The 2019 Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) reported dietary supplement intake is at an all-time high with 79% of females 18+ take a dietary supplement (74% of adult men) and the most prevalent dietary supplement is a multivitamin1. Supplement use among athletes is also reported to be very high across several studies.2 So, chances are, if you are reading this, you take a dietary supplement.
Use of supplements is so prevalent and yet, they are largely unregulated by the FDA. This means most supplements are not tested for quality and safety (i.e. confirming the actual ingredients match the label and/or that the supplement does not contain any unlisted ingredients or contaminants). Further, the efficacy and effectiveness claims made by supplement manufacturers are not evaluated by the FDA & spoiler alert: many supplement claims are purely marketing and not necessarily substantiated by science-backed evidence.
And unfortunately, research suggests many supplements are in fact, mislabeled. One study on patients with suspected supplement-induced liver damage found 51% of the supplements they tested were mislabeled and almost 40% of these contained ingredients not listed on the label.3 Another recent study found that more than 28% of supplements tested were contaminated with substances that are banned in sport.4 So how do you know the supplement you are taking is safe? Select products that are third-party certified for quality and safety. Some of the resources we use at Nutrify are: www.consumerlab.com, www.labdoor.com www.nsfsport.com www.usp.org and https://choice.wetestyoutrust.com/
So, should you take supplements? The answer is: it depends. Our position at Nutrify is that selected supplements can and do play an important role in improving health and athletic performance. However, we take a food first approach to meeting the nutrient intake needs of our athletes. Further, we don’t guess and rely on purely on marketing claims, we examine the science.
In addition to a comprehensive dietary intake assessment which evaluates nutrient needs, we leverage InsideTracker to help do a deep dive to confirm the extent of any deficiencies that may need to be addressed. Further, using InsideTracker can also help identify where athletes don’t need to invest in supplements (and who doesn’t want to save some money!). And if supplements are indicated for an athlete, we extensively research the supplements for those that are science-backed and proven safe and of the highest quality.
So why guess when you can test? Schedule a complimentary 15’ call today to learn more.
References
1Council for Responsible Nutrition. (2019, September 30). Dietary Supplement Use Reaches All Time High | Council for Responsible Nutrition. Retrieved from https://www.crnusa.org/newsroom/dietary-supplement-use-reaches-all-time-high
3Garthe, I., & Maughan, R. J. (2018). Athletes and supplements: Prevalence and perspectives. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 28(2), 126–138. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0429
3Navarro, V., Avula, B., Khan, I., Verma, M., Seeff, L., Serrano, J., Stolz, A., Fontana, R., & Ahmad, J. (2019). The contents of herbal and dietary supplements implicated in liver injury in the United States are frequently mislabeled. Hepatology Communications, 3(6), 792–794. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep4.1346
4Kozhuharov, V. R., Ivanov, K., & Ivanova, S. (2022). Dietary supplements as source of unintentional doping. BioMed Research International, 2022, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8387271
