Herbal Supplements and Their Safety

A recent The New York Times article delves into the true nature of herbal supplements. I was sincerely shocked while reading this article and I admit that my jaw dropped a few times while reading as well (I strongly suggest taking a look at this article!). In summary, there have been various tests done on various herbal supplements to determine what truly lies within the supplements. The main test they use is called “DNA barcoding” in which they take the contents of the pill and “scan” them to determine the make up. They have found that about one third of the herbal supplements, things like St. John’s Wort and Echinacea, do not actually contain ANY of the herbs that the packaging claims they contain and in fact contain either toxic plants from far-away countries or things like nuts or gluten that could bring about a severe allergic reaction in some users.  

A few years ago, in a Botany class, I did a presentation on herbal supplements and learned a lot about FDA regulations (or lack there of) on herbal supplements. The FDA does not require companies to get approval for herbal supplements before they go on the market, nor do they regulate herbal supplements that are currently being sold unless there is a complication that arises with the supplement. There are certain requirements for what has to be displayed on the packaging, but clearly the manufacturers have been lying about what these pills actually contain. The FDA requires that if a manufacturer receives a complaint about an adverse reaction to their supplement, they are required to both investigate further the claim as well as submit the claim to the FDA so that they can do their own investigation and potentially remove the drug from the market. So in other words, it basically functions on an honor system. 

I think this says a lot about who the public trusts when it comes to what they are putting in their body. Those individuals that are taking herbal supplements likely trust that the manufacturer is being honest.  Either that, or these individuals believe that the FDA is regulating these drugs and would not let the manufacturers of herbal supplements lie to consumers. I hope that a lot of people have read or will read this article in the newspaper in print or online so that they can better investigate what is in their herbal supplement (if they are indeed taking one). I think it also says a lot about the trust we put in news sources for reporting accurate and up to date information. I trusted The New York Times when reading this article and believed that it was accurate and unbiased in its portrayal of the facts of the matter. I did no further research into this topic to read some other potentially opposing articles claiming that herbal supplements are in true to the facts of the bottle. How are we able to distinguish the good news sources from the bad news sources? How long did it take The New York Times to gain this reputation that allows its readers to have such strong faith in the truth behind the articles?