Dirty Dozen ingredients within diet supplements

William Atkins
Thursday, 05 August 2010 22:51

Science - Health

The magazine Consumer Reports has announced 12 ingredients in dietary supplements that it considers dangerous to one's health because they are linked to such problems as cancer, liver damage, and heart problems.

 

In the August 3, 2010 WebMD article 'Danger Lurking in Some Dietary Supplements?' senior program editor Nancy Metcalf, who is with the magazine Consumer Reports, states, 'The dozen we call out in this report are by no means the only dangerous ingredients. They are the ones we chose to highlight."

The Consumer Reports personnel working on this investigation for the magazine had help from experts with the independent research group Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.

The team first identified 25 ingredients among almost 1,100 ingredients in the database that had been linked to serious problems by past medical studies or case reports.

They then narrowed down the 25 to 12 ingredients that Consumer Reports 'advises people to avoid.' [WebMD]

On the other hand, a spokesperson for the dietary supplement industry, as reported by WebMD, stated, that the report is ''a little bit sensationalized."

Anyway, as reported by Consumer Reports, the dirty dozen ingredients in dietary supplement products are found on page two.