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Supplements - a Primer

This Page is not going to win any popularity contests. There are going to be many readers who will say that this information is self-serving. Others may not agree with some of the facts or quotes from specialists in the field. But if it makes you think a little about the advertising hype which is creeping into the Herbal/Nutritional field, it will have achieved more than I had hoped.

The first thing you need to know is that the whole Nutritional Supplement business is not  regulated by the FDA as the result of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. This Act has had both good and bad consequences - the good far outweighing the bad, as the Supplement industry has been given the impetus to do basic research and development of new products to bring to the market.

The bad has been that some Companies have been created to market cheap, poor quality products which are not only useless, but can damage your health in the long run. For example, a large Multinational Nutritional and skin care Company (I am not about to name names!) has been fined over $4 million dollars by the Feds in the last two years for misrepresentation of products. You can check out the facts here!

The second thing you need to know is that the Pharmaceutical Companies have to spend between $5 and $10 million to get FDA approval for a new drug. But the research they present for approval is largely self generated, not independent; their lobbying power at FDA is enormous, and is increased by the fact that many FDA scientists look wide-eyed at the revolving door which leads a lot of them to high paying jobs with the Companies that seek their approval. No approval; no door. No wonder Phen-Fen, Endrel and so many other "approved" drugs kill and maim. Not only are they dangerous on their own, the cocktails they form with other "approved" drugs can be lethal.

The third is that no natural occurring substance can be Patented, so these big Pharmaceutical Companies do not waste their time on testing highly effective herbal and Nutritional remedies because they cannot control their marketing. What they tend to do is to look for the natural substance, modify its molecular structure slightly, give it a Latin name and seek a Patent, hoping to make a high profit with usually far more money being spent on marketing than on the initial research. But forgive them. They have the CEO's multimillion salaries to pay, as well as the need to increase their share option holdings. To ensure that these products are introduced to the market effectively, they have a highly paid team of "Detailers" who visit Physicians offices, make their pitch and leave samples, as well as invitations to expense-free Product seminars and similar junkets. Two years after non-prescription DHEA was launched by the world's leading nutritional expert, I still have Physicians asking me about the product which they know nothing about because the Pharmaceutical companies have not "detailed" them on it!

There are other hidden problem with prescription drugs. For example,  Statin based cholesterol lowering prescription drugs  such as Lovastatin have been found to seriously deplete the level of CoQ10 in the body - the very substance needed to ensure a healthy heart (and other key organs). This side effect ( and many others) is fully covered in a newly published book- "Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion" by Dr. Ross Pelton et al. If you are using prescription drugs, this valuable book could prove lifesaving, as it provides information on which essential nutrients are depleted by which drug, so you can take immediate action to supplement this loss.

Herbs and Purity

Here's what the eminent Dr. Richard Schultz, whose healing clinic if often called the Last Chance Clinic, has to say about commercial herbs: "These herbs are not grown in this country, but in some third world countries such as Mexico, India, Egypt, China, Spain, Eastern Europe. You know, where you get dysentery from drinking the water and food poisoning from eating the food. Would you think the herbs are any better? ..... They import (from these countries) for the same reason we import almost all goods: they are CHEAP. ... I can buy 10 to 20 pounds of imported herbs for the price of one single pound of high quality Organically grown or wild harvested American herbs. ... I pay up to $2,000 a pound for some of my Ginseng, but you can buy junk ginseng for $10 a pound!"

Dr. Schultz goes on to describe how most imported herbs are gassed with Ethylene Oxide or exposed to Gamma Rays to render them "safe." (Ethylene Oxide is a known mutagen). He quotes a large herbal supplier in California being cited by the State for releasing small quantities Ethylene Oxide into the air because they failed to warn residents of the "cancer causing emissions." He closes this discussion by commenting "You can complain about the side-effects and harshness of pharmaceutical drugs all you want, but there's one thing about them: they WORK! Unfortunately, I can't say the same about today's herbal products. They're close to useless."

Vitamins and non-herbal Supplements

Unfortunately, the news gets worse! There are two main problems with the average Vitamin and nutritional Supplement.
Firstly, it is far cheaper to make them from synthetic bases than extract them from natural organic sources. Far, far cheaper. The chemical industry has come a long way in the last quarter century, and is able to synthesize almost anything. Problem is, it seldom matches exactly what nature formulates; and more importantly, the end product does not contain the traces of natural catalysts which are often essential to the effectiveness of the substance in the first place.

Synthetic vitamins (which are added to our breakfast cereals to make them "complete") have a molecular structure which is the mirror image of the natural vitamin it is trying to replicate. So it is not accepted by the cells the way a natural vitamin is -  thus being useless or even harmful. And even if extracted from natural sources, traces of the solvents used in the extraction process are difficult to get rid of; there are no standards for what is an "acceptable" residue, and no checks are made by FDA or independent labs.

So the substance could be extracted from "natural" sources, but it could also be harmful to you.

Secondly, to allow the substance to have a reasonable shelf life, and to be taken in pill form, it needs a binder - the cement to hold it together. And here lies the rub. The most common binder is calcium phosphate which is really like cement, for these substances are largely organic, often have an odor, are unstable, and volatile, so it has to be strong. This is exactly what is not needed once it is in the body, where it needs to mimic, as much as possible, the food source from which is derived in order to do what it promises to do. (Note: the Law does not allow it to promise to do anything, so manufacturers are basically protected!) This binder is largely indigestible; it does not dissolve easily, can negate the benefits of the substance it is binding even if it does dissolve, and can pass the whole pill through the system without breaking down at all. (Stomach X-rays often show up whole pills way down the intestinal tract!)

What to do?
The reason most people feel that supplements are helping them, is that they believe they are! There are very good reasons why the orthodox medical industry is skeptical about supplements - everyone should be! Until the Supplement industry cleans up its act, and sets standards which its members must meet, there will continue to be as many qualities out there as there are product brands. And too many companies are making too much money out of doubtful products to want any kind of controls. Peddling snake oil is an old American tradition and traditions which reap high profits don't die easily!

Today (Nov 25, 1997) the FDA came out with draft regulations they have been working at since the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Education Act was passed. This is what the Associated Press had to say: " Makers of supplements should use science to back up claims that their products actually help people's health, a presidential commission said yesterday - but it backed off forcing companies to submit evidence to the Government.
Ultimately, consumers will have to do their own homework before buying supplements to make sure they're not wasting their money, the Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels concluded.
'It behooves the public .... to do a fair amount of investigating on their own.' said panel chairman Malden C Nesheim, professor of nutrition at Cornell University.
The commission issued its final report yesterday on how a 1994 law should be implemented.
It urged manufacturers to make 'scientifically valid evidence' available publicly, but commissioners dropped a recommendation their draft report calling on companies to submit a summary to the Food and Drug Administration.
Industry officials complained that the law does not require them to submit this information, Nesheim said, and they said disclosing it could help their competitors."

So buyer beware!

Why are the products we sell any different?
The most basic issues of quality is secured by using only 100% pharmaceutical grade and "standardized extracts" in the formula, whether its base is herbal or mineral. But it does not stop here. No product is a stand alone; each is blended with the right catalysts to ensure its effectiveness, and each is delivered into the body at the point where it will have maximum absorption and maximum power. The way and where they are absorbed is as important as the substance in them.

We are selling more and more "whole food" supplements like Greens+  because they work! The body knows how to absorb the goodness in them because they are whole foods. We are also selling more and more MSM - one of the true supplements available today at a very reasonable price. It replaces organic sulfur (a vital cell building nutrient)  in our diet because our lifestyles have virtually denied our ability to obtain it naturally.

We have also got the Life Extension Foundation behind many of our products. Not only do they devote a large percentage of their profits to research and testing, they actively search the world for the cutting edge products which are used elsewhere, but often denied to Americans.

For more information on this subject from independent researchers, check out the Alternative Medicine News Letters page and visit our Bookstore.

And check out these references:

FDA - reports of adverse effects of herbal products

American Botanical Council - safe use of botanical products