Getting the right amount of vitamin D every day is so important for everyone, from kids to the elderly, folks will turn to a supplement when they can't get enough of the right mix of foods in their diets and safe sunshine exposure.

Unfortunately, taking a supplement offers no guarantee that a patient will receive enough vitamin D to make a real difference in his or her health, according to an analysis of over-the-counter (OTC) supplements presented at last month's meeting of the America's Committee on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in San Antonio.

While comparing 10 brands of OTC supplements (from online and brick-mortar stores) with stated dosages ranging from 400-10,000 IU, scientists discovered actual amounts of vitamin D varied wildly from a low of 0.24 percent to 81.7 percent, averaging 33.5 percent across the board. With one ridiculous exception, the higher the labeled dosage, the greater the disparity in the actual amount of vitamin D. (One OTC supplement contained 0.24 percent of the 400 IU it was supposed to have.)

Just another reminder that you can't always count on a label to give you the straight scoop about the quality of a supplement, which is why we recommend that you do your homework, starting with CNCA’s Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

MedPage Today June 7, 2010

According to a recent report in Herbalgram (published by the American Botanical Council), domestic sales of herbal and botanical dietary supplements rose by a very healthy 4.8 percent in 2009, exceeding an estimated $5 billion for the very first time, dispelling concerns about any linkage between the "imaginary value" of supplements and the Tooth Fairy described in a recent Reader's Digest article.

The biggest increase in herbal supplement sales was seen in the mass market sector (grocery stores, drug stores, warehouse clubs and c-stores) with a jump of nearly 15 percent, nearly tripling that of natural and health food chains like Whole Foods and specialty retail outlets like GNC.

What follows are the top 10 selling herbal dietary supplements among U.S. food, drug and mass market outlets. (For expanded, more complete lists, hit the free report link below.)

1. Cranberry

2. Soy

3. Saw palmetto

4. Garlic

5. Echinacea

6. Gingko

7. Milk thistle

8. St. John's wort

9. Ginseng

10. Black cohosh

No doubt, you have many options about where to buy a healthy, good-for-you supplement. But, do you really know what you're getting -- namely quality and safety -- for the amount you're spending each month? Review CNCA’s Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts, just to be sure.

HerbalGram, No. 86, pp. 62-65, Summer 2010 Free Full Text Report

Nutraceuticals World May 7, 2010

Traces of lead and cadmium may not only be contaminating cosmetics and jewelry marketed for kids, but St. John’s wort, one of the most popular supplements taken by Americans, according to a recent battery of tests conducted by ConsumerLab.com.

The concern is certainly a reasonable one, since the plant responsible for producing St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) can accumulate heavy metals from our environment.

Out of the 13 supplements listed by ConsumerLabs.com, just seven met their minimum standards. Four contained excessive amounts of either cadmium (greater than 0.3 mcg per gram of whole herb) or lead (0.1 mcg per gram of extract), and three had less than the expected amount of the compounds hypericin (a key ingredient in St. John’s wort) or hyperforin, ranging from 22-36 percent.

You’ll have a better understanding of what you’re really paying for in a supplement -- quality and safety -- and harmful substances you’ll want to avoid -- namely, cadmium and lead -- after reviewing CNCA’s Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

ConsumerLab.com April 8, 2010 Subscription Required

You may have read about a recent study that linked taking a daily multivitamin to elevating a woman's risk of breast cancer, and been rightly concerned about it. From all appearances, it's certainly appears far more credible than the very recent Reader's Digest piece that slammed the need for anyone to take a supplement too. I suspect you won't be as concerned, however, after taking a closer look at the numbers.

For the record, researchers tracked the health of more than 35,000 Swedish women (ages 49-83) and their use of multivitamins to "prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease" for a decade. Roughly 25 percent of the 35,000 patients who participated in the study (9,017) took a multivitamin, while the rest didn't.

Of the 974 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer, the majority (681) never took a multivitamin. Those 293 remaining patients led researchers to estimate that patients who took a multivitamin at the start of the study were 19 percent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

The aforementioned results may sound even more benign and incidental to you, considering another recent study that compared nearly 3,000 cases of breast cancer patients to a similar number of healthy female patients living in Wisconsin and found no association between breast cancer and multivitamin use.

This is probably a good time to remind you that taking a supplement is typically a good sign you're making more right choices for your health than wrong ones, like being more active and eating the right foods.

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Public Health Nutrition December 3, 2009

Yahoo News March 29, 2010

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March 24, 2010

CancerConsultants.com

Considering recent studies I've posted in this space about the potential health problems facing Baby Boomers down the road, I felt the need to hedge a little bit on the question posed above today's post.

Why?

First, a bit more about a survey from the Texas-based consulting research firm Decision Analyst that polled more than 16,000 American grocery shoppers about the reasons in which they choose healthy foods. When it comes to antioxidants, iron and omega-3 fatty acids, using the adjective rich to describe foods (rich in fill in the blank) in comparison to the word added (fill in the blank added) makes a huge difference in the minds of American consumers.

The problem: The "marketing-speak" used by food marketers on occasion to sell you on "magic" ingredients like omega-3 fatty acids or antioxidants may badly blur or inflate the actual health value of the products they sell. So, when 40 percent of consumers say they're more likely to buy a product rich in anything, now I better understand why Baby Boomers (me included) should pay more attention to the entire label, not just the marketing buzzwords.

Yes, there's nothing inherently wrong in making a mental note about nutrient-rich products you've considered buying at the grocery store, just so long as you spend a minute or two doing your homework and comparing labels. This same deliberate approach should also apply to the supplements you take for your health.

NutraIngredients-USA.com March 30, 2010

Decision Analyst March 22, 2010

When you've considered taking a supplement in the past, have visions of the Tooth Fairy ever danced in your head? Even remotely?

I bet that analogy sounds pretty silly to you too, but that's the confusing and maddening approach taken by writer Christie Aschwanden in her feature, 5 Vitamin Truths and Lies, appearing in the latest Reader's Digest. This crash-course in vitamin "research" -- in less than 1,500 words -- argues that the need for average people like you and me to take a supplement is, for the most part, an imaginary and unnecessary one.

Rather than use a thorough approach that shows the pros and cons of taking a supplement as just one of many steps you can take to improve your health, the article shoots holes through a number of ridiculously deceptive and easy targets to prove its faulty points.

For example, "A multivitamin can make up for a bad diet" and "Taking vitamins can protect against cancer" are the shoddy caliber of the low-hanging "myths" this article attempts to "debunk," as if many of you actually believe taking a supplement is the only thing you'll ever need to live a long and healthy life, forgoing exercise, a balanced diet and the right amount of sleep. We're not alone in this assessment either, as that overly-generalized, paint-by-numbers approach, says Douglas MacKay of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), does far more to confuse the issue than inform.

I suspect the 65 percent of Americans who refer to themselves as users of supplements, according to a CRN survey, make up a large segment of Reader's Digest's target audience. No doubt, they will be shaking their heads in disbelief, as we were, after being told that any effect supplementation has on the collective good health of Americans is mythical.

Separate fact from fiction by spending a few minutes to do some homework of your own, by reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

Image source: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

Reader's Digest April 2010

NutraIngredients-USA.com March 15, 2010

The unfortunate downside of using herbal medicines is the subject of a cautionary paper reminding us of the many quality problems still plaguing supplements that we've discussed far too often in this space.

Among other things, the paper, written by an Australian forensic pathologist, warns patients about the risks connected with taking herbal products made in foreign countries, yet sold in America, that can be laced with harmful substances such as lead, arsenic, mercury and, on occasion, standard prescription drugs. Sounds all too familiar to us, considering recent reports of steroid-tainted supplements.

Fact is, consulting your family physician before taking any herbal medicine or supplement often prevents unforeseen and, sometimes, dangerous interactions with a prescription drug, like the effect St. John's Wort has on the anticoagulant warfarin.

Just another reason to do your due diligence FIRST before buying any herbal product or supplement. And, reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts is as good a place as any to start.

Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 89-92, January 4, 2010

ScienceDaily February 12, 2010

With a greater number of nurses and doctors taking supplements and recommending them to their patients, it's no surprise to learn the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements is among four federal agencies sponsoring an Economic Analysis of Nutritional Interventions workshop later this month in Bethesda, Md.

Considering recent stats have determined the average American family earning $60,000 may spend more than 40 percent of their annual income on medical expenses in the decade to come, experts are desperately looking for better, safer and less expensive solutions to the healthcare crisis.

Perhaps, the NIH finally paid some attention to a 2007 report by The Lewin Group (commissioned by the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance) that found the use of selected dietary supplements could "improve the health of key populations and save the nation more than $24 BILLION in healthcare costs."

The only surprise to us: Why did it take so long for experts to figure this elegantly simple solution out?

If you want to make a dent of your own in the healthcare crisis, start with learning more about Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

National Institutes of Health/Office of Dietary Supplements

The Integrator Blog February 3, 2010

Despite all the rhetoric passed off as fact by our media brethren about all the problems with Big Herba, recent numbers we've seen from a Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) survey suggest otherwise. In fact, far from it...

Even in the throws of the weakest economy since the Great Depression, 74 percent of American adults haven't changed their spending on supplements. Slightly more Americans surveyed by the CRN also referred to themselves as supplement users last year (65 percent) than in 2008.

What's more, consumers polled for the CRN survey believe supplementation and good health habits go hand-in-hand, the very popular and seemingly recurring theme of a lecture presented to the Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus last summer by Dr. William Cooper. By margins as high as 15 percent, Americans who take supplements generally eat healthier diets, exercise regularly, schedule timely visits with their doctors and get a good night's sleep, compared to those who stay away from them.

Just as finding the best exercise program and the right foods for your body takes time and effort, so does choosing the safest and most beneficial supplements for your health. Unfortunately, you could make a very reasonable argument that it's much easier to find bad supplements -- for example, ones laced with steroids and titanium dioxide -- than good, safe and potent ones.

When you're ready to make a positive impact on your health for the long term, spend a few minutes learning more about what to look for in a supplement by reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

Natural Products Insider January 11, 2009

The Harvard Heart Letter, published by Harvard University Medical School, recently joined the growing ranks of expert publications touting the benefits of vitamin D supplementation, particularly higher amounts of this fat-soluable substance.

Although a daily dose of sunshine can boost your vitamin D levels naturally, a daily supplement of 800-1,000 IU (International Unit) is the simplest means to get it, the Letter says, not to mention the safest and easiest.

What makes taking a vitamin D supplement so vitally important to your health? At least a third of all Americans are deficient in vitamin D. The percentages grow to an alarming 75 percent among adults suffering from the various classes of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, two of the top three leading causes of death for men and women, not to mention, among the most preventable.

All the more reason to consider being screened for vitamin D.

Harvard Heart Letter December 2009

NutraIngredients-USA.com December 10, 2009

If you've become a daily reader of this blog -- our readership exploded in October and continues to grow daily, thanks to your interest -- you've probably noticed the many reminders about our supplement giveaway, first announced during our appearance at the Livestrong Challenge Series last month in Austin.

Koleen, one of many fine folks who filled out our entry forms at the Austin event, was the grand prize winner and will receive $300 in CNCA supplements. Many congratulations Koleen!

Take a minute to be inspired as we were on that picturesque October weekend in Austin by watching snippets of personal stories shared by folks who have been touched in one way or another by cancer like you, captured beautifully on video by the always awesome Amanda Hoel-Green.

More often than not, nurses and doctors who take a vitamin or any other supplement recommend their patients take them too, according to a survey of 900 physicians and 277 nurses commissioned by the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

The numbers bear this out: Seventy-two percent of physicians and 89 percent of nurses who were surveyed used a supplement while 79 percent of doctors and 82 percent of nurses recommended them to their patients.

A multivitamin, with or without minerals, topped the list of dietary supplements used most often by both sets of health professionals, followed by vitamin C, vitamin B complex, vitamin D, vitamin E and calcium. Among the more popular supplements used by nurses and doctors: Green tea, fish oil, glucosamine and flax seed.

Why do nurses and doctors recommend supplements?

* Overall health and wellness

* Bone health

* Colds or the flu.

* Heart health

* Immune health

* Improved energy

Nutrition Journal July 1, 2009 Free Full Text PDF

Council For Responsible Nutrition July 14, 2009

NutraIngredients-USA.com July 16, 2009

Reuters July 16, 2009