When people buy dietary supplements, they do so assuming that the product in the pill, powder, or liquid actually is what it claims to be, and that the amount you’re taking is correct. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused three supplement makers of being careless with what went into their products –– or, in bureaucrat-speak, “misbranding” and “not complying with the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices.” [More]
dietary supplements
DOJ Sues Supplement Makers Over Mislabeling, Failure To Follow Good Manufacturing Processes
By 8.3.15
Feds Take Issue With Pills Claiming To “Prevent & Reverse” Greying Hair
By 5.13.15
Although dyeing your hair an ashen color is apparently a fashion thing right now, some consumers will try just about anything to stall the steely tint from cropping up on their heads: including shelling out big bucks for dietary supplements that promise to prevent or reverse the presence of gray hair. Only, according to a new settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, those claims weren’t actually backed by science. [More]
FDA Continues Crackdown On Dietary Supplement Ingredients, Notifies Makers Of 16 Products To Stop Sales
By 4.28.15
A week after the Food & Drug Administration heeded calls for action by scientists and health advocates by demanding that dietary supplement makers stop selling products with a speed-like ingredient, the agency sent another warning to 14 manufacturers asking them to cease the sale of several products with another possibly harmful stimulant. [More]
Father Of Teen Poisoned By Caffeine Powder Files Lawsuit Blaming His Death On Supplement Makers, Amazon
By 3.6.15
The father of an Ohio teen who died in 2014 after ingesting a powdered caffeine marketed as a dietary supplement has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com and the product’s distributors, claiming that they failed to provide proper warnings about the dangers of using the substance. [More]
Who’s Your Doctor? Not This Guy: Supplement Dealer Faces Felony Charge For Second Time
By 1.15.14
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. In this case, the shame goes to…. a Florida dietary supplement marketer facing a reopened felony charge after he was found to still be misrepresenting himself as a doctor. [More]
Buyers Of Not-So-Magic Cold And Weight Loss Supplements To Receive Refunds From FTC
By 9.12.13
There is no magic pill for weight loss, not even if that pill contains a tapeworm. Yet companies keep introducing and marketing such pills, because we’re human and like to eat ice cream sandwiches and wish that such a thing existed. People who bought one not-so-magic supplement are getting refund checks this week from the Federal Trade Commission. [More]
eBay Pulls Craze Sports Supplement Amid Concerns Of Amphetamine-Like Ingredients
By 8.13.13
Following in the footsteps of Walmart.com and Bodybuilding.com, eBay has announced it will stop selling a popular sports supplement accused of containing amphetamine-like compounds. This, after an investigation revealed some dark spots in the past of one of Driven Sports’ executives’ pasts, including a criminal conviction, a pending federal charge and repeated sales of allegedly risky products over the years. [More]
You Have Until April 1 To Claim Refund On These Misleading Dietary Supplements & Cold Remedies
By 1.7.13
It’s been more than two years since the government settled with Iovate, the makers of dietary supplements Accelis, nanoSLIM cold/allergy treatments Cold MD, Germ MD, or Allergy MD, over allegations that these products didn’t provide the benefits they promised. Now it’s time for affected consumers to get their refunds. [More]
Feds: 20% Of Weight Loss, Immune System Supplements Making False Claims
By 10.3.12
It’s not just that the federal government doesn’t want the marketers of dietary supplements to just make up what their products can do for consumers, according to a new study on the prevalence of weight loss and immune system supplement, the Department of Health and Human Services warns that it could actually be harmful to our health to buy in to the hype. The agency just released a new report saying that around 20% of 127 different supplements it investigated made false and illegal claims to cure or treat diseases. [More]
Do You Take Dietary Supplements? Consumer Reports Wants To Hear About It
By 5.30.12
Our sister-publication, Consumer Reports, needs your stories for a report on dietary supplements (including herbal remedies, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and multi-ingredient supplements for various uses). Have you recently had an especially beneficial experience with a supplement? Have you suffered a serious health problem after taking a supplement in the last three years? If so, was that linked to its interaction with a prescription drug? Please email your story and contact information to tips@cr.consumer.org so you can be contacted by a Consumer Reports editor. [More]
Beware Harmful Illegal Drugs Sold As Supplements
By 8.29.11
As shocking as it may be to some people, there are shady companies out there hawking supposed “dietary supplements” that actually contain harmful, illegal drugs. Since many consumers trust anything labeled “natural” or marketed as a non-drug, this practice has a potential for negative consequences. [More]
Health Supplement Guru Nearly Dies After Ingesting Own Product
By 5.4.10
Gary Null sells something called Ultimate Power Meal, which he says you’re supposed to eat twice a day every day. He did that for a month and nearly died, so now he’s suing the company that manufactured the product. [More]
