About the Consumer Reports article: Dangerous Supplements

A recent article in Consumer Reports warns consumers about the dangers of health supplements. This article really does point out a lot of what I’ve said in my FREE Report: Myths of Herbal Medicine, that there are dangers. However, they don’t really clear things up for the consumer either.

They list a number of health risk for these supplements, “including cardiovascular, liver, and kidney problems”. While this can be true, it usually isn’t to the same extent that you would find if you read the drug monographs and adverse event reports for drugs such as asthma medications (cardiovascular etc.), acetaminophen (leading cause of liver damage according to the monograph), or statins (kidney damage).

What I find frustrating is that many side effects that are listed for herbs are often theoretical and not proven fact. Yet they get quoted as if they were proven fact.

It’s true that there is inadequate control. There are known problems with the “herbal” supplements coming from various countries being contaminated with heavy metals, pharmaceutical drugs, and various other things. I just don’t feel that the FDA is the right organization to be overseeing much of this. They haven’t been that successful with the pharmaceuticals - remember COX-2 inhibitors? Statins? – so why would we expect them to do a good job with supplements?

Many of the adverse events mentioned in the article, and most of those I’ve read over the last few years, point out another major problem: self-prescribing. This is why I keep telling people they need to have a family herbalist. In almost every adverse event that I have read, the person that suffers from liver damage, or other major adverse effects of herbal use, is the person who prescribed the product to themselves rather than under the recommendation and careful supervision of a qualified herbalist. In the case of the Consumer Reports article, many of the herbs they list in their “Dirty Dozen” are herbs that are best taken when in the care of a qualified herbalist.

I also noticed that they list Aconite, but failed to inform the readers which form they found it in. In my experience I’ve only ever seen it, in the stores, in homeopathic form. This is a very different situation than standard herbal preparations where it should only be used (in my opinion) under the supervision of a qualified herbalist. It is very very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

In another part of the article they talk about “No scientific backup required” when it comes to many of these supplements. While it’s true that many supplement companies and many sales people make medical claims about their products, they aren’t actually allowed to. On the other hand, never confuse the issue of no scientific proof of efficacy for product formulas with the idea that there is no scientific backing to prove that herbs work – there is scientific evidence [example] that herbs work.

The article goes on to suggest that you consult your doctor or pharmacist about supplements. However, they are not experts in this field. If you want to know about herbs (for example) then consult a qualified herbalist AND tell your doctor and your pharmacist what you are doing. Get your healthcare TEAM working for your safety and good health!

My suggestion: consult your experts. Pharmacists about pharmaceutical drugs, physicians about disease, and qualified herbalists about herbs.

The calcium study

Once again people are getting plenty of exercise jumping to conclusions. Whether it's the mainstream media scaring people about taking calcium supplements or the Alternative health community screaming about the "Stupid Calcium Study". [To read the study article click here]

While I think it deplorable the way the mainstream media has used this study to cause people to panic about taking calcium supplements, it is, in my opinion, a valuable study because it once again demonstrates that when we isolate naturally occurring substances they can cause problems; something that many of us herbalists have been trying to tell people for years.

This study shows us that when we use calcium in isolation it can have detrimental effects on health. Yet calcium in the complexity of food, or at least taken with vitamin D has health promoting effects.

The authors of the journal article also mention the problem of taking antacids to get calcium. Wholistic practitioners have been telling people for years that this is not the way to get your calcium because you need a healthy level of stomach acid in order to absorb your calcium.

Increasingly studies are coming out that demonstrate the problem with isolating natural substances - and now we have another one. whether it's isolating phytochemicals from plants or not getting our calcium in conjunction with vitamin D, and other necessary ingredients for healthy bones.

There's more to strong bones and good health than just calcium... and this study provides more proof of that statement.