Consumer Reports’ List Of Unsafe Diet Supplements

This is yet another example of the one-sided preferential treatment given to special interest groups (read: Big Pharma). I suppose if there were mass fortunes to be made from these natural ingredients, television advertising could paint a pretty picture and place a warning in small print and Middle America wouldn't care. But now, as a TCM herbalist, I will have patients telling me that they won't take bitter orange because they read that it causes stroke. (For the record, those indications are not typical indications in a TCM clinic).

I seriously wonder what dosages were used for these herbs to determine they were “likely unsafe.” I am slightly offended of the inclusion of the Chinese names of the herbs without qualification. Many of these herbs are highly effective medicines when administered properly and with care. TCM herbalists are well aware of the problems with herbs coming from China and this article is, in fact, several years late in reporting the news and tells nothing of the efforts that many companies make to ensure delivery of untainted products.

I am not opposed to regulation of herbal medicine, and I do not condone all marketing practices of “supplements.” Aconite, for instance, in it's raw form is definitely toxic, but it is relatively safe in the prepared forms that are prescribed in Chinese Medicine (relative, say, to Accutane or a score of other FDA-approved pharmaceuticals). And my brief search online show aconite primarily being sold in homeopathic form, hardly enough of a does to be considered toxic.

The message clearly seems to state “stay away from natural health remedies,” implying that it is safe to trust the pharmaceuticals that FDA approves (never mind their track record).

Consumer Reports is a non-profit. They do not even accept advertising. Their credibility depends on the fact that they cannot be influenced by commercial interests, “big pharma” or otherwise.

Many vitamins and supplements are, in fact, sold by the pharmaceutical companies themselves under subsidiaries with names like “Nature’s Bounty,” “Puritan’s Pride,” and so on. “Big pharma” doesn’t see supplements as a threat, they see them as easy money–drugs they can market to consumers without spending money on research.

Under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, supplements do not have to undergo studies for either safety or efficacy, as pharmaceuticals do. They instead rely upon anecdotal evidence and clever marketing in place of empirical research.

The FDA process identifies most of the risks involved in taking a given drug and requires that these be disclosed so that consumers can make an educated choice. When people watch those commercials with the notoriously long disclaimers, they get cynical. When that same company offers them a different drug they market as a “supplement,” one which has not undergone any safety testing, and has not been demonstrated to treat any particular illness, people naively accept it on the premise that because it’s “natural” or “traditional” they can trust that it’s safe and/or effective.

I applaud Consumer Reports for calling attention to the fact that “natural remedies” can be every bit as dangerous as artificial compounds.

Nice blog I like it.
It is a dream of all to have a glorious health which can not be possible by taking Unsafe Diet Supplements so take care.
Thanks.