The supplement industry: questions of safety, adulteration, corruption

Since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplement products became basically unregulated.  The FDA is no longer allowed to monitor these products and only gets involved in situations of egregious harm.  Otherwise, you have no way of knowing if their labels have anything at all to do with what is in those bottles.

Here are recent items on safety and adulteration issues with supplements (particularly turmeric), and the Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman’s comments on corruption in the supplement industry.

SAFETY

• New outbreak traced to moringa capsules under investigation: Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are looking into a new outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections traced to moringa powder capsules. The implicated capsules are sold under the Rosabella brand…there is great concern that consumers may have the moringa capsules in their homes because of their long shelf life, which stretches into late 2027. This outbreak is separate from an outbreak of Salmonella Richmond infections traced to Member’s Mark and other brands of moringa.
• South Korea re-evaluating turmeric, green coffee bean due to adverse reports: South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is re-evaluating the safety and functionality of turmeric extract and eight other functional ingredients.
• Health Canada calls for warnings on turmeric/curcumin supplement labels: Health Canada has mandated warning labels on turmeric and curcumin natural health products (NHPs) to indicate the risk of hepatotoxicity, following a review that found potential liver health risks, although rare.

ADULTERATION

• Ginseng aduleration remains a significant concern, says BAPP review: A scoping review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program highlights that nearly 25% of commercial ginseng products may be adulterated, especially dietary supplements, due to species substitution and presence of undisclosed pharmaceutical ingredients.
• Turmeric adulteration presents significant opportunity for responsible industry: More than one quarter of turmeric supplement may be adulterated, according to a new comprehensive literature review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP)…. Read more

CORRUPTION

Paul Krugman on dietary supplements: How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy

It may seem strange to think of the wellness industry as a corrupt and corrupting force comparable to the fossil-fuel sector. But wellness is big business. McKinsey estimates that U.S. spending on wellness is running at around $500 billion a year, while spending on nutritional supplements alone was close to $70 billion last year.

And sellers of nutritional supplements, unlike companies selling pharmaceuticals, are effectively allowed to make false, outlandish claims about what their products do…It’s OK to peddle snake oil with false medical claims as long as you mumble some content-free boilerplate.

And where do the snake-oil salesmen peddle their wares? Largely on right-wing media. After all, that’s where they can find customers who have the right mix of anti-intellectualism and disdain for experts. And the snake-oil purveyors are, in turn, a key part of the extreme right’s financial ecosystem.

I wrote about this almost five years ago. The relationship between quack medicine and right-wing extremism has a long history…But now we have entered a new era. As many observers have noted, the Trump administration is a kakistocracy: rule by the worst. A history of personal corruption is no longer a bar to high office — it’s practically a requirement.