| Dietary supplements have always been a tricky | | | | (FDA) has warned about at least eight of these, |
| topic and there has been a lot of debate whether | | | | some as long ago as 1993; those eight |
| they are bad or good for you, amongst health | | | | supplements include chaparral, colloidal silver, |
| professionals, dieters and naturalists. The dietary | | | | comfrey, country mallow, germanium, kava, |
| supplements market is $26.7 billion and ironically | | | | lobelia, and yohimbe. But warnings have not |
| there is not much government oversight in this | | | | prevented retailers from selling supplements |
| industry. | | | | containing these ingredients. |
| Dietary supplements | | | | More than half of the adult population in the U.S. |
| A new investigation in the September issue of | | | | have taken supplements for a variety of reasons |
| Consumer Reports identifies a list of supplement | | | | but what they do not know is that the |
| ingredients that have been linked by clinical | | | | manufacturers of these products do not have to |
| research or case reports to serious adverse | | | | show that these products are indeed safe and |
| events, such as cancer, coma, heart problems, | | | | effective. |
| kidney damage, liver damage, or death. | | | | "Supplements are marketed with very seductive |
| Consumer Reports identified 12 supplement | | | | and sometimes overblown sales pitches for |
| ingredients linked to serious adverse. The dozen | | | | increasing your performance in the bedroom, |
| are: | | | | slimming down, or boosting your athletic prowess. |
| • aconite, | | | | And consumers are easily lulled into believing that |
| • bitter orange, | | | | supplements can do no harm because they're |
| • chaparral, | | | | 'natural.' However, some natural ingredients can be |
| • colloidal silver, | | | | hazardous, and on top of that the FDA has |
| • coltsfoot, | | | | repeatedly found hazardous ingredients, including |
| • comfrey, | | | | synthetic prescription drugs, in supplements," said |
| • country mallow, | | | | Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor, Consumer |
| • germanium, | | | | Reports. |
| • greater celandine, | | | | People need to be extra careful before taking any |
| • kava, | | | | kind of supplements, ever if they are "natural" and |
| • lobelia, | | | | ask a health professional before doing so. |
| • yohimbe | | | | ©2010 Project Weight Loss. All rights reserved. |
| Surprisingly, the Food and Drug Administration | | | | |