paywalled: Dietary Supplements and Cancer Prevention: Balancing Potential Benefits Against Proven Harms

Dietary Supplements and Cancer Prevention: Balancing Potential Benefits Against Proven Harms

Abstract

Nutritional supplementation is now a multibillion-dollar industry, and about half of all US adults take supplements. Supplement use is fueled in part by the belief that nutritional supplements can ward off chronic disease, including cancer, although several expert committees and organizations have concluded that there is little to no scientific evidence that supplements reduce cancer risk. To the contrary, there is now evidence that high doses of some supplements increase cancer risk. Despite this evidence, marketing claims by the supplement industry continue to imply anticancer benefits. Insufficient government regulation of the marketing of dietary supplement products may continue to result in unsound advice to consumers. Both the scientific community and government regulators need to provide clear guidance to the public about the use of dietary supplements to lower cancer risk.

paywalled: Dietary Supplements and Cancer Prevention: Balancing Potential Benefits Against Proven Harms

Dietary Supplements and Cancer Prevention: Balancing Potential Benefits Against Proven Harms

• Accepted March 12, 2012.

Abstract

Nutritional supplementation is now a multibillion-dollar industry, and about half of all US adults take supplements. Supplement use is fueled in part by the belief that nutritional supplements can ward off chronic disease, including cancer, although several expert committees and organizations have concluded that there is little to no scientific evidence that supplements reduce cancer risk. To the contrary, there is now evidence that high doses of some supplements increase cancer risk. Despite this evidence, marketing claims by the supplement industry continue to imply anticancer benefits. Insufficient government regulation of the marketing of dietary supplement products may continue to result in unsound advice to consumers. Both the scientific community and government regulators need to provide clear guidance to the public about the use of dietary supplements to lower cancer risk.

Medical News: FDA Targets Drugs Sold as Supplements - in Public Health & Policy

open access: Perspective: Assessing Supplement Safety — The FDA's Controversial Proposal — NEJM

"Each year, Americans spend more than $28 billion on supplements assuming that they are both safe and effective. More than 100 million Americans consume vitamins, minerals, herbal ingredients, amino acids, and other naturally occurring products in the form of dietary supplements....."

Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) - NIH