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

You know the value of fish oil is finally hitting home with the mainstream when the U.S. Department of Defense is considering using its components -- DHA omega-3 fatty acids and EPA -- to fortify the meals of all active military personnel.

To accomplish this, however, would require U.S. military officials to rescind a standing directive prohibiting the military from providing a supplement or a drug through its food supply chain.

"Increasing omega-3 consumption amongst U.S. troops has incredible potential to improve health and reduce health care costs for U.S. troops," says Douglas MacKay of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. "There is evidence that higher levels of omega-3 fats have multiple health benefits, some of which are important to soldiers."

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NutraIngredients-USA.com February 2, 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 million 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

A consortium of American sports entities, including the NFL, NBA, NHL and the U.S. Olympic Committee, have joined forces with the United States Anti-Doping Agency to create Supplement Safety Now, a program created to put an end to "the dangerous and unscrupulous practices of rogue manufacturers within the nutritional supplement industry."

The timing of this rollout isn't surprising, in the wake of recent media reports about a second FDA recall connected to traces of steroids found in supplements produced by Florida-based IDS Sports.

Reactions to the Supplement Safety Now initiative among various industry groups have been mixed. Michigan-based NSF International applauded the program, calling products that contain steroids "illegal drugs masquerading as dietary supplements," says NSF's senior VP Dr. Lori Bestervelt. "These dangerous and illegal products pose a significant public health risk and more stringent enforcement and independent surveillance is needed to better safeguard consumers."

On the other hand, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and Natural Products Association (NPA) have expressed concerns about the initiative being more heavy-handed than useful or effective. For one, the CRN believes an FDA registry of products proposed in the Supplement Safety Now initiative wouldn't be effective. "We do not believe that companies that are illegally contaminating products would bother to register," says Steve Mister, CRN president and CEO.

And, CRN and NPA also agree with beefing up enforcement of existing laws on the books. "Boosting enforcement also proves a quicker way to get rogue companies out of the marketplace versus the much longer process of trying to pass new legislation and write new regulations that still may not be enforced," says John Gay, NPA's CEO and executive director.

NPI Center December 2, 2009

On the very day we posted news about the FDA's recent supplement recall involving steroids, the agency announced a second recall, this time of five products produced by Florida-based IDS Sports.

As in the previous case, the five products listed below contain androstenedione, turinabol, superdrol and madol, substances the FDA has judged to be steroids:

* Ripped Tabs TR

* Mass Tabs

* Dual Action Grow Tabs

* Grow Tabs

* Bromodrol

Check out this link for more information about distribution sizes and lot numbers involving these five
products. To better understand supplement regulation, and how to choose quality supplements, please
read Nutritional Supplement Quality - The Facts.

FDA.gov November 17, 2009

Attorney At Law November 13, 2009

Earlier this month, the FDA issued a recall of 65 dietary supplements sold by Bodybuilding.com through their Web site, based on concerns these products contain ingredients the agency either currently classifies, or should be classified, as steroids. Turinabol, androstenedione, superdrol, madol and tren are the ingredients under federal scrutiny.

Some of the side effects associated with steroids are alarming. Among them:

* Acute liver injury

* Male infertility

* Increased risks of death, heart disease and stroke

* Male breast enlargement

Among the 65 supplements recalled by the FDA (review the links below for a full product list): Anabolic Xtreme Hyperdrol X2, Diabolic Labs Revenge, Myogenix Spawn, Performance Anabolics Methastadrol, Rage RV5 and Transform Supplements Forged Extreme Mass.

All the more reason for you to do your homework when it comes to choosing a safe supplement for your health. Learn more about the lack of testing and quality standards associated with other supplements by reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

FDA.gov November 3, 2009

eNews Park Forest November 3, 2009

If you've been reading our blog from the very beginning, one of the major themes we often discuss in this space is the need for you to do your homework when considering a quality supplement. It's not rocket science by any stretch... just using some good old fashioned common sense and doing a bit of due diligence on your end.

So, you may be interested -- if not a bit confused -- to learn that even as the FDA is cracking down on the questionable quality of some supplements, the agency lists a trio of vitamin strategies in their latest video Fortify Your Knowledge About Vitamins, to help you select the best and safest supplements for your health (particularly if you're a vegetarian or vegan, pregnant or breastfeeding). No doubt, faithful readers of this space should know them by heart.

1. Don't "chase" headlines (trendy studies may not yield safe, optimal results over the long term).

2. More is not better (too much of a good thing isn't always safe or ideal).

3. Watch for false claims (too good to be true usually is).

Learn more about how CNCA protects your health in many ways by reviewing our Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

NutraIngredients-USA.com October 2, 2009

FDA.gov February 21, 2009

An interesting piece published by Natural Products Insider (free text link below) details the very shaky history of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) as described by Peter Barton Hutt, who served as chief counsel for the FDA in the 70s and was one of many who helped to shape the act in behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).

The DSHEA was drafted in response to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act in 1990, that gave the FDA the authority to approve all disease prevention claims for food, including dietary supplements. Using the vast powers of the act some three years later, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, M.D., said the agency would block any attempt to approve disease prevention claims connected with supplements, even instances in which those claims were made for conventional foods, essentially banning supplements. Additionally, the act would be employed by the FDA to prevent food manufacturers from using dietary ingredients -- apart from essential minerals and vitamins -- deemed to be "illegal food additives."

Political pressure by consumers, however, forced Congress to relax these restrictions with the passage of the DSHEA, a law that legal experts believe provides the FDA enough legal authority to ban mislabeled and harmful supplements from the American marketplace. Unfortunately, that's where the regulatory road became very rocky.

In protest of its passage, Kessler prohibited FDA employees from enforcing the DSHEA because he was so convinced an unregulated marketplace rife with abuses would force Congress to repeal the act. The damage done to safety regulations and the health of Americans was so devastating that the DSHEA wasn't properly enforced until 2002, five years after Kessler left the agency. Even worse, it took some six more years for Congress to increase funding just so the FDA could enforce laws already on the books.

Still, these laws haven't stopped the production and sale of supplements with potency problems or those contaminated with harmful substances like lead. All the more reason for you to better understand what you're really paying for, by reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- The Facts.

Natural Products Insider September 21, 2009

Joining lead on the list of unexpected and potentially health-harming substances found in popular over-the-counter vitamins sold in America is titanium dioxide, a naturally occurring oxide of titanium used in a wide range of consumer products, including cosmetics, paints, food coloring and sunscreens.

Although no long-term human testing has been done on titanium dioxide to date, the FDA filed a notice in late July soliciting public comments in the Federal Register on case studies involving nanoscale titanium dioxide use in sunscreens and water treatment applications. Unfortunately, the document's main intent is to create a foundation for "a long-term research strategy to provide the information needed for comprehensive environmental assessments," but not to draw any conclusions about potential environmental hazards of titanium dioxide.

That said, there's enough public information about titanium dioxide to prompt healthy concern. For one, consider this 2007 study funded by Arizona State University that found high concentrations of titanium dioxide were responsible for slowing the growth and development of one species of green algae. Additionally, the over-expression of stress genes in the presence of nanoparticles showed how titanium dioxide can be toxic to algae.

And, there was a 2006 ruling by the International Agency of Research on Cancer that classified titanium dioxide as a Group 2B carcinogen that could possibly be toxic to humans too.

Recent independent quality testing revealed that one in four supplements were either subpotent, tainted with harmful substances or both. Read which of today's most popular supplements failed quality testing here.

Federal Register July 31, 2009

Perhaps, the Labor Day weekend was another slow news period for the Wall Street Journal, as evidenced by the latest in a seemingly ongoing series of articles appearing in the mainstream media (MSM) slamming the presence of dangerous ingredients in some herbal supplements.

A good portion of the article is devoted to eye-opening, first-person accounts of consumers, young and old, who experienced very serious and very legitimate medical problems, as a result of taking some supplements, followed by citations of reports documenting the health-harming presence of foreign substances -- think steroids and prescription drugs -- in them.

Buried about halfway down, however, was the real moral of the story, voiced by Andrew Shao, vice president for The Council for Responsible Nutrition, whose organization welcomed recent efforts by the FDA to jump-start its enforcement efforts. In a statement, Shao urged consumers to be savvy as well about the supplements they use.

To that end, the rest of the story took a more even-handed approach, detailing the many ways consumers can do their homework to ensure the supplements they use are safe, from surfing the Web to studiously reading product labels to consulting with their physicians before taking them.

Learn more about what you can do to protect your health and that of your loved ones by watching this short, informative video by Dr. Timothy Birdsall, vice chairman of CNCA's Quality Control Unit.

Wall Street Journal September 7, 2009

In another case of fuzzy labeling, a recent report from ConsumerLabs.com identified three products with vitamin E problems.

One supplement contained the correct amount of vitamin E as noted on its label, but the tablets didn't disintegrate within a half-hour as specified by the United States Pharmacopoeia method. The problem: Because the tablets took more than two hours to break apart, the vitamin E contained in the supplement may not be properly absorbed after leaving the stomach and entering the small intestine.

Tablets that are compressed too tightly or coated improperly create these problems, even when they contain the accurate amount of vitamin E or any other ingredient.

Additionally, ConsumerLabs.com discovered two oils that contained synthetic forms of vitamin E. The entire amount of vitamin E found in one oil-based product (containing 1,000 IU) was synthetic, while the other contained some 81 percent of the vitamin E advertised on its label, yet about 95 percent of it was man-made.

Learn more about the quality problems associated with other supplements, and get a better understanding what you're really paying for, by reviewing CNCA's Nutritional Supplement Quality -- the Facts.

ConsumerLab.com August 4, 2009 Subscription Required

Medium-size manufacturers of dietary supplements (20-499 employees) may have been given an overt warning by the FDA in April that their facilities would be subject to good manufacturing practices (GMP) by the summer, with an eye toward inspections starting this fall. The federal agency got an early start this month, however, filing GMP-related complaints that would lead to permanent injunctions against three New Jersey manufacturers and the manager who oversees them.

Among other things, the companies were cited for not including milk ingredients on product labels, and "manufacturing and storing food under filthy conditions and in conditions that may cause major food allergens to enter into products not intended to contain them," according to the FDA.

Even worse, the FDA discovered these violations after three separate inspections, but the companies failed to make any changes.

Such revelations could be the tip of the iceberg: The FDA hopes to inspect 200 manufacturing facilities during the rest of 2009.

FDA.gov July 10, 2009

NutraIngredients-USA.com July 10, 2009

NutraIngredients-USA.com April 30, 2009

Ever imagine the day you'd see the term Big Herba used in a news report? That's one of the generalized slams made in a recent Associated Press story about the big players and the smaller ones in the supplements industry.

Interestingly, among the bigger players in the supplements industry are some of the nation's pharmaceutical giants, namely Wyeth and Bayer. What's more, the supplements industry, based on 2007 estimates, generates $23 billion annually, not a small number by any stretch, except in comparison to the mega-pharmaceuticals that generate more than 10 times that sum every year.

Another hot button issue in the AP piece comes by way of a quote from a ConsumerLab.com executive who believes bigger companies may be more capable of producing products that are "pure" and have more to lose by selling inferior products.

However, a representative from the Analytical Research Collective offered some important perspective about bigger companies seeking low-cost suppliers in less developed countries producing cheaper ingredients, cheaper products and reduced quality. "You basically get what you pay for," says ARC's Jana Hildreth.

Nutra-Ingredients-USA.com June 11, 2009

MSN Money June 9, 2009