Do nutritional supplements really work? What to know about their popularity and limited regulation
Dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, botanicals and probiotics — are more popular than ever. Do they make a difference? Research is mixed.
Dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, botanicals and probiotics — are more popular than ever. More than three-quarters of Americans take at least one, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Are any of them worth it? The research is mixed. Some vitamins, including multivitamins, have been shown to be beneficial in large, randomized clinical trials. Others have been shown to potentially cause harm. Many lie somewhere in between.
As many as 100,000 different supplement products are sold in stores and online in the U.S., the FDA estimates. They range from multivitamins to herbs to concoctions that promise weight loss, including some that may be toxic or falsely claim to improve brain function.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for health and human services secretary, told podcaster Lex Fridman in 2023 that he takes “a ton of vitamins and nutrients,” which he said he couldn’t list because he “couldn’t remember them all.” In an October post on X, Kennedy accused the FDA of “aggressive suppression” of vitamins and nutraceuticals, among other things.
In fact, the FDA has limited oversight over supplements after they’re on the market. In a published study from 2018, researchers with the California Department of Public Health raised concerns about products that contain unapproved and potentially unsafe ingredients.
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