Supplements

Studies Show Little Benefit in Supplements

In an editorial entitled “The Supplement Paradox: Negligible Benefits, Robust Consumption” accompanying the new report, Dr. Pieter A. Cohen, of Cambridge Health Alliance and Somerville Hospital Primary Care in Massachusetts, pointed out that “supplements are essential to treat vitamin and mineral deficiencies” and that certain combinations of nutrients can help some medical conditions, like age-related macular degeneration. He added, however, “for the majority of adults, supplements likely provide little, if any, benefit.”

A new report heaps more skepticism on vitamin D and calcium supplements

If you’re taking vitamin D and calcium supplements to maintain strong bones and prevent fractures, it might be for naught.

Do you really need to take a vitamin? 5 things to know before you buy

In the largely unregulated supplement industry, products may be ineffective or even dangerous.

Who’s checking if your vitamins and supplements are safe?

Not the FDA. Apart from that list, you’re in the wild west. Melatonin pills might as well be sugar tablets and echinacea drops could easily be herb-flavored water. Drink me.

No Government Oversight of Dietary Supplements? Enter LabDoor

With the government abdicating its responsibility to ensure that dietary supplements are all they're cracked up to be, the door is wide open for LabDoor, a service that promises to bring the facts.

The Vitamin Myth: Why We Think We Need Supplements

Nutrition experts contend that all we need is what's typically found in a routine diet. Industry representatives, backed by a fascinating history, argue that foods don't contain enough, and we need supplements. Fortunately, many excellent studies have now resolved the issue.

Are Supplements Killing You? The Problem With Vitamins, Minerals

In two recently published studies, researchers suggest that supplements can do more harm than good if taken in addition to a healthy diet.

Do Vitamins and Supplements Make Antidepressants More Effective?

The multibillion-dollar supplement industry spews many dubious claims, but a new study suggests that some nutritional supplements, including omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, may boost the effectiveness of antidepressants. If so, the supplements might help relieve symptoms for the millions of people who don’t immediately respond to these drugs.

Glucosamine - The Bubble is Burst... Maybe...

Just about everyone you know who exercises or has joint pain has taken glucosamine at one time or another, and most people swear by it. Yet recently several studies have demonstrated that the benefits of glucosamine are overrated. So, are you wasting your money?

How Your Supplements Interact With Prescription Drugs

St. John’s Wort, lavender, garlic and others can alter drug potency, cause side effects.

It’s Possible To Get Too Much Of These 5 Essential Nutrients

We’ve all been schooled about the unhealthy things we should limit, like sugar and sodium. But there are also some healthy things that, in excess, can do more harm than good. In other words, even when a nutrient is vital, more isn’t necessarily better. Here are the risks associated with going overboard on five key nutrients — some of them may take you by surprise.

I’m In: Let’s Talk About Dietary Supplements

Times are good for probiotics. Fatty acid supplements — those derived from fish and krill oils — are struggling. Sports nutrition is on an upward trend (and has been for several years). Weight loss supplements — Garcinia cambogia and green coffee beans in particular — well, perhaps this category is best not mentioned right now. There is no escaping the fact that the dietary supplement industry has received a great deal of media attention over the past year.

Meet the New Snake Oil, Same as the Old Snake Oil

No longer the exclusive province of carnival barkers and traveling salesmen, the snake oil of today is made by countless companies and sold at GNC, Target, Walgreens, Walmart, and thousands of other retailers on and off the Web. I’m referring to dietary supplements, products such as echinacea, ginseng, ginkgo biloba, and other “herbs,” variously marketed to provide relief from colds, enhance stamina, improve memory, relieve aching joints, or deliver other benefits.

One Of The World's Top Aging Researchers Has A Pill To Keep You Feeling Young

Elysium Health hasn't discovered the fountain of youth, but their new supplement—with the backing of some of the world's foremost authorities on aging—could change how you get older.

Supplements - So Which Ones Should We Really be Taking?

Have you taken your vitamins today? But are they really necessary or a waste of your hard earned money. A healthy, balanced diet may be all you really need!

The Truth Behind Your Supplements

The right supplements can provide a benefit, when properly matched to your unique needs.

Vitamins - Do They Work?

Vitamin supplementation, except for vitamin D, does not reproduce the protective effect of natural food stuffs. So, why do we persist on taking them?

Vitamins and the Failure of Free-Market Health

The booming dietary-supplement industry is plagued by outlandish claims, undermining credible science, and seeding confusion.

When the Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: Why Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Still Beat Dietary Supplements

When you take a supplement, you’re basically taking a purified form of an element, such as iron, vitamin D, or calcium. When you eat an apple or an onion, however, you’re also ingesting thousands of phytochemicals (antioxidants are a form of phytochemical).

Why Did Vitamins Disappear From Non-GMO Breakfast Cereal?

Remember when Cheerios and Grape-Nuts went GMO-free? That was about a year ago, when their corporate creators announced that these products would no longer contain ingredients made from genetically modified organisms like common types of corn, soybeans or sugar beets. When they actually arrived on supermarket shelves, though, there was a mysterious change in their list of ingredients. Four vitamins that previously had been added to Grape-Nuts — vitamins A, D, B-12 and B-2 (also known as riboflavin) — were gone. Riboflavin vanished from Cheerios.

The Fine Print of Dietary Supplements

What’s on the label doesn’t necessarily match what’s in the bottle.

Neither Herbal Nor Supplements

One thing that nutritional supplements do offer—apart from a sense of awe at their enormous commercial success—is a placebo effect. That can be very real. Unfortunate as it will be if today's news deprives anyone of some placebo-driven sense of ginseng-induced vitality, better still to address apparent institutionalized fraud.

Stop wasting your money on dietary supplements

For years, public health experts have practically begged people to stop wasting money on dietary supplements. For one, many of these pills don't work. Study after study has demonstrated that favorites like multivitamins don't actually improve outcomes on a number of health measures, from staving off cognitive decline to preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer. The health benefits of probiotics are wildly exaggerated, and taking antioxidants like beta carotene and vitamin E might even kill you faster.

7 Signs You May Have A Vitamin D Deficiency

So what should you watch for if you're concerned you might not get enough? Here are a few signs you might need more vitamin D.

Council for Responsible Nutrition

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington-based trade association representing ingredient suppliers and manufacturers in the dietary supplement industry. CRN members adhere to a strong code of ethics, comply with dosage limits and manufacture dietary supplements to high quality standards under good manufacturing practices.

Natural Medicines

Natural Medicines approaches the subject of natural medicines from a completely objective and unbiased perspective. It seeks to answer questions about natural medicines by systematically identifying, evaluating, and applying scientific information. As a result, it curtails perpetuation of myths and age-old beliefs and replaces them with reliable scientific data.

Natural Products Foundation

Naturalproductsinfo.org is a part of the Natural Products Foundation, your source for science-based vitamin and supplement information.

Critical Health News

Critical Health News brings together select alternative health voices, whose perspective and expertise offer evidence of the bodies natural ability to heal its self. Our goal is to create and gather the most meaningful health related information together as a service to give our readers the tools to empower themselves.

Fake Food Watch

Folly, fun, and fraud in U.S. industrial food.

List of Supplements

Examine.com is an independent and unbiased encyclopedia on supplementation and nutrition. We are not affiliated in any way with any supplement company. Founded in early 2011, we have one goal - to be the unbiased source for supplements and nutrition. We have spent tens of thousands of hours collating the latest scientific research. This site is run by editors who examine primary research. Users are encouraged to submit corrections and any research we may have missed.

Examine

We have no conflicts of interest: Our team is composed of scientists; all we do all day, every day, is analyze studies on nutrition and supplementation, to answer your questions.

LabDoor

As consumers, we'd like to think that the vitamins and supplements we buy are effective and safe. In reality, this isn't always the case. Labdoor is an independent company that tests supplements. We find out whether products have what they claim and if they have any harmful ingredients or contaminants. Then, we grade and rank those products, write reports, and publish that information for free, so consumers can confidently buy the best supplements for their health.

ConsumerLab.com

To identify the best quality health and nutritional products through independent testing.