Nutritional supplements such as vitamins, minerals, botanicals and probiotics have never been more popular. More than three-quarters of Americans consume at least one type, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Are any of them worth it? The research content varies. Some vitamins, including multivitamins, have been shown to be beneficial in large randomized clinical trials. Some can potentially be harmful. Many are somewhere in between.
Any amount 100,000 supplement products The FDA estimates it is sold in stores and online in the United States. They range from multivitamins to herbs to concoctions that promise weight loss, some of which may be toxic or falsely claim to improve brain function.
said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health. Podcaster Rex Fridman, 2023 He said he was taking “a ton of vitamins and nutrients” but couldn’t list them because he “couldn’t remember them all.” in october Post to XPresident Kennedy accused the FDA of “aggressively suppressing” products such as vitamins and nutritional supplements.
In fact, the FDA has limited post-market oversight of supplements. in published research From 2018California Department of Public Health researchers raised concerns about products containing unapproved and potentially unsafe ingredients.
of Dietary Supplement Health Education Act of 1994 Puts dietary supplements in the same category as foods under the FDA. This framework means that the agency regulates dietary supplements as foods rather than medicines. As a result, oversight of product safety and effectiveness falls primarily to the companies selling the products.
” FDA does not approve dietary supplements Dr. Carla Welch, director of the Office of Dietary Supplement Programs in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in an interview on the FDA’s website. “In fact, most products can be legally placed on the market without the FDA knowing.”
If a company wants to sell a dietary supplement that contains ingredients that are not found in foods sold in the United States, the company must: Announcement of “New Nutritional Ingredients” The FDA is required to provide “a history of use or other evidence that the nutritional ingredients are reasonably expected to be safe when used under the conditions recommended or proposed on the dietary supplement’s label.” must include ‘evidence of safety.’
The FDA reviews notifications for safety issues, but does not approve or deny supplements based on the effectiveness of the ingredients.
“Only a small percentage of the nutritional supplements on the market have been rigorously tested for efficacy or safety,” says Dr. Joan Munson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. says.
Companies can also take advantage of a loophole called GRAS, which is generally recognized as secure. This designation allows substances that have been deemed safe based on research or evidence that has already been used in food to be used in new products. No notification to FDA is required.
“A company can just declare something as GRAS and add it to a supplement,” said Jensen Jose, a regulatory advisor at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer group. No,” he said. Advocacy group.
Research limitations
Many of the vitamins and minerals on the market are generally safe, although not always effective, and if harmful side effects occur after a consumer begins using the product, or if a company misleads you. If a product is found to be making misleading claims, authorities have the authority to request a recall. About supplements. Some companies have voluntarily implemented self-regulation.
“What we are doing in self-regulation goes above and beyond what is required by federal regulations,” said the president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, an industry group and lobby group that represents companies that make supplements. said Steve Mister, CEO and Chief Executive Officer. “There is a common belief that the industry needs to behave in a responsible manner.”
When it comes to research, understanding the effects of supplements on human health is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, said Dr. David Seles, director of medical nutrition at the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center.
“Most of the studies you hear about are observational, and there is a correlation between two things, but you can’t establish causation based on that study,” Seres said. “The majority of research in nutrition tends to be this type of research.”
“There are supplements that have clearly established benefits,” said Christopher Gardner, a professor of nutrition at Stanford University. “There are also many supplements that may not be beneficial, but are not harmful.”
More is not necessarily better
Manson, who led the COSMOS-Mind Multivitamin clinical trials say people should be wary of vitamins that contain “large amounts” of vitamins.
“You need to look at the level and see what it says in percentage of your daily intake. It often says 400% or 500%, which is much higher than your daily intake. ” she said.
Such high doses are dangerous Or a waste of money.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of medical experts that develops care recommendations for preventive and primary care, recently produced a draft. New recommendations The report recommends against taking vitamin D to prevent falls and fractures in older adults, based on evidence showing that vitamin D is not beneficial unless a deficiency is diagnosed.
There is some evidence that a daily multivitamin can prevent memory loss. However, many studies have not shown that supplements have miraculous effects on health. Studies show that diets like the Mediterranean diet, rich in plants, vegetables, and fatty fish, may lower the risk of dementia and heart disease, but supplements don’t usually have the same effect. It turns out.
“In general, we should be able to get all the nutrients we need from food, but the reality is that many people don’t always have access to the right types of healthy foods,” Gardner said, adding that many people don’t always have access to the right types of healthy foods. Nutritious foods may benefit from some supplements.
For others, more is not always better.
“Most Americans meet all of their vitamin, mineral, and nutrient needs. If your intake is already sufficient, taking more is unlikely to help,” he added.
There’s no one answer to why people take supplements that have little benefit, but it may be due to a strong desire to take control of their health, Seles said.
“When it seems like it can’t be harmful and the airwaves are full of words that say ‘supports the health of XYZ,’ any hint of benefit is a strong temptation,” he said.
