The independent product-testing organization, Consumer Reports (CR), worked
with experts from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, also an independent
research group, to identify a dozen supplement ingredients (out of nearly
1,100 in the database) linked to the most serious adverse events as determined by
clinical research or case reports.
The dozen are aconite, bitter orange, chaparral,
colloidal silver, coltsfoot, comfrey, country mallow, germanium, greater celandine,
kava, lobelia, and Yohimbe. The CR study noted that the FDA had warned about at
least eight of them, some as long ago as 1993. CR easily found all of these dangerous
supplements for sale in June 2010 when they shopped for them online and in
stores near their Yonkers, N.Y. headquarters.
When CR asked why these products were still for sale, they found: “Two national
retailers we contacted about specific supplements said they carried them because the
FDA has not banned them.” CR also noted that “Most of the products we bought
had warning labels, but not all did. A bottle of silver we purchased was labeled ‘perfectly
safe,’ with an asterisked note that said the FDA had not evaluated the claim.
In fact, the FDA issued a consumer advisory about silver (including colloidal silver)
in 2009. Although silver is sold for its supposed immune system ‘support,’ it can
permanently turn skin bluish-gray.”
A recent target of FDA scrutiny and ban from use and sale is kratom, a botanical that
has been promoted as a treatment for pain, mood disorders and as a way for opioid
users to avoid withdrawal symptoms. According to the CDC, between July 2016
and December 2017, kratom alone or more frequently was one of multiple drugs,
including fentanyl and heroin, that caused 152 overdose deaths in the U.S.
This blog presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. I am not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures and suggestions in that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader’s own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise or other assistance or advice the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in this blog or participating in any programs described in this blog or in the book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Your Health with a Lifestyle Checklist (available in print or downloaded at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and elsewhere). Copyright 2021 by J. Joseph Speidel
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