Americans spend millions each year on dietary supplements that promise weight loss or enhanced athletic prowess, but many of those supplements contain ingredients that could cause cancer, heart problems, or liver and kidney damage, according to Consumer Reports.
Only about a third of the more than 54,000 dietary supplements in the Therapeutic Research Center's Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database have some level of safety and effectiveness supported by scientific evidence. And while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lacks the power to adequately regulate such supplements, the agency rarely uses what little power it does have to do so, Reuters reports.
The 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act prevents the FDA from regulating supplements in the same way that it regulates prescription medications; Consumer Reports is urging Congress to give the agency more clout. The FDA, which has found hazardous ingredients in supplements, is criticized for not inspecting Chinese factories where many of the raw materials originate.
source: health.usnews
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