Every year at this time, I prepare for my annual journey to Anaheim, California to attend the National Products Association’s Expo West. This is the largest product exhibition in our industry geared primarily to retail stores. Over the years, the event has gotten larger and more elaborate. There are three primary benefits for me continuing to attend: the opportunity to meet with 30 or so of our suppliers in one weekend; to gain perspective for what is going on in the industry including what the new ‘hot’ items are (none of which we have ever added to our line!); and finding new suppliers or product lines, some of which have been excellent. The value to me changes year to year – but I am still drawn, still eager to attend. (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)
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As I was preparing this year, I was struck by an article on the recent media frenzy surrounding the questionable benefits of dietary supplements – and the practical wisdom it contained. The article was written by Glenn Sabin who created a comprehensive, integrative oncology approach to achieve a complete pathological remission of his chronic leukemia without conventional intervention. He said his goal in writing the article was to “break through the din and unremitting confusion sown by the media whir around dietary supplements and our industry”. Glenn is a staunch proponent of well-placed, high quality nutritional supplementation and says he rarely finds it necessary to resort to his well-stocked medicine cabinet filled with symptom-fixing pharmaceuticals.
To be clear, Glenn is greatly disturbed by the irresponsible material sourcing, shoddy manufacturing standards and unethical marketing and sales tactics of a few fringe cavalier manufacturers, influencers, patients and even medical practitioners. He concludes that it is shameful how these bad apples are unnecessarily tarnishing the reputation of an incredibly important industry. He cites 4 important facts about dietary supplementation:
1. Nutrients are Best Derived from Food
Pesticide and antibiotic-free organic whole foods are the best source of vitamins, minerals and most nutrients, period. However, for large parts of the population, finding these quality food sources remains difficult if not impossible. Unfortunately, for most people, aggressively advertised and subsidized high calorie, high glycemic, inflammation- and oxidative stress-causing unhealthy foodstuffs are cheap, plentiful and readily accessible. Regrettably, this is what largely comprises our nation’s diet. It is possible to do okay without supplementing, he admits, if you’re among the minority who can identify, purchase and ingest copious amounts of the good stuff, possibly getting enough quality nutrition to prevent or even reverse disease. But as we continue to engineer more nutrition out of our food, it becomes evermore doubtful.
2. Studies Have Shown Dietary Supplements to be Effective, Ineffective, and Sometimes Harmful
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been largely wasted on large and small studies looking at the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplementation for disease prevention and treatment with varying results. The science continues to be all over the place. But the problem may well be in the testing and not in the supplements. In the U.S. we tend to take synthetically- derived supplements in lieu of quality, whole foods based, highly bioavailable products, administered in low potencies and test them in isolation -focusing on one outcome. Originally designed for pharma research, this reductionist model has unfortunately been highly ineffective for dietary supplement research. Many of these studies use an inferior product and may not study a dose sufficient to change physiology. Most clinical studies on vitamins are flawed by poor meth odology. Despite all of these issues, there is actually a large and growing body of evidence demonstrating the safe and effective use of supplemented nutrients. Regrettably, these studies just don’t seem to get their fair share of the media spotlight.
3. FDA Provides Poor Oversight of Dietary Supplements
-Supplements fall under the jurisdiction of a severely budget-challenged and understaffed FDA that’s unable to audit all nutritional supplement manufacturers. The FDA relies on manufacturers to self-comply with established CFR part III supplement manufacturing regulations. Fortunately, most dietary supplement companies (such as those distributed by Southern Herb) do comply and reliably produce quality products. The list of dietary supplement manufacturers and product lines is vast and sales are growing exponentially, making oversight even more difficult for chronically overstretched FDA inspectors. However, while there are plenty of reasons to be highly concerned about
dietary supplements, it’s critically important to keep this all in context. While the fringe elements and bad players should not be tolerated, we should keep in mind that the volume of adverse effects reported for natural products is miniscule compared to pharmaceuticals that have gone through full testing.
4. Fringe Hucksters and Quacks Abound
Though most dietary supplement companies do comply and reliably produce quality products, there are a handful of unscrupulous manufacturers who, sadly, will continue to skirt legal requirements and market inferior products as long as they’re able to avoid the scrutiny of the FDA. The FDA cannot possibly test every dietary supplement nor audit every manufacturer. Thankfully, scores of dodgy manufacturers which produce dubious products have been reported to the agency since the DSHEA Act went into effect in 1994.
Our jobs are tough enough, especially in light of internet based, super discounters of vitamins and supplements, and a populace
looking for economy. But educating consumers about the critical importance of high quality supplements is essential. Otherwise,
the supplements we use and recommend will follow the same fate as our food – giving way to those that are cheap, synthetic, over-
engineered, mass produced and devoid of nutritional value.
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