Category Archives: Vitamins & Supplements

Say Bye Bye To Supplements

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Americans spend over $30 billion each year on dietary supplements, basically vitamins, minerals and herbal products. Yet there has been little evidence of the values of these supplements for normally healthy people. Now there are accumulating studies which show that for normally healthy people, most all of these supplements provide no significant value, and in some cases may even do harm.

Here are two media articles on the most recent of these studies:
There’s even more evidence that taking supplements is a waste of money — and could be harmful to your health
Nutrients from food, not supplements, linked to lower risks of death, cancer
And here is a link to the study itself:
Association Among Dietary Supplement Use, Nutrient Intake, and Mortality Among U.S. Adults: A Cohort Study

Here are posts about supplements from the American Heart Association and Johns Hopkins doctors:
Vitamin Supplements: Hype or Help for Healthy Eating
Is There Really Any Benefit to Multivitamins?
This is a link to the original editorial by the Hopkins doctors:
Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

As discussed in FDA: Stop Making False Claims For Supplements, the FDA recently sent out warning letters to supplement manufacturers telling them to stop claiming anti-Alzheimer’s benefits from their products. Because the FDA has limited ability to regulate the supplements industry, the situation has be come bizarre:
Nearly 800 dietary supplements contained unapproved drug ingredients, study finds
Original study:
Unapproved Pharmaceutical Ingredients Included in Dietary Supplements Associated With US Food and Drug Administration Warnings

All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Amelioration/Prevention > Vitamins & Select Foods.

FDA: Stop Making False Claims For Supplements

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The US FDA has sent warning letters to 17 manufacturers of supplements, warning them to cease making unsubstantiated claims that their products will prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s disease. These companies are illegally selling over 58 products which are unapproved new drugs and/or misbranded drugs.

Here are three media articles about the action:
FDA sends warning letters to 17 companies for ‘illegally selling’ products claiming to treat Alzheimer’s
FDA targets illegally marketed dietary supplements
Supplement Makers Touting Cures for Alzheimer’s and Other Diseases Get F.D.A. Warning

Here is the FDA press release:
FDA takes action against 17 companies for illegally selling products claiming to treat Alzheimer’s disease

All links have been added to
Alzheimers > Amelioration/Prevention > Vitamins & Select Foods.

Fish Oil Supplements No Help With Cognitive Decline

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Posted in Amelioration/Prevention > Vitamins & Select Foods:, two links to a large study demonstrating that Omenga 3 is (still) good for the brain, but that fish oil supplements are no help for cognitive decline:

Omega 3 is still good for the brain. But ‘fish oil supplements just don’t cut it.’ …study…finds that taking omega-3 supplements did not slow cognitive decline among 4,000 participants.

Omega-3 Supplements Do Not Have Any Benefit for Stopping Cognitive Decline …they found no evidence which could prove that omega-3 supplements could help in stopping cognitive decline in older people