Persuasive Essay On Dietary Supplements

“About 150 million people in the US use dietary supplements; about 79% use it on a daily bases, and 10% taking 5 or more per day” (Ranjani 478). Dietary supplements range from sports performance products, weight loss products, to a variety of herbal remedies. These supplements are used widely to help maintain or improve the health of the human body. While buying these products many assume that they are regulated and are safe for human consumption, however it may not be the case. “Supplements face no FDA requirements for premarket testing. Supplements can be placed on the market at the will of the makers and then remain legal for sale” (Quinones 32). Dietary supplements should be regulated like prescription drugs because it’s a safety hazard, can become addictive, and may lead to dangerous health problems.
In

1993, the FDA wanted to enforce a “truth in labeling regulation” for dietary supplements, however many people wrote to congress to revoke the bill (McNamara par. 2). Many people in the U.S. wrote to congress because they believed it took their rights away. Congress revoked the bill soon after bring it up to public view, thus many companies were able to take this to their advantage because now there is no requirement to prove that the product worked. Furthermore a plant called Ephedra, which is native to Central Asia and Mongolia began to make its way into dietary supplements that were marketed as weight-loss supplements that carried an “energy boost” (Hollenstein 41). By the late 90s, the dietary supplement industry estimated that as many as 3 billion servings of dietary supplements containing ephedra were sold in the U.S. yearly. Consequently, ephedra had serious health effects that resulted in about 800 deaths in the U.S. There are no regulations and testing for dietary supplements to go through that contained ephedra, which, at the end, resulted in many people losing their lives. Dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA like prescription drugs, thus has caused many individuals to gain health related illnesses and lose their lives taking these products.
“Safely tested.” It’s what Americans want to hear when they are taking supplements that are supposed to help the body; however that is not the case with dietary supplements. Dietary supplements are not regulated like other medications like prescription drugs, which is a safety hazard. “Under US law, supplements are merely ‘presumed safe,’ without any significant medical evidence or corroboration to support these presumptions” (Quinones 329). Diet supplements are not tested regularly or go through tough safety regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the supplements only get the bare minimum of testing, and soon get shipped off to retail stores. An example is coral calcium, which is a dietary supplement that said to contain remnants of living coral reefs. However as research shows this supplement may have contained significant and harmful amounts of lead and other heavy metals in the product (Hollenstein 47). A severe amount of lead in the body can greatly damage it. Since there is so little safety regulations companies can add ingredients that are not labeled, or in this case hide harmful ingredients from the label, which can severely damage human health.
Supplements go through little or no testing through the FDA which can risk the safety of the consumers. “[dietary supplements can] contain unknown doses of the ingredients stated on the label; be sold at toxic dosages; or produce harmful effects…” (Ranjani 478). Consumers who buy dietary products believe the product is safe by FDA regulations, however as Ranjani has said, the label is unreliable. There could be added ingredients to supplements that the bottle does not mention, as well as incorrect dosage information that without the proper dosage information can affect the body’s organs severely. For example, in a study done by Archives of Internal Medicine, they analyzed 880 herbal dietary supplements collected from a variety of stores; and compared the ingredients and the recommended daily doses stated on the label with their own laboratory analyses. “Of the products sampled, 43 percent were consistent with a standardized pharmacy reference for ingredients and recommended daily doses, 20 percent were consistent regarding ingredients only, and 37 percent were either inconsistent or did not contain enough information on the label to determine consistency”(Hollenstein 46). Dietary supplements do not have regulations to follow, moreover the label may have unreliable safety information as shown in the example above. The need to regulate dietary supplements is crucial because only 43 percent of the herbal supplements tested had the correct safety information, that’s less than half of the supplements. Dietary supplement companies are putting the lives of Americans at risk with an unreliable list of ingredients, and safety information on the label.
Addiction is a word that does not have a face; meaning there are many different types of addiction that may seem unusual from the ones seen on TV. One for instance is an addiction to dietary supplements that many adults are facing without realizing that it is an addiction. Steven Charlap explains in his article, “Are Dietary Supplements and Multivitamins addictive?” that his definition of addiction is, “the compulsive use of a substance in the absence of any evidence that the product enhances health or that it is not harmful” (Charlap 1). As mentioned in the previous paragraph there is no real evidence of the products ingredients or proof that the product works for that matter. Because of this many adults are becoming unhealthy dependent on these supplements and are affecting the health and wellbeing of their lives. “The vast majority of people taking multivitamins and other supplemental vitamins don’t need them” (Ettinger, par. 7). People are not eating the right nutritional meals, instead they are going straight to the dietary supplements to get the necessary vitamins and minerals, which leads to an unnecessary dependence to these supplements.
As mentioned before, there are other forms of addiction, even dietary supplements are addictive in a sense of wanting it without necessarily needing it. Kseppamaki a food and health blogger on Creating Your Life Intentionally, wrote about their past with a dietary supplement addiction in their article, “Are You Addicted to Supplements?” They explained a rough part of their life with the addiction, “ I used to have a couple of drawers filled with supplement bottles of all types…I read all the articles and fall for all of the research for why I just had to try this supplement” (par. 2). With no regulations, dietary supplement companies are able to put false data on their research and labels, even going as far as telling consumers they need this supplement in their life, thus causing an addiction or dependence for that supplement. “The majority of adults in the United States take one or more dietary supplements either every day or occasionally…however, supplements can't take the place of the variety of foods that are important to a healthy diet” (“Dietary Supplements: What you need to know”, par. 1). Adults in the U.S are not eating correctly and are not containing a healthy life style because many believe the supplements taken are doing the job. Since supplements are open for the pubic and do not require a doctor’s prescription, adults can buy dietary supplements and further the dependency of these products. A dietary supplement addiction seems less likely and less known from other addictions, however many have it without realizing and its affecting the health deeply.
Adults taking dietary supplements want to be healthier; however taking dietary supplements that are not regulated can cause health problems for its users. The majority of Dietary Supplements’ are not labeled accurately, which is hazardous because if not explain correctly on how much a person can take a day, it risks their health. Issues with this include bad interactions between a substance in prescribed medication and a supplement, or food a person eats on a daily bases. In the book “Dietary Supplements: A Framework for Evaluating Safety explains the bad interaction, “[This] would be exhibited by the ginkgo leaf …if ingested with a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, such as aspirin, an increased propensity for bleeding would occur” (237-238). Many cases like this are common when people do not know the safety hazards of taking dietary supplements. Not only will mixing substances cause health hazards, but taking too much a substance will do the same. In herbal dietary supplements, if consumed 1 gram or more of Ginger it can cause; birth defects, increased bleeding and even abortion, as well as Blue cohosh tea, which can cause fetal heart attacks (Hollenstein 44). Ginger has its benefits, however if taken more than the necessary amount it can cause life threatening illnesses. This goes along with other substances that are added to dietary supplements to make the body healthier, if there are no warnings or any precautions taken, this can risk the lives of many adults.
Many will argue that dietary supplements should not be regulated like prescription drugs because it takes away the rights of many consumers wanting these products.

Dr. Mercola, an osteopathic physician exclaims that the only reason the government wants regulations on supplements is to have power over consumers (par. 3). Mercola explains that if dietary supplements are bad for public health then why the government is not taking action for other substances that are considered dangerous, “You don't see Durbin beating down the door of Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, even though coffee is the primary source where most people get their caffeine fix” (Mercola, par. 5). Furthermore the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) is doing enough to regulate the dietary supplements. As stated on the DSHEA mission, “DSHEA grants the FDA the authority to regulate dietary supplements in to important respects” (“Dietary Supplements…par. 3). DSHEA does give the FDA the right to regulate many different types of dietary supplements, so there are some regulations to keep Americans healthy and happy without taking away the freedom to purchase these products at a

store.
As many would say a regulation on dietary supplements may take away the freedom to choose dietary supplements to consume, however the health of adults is greater than the freedom of picking a supplement. Firstly, with the FDA regulating all dietary supplements instead of the DSHEA there is a less chance of dangerous substances getting into the product that will harm the body. DSHEA, as explained by Patrick Skerrett, is not doing a good job with watching out for the public health in terms of regulating dietary supplements (par. 4). There are no tough regulations that dietary supplements have to go through to get by and onto the shelves of stores. Instead the FDA has been doing most of the work of taking down supplements that are deemed bad for health. “Since 2004, the FDA has pulled off the shelves more than two dozen of these products, with names like Stiff Nights and True Man, because they contained sildenafil” (Skerrett, par. 4). Even if the freedom of adults to pick and choose a supplement is being taken away to a certain extent, it’s better to know that the supplements being put into bodies is safe and works.
In conclusion dietary supplements may help adults reach the daily amount of vitamins and minerals if lacking, however at what cost? Dietary supplements need to be regulated like prescription drugs because many are a safety hazard with incorrect labeling and ingredients, and they can also become addictive. As well as have substances that can damage internal organs, as well as the general health of the body. With a regulation there would be more testing and regulations supplements would have to go through making them safer to consume than now. Lastly, a regulation is not a bad thing, it’s the opposite. Meaning that once supplements are regulated like prescription drugs, adults are able to ingest tested and FDA approved products, which is greater than ingesting something unknown.