By David Blyweiss, M.D.

A collective sigh of relief. That’s what was heard among natural healthcare providers, consumers and supplement makers after Wednesday’s hearing on dietary supplements. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised at the fairness and balance of it all. Here are the highlights:

The General Accounting Office report that was presented at the hearing told lawmakers that, while the 40 or so supplements it tested had trace amounts of heavy metals and pesticides, these amounts were so miniscule that they didn’t pose any health risk. In fact, conventionally grown celery contains more contaminants than the supplements they studied.

The GAO also came clean about their “sting” operation, during which they sent government employees into health food store posing as senior citizens. When these GAO undercover agents asked questions of health food store workers in Washington D.C. and Florida, they reported that some of these well-meaning souls made medical claims, recommendations and other inappropriate statements. Of course, this needs to be fixed, and the Natural Products Association has announced a new program to work on that. Certainly there is no need to change the law, but some education of retail employees is clearly needed.

The GAO’s testimony also discussed supplement manufacturers that have made misleading and illegal statements about their products’ “ability” to prevent, treat or even cure serious diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. There have always been snake-oil salesmen and likely always will be. Typically these bad actors are fly-by-night companies trying to make a quick buck. Fortunately—and this was brought up during the Q&A portion of the hearing—these products are illegal under current law and the FDA can take action to protect consumers from these irresponsible supplements and their creators—not that they routinely do, but it is within their jurisdiction.

The FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, agreed that this was within the agency’s scope and noted that the FDA needs to do more enforcement. The FDA also needs to release the much awaited New Dietary Ingredient guidance and focus on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). GMPs are regulations that outline the aspects of production and testing that ensure the quality of supplements. All supplement companies, big and small, will have to comply with GMPs by the end of June, 2010. And this will help protect consumers even more.

During his testimony at Wednesday’s hearing, Steve Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, reassured the more than 150 million Americans who take dietary supplements each year that, “The dietary supplement industry is committed to manufacturing and marketing high quality, safe and beneficial products that have a valuable role in a wellness regimen. This industry is likewise committed to ensuring consumers receive truthful, accurate and non-misleading information on dietary supplements.” He went on to stress to the committee members that dietary supplements help preserve good health and reduce the risks of certain chronic diseases. Vitamins fill in nutritional gaps, and are especially important when seniors fail to get a nutritious diet or aging itself reduces their bodies’ natural ability to absorb nutrients from conventional food.

Of course, there were the naysayers. Written testimony by Tod Cooperman, founder of Consumer Labs, claimed that one out of every four supplements they have tested over the past 11 years has had some type of quality problem. These, according to Cooperman, include a lack of an ingredient or substandard ingredients, contamination and tablets that won’t break apart. But, when questioned by the committee, it was found that Consumer Labs isn’t as credible or as independent as they would have the public believe. After a bit of prodding, Dr. Cooperman revealed that companies who pay Consumer Labs can hide failing test results, claiming that those results are the property of the company being tested. So much for looking out for consumer’s best interests!

The mainstream media is also on the side of those trying to undermine DSHEA.  Case in point: The New York Times story that was released after the hearing. The headline? “Study Finds Supplements Contain Contaminants.” The Today Show was even worse, claiming that DHEA gave supplements a free pass from any type of regulation (wrong!) and warning their viewers of the “trace toxins” in their vitamin pills Time and again, the big media outlets—both print and electronic—go for the headline, the soundbite. In this atmosphere, the truth has become expendable. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help consumers who are looking for answers.

In spite of those who would take our vitamins and minerals away, it looks as though the supplements you and I rely on have dodged yet another bullet. But the war isn’t over. The next battle is gearing up over a new bill that would give the FDA more money to enforce the DSHEA regulations already on the books. And this fight is one you can get involved with. I’ll fill you in on all the details next week. Until then . . .

References:

Dietary Supplements: What Seniors Need To Know. U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. 26 May 2010. Available at http://www.aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=325265&