Dr. Shawn’s Blog

Consumer Reports Gets It Wrong On Supplements

August 6, 2010 on 5:54 am | In General Posts | No Comments

Many of you have probably read the latest issue of Consumer Reports discussing the risk of using dietary supplements. In their article, they listed 12 supplements to avoid: aconite, bitter orange, chaparral, colloidal silver, coltsfoot, comfrey, country marshmallow, germanium, greater celandine, lobelia, kava, and yohimbe.

While it’s true that some of these supplements can be quite toxic and even fatal, it was interesting but not surprising to see kava included in this list.

While kava has been used historically by indigenous people of the Polynesian islands as a beverage for relaxation and as part of traditional ceremonies, it has also been promoted as an herb that can be helpful for people and pets suffering from mild anxiety. Several years ago, there were a very few reports in the literature of kava causing liver failure. Widely reported in the media, a minor panic ensued and the recommendation was made to avoid the use of kava due to its potential liver toxicity (interestingly, the FDA, while warning of the potential dangers of kava, continue to allow its use and sale.)

A careful review of the scant case reports involving liver failure in people taking kava failed to show a direct association between the use of kava and liver failure. Several of the reports failed to indicate the form of kava used or the dosage administered. It was clear in some of the reports that other potentially liver toxic products or medications were also used in those suffering from liver disease. In some cases patients had pre-existing liver disease or suffered from alcoholism. After reviewing the reports, it was determined that it was unlikely that the administration of kava was instrumental in causing liver failure in most of the patients. Nevertheless, whenever there is any potential indication that a natural therapy causes problems, the FDA is quick to overreact, either putting out warnings about the use of the product or simply banning the product altogether.

Interestingly, even if it was determined that the use of kava in the 30 or so patients reported to have liver failure was the actual cause of liver failure, this is a far lower number of patients suffering side effects from a supplement than is commonly reported from most conventional medications which are prescribed or administered over the counter.

While I applaud Consumer Reports for pointing out that supplements, even though they are “natural” are not always necessarily “safe,” they fail to point out that in most cases, nutritional supplements are far safer than and cause fewer side effects than conventional medications. When you consider the number of patients who become sick, are hospitalized, and even die from conventional medications annually, the careful use of properly prescribed supplements is much safer and much less likely to harm the patient. Because supplements may exhibit side effects and may interact with other supplements or conventional medications, the smartest way to use them is under the supervision of a doctor familiar with and trained in naturopathic medicine.

In my medical practice, I rarely see side effects from properly prescribed supplements and my patients tend to be healthier and live longer when supplements are used to maintain health and treat diseases as patients are weaned from the numerous conventional medications often prescribed by other doctors. Polypharmacy, the practice of using multiple medications to treat disease, is much riskier an associated with far more side effects than the use of nutritional supplements. It’s unfortunate that the media fails to properly inform consumers of the numerous dangers associated with the use of one or more conventional medications but seems to take delight in scaring the public because a very few patients experienced side effects from improperly administered nutritional supplements or herbs.