Dietary Supplements - Rampant Substance Abuse

While many people of all ages take dietary supplements, the prevalence increases as people age, amd could well be labelled substance abuse. A wonderful piece in today’s NYT by Jane Brody is essential reading. Ms. Brody discusses abuse of legally sold dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, herbals and homeopathic remedies — all of which can be sold over the counter without prior approval for safety and effectiveness. A new federal law requires supplement manufacturers to report serious adverse effects to the Food and Drug Administration, but it depends on consumers to call in reactions. This form of passive reporting is unlikely to describe the depth, distribution and dangers of this form of supplement abuse. The ‘complementary medicine’ advocates make the problem worse while Congress shows no will to intervene. This form of abuse may be just as bad as addiction to narcotics, but is silent because of research priorities which focus on highly visible and often relatively rare medical problems, than on a common and dangerous habit. We might well ponder how many of these supplemetary producers are underwritten by drug companies.