Dietary Supplements: Navigating a Minefield

Use of dietary supplements has increased rapidly in recent years and around half of people in North America regularly use supplements.A wide variety of supplements are sold. In some cases there is strong evidence supporting their efficacy but in many other cases there is little or no supporting evidence.Supplements are marketed by a variety of different methods, including health food stores, multilevel marketing, bulk mail, spam e-mails, Internet websites, and infomercials on TV.A large part of marketing practices involves giving unreliable or dishonest information that is not supported by scientific studies.There is very little regulation of the marketing of supplements in the United States. However, Canada is now in the process of enforcing reasonably strict regulations.Suggestions are given on counseling patients so that they can better evaluate claims made by the sellers of supplements. Use of dietary supplements has increased rapidly in recent years and around half of people in North America regularly use supplements. A wide variety of supplements are sold. In some cases there is strong evidence supporting their efficacy but in many other cases there is little or no supporting evidence. Supplements are marketed by a variety of different methods, including health food stores, multilevel marketing, bulk mail, spam e-mails, Internet websites, and infomercials on TV. A large part of marketing practices involves giving unreliable or dishonest information that is not supported by scientific studies. There is very little regulation of the marketing of supplements in the United States. However, Canada is now in the process of enforcing reasonably strict regulations. Suggestions are given on counseling patients so that they can better evaluate claims made by the sellers of supplements.