July 31, 2019 – Supplements

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Anchor lead: If you’re taking dietary supplements you may want to reconsider, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Dietary supplements really aren’t much good in improving health, a study by Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues has found. The study was published recently in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Michos: The bottom line conclusion for the vast majority of supplements is there’s no benefit, and I think people would be better served really focusing on a nutritious diet, and healthy lifestyle, and that just because something is sold over the counter as a supplement doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthy or safe, and in fact there can be some harm. Some of these can have drug/drug interactions with prescription medications, have patients review their supplement use with their health care team to discuss what benefits they’re hoping to derive from them whether it’s really helping them or whether its actually causing harm. :32

Michos says the supplement industry rakes in billions of dollars annually, with this study showing that those dollars would be better spent elsewhere. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.