FDA Study Reveals Food Supplements Are Altered With Prescription Drugs

In an in-depth analysis, researchers studying food supplements that had been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that small pills could be very problematic. Many of these supposedly unregulated diet aids contain prescription drugs in their composition, researchers wrote in an article published in the newspaper JAMA Network open now.

"Potentially harmful active pharmaceutical products continue to be identified in over-the-counter food supplements," they wrote.

Over a period from 2007 to 2016, researchers analyzed supplements contaminated with pharmaceuticals. In those years, they discovered that one in five dietary supplements contained more than one pharmaceutical ingredient. During this period, it was discovered that 776 supplements marketed for muscle building, sexual enhancement, or weight loss contained prescription medications, such as ephedrine stimulant, anabolic steroids, and selective reuptake inhibitors. serotonin (SSRIs) commonly prescribed to treat anxiety and depression. as well as the active ingredients of the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra and Cialis, to name a few.

This is not a minor complication. These types of contaminations can have serious or even fatal consequences for patients with diseases such as heart disease or high cholesterol, which require medical supervision to stay healthy. Take a pill containing a medicine that lowers your blood pressure, and if you already have low blood pressure, the consequences of this lack of supervision could be disastrous. Multiply this in most major types of managed conditions and you can begin to understand the seriousness of what researchers have discovered.

According to the researchers, what is perhaps more alarming about this study, even though these compromised supplements have been submitted to the agency, the FDA often does not remember the contaminated products, allowing them to stay on the market – and many are still on the market.

In a commentary accompanying the article, Professor Pieter A. Cohen, a professor and general internist at Harvard Medical School's School of Medicine, blamed the FDA for "neglecting its duty" as the body's responsible for regulating and guaranteeing the safety of food supplements intended for consumers, such as vitamins, minerals, etc. probiotics, amino acids and enzymes.

"Although the FDA does not assess the safety of supplements before they are placed on the market, the agency is responsible for identifying and eliminating adulterated and dangerous supplements from the marketplace," he said. he writes. "The FDA has not even bothered to recall more than half of the potentially dangerous supplements."

Dietary supplements are a big deal, a $ 35 billion industry in the United States alone. There are more than 90,000 vitamin and mineral supplements on the market, according to an article by JAMA, the newspaper of the American Medical Association.

At least 52% of American adults take at least one dietary supplement each day and 10% at least four. Vitamins and minerals are the most popular types of supplements. Many have advertised benefits for maintaining health and preventing disease. It is not known to what extent these supplements, such as vitamin D, which is the subject of a recent study, are effective for the long-term health of individuals.