The adage “you get what you pay for” isn’t always reliable. A US study found that more than a third of the sports supplements he bought online did not contain the key ingredients listed on the label.
Peter Cohen, a clinician research fellow at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues ordered 57 sports supplements to analyze their content.
The label on each product stated that the supplement contained one of five performance-enhancing botanical compounds. This substance has been included in supplements since it was used as a stimulant called Ephedra Banned in 2004.
“The FDA has not pre-approved the efficacy or safety of these ingredients or supplement ingredients prior to their introduction,” said Cohen and colleagues. write in their paper.
“However, FDA inspections have found that supplement manufacturers often fail to adhere to basic manufacturing standards such as establishing the identity, purity and composition of the final product.”
Their analysis found that about 40 percent of 57 supplements purchased online (apparently small samples) did not contain detectable amounts of the listed ingredients. Half were labeled with the wrong amount and 12% were found to contain illegal additives.
“Only 11% of the products were correctly labeled, and five FDA-banned ingredients were detected, including one unapproved drug available in Russia, three drugs previously available in Europe, and one drug never approved in any country,” Cohen and colleagues said. report.
Although amounts may vary between batches within a particular brand, the recommended supplement intake in this study was found to contain more than three times the labeled mass of either stimulant.
The findings of this study are shocking, but not too surprising when you understand how supplements are regulated in countries such as the United States and Australia.
Since supplements are health products, you might think they would fall under the pharmaceutical subcategory. But in reality, the FDA regulates them as a food subcategory, Cohen said. explain.
“This will have a huge impact on the entire nutritional supplement category, from vitamins, minerals, probiotics, to all kinds of new ingredients,” Cohen said. Said In 2021, the American Medical Association (AMA) said, “What that means is that manufacturers can introduce anything into medical devices.” [US] A market they believe is safe. ”
Therefore, the FDA’s job is to monitor new products, identify if any products pose a hazard, and remove them from stores if they do.
For example, in 2004 the FDA banned the sale of herbal supplements containing: ephedrine alkaloid “Because they present”[ed] It may put consumers at an unreasonable risk of illness or injury.
ephedrine alkaloids, or EphedraIt is a stimulant extracted from Ephedra Plants such as are touted to boost energy and improve athletic performance. Ever since ephedra was withdrawn, there have been ephedra poisonings in the United States. plummetedSince 2008, no ephedra-related deaths have been reported.
The Therapeutics Agency (TGA), Australia’s drug regulator, has also crackdown on supplementscan endanger health By interfering with prescription drugs or causing severe allergic reactions.
As of late 2020, the TGA regulates high-risk sports supplements. as a medicine Not “sports food” after someone died.
However, drug regulators catch up To a rapidly changing market.Cohen To tell There has been an “explosion of new ingredients” in supplements in recent years, he estimates, with more than 75,000 dietary supplements sold in the United States.
“We are seeing so many new innovations and completely new ingredients being introduced into supplements right now,” says Cohen. Said In an interview with AMA, he said:
“Again, the FDA does not scrutinize these products before they hit store shelves or the Internet, which could create unforeseen risks.”
To know the true extent of this problem, more research is needed to see how many other sports supplements and health products are similarly mislabeled.
However, a recent study found that melatoning gums sold in the United States and Canada, as well, may give children much higher doses than those listed on the label.
Ann Australian studies Of the 135 dietary supplements purchased between 2014 and 2017, only 20 percent had at least one ingredient confirmed by laboratory testing.
This research JAMA network open.
