Tapping the Web for Health Supplement Information

A colleague in the fitness industry recently told me that her husband started to feel dizzy and nauseous a couple of days after taking an herbal supplement.

Lucky for him, she immediately did some research on the Web where she discovered that the US Food and Drug Administration had issued a warning against one of the herbs used in the supplement precisely because it caused the very symptoms her husband was feeling. She was appalled that a supplement containing a harmful ingredient could be sold so openly.

Unfortunately, a law in the US called the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) does not require safety testing for herbal supplements nor supplement manufacturers to report any side effects suffered by their clients (unlike pharmaceutical companies, which are required to do so by law).

The only time the FDA can pull a supplement off the shelves is when it can prove that many people have died or have been seriously injured. And that only stops that particular brand from being sold.

The manufacturer can rename the product and change the formulation slightly, and it's business as usual. This also does not stop other brands with the same harmful ingredients from continuing to be sold.

Like I have been saying for the last couple of columns, the best protection you have as a consumer is to arm yourself with all the facts about a supplement.

Thank goodness, we no longer have to rely on dusty books in the local library. Searching for information over the Net can easily be done at home or in an Internet cafe.

Here's how to make your search for supplement info more productive.

Search by ingredient
It is better to search by ingredient rather than just by brand name. A search for brand ABC might yield nothing untoward, yet brand XYZ, which has the same ingredients, is implicated in several deaths and serious injury. The active ingredients are the first couple of words in the ingredient listing.

If you have a special health concern, such as hypertension, diabetes or heart disease, herbal products can be dangerous for you. Make sure to find out how the product you are investigating affects people with your condition.

In a famous case in New York, Anne Marie Capati died from a stroke while exercising three months after taking an ephedra supplement that was recommended by her personal trainer.

Consider the danger in supplement-drug combinations

Health food supplements don't always mix well with pharmaceutical drugs (over-the-counter or prescription) or even with other supplements, so you also have to take into consideration what you are already taking. For example, if you are taking a blood-thinning drug, it would not be advisable to take fish oil supplements because they have a similar effect and the combination can cause internal bleeding.

Look at scientific studies
Do investigate further scientific studies that are used to back up a product's claim. You can search for the scientist's name or the scientific journal it was published in.

What you usually get is an abstract of the experiment (the full text can normally only be downloaded if you are a member of the journal or association) but that is enough to take note of who the experiment was done on and what form and dosage of the supplement were used.

It's important to know these two things because the results of the experiment being quoted may not have much relevance if you are not similar to the participants in the study and if the supplement is not in the same form or dosage.

Here are two examples: The supplement boron has been touted as a muscle builder for body builders but the study that is often quoted was done on menopausal women.

Oral human growth hormone (HGH) supplements almost always use a study to back their claims of increasing muscle mass and strength in bodybuilders, but a closer look at the study reveals it was done on elderly men using an injectable form of HGH.

Keep an open mind
Sometimes, we swallow hook, line and sinker anything positive about the supplement but we go into denial about anything negative because in our hearts, we want the product to work and do what it says it will do.

Now, if after seriously considering the potential side effects of the product, you decide to still try it, you have made what is called an "informed decision."

This means you know all the facts, positive and negative, and you are willing to take responsibility for any consequences to your health that might occur because of taking the product. That is better than just blindly buying whatever supplement comes your way.

Search engines (Google is my favorite) are my preferred way to do research, but you can start with the following websites that have extensive information on individual supplements.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/databases/ibids.html

The International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (Ibids) is one of the most comprehensive databases for supplement information. After you click on the "search Ibids" button, choose the consumer database.

www.gssiweb.com

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute is a valuable site for athletic supplement information. All the articles are written by health professionals well-versed in the field of sports nutrition.

www.supplementwatch.com

Supplement Watch is a self-funded, privately held corporation consisting of a small group of scientists, physiologists, nutritionists and other health professionals dedicated to educating people about the pros and cons of dietary supplementation.

Continue reading here: Stretching During The Warm-Up May Not Prevent Injury

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