Safety and efficacy of medical supplements is a big issue – which WebMD has shone a light on with a good article linked here.
I talk about the craziness of how supplements are not regulated by the FDA like medicines, but are considered more like foods in my book – and note how our local paper ran a report of an FDA inspections that found violations in half of the manufacturing facilities they looked at.
They found such charming extras as rodent urine and rat turds in the supplements.
They also found a liquid multivitamin supplement containing 40,800 micrograms instead of the listed 200 micrograms of selenium per dose, which caused the hair of those who took it to fall out.
To check out a specific supplement, the National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health site has a limited list of adverse effects of some natural treatments, or just search for the name of the substance you're interested in.
Reduce your risk of getting poor supplement quality by buying products blessed by the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, which bear the USP seal on the packaging. This body verifies supplement identity, quality, purity, and strength.
