The headlines today included news that the inspector general for the United States Health and Human Services Department found that 20% of dietary supplements sold online or in stores are mislabeled with false or illegal claims.
To anyone new to buying nutritional supplements, a few timely tips:
1. Don’t buy anything that says “treats,” “cures” or “prevents.”
2. Don’t buy anything in which the labels displays “HIV,” “cancer,” or other serious diseases.
3. Don’t buy any product whose label looks like was made on an inkjet printer and was designed by a 7th grader.
4. If you look up a supplement company on the Web, and the manufacturing facility picture shows a Morton metal building in a gravel parking lot, do not buy their products.
5. If the online content surrounding a product is coming from anonymous comment posters and not from identified Ph.D. scientists, health and R&D professionals and legitimate nutritional business and science publications , stay away from that product.
