Natural Dietary Supplement & Antioxidant

Dietary Supplements and its Benefits

When the news media examines the dietary supplement industry, it usually asks three questions:

Are they regulated?
Are they safe?
Do they work?

To help members and others better respond to these questions about dietary supplements whether from the media or their customers the Natural Products Association has compiled the following information.

The Natural Products Association thanks the Coalition to Preserve DSHEA for contributing to this section.

Dietary Supplement Legislation and Regulation

The Bureau of Food and Drug and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have regulatory authority over dietary supplements and can and do take action when necessary to police the market place.

The BFAD has the power to ensure dietary supplements are safe, properly labeled and that the claims they make are substantiated before they can get an approval from this agency.

Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 in US
With the passage of DSHEA), Congress recognized the role supplements can play in promoting health and preventing chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. Learn more about Congress' findings on dietary supplements.

DSHEA ensures access to safe products, made to quality standards. It also promotes the dissemination of information about the benefits of supplements, so that consumers can make informed decisions about their health.

This comprehensive piece of legislation defines dietary supplements, creates a mechanism for dealing with safety issues, regulates health claims and labeling of dietary supplements, provides for good manufacturing practices, and encourages research on dietary supplements.

Dietary Supplement Safety
Dietary supplements have a great safety record, especially compared with other consumer goods, such as drugs and even other foods. Below are a few statistics that support this claim.

The truth is that dietary supplements are far safer than most common foods and drugs that consumers use without a second thought. For instance, it may surprise you that ibuprofen, one of the most common pain relievers, is responsible for more than 17,000 deaths annually [New England Journal of Medicine].

Prescription drugs, for all the testing they go through and copious usage directions that are issued with them, are estimated to be one of the top five leading causes of death in the U.S. at more than 106,000 annually[Journal of the American Medical Association].

More than 5,000 Americans are killed each year by food borne illnesses [U.S. Centers for Disease Control].

One reason there is so much fearmongering about supplements is because few experts can agree on accurate sources for statistical information about their safety. But even when trusted sources, such as the Food and Drug Administration or the American Association of Poison Control Centers, do issue statistics on adverse reactions connected with supplements, they are usually dismissed as being unrealistically low.

In 2001, the FDA received 1,214 reports of adverse events regarding dietary supplements. That same year, it received more than 300,000 adverse reports about drugs. So, supplements represent less than half-of-one percent of drug adverse events using current FDA data.

Is the higher safety profile for dietary supplements unique to the FDA’s data? No. According to reports from poison control centers throughout the United States, adverse reactions to drugs are more than 800 percent higher than those to dietary supplements [American Association of Poison Control Centers].

Wolfe M. M., Lichtenstein D. R., Singh G.,“Medical Progress: Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs,” New England Journal of Medicine  340:1888-1899 (1999).

Lazarou, Jason, Pomeranz, Bruce H., Corey, Paul N., “Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients: A Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies,” Journal of the American Medical Association 279:1200-1205 (1998).

Paul S. Mead, et al, “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Sept.-Oct. 1999). Electronic version available here.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Proposes Manufacturing and Labeling Standards for all Dietary Supplements,” backgrounder, March 7, 2003. Electronic version available here.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Office of Financial Management, “Human Drugs,” report (2002). Electronic version available here.
Toby L. Litovitz, at al, “2001 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System,” American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 20, no. 5 (2002). Electronic version available here.
 
Dietary Supplement Efficacy
Dietary supplements do work, and every week more and more scientific research upholds this fact. There are literally thousands of research articles supporting the efficacy of a wide range of dietary supplements. In fact, the Office of Dietary Supplements, oversees a comprehensive online listing.  The list below of recent dietary supplement research, taken from various Natural Products Association publications, demonstrates that there is no dearth of scientific fact supporting use of these products.

FACTS ABOUT ANTI-OXIDANT

Definition

Antioxidants are chemical compounds that can bind to free oxygen radicals preventing these radicals from damaging healthy cells.

Purpose

Preliminary studies have suggested that antioxidants are useful in a number of ways in regards to cancer. For instance, they may improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy, decrease side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and prevent some types of cancer. Sufficient epidemiological studies have shown that ingesting foods high in antioxidants, such as fruits and vegetables, can decrease the risk of many types of cancer. Studies also found that cancer patients have lower levels of anti-oxidants in their blood.

In early 2004, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a new fact sheet concerning cancer prevention and antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables are high in anti-oxidants and evidence continued to support the role of vitamins C, E, and A, as well as lycopene and beta-carotene in helping to prevent cancer. However, clinical trial results have not been consistent. The NCI reported that three large clinical trials were trying to better answer the role of antioxidants in cancer prevention.

Description

Free radicals are naturally produced in the body through the normal metabolism of amino acids and fats. These free radicals are unstable molecules that can freely react with and destroy healthy cells. They can bind to and alter the structure of DNA thus leading to mutations and eventually to cancer. Besides cancer, this oxidative stress on the cells can lead to heart, eye, and neurological diseases.

Glutathione, lipoic acid, and CoQ10 are antioxidants formed naturally by the body but their levels decline with age. Vitamins C and E are necessary anti-oxidants but not produced by the body and must be obtained from the diet. The most common antioxidants are the vitamins A, C, and E. Additional antioxidants are natrol, found in grapes and wine; selenium; and melatonin. Flavonoids consist of a large family of antioxidant compounds found in fruits and vegetables. Among the well-studied flavonoids in terms of cancer prevention are catechins from green tea, genistein from soy, curcumin from turmeric, anthocyanosides from blueberries, and quercetin from yellow vegetables. More recent studies have added clack beans to the list of foods high in antioxidants and a 2003 study in Rome reported that women who ate dark chocolate showed some antioxidant benefits.

Glutathione


The free radical mechanism of lipid peroxidation.

Glutathione is a cysteine-containing peptide found in most forms of aerobic life.[41] It is not required in the diet and is instead synthesized in cells from its constituent amino acids.[42] Glutathione has antioxidant properties since the thiol group in its cysteine moiety is a reducing agent and can be reversibly oxidized and reduced. In cells, glutathione is maintained in the reduced form by the enzyme glutathione reductase and in turn reduces other metabolites and enzyme systems as well as reacting directly with oxidants.[37] Due to its high concentration and its central role in maintaining the cell's redox state, glutathione is one of the most important cellular antioxidants.[41]


Resources

Books

Moss, Ralph W. Antioxidants Against Cancer. Brooklyn, NY: Equinox Press, Inc., 2000.

Periodicals

"Chocolate's Dark Health Secret." Muscle & Fitness/Hers December 2003: 22.

Kelly, Kara M. "The Labriola/Livingston Article Reviewed." Oncology 13, no. 7 (1999): 1008-1011.

Labriola, Dan, and Robert Livingston. "Possible Interactions Between Dietary Antioxidants and Chemotherapy." Oncology 13, no. 7 (1999): 1003-1008.

Lamson, Davis W, and Matthew S. Brignall. "Antioxidants in Cancer Therapy: Their Actions and Interactions with Oncologic Therapies." Alternative Medicine Review 4, no. 5 (1999): 304-329.

"'Musical Fruit' Rich Source of Healthy Antioxidants; Black Beans Highest." Cancer Weekly December 23, 2003: 102.

"Update on Antioxidants." Nutrition Today January–February 2004: 25–31.

Organizations

American Cancer Society. .

American Institute for Cancer Research. 1759 R Street, NW, PO Box 97167, Washington, DC 20090-7167. (800)843-8114. .

National Academy of Science. .