'The value of the global vitamins and dietary supplements market is predicted to reach US$59.6 billion by 2020;
:
Yet, the vast majority of this mass consumption, often helped along by celebrity endorsement, is just generating oceans of very expensive urine; relatively few people have medical conditions requiring specific nutrient supplements.
So why do so many people waste their money?'
Simon Chapman, Emeritus Professor in Public Health, University of Sydney explains: theconversation.com/carrots...
And in his reply to a comment claiming complementary medicines are an important and valuable contributor to preventative health: 'There’s a huge amount of evidence that supplements are mostly useless nccih.nih.gov/health/provid... Many would argue that that in itself means they are harmful to people’s wallets.
Not hard to find examples of harm either. consumerreports.org/cro/201... and nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/N...
The last paper concludes that: 'An estimated 23,000 emergency department visits in the United States every year are attributed to adverse events related to dietary supplements. Such visits commonly involve cardiovascular manifestations from weight-loss or energy products among young adults and swallowing problems, often associated with micronutrients, among older adults.'
Food for thought?
Neil