blood pressure...and knew what the problem was.

Before trying a new supplement, I always check on potential interactions with other supps, or with RX or OTC meds, and also if it may be contraindicated for any issues.

One of the things I was taught during my studies was that just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it is harmless - and similarly, just because something is prescribed, doesn't mean it will not cause problems too.
We need to keep ourselves well informed and make wise decisions.

I have a question on this. From what I've seen, the dietician will use the determined information on a fruit or vegetable etc to determine how much vitamins or minerals are in the food. Then use this to determine an adequate intake based on a meal plan. While I do believe the science to determine information is accurate, I also believe, that it can vary from specimen to specimen. It can also vary from the same farm year over year. For example, the amount of minerals in an avocado, isn't it possible and probable that over time as the tree makes avocado's that are picked that the soil gets depleted of those minerals? Unless the farmer practices incredibly good farming techniques, it is likely that the quantity of minerals etc can diminish over time and vary from one tree to another. So if the initial information is not accurate, how can we get a good meal plan?

Good thought process... Many soils are depleted, or chemical fertilizers and various sprays are used.. plus the harvesting , storage, practices.. before it gets to a store.. .
I try to read labels. See where things come from or produced..
Same for supplemts and vitamins.. And check brand ratings , purity etc..