In the recent years, the intake of dietary supplements has increased across the United States. They have been heavily advertised and due to easy availability, consumers have increased their consumption of supplements. A new investigation by Consumer Reports could push you think twice before reaching out for any dietary supplements. Certain ingredients in popular supplements have been found by Consumer Reports that can contribute major health risks, including allergic reactions, heart palpitations, and pain.
Dietary supplements that include vitamins, probiotics and weight-loss pills, do not go through FDA approval as drug products to prove that they are safe and effective. Lisa Gill, the deputy content editor at Consumer Reports, said that there is a high possibility that people might consider it safe just because it is not prescription, but such is not the case.
Gill said that dietary supplements could be adulterated, counterfeited and having some hidden prescription drugs. For the report, Consumer Reports has worked with independent doctors and dietary experts and came to know about 15 ingredients that need to be always avoided by consumers.
These ingredients include Kava that claims to lessen anxiety level and red yeast rice in supplements that claim to reduce cholesterol. “They are recognized to hold particular impairments. In several situations, they can provoke illnesses, or they can induce organ or kidney damage, there have been deaths linked with every of these”, affirmed Gill.
All the 15 ingredients are available in supplements online or in major retail shops. The Council for Responsible Nutrition, which stands for the supplement industry, said that dietary supplements are absolutely safe. Over 150 million Americans take dietary supplements each year.
On the other hand, Dr. Pieter Cohen from Harvard Medical School said that consumers should be aware of the fact that they cannot trust anything that is sold as a supplement and that might turn out to be listed on the label.
