Category Archives: Food Supplements

7 hours ago 2017 Legislative Session By Justin Horwath | The New Mexican | 7 hours ago

Clyde Mueller//The New Mexican

Debbie Pace, 59, sits on the front steps of her Albuquerque home last week. Pace is on a fixed income and receives $33 per month in food assistance.

Debbie Pace says she cries when she goes to the Smiths grocery store because she cant afford anything.

Pace, 59, of Albuquerque, says she receives just over $730 a month in Supplemental Security Income from the federal program for the disabled and others with little income. She also receives $33 in monthly food stamps.

The $33 in food stamps goes quick, she says. So, she goes to a local church for free food.

Now, Pace, like thousands of other New Mexicans who live on fixed incomes, is faced with having her food stamp benefits cut.

Thats because of the state budget crunch and a proposal to kill a $1.2 million annual state program that supplements federally funded food stamp benefits.

Pace is among some 12,800 New Mexico residents who receive what is known as minimum assistance under the food stamp program, known officially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Unlike other individuals and families living in poverty, who can receive anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,100 each month in food stamps, Pace and others on fixed incomes who are disabled or who are 60 or older qualify for the minimum of $16 per month in federally funded food assistance.

Nearly a decade ago, the state began supplementing that assistance, bringing the minimum benefits to between $25 and $30 a month. But with the state grappling with a budget crisis, the Legislative Finance Committee, made up of Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, has recommended doing away with the state supplement.

While the cut may not seem like much, to people living on slim margins, every dollar counts.

Pace says its appalling that some state officials would even think of cutting the food stamp program for those who cannot work because of disabilities.

She says the state told her she qualifies for only $25 per month in benefits but continues to pay her $33 per month.

The proposal to slash the state supplement to federal food stamp benefits underscores the difficult choices lawmakers face trying to find solutions for the states fiscal crisis, which has been exacerbated in recent years by declining oil and gas revenues.

Over the past decade, New Mexico has been dipping into its general fund to increase the minimum food stamp benefit for residents on fixed incomes, said Ruth Hoffman, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico, who helped state officials develop the program in 2007.

Gov. Susana Martinez opposes the LFC proposal. A competing budget proposal by the governor would keep the funding in place.

She championed it, Hoffman said of the governors advocacy for the program since she took office in 2011.

Kyler Nerison, a spokesman for the state Human Services Department, said the program provides important benefits and that the governors budget proposal calls for state government to live within its means not force the most vulnerable New Mexicans to tighten their belts.

Hoffman said many seniors receiving monthly Social Security benefits didnt believe applying for food assistance was worth the trouble if they would receive only $16 per month. But applications for food assistance by those on fixed incomes increased after the state hiked the minimum benefit to $25 per month, according to Hoffman, who said the extra money may not seem like much but can buy eggs, meat and other items.

Sovereign Hager, staff attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the proposal to cut the program is a direct result of the state not raising adequate revenue to fund government while giving tax breaks to corporations.

Food insecurity among New Mexicos elderly, which is among the worst in the nation, has decreased in the past decade with the states funding of the program, she said.

We do not want this to backslide, Hager said.

Christine Boerner, senior fiscal analyst at the Legislative Finance Committee, said the state was able to use federal stimulus money to launch the program in 2008 during the recession.

Boerner told the Senate Finance Committee this month that the Legislative Finance Committee recommended cutting the program because the state budget crisis makes it difficult for us to supplement that for the general fund when its a federal program, and the federal government has decided what the minimum SNAP benefit would be for these folks who have relatively higher incomes.

Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, said the $1.2 million the state pays for the program is really not a large amount considering the number of seniors it serves across the state.

You know, with $25 a month, I think we could do better, Rodriguez said. Cutting them with that respect doesnt seem like the right thing to do. There are priorities here.

Contact Justin Horwath at 505-986-3017 or jhorwath@sfnewmexican.com.

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Lawmakers propose cutting state food benefit program - New Mexico Political Report

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Consumers are unknowingly at risk from herbal supplements that can contain unlisted pharmacological ingredients.

Consumers are being put at risk from herbal supplements available over the counter that contain pharmacological ingredients not listed on the product label, according to research published in the Journal of the Association of Public Analysts[1] (2016;44:051-066). Unlisted ingredients included medications used to treat erectile dysfunction, stimulants and banned substances used in diet pills as well as unauthorised food ingredients.

A group of British food and biomolecular scientists with a special interest in food safety sought out evidence of illegal ingredients discovered in supplements by reviewing cases reported to the European Unions Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), along with enforcement reports and recalls issued by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2009 and 2016.

When they considered the EU database, the researchers found that the most reported pharmacological ingredients in food supplements were: sildenafil (including analogues) (68 cases); sibutramine and derivatives (63); 1,3-dimethylamylamine (DMAA; 58) synephrine, phenethylamine and derivatives (37); yohimbine (30) and tadalafil (29).

When they examined the FDA database the findings were similar: sibutramine (16 cases); sulfoaildenafil (13); sildenafil (10); tadalafil (9); hydroxythiohomosildenafil (5) and dimethylsildenafil (3).

The researchers also found evidence of food supplements containing permitted food additives in excess of their limits, unauthorised food ingredients, unauthorised nutritionally-related compounds, excess vitamins and one case of the poison strychnine.

The researchers warn that their findings mean that consumers were unknowingly being put at risk.

Many people consume large quantities of food supplements without knowing the potential interactions with other supplements or drugs that they may be taking in parallel, the researchers say in their paper. Food supplements are regulated as foodstuffs and not with the same pre-sales rigour as medicines. Hence, the safety of food supplement consumption is often questionable.

Tadalafil and sildenafil are usually prescribed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and if taken with other drugs that contain nitrates can lower blood pressure drastically. Yohimbine, used as an aphrodisiac, can cause bronchospasm and a lupus-like syndrome; the product can also increase blood pressure and induce anxiety, the researchers warn. And studies that have examined the effects of sibutramine have indicated that the drug could be associated with adverse effects such as panic attacks, memory impairments and psychotic episodes, they add.

The researchers go on to say that in order to protect consumer health, adequate methods to be able to analyse these illegal and potentially toxic products in food supplements need to be put in place.

They suggest that the first choice for screening food supplements for the top six pharmacological compounds discovered by their review, should be high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). They suggest that if nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry is available this could be an excellent first-line method of control for herbal food supplements.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government body that regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK, says that it is aware of the study. While food supplements are the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency, the MHRA investigates the sale and supply of undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients that may be added to food supplements.

An MHRA spokesperson comments; The Internet offers access to a vast number of websites offering a wide range of products marketed as slimming pills or male enhancement. Many make attractive claims and offer quick-fix solutions; others offer natural products. But natural doesnt always mean safe.

The reality is many of these pills will be untested. That means theres no way of knowing whats in them or what they might do to your health in the short term or long term. Chances are they simply will not work but they may contain potentially harmful ingredients. The consequences can be very serious.

The MHRA is running a #FakeMeds campaign that highlights some of the dangers around food supplements. Consumers can identify a legitimate supplier by looking for the distance selling logo, adds the spokesperson.

Citation: The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ February 2017 online, online | DOI: 10.1211/PJ.2017.20202308

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Consumers at risk from drug ingredients in herbal food supplements - The Pharmaceutical Journal

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Borderline products: Marketing food supplements in the UK following the glucosamine case - JD Supra (press release)

Unlike FDA-approved medications, makers of dietary supplements are not required to demonstrate that their products are safe or effective. That shouldnt stop independent researchers from doing their own tests to find out if a product works or is dangerous, but when one Harvard professor tried to do just that, supplement makers tried to shut him up..

STATnews has an in-depth profile of Dr. Pieter Cohen, a researcher and industry watchdog who has been digging into dietary supplements and so-called all natural ingredients for years.

That includes an amphetamine-like substance called beta-methylphenethylamine (BMPEA) that has been found to send blood pressure and heart rate soaring in dogs and cats, notes STAT, pointing out that the chemical has been linked to at least one stroke, and that Canadian officials have called BMPEA a serious health risk.

In 2014, Food and Drug Administration scientists found BMPEA in nine purportedly all-natural supplements instead of the Acacia rigidula plant listed on the label. However, the FDA stayed mum as to the products named or the manufacturers that made them.

That prompted Cohen and his colleagues to try to replicate those findings and publicize the specific brands using BMPEA. In the resulting study published in the scientific journal Drug Testing and Analysis in April 2015, his team says they chemically analyzed 21 popular supplements, made by various manufacturers, all labeled as containing Acacia rigidula. Eleven of those were positive for BMPEA, in some cases at potentially dangerous levels.

Consumers of Acacia rigidula supplements may be exposed to pharmacological dosages of an amphetamine isomer that lacks evidence of safety in humans, concluded the 2015 paper, noting that the data strongly suggested this BMPEA was not naturally occurring, but was being added to spike the final product.

The same month that report was released, the FDA issued warning letters to makers of dietary supplements, including a company called Hi-Tech, whose products had accounted for a majority of the supplements that tested positive for BMPEA in Cohens study.

BMPEA is a substance that does not meet the statutory definition of a dietary ingredient, the agency notes. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act defines a dietary ingredient as a vitamin; mineral; herb or other botanical; amino acid; dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of the preceding substances. BMPEA is none of these, rendering misbranded any products that declare BMPEA as a dietary supplement.

A few days later, the FDA continued the crackdown, notifying the makers of products to stop sales.

On that same day, April 28, Hi-Tech filed a lawsuit [PDF] in U.S. District Court in the companys home state of Georgia against Cohen and the studys three co-authors for $200 million. Cohen says he didnt know he was being sued until he came across a report of the lawsuit in a supplement industry trade publication.

Hi-Techs owner and CEO Jared Wheat blamed Cohen for costing the company an immediate $14 million in lost business. Wheat says he received hundreds of supportive calls and emails in relation to the lawsuit, from people hoping that we were able to silence this guy.

A judge in Georgia dismissed that lawsuit in the spring of 2016, however, because Cohen didnt do any of his work in that state.

Nothing in Plaintiffs allegations would show that Defendant Cohen wrote the article or made any additional statements with the purpose of directing them at Hi-Tech, the Georgia Plaintiff, the judge wrote in that decision. The alleged offending article relates only to -methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA) and whether it is a substance that occurs naturally in Acacia rigidula.

Hi-Tech then refiled the lawsuit [PDF] in Massachusetts, dropping the studys co-authors as defendants and nixing the demand for $200 million in damages.

Last summer, a federal judge ruled that Hi-Tech had a 7th Amendment right to a jury trial. That required Cohen to turn over hundreds of pages of his notes, peer-review feedback, and his written correspondences with the journal, coauthors, and journalists.

At the trial, which started in October, Hi-Tech accused Cohen of ignoring fundamental canons and methods of scientific investigation, and of making allegedly false statements about BMPEA. The company maintained that the BMPEA in its products occurred naturally, counter to Cohens contentions.

In the end, the jury wasnt buying it. On Nov. 1, 2016 they ruled in Cohens favor, putting an end to this legal ordeal for the researcher.

He is now back to work: Days after he won the trial, he submitted a new study for publication, and has three new projects in motion this year. In his view, the arrival of the Trump administration means its more important than ever to hold the FDA responsible for enforcing the law.

My experience has really reinforced to me why it is so important to not only continue the research were doing but to be very aggressive about speaking out about it, Cohen says, adding that if one research paper could lead to an exhausting trial, it could have a chilling effect on others in his line of work.

Wheat, the CEO of Hi-Tech, hopes thats the case, he tells STAT.

I spent a lot of money, but hopefully it will deter others from going out there and making baseless allegations, Wheat said. His advice to other academics: Think twice and do better research, knowing you can get sued if you do this.

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A Supplement Company Sued Over Research It Didn't Like And Lost - Consumerist

A leading dentist claimed sugary foods and supplements are wreaking havoc on the dental health of thousands of nursing home patients.

Dr Anne Twomey said people who have held onto their teeth for 80 years are now losing them in three months.

She accused the HSE of reneging on its duty of care to 27,000 patients by failing to meet their dental health needs.

Dr Twomey, who is vice president of the Irish Dental Association, said the unregulated use of fortified high sugar food supplements is causing untold damage.

She said: Fortified oral nutritional supplements can be effective in increasing a patients calorie intake but one of the consequences of constantly sipping these high sugar content drinks is the very negative effect they have on oral health.

When you add in all the gifts of sweets and soft drinks which patients receive you have a recipe for disaster. Dr Twomey said her practice was contacted recently by a nursing home to say an elderly patient with end-stage Parkinsons disease, urgently needed dental care.

On the first visit, she said she could see there was overwhelming halitosis and sadly her grandchildren were refusing to hug her. Staff had rubbed the 75 year-olds teeth twice daily with a sponge but she hadnt had her teeth brushed in two years.

Dr Twomey said she had to remove four of the womans upper incisors, while the remaining teeth were in such poor condition phased extractions were essential.

She pointed out that because of the medication a significant number of patients like this woman suffer from dry mouth and this accelerates dental decay.

She said: Very often the situation has reached crisis proportions by the time Im called in and I have to take out 15 to 20 teeth over a short period of time.

Although these patients are among our most vulnerable citizens, they have little or no access to oral hygiene.

In addition dentists are generally not included in the multi-disciplinary teams which care for them.

Dr Twomey highlighted this issue in a recent edition of the Journal of the IDA.

She has urged the HSE and HIQA to step up to their obligations and added: These patients did not reach old age with their original teeth on a high-sugar diet.

As well as carefully monitoring high-sugar supplements, family and carers should be encouraged to provide low-sugar treats. Patients bedrooms often resemble a sweet shop.

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Top dentist claims sugary foods and supplements bad for nursing home patients' teeth - Irish Mirror

Gluten-free, paleo, probiotics, juicing, smoothies, fat is bad, no-fat foods are good, kale!

Hip new diets, trendy supplements and ever-changing rules about what not to eat are the norm in the world of nutrition. With all of the information available and all of the conflicting claims t can be difficult to determine whats actually healthy and whats just hype.

So we asked Katherine Tucker, professor of nutritional epidemiology in the Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences Department, to weigh in on what new nutrition trends we can expect, which diet is actually the healthiest to follow and whether kale will still rule the day in 2017. Heres what she had to say:

1. Probiotics and prebiotics will be the talk of 2017.

In the new year, its all about good bacteria. These tiny organisms play a big role in our overall health, and Tucker said a major focus of the coming year will be increasing their ranks through probiotics food or supplements containing live bacteria and prebiotics, which feed good bacteria and help them grow.

Probably the biggest thing for nutrition in 2017 will be the microbiome and the use of prebiotics and probiotics, Tucker said.

Probiotics can be found in foods like yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi, while prebiotics are found primarily in resistant starch, which is in whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and potatoes that have been cooked and cooled, as in potato salad.

This is yet another reason why these foods, which are virtually missing in many peoples dietsparticularly those on the low-carb dietare so important, Tucker said. Both probiotics and prebiotics can also be found in supplements, but Tucker said its best to eat the foods themselves.

2. Go Mediterranean in 2017.

New year, new you? It wouldnt be the start of a new year without resolutions to finally lose that extra weight and get in shape once and for all. For those in search of an eating plan thats based on sound principles and sustainable beyond January, Tucker said Mediterranean is the way to go.

The Mediterranean diet is the pattern that has shown the most health benefits in research, Tucker said. This means increasing the use of olive oil, nuts and seeds, seafood, fruit and vegetables, and fluid dairy such as milk and yogurt while avoiding processed meat, refined-grain products and sugar-sweetened beverages.

3. Quinoa will give kale a run for its money.

Kale has become the go-to addition to salads, smoothies, pasta dishes, soups and even chips for health-conscious eaters and for good reason. The dark, leafy green vegetable is loaded with vitamins and minerals. But while kales popularity isnt likely to fade anytime soon, Tucker said quinoas star should continue to rise in 2017 and beyond.

I think quinoa will continue to expand, Tucker said. It is the seed of a grain plant, used as a whole grain, that is high in protein, good quality fatty acids, dietary fiber, magnesium, B vitamins and antioxidants and it tastes good.

Still, Tucker cautioned against relying too heavily on one particular food for a nutritional boost, noting that while foods like kale and quinoa should be part of everyones diet, no single food can supply all of a persons needs, and an overemphasis on any single aspect of nutrition leads to imbalance.

It seems that people look for a simple solution when it comes to nutrition and then tend to go too far with it, be it low-fat or low-carb diets, supplements or kale, Tucker said. It really is all about a variety of good, quality whole foods and balance.

4. Extremes are out, and balance is in.

In 2017, I see a decline in the appeal of fad diets, Tucker said. People are realizing that while some lead to weight loss at first, theyre not sustainable, and the weight comes back on. Theres also an increasing awareness that broad categories of foods, like fat, arent good or bad, but rather its the quality of the food and the balance of the overall diet that matters.

When it comes to imbalance in the typical American diet, Tucker pointed to the following areas:

Overall, Tucker said she believes people will continue to move away from processed foods and highly specialized diets to more natural, balanced options in 2017 as priorities shift from short-term weight loss to long-term health.

Im optimistic that people are realizing that real, whole foods are the key to health and that there will be a decline in demand for foods that are highly processed with artificial ingredients, Tucker said. This is important in supporting local agriculture and sending a message to the food industry that we want minimally processed foods to improve our health.

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Expert Weighs in on Nutrition Trends in 2017 - UMass Lowell

Committed to offering a holistic approach to beauty and wellness, and built on the foundation of a 3-Tier Solution, Perricone MD promotes healthy aging and beautiful skin through an anti-inflammatory diet, consumption of targeted nutritional supplements and the use of premium, highly efficacious skincare.

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The dynamic supplement collection was designed to allow consumers to choose based on their specific skin and health concerns. Perricone MD has selected the ingredients derived from whole foods in each of the supplements to deliver maximum benefits in line with the Perricone MD anti-inflammatory diet. Each of the six supplements may be taken alone or combined to create a personalized regimen based on each individual's needs.

"Even with the healthiest of diets, optimal health can't always be achieved by food alone. Targeted nutritional supplements serve an important role in anti-inflammation and healthy aging," said Perricone MD Chief Innovation Officer Christopher Caires. "We developed all of the supplements in the line based on the principles of bio-availability. All ingredient forms and combinations are easily and effectively absorbed by the human body and have been proven to show results."

An ideal addition to any 2017 resolution, Perricone MD Whole Food Supplements range from $25 to $55 per bottle and are available at PerriconeMD.com.

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For two decades, Dr. Nicholas Perricone and Perricone MD have built a legacy on delivering cutting-edge skincare solutions that push the scientific envelope. The Perricone MD philosophy espouses a holistic lifestyle where beauty begins from the inside out. Established on the foundation of a 3-Tier Solution, Perricone MD promotes an anti-inflammatory diet, the consumption of targeted nutritional supplements and the use of premium anti-inflammatory skincare solutions.

Renowned for delivering dramatic clinically tested results, Perricone MD products feature the following award-winning patented sciences: Nrf2 Antioxidant Support Complex, DMAE, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C Ester and Neuropeptides. Perricone MD products are available onperriconemd.comand a flagship store in Berkeley, CA, as well as at Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom,Neimanmarcus.comand other leading specialty stores in the US. Perricone MD products are also available in more than 21 countries around the world in prestige venues.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/perricone-md-introduces-new-supplement-collection-powered-by-whole-food-nutrients-300403109.html

SOURCE Perricone MD

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Perricone MD Introduces New Supplement Collection Powered By Whole Food Nutrients - PR Newswire (press release)

On the surface, the product seemed appealing: a natural herbal supplement marketed to boost energy and facilitate weight loss.

For some consumers, though, the fat-burning pill known as OxyELITE Pro bore a nasty side effect: unexplained acute hepatitis.

You think youre taking something to give you a little more energy and then, lo and behold, youve got a bad liver problem that lands you in the hospital, says Robert J. Fontana, M.D., a hepatologist and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program at the University of Michigan Health System.

In a recent paper, Fontana detailed seven cases of injury attributed to OxyELITE Pro from various U.S. medical centers participating in the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN).

Of those incidents, six patients were hospitalized, three developed acute liver failure and two required emergency liver transplants.

Although the affected group generally healthy, middle-aged adults who followed the manufacturers recommended dosage was small, their maladies underscore the risks of such products.

Nor do they mark the first time an herbal dietary supplement has caused harm.

Consumers might recall the controversy surrounding Hydroxycut, whose manufacturer voluntarily recalled 14 variations of the product line in 2009 after the Food and Drug Administration logged nearly two dozen reports of serious liver injuries.

Unlike standard pharmaceuticals, herbal supplements arent regulated by the FDA.

And a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year found that dietary supplements account for 20,000 emergency room visits annually with many admissions involving young people.

Which is why Fontana urges extreme caution, if not abstinence.

I dont advise my patients to take any over-the-counter product willy-nilly, he says. These products are medically unproven and carry potential risk since the manufacturers are not required to demonstrate efficacy or safety in patients prior to marketing them.

He spoke more about the issue:

Are herbal supplements proven to help people lose weight?

Fontana: What is known to facilitate weight loss is, as you know, the traditional regimen of watching what you eat and exercise and calorie restriction. And theres also the medical route of meeting with a dietitian.

Other, newer approaches include endoscopic devices to change ones sense of stomach fullness as well as stomach surgery for severely overweight patients.

In terms of prescription drugs for weight loss, only one or two total are actually approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Theres not a whole lot of great options out there. A holistic physician might give herbs to patients, but thats not a traditional M.D. type of doctor, and thats not what I would do.

Most people in the survey taking OxyELITE Pro already had a normal body mass index but said they were using it to lose weight. Why?

Fontana: Theres an obsession in our culture with taking over-the-counter things to stay well, be well, feel well. Every condition or symptom has a pill. Theres huge marketing that goes on around this.

People want these things, and theyre buying them out of their own free will.

Whats the difference in how prescription drugs and herbal supplements are regulated?

Fontana: The FDA is very much involved with food regulation and drug development. Every patient exposed to a prescription medication during clinical trials (receives) data (analysis), blood and kidney tests.

There are very meticulous and high standards to get a drug approved.

But theres essentially no parallel regulation of herbal products. The regulatory process is quite expensive and cumbersome.

So people take these things over-the-counter herbal products from the health food store with touted health benefits and bad things can happen.

How did OxyELITE Pro make people sick? Was action taken?

Fontana: We dont know. No one really knows. The product had been around for many years before 2013 and is still available now in a newer formulation. Why, all of a sudden, did we get reports of this? What was it that was toxic?

We speculate that there may be a liver-toxic ingredient in the implicated formulation, but thus far nobody has been able to identify the responsible ingredient.

The FDA did take regulatory actions against the company because they had included an ingredient (aegeline, a dietary ingredient) that was not grandfathered in something that was not previously identified.

Its the only way the FDA can investigate these companies and how they got them to pull it from the market.

At the public health level, theres enough evidence accruing that there should be some changes in federal legislation to provide the FDA with the authority and resources to more closely regulate the manufacturing and promotion of these widely used products marketed as being safe since they frequently contain herbs, botanicals and other components derived from natural plants and foods. However, changes like this literally require an act of Congress.

How, meanwhile, could supplements be taken safely?

Fontana: Consult with your doctor before taking any such products to have them review them and provide input. You could call in to discuss your medical history.

A patient might say, I have liver disease, which is very important to know if youre considering taking these things since most ingested products are processed or eliminated either through the liver or the kidney.

Patients come in, they might be tired or have abdominal pain, and they dont think to tell us: Oh, I went to the health food store at the mall and Ive been taking something. People forget, or theyre a little bit embarrassed to tell you.

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News source:Michigan Health. The content is edited for length and style purposes. Figure legend: This Knowridge.com image is credited to Michigan Health.

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Why herbal and dietary supplements cause some doctors concern - Knowridge Science Report

Fargo, N.D. (Valley News Live): Products you think are helping you live a healthier life could be killing you. Herbal and dietary supplements are used across the U.S. but a new study finds these supplements are causing increased liver injuries. According to the study, liver injuries from dietary and herbal supplements are more than 20% of cases in the U.S.

Heidi Larson of Mentor, Minnesota, continues to count her blessings while still healing after suffering a severe liver injury. The injury was caused from a diet pill in the fall of 2015. Larson says she followed the directions on the bottle for the supplement.

"Within six weeks I was very ill and I didn't think much of that product," said Heidi Larson.

She began to have stomach pains, dark urine and her skin and eyes became yellow. Her doctors ran tests and found her numbers for her liver were up and her gallbladder was enlarged.

"My mom had called and said did you tell them you are on this nutritional product?" explained Larson. "I said well no because it's all natural and I didn't even think of it."

Larson stopped taking the product six weeks in but her symptoms continued to worsen. She was sent to a liver specialist in Fargo and they did an array of testing. Weeks later she found out it was from the Green Tea Extract in the supplement.

"It pretty much destroyed my liver," stated Larson. "Good thing the liver regenerates and I stopped taking it in time so I didn't totally destroy it."

"2014, it was roughly 10,000 cases since then the number of herbal and dietary injury has increased by 10 folds," explained Sanford Hepatologist Dr. Sajid Jalil.

The liver plays an important role in the body by filtering out toxins.

"People tend to believe that these supplements are natural and by extension harmless, that is not the case," said Jalil.

The study found most liver injuries tend to come from supplements that include green tea extract, anabolic steroids like bodybuilding and sport supplements, multi-ingredient nutritional supplements such as products mixed with vitamins, amino acids, proteins and botanical extracts.

"Most of these supplements are safe," explained Jalil. "I am not going to say that all of them are unsafe but with increasing use you will see increased risk of liver injury and they can range from no symptoms at all, just minor elevation of liver tests versus severe injury liver failure."

Dr. Jalil says products like Hydrocut have been taken out of the market but reformulated and introduced with a different name.

H&I Nutrition is a Fargo supplement store. The store manager says they educate their customers on what they are taking and advise them to follow the directions.

"Everyone thinks the more the better, that is not the case," said H&I Nutrition Manager Thomas Hastad. "A lot of times you take the recommend doses of the product, keep your water intake high and a healthy diet and you will be completely fine."

Hastad says he does ask his customers what their goals are and if they do have a plan. We asked if he ever tells his customers to tell their doctor the products they are taking.

"I don't stress that fact,that they need to tell, that is more their decision," explained Hastad. "That is kind of common knowledge you should be open with your doctor."

"Have you ever disclosed these things that you take? These supplements to your Doctor?" asked reporter Ashley Bishop.

"I guess not specifically, which I probably should because I am on some medications," said Justine Millar.

"You need to disclose pretty much everything," explained Jalil. "These supplements get ignored but when you're taking other medication there are a lot of drug to drug interactions. We have to know what you are taking so you make sure you are getting proper medication without drug interaction."

Dr. Jalil says everyone should remember that anything you ingest could cause liver problems and recommends not mixing supplements. Many people forget or are unaware that supplement manufactures are not required to prove to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) their products are safe or even effective. The study referenced earlier suggests more regulation is needed to provide safer products to the public. If you are looking for a way to keep your liver in good health, drink coffee or take Vitamin E.

Originally posted here:

Are the supplements you take killing you? - Valley News Live

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Experts reveal hidden dangers behind supplements Science Daily Professor Burns from Queen's University, who is working to advance knowledge in this area, explained: "Our review looked at research from right across the globe and questioned the purity of herbal food supplements. We have found that these supplements ... New study shows hidden dangers in supplements - UPI.comUPI.com all 3 news articles »

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Experts reveal hidden dangers behind supplements - Science Daily