It is a triumph of marketing over the fact that many people believe in the benefits of supplements. At least 23,000 emergency department visits and 2000 hospitalizations are associated with supplements. Half of Americans and 70% of US military service members consume supplements. The collection of evidence and reports of the harms of supplements is hard to come by as they are widely sold. The FDA uses passive reporting to collect adverse event reports and consumer complaints. The FDA can take supplements off the market if it deems it necessary. The US service members give reports on adverse effects of supplements. The report shows which supplements have the most negative effects.
Vitamins, minerals, herbal remedies, and other products are included in the range of supplements. There is little assurance that consumers can trust that what is on the label of a supplement is in the bottle. Quality standards for prescription and over-the-counter drugs are not the same as for over-the-counter drugs because of a weak regulatory framework. Even if the label is accurate and the dose is standardized, there is still nothing to prevent harm in any way. It is possible for a substance to have positive effects and negative effects. The rare but unfortunate side effect of death was caused by the amphetamine-line 1,3–dimethylamylamine. The FDA forced it from the market.
A random sample of military service members completed a survey on supplement use and adverse effects. Survey work continued through the summer of 2019. There were 96 generic supplements and 67 named products on the questionnaire. The branded products were identified by surveying General Nutrition Centre stores on or near military installations, as well as looking at the sales of supplements to service members through the military's Exchange service. There were open text fields that could be used to add supplements.
Service members were asked if they had used a particular supplement in the last six months and if they had experienced a side effect from it. There was a list of side effects and an option to describe the effect.
The 96+ supplements were divided into different categories.
The first table has a picture There are various categories of supplements.
The total number of users and the number of users who report at least one adverse event are included. The standard error was used to calculate the proportion of users who reported adverse events. Each individual event was compiled with a standard error and Frequency when it was associated with at least 25% of user reports of adverse events.
The proportion of reports that included at least one adverse event is shown here.
The category that had the highest adverse event prevalence was the combination product category. There were joint health products. There are additional tables showing adverse events for individual ingredients. The vitamins were generally well-tolerated. There were more reports of adverse events with branded vitamins. The least-tolerated individual vitamins were the ones that cause face flushing.
There were products that were marketed for weight and fat loss.
Pre/post workout supplements and products sold as "prohormones" can be the same.
Side effects for most products were reported at varying degrees of Frequency.
The prevalence of specific adverse effects for specific products is finally here. Some of these products have high rates of heart palpitations.
The proportion of reported adverse effects was low in this large sample of US service members. More than 10% of users reported adverse effects on weight loss products, pre/post workout products, and prohormone products. The products with the highest adverse effect report rates were related tomuscle building. This could be caused by the ingredients in these products or a consequence of multi-ingredient supplements.
There were a lot of limitations. The data was self- reported. It might have been biased towards those that associate adverse effects with supplements, as those not identifying any effects might not have been as willing to do the survey. We don't know if the products are being used as labelled or something else because the survey didn't measure dosages. It is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 It was not possible to determine how adverse effects of a particular product were associated with users taking multiple supplements at once. The reported adverse effects were not looked at in the survey.
The survey shows that certain categories of supplements are more likely to have adverse effects than other supplements. These categories of products may be avoided by consumers who want to reduce their risk of adverse effects.
Scott is looking at the profession of pharmacy through the lens of science-based medicine. He wants to improve the cost-effective use of drugs. Scott has a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Toronto. He has worked in both community and hospital settings. He is a registered pharmacy in Canada. Scott doesn't have conflicts of interests. Scott does not represent the opinions of any current or former employers or organizations that he may be associated with. Information should not be used as a substitute for consultation with a licensed and accredited health professional.
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