Dietary supplements dangers

A dietary supplement may be safe when taken in the recommended doses but may become dangerous in higher doses. However, patients may develop side effects even when ingesting recommended doses. Adverse reactions may be due to allergic reactions, dietary supplements containing toxic substances, mis-identification of plant, mislabeling of plant, natural toxic substances such as pyrrolizidine alkaloids in comfrey, unnatural toxic substances such as heavy metals, or pesticides. 

Natural and herbal diet pills available in the United States today are considered dietary supplements and are not subject to FDA review prior to being sold. Although these agents may have drug-like activity in the body, they do not need to be proven safe or effective like conventional drugs do. Unlike conventional drugs, natural and herbal diet pills can only be withdrawn from the market when they are proven to be dangerous. As a result, many herbal products reach the market without any scientific evidence that they are safe or effective. These products are discussed in more detail in Chapter 6. 

The lack of such scientific evidence does not automatically mean that such products are dangerous or ineffective. Many people are willing to trust traditional practices that have been used for hundreds of years whether there is scientific evidence for them or not. They are willing to accept the claims of healers from fields other than modern medicine about the benefits of such products. Indeed, an important reason for the adoption of the DSHEA in 1994 was to allow individuals the right to make choices about dietary supplements without the intervention of the federal government in that process. 

Most forms of Cr(III) are not absorbed and utilized by the body. For this reason, and because of the increased use of sucrose and other refined foods, a marginal human chromium deficiency may be widespread.604 605 This may result not only in poor utilization of glucose but also in other effects on lipid and protein metabolism.597 However, questions have been raised about the use of chromium picolinate as a dietary supplement. High concentrations have been reported to cause chromosome damage606 and there may be danger of excessive accumulation of chromium in the body.607... 

Part of the reason use of GBL and similar products have gone unchecked is that the FDA has less authority to control dietary supplements, which are not subject to the same strict review procedures as are drugs. Consumers should be aware that products available in health food stores or even on supermarket shelves can be just as dangerous as prescription drugs. Just because a product is labeled natural does not mean it is safe, and natural poisons like wild mushrooms cause many emergency room visits, cases of brain damage, and even deaths each year. 

The NCCAM is also supporting research studies on kava. However, these have been put on hold because the FDA is investigating whether the use of dietary supplements containing kava (also known as kava kava or Piper methylsticum) pose a health risk. The FDA s 9 million supplement division investigates problems and tries to curb use of products it can prove dangerous. Kava is a member of the pepper family. Products containing kava are sold in the United States for a variety of uses including insomnia and short-term reduction of stress and anxiety. 

PC-Specs is a dietary supplement most commonly used to lower blood pressure as well as in trials to treat prostate cancer. PC-Specs is a mixture of eight herbs - seven of them Chinese. However, the danger is that the supplement contains warfarin and alprazolam. It is commonly prescribed as a blood thinner for... 

Using a dietary supplement to lose weight may have dangerous side effects. 

Chaparral is considered a dietary supplement in the United States. The FDA has warned the public about the dangers of consuming chaparral (Stone, 1992). Chaparral is not listed in the German Commission E monographs (Blumenthal, 1998). 

Van Der Spoel JI, Stricker BH, Esseveld MR and Sghipper me (1990) Dangers of dietary germanium supplements. Lancet 336 117. 

In this respect, the suggested maximum tolerable dietary levels of iodine for common livestock in the European Union is lOmgkg feed DM. For solipeds (horses, etc.), the highest tolerable iodine concentration has been limited to 4 mg kg feed DM. Horses are considerably less tolerant to iodine excess (5 mg kg feed DM) than cattle, sheep, and poultry (NRG 1980, Hetzel and Maberly 1986, McDowell 1992). Supplementation in the amounts stated above is dangerous for the reproductive performance. An influence on the growth of chicken embryos and brain development has also been reported (Travnicek et al. 1997). 

Fortunately, PKU can be easily detected in newborns, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia mandate that such a test be performed because it is cheaper to treat the disease with a modified diet than to cope with the costs of a mentally retarded individual who is usually institutionalized for life. The dietary changes are relatively simple. Phenylalanine must be limited to the amount needed for protein synthesis, and tyrosine must now be supplemented, because phenylalanine is no longer a source. You may have noticed that foods containing aspartame carry a warning about the phenylalanine portion of that artificial sweetener. A substitute for aspartame, which carries the trade name Alatame, contains alanine rather than phenylalanine. It has been introduced to retain the benefits of aspartame without the dangers associated with phenylalanine. 

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