Scrutinize those dietary supplements carefully

A Washington state study by the Hartman group indicated we spend $2 billion a year on vitamins E and C and beta-carotene. The Centers for Disease Control indicate we spend nearly $4 billion on herbs alone.

The vitamin and nutritional supplement section of our local grocery store is half a block long. I recently observed a supplement search. The shopper was on a mission to find cranberry concentrate, selenium and "mixed carotenes." It took her quite a while. One definite benefit, she got a substantial amount of exercise in the process.

I just finished teaching a series of classes focused on the nutritional needs of older adults. One attendee knew the advantages of taking vitamins C and E. He didn’t want supplements (bless him); he wanted to know what foods he should eat. He was clear about getting vitamin C from strawberries, oranges or green peppers, but less knowledgeable about vitamin E. We identified the best sources as vegetable oils (sunflower and safflower), wheat germ, nuts and seeds. Switching his cooking oils and liberally spreading almond butter on his breakfast toast were just a few nutritional possibilities.

Choosing nutrient-dense foods rather than indulging in (not inexpensive) supplements is always preferred. That said, I suspect we’ll continue to purchase nutritional and dietary supplements in large quantities. It’s about convenience. (It’s also about how many green peppers one person can consume in a given day.)

So, if we’re going to do it, how do we assure we are "supplement safe"? There are so many aspects to this issue, I’m going to focus on only one. This is it: How do we know the supplements that we buy are what they say they are? What’s in a green pepper is fairly straightforward, but bottled nutritional and dietary supplements can be quite another story.

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The reality is that quality assurance is not assured. As an illustration, independent tests on 23 brands of SAM-e, a supplement touted to relieve joint pain and depression, found only 11 contained the active ingredient claimed on the label. As reported in the Food and Fitness Advisor published in affiliation with Cornell University, herbs and botanicals pose the biggest problems. As they put it, we have lots of products to choose from, some of which are clinically tested and quite excellent, and "some are absolute junk."

What to do? Remember the manufacturers are responsible for developing and maintaining a product’s quality standard. There are relatively few Food and Drug Administration parameters. "Junk" is easy to buy. Read labels carefully and acquire evidence-based information about a chosen supplement. There’s an FDA publication, "Tips for the Savvy Supplement User," that might be useful to you. Start your search for that at: www.cfsan.fda.gov.

There’s one phrase that constantly resurfaces as I look at informational claims made by supplement manufacturers and the FDA’s cautions regarding these claims. "If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is."

Sharon Johnson is an assistant professor in family and community development at OSU Extension and a member of the Senior Advisory Council. Reach her at s.johnson@oregonstate.edu.