Food Supplements Could Be More Dangerous Than You Think

Many herbal dietary supplements have hidden pharmaceutical substanves that might be inflicting health risks, according to a group of professionals from Queen’s University in Belfast, Kingston University London and LGC.

Emeritus Professor Duncan Burns, a forensically experienced analytical chemist from the Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security, has been working with a team of experts on a peer-reviewed paper to compare the detection of harmful constituents in the supplements.

The experts included Dr Michael Walker from the Government Chemist Programme at LGC and Professor Declan Naughton from Kingston University.

The study observed that over-the-counter dietary supplements — quite often marketed to deal with obesity and erectile dysfunction issues — are labelled as absolutely herbal but incorporate probably damaging pharmaceutical materials, which aren’t listed on the label.

Professor Burns from Queen’s University, who’s working to improve knowledge in this field, explained that their assessment looked at studies around the world and questioned the purity of herbal food dietary supplements. They have determined that these dietary supplements are not what customers believe they are — they’re being deceived into pondering they are getting health advantages from a typical product when they are actually taking a hidden drug. These merchandise are unlicensed medicines and lots of  people are consuming large portions without realizing the interactions with other dietary supplements or drugs they may be taking. That is very dangerous and there can be extreme side effects.

The survey raises several questions concerning the safety of slimming dietary supplements containing Sibutramine. Sibutramine was licensed as Reductil until in 2010, when it was withdrawn across Europe and the United States as a result of an increasing risk of coronary heart disease and strokes associated with the use of the drug.

Tadalfil and sulfoaildenafil have been among the most often undeclared constituents in  products for erectile dysfunction. When taking other medicines containing nitrates, they can lower blood pressure tremendously and cause critical health problems.

Professor Burns also noted that this can be a real hindrance as people who are affected by diseases like diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypertension are taking prescribed nitrate containing medicines. If they’re also taking a herbal supplement to deal with erectile dysfunction, they could fall ill. He added that people who take these products may not be conscious they have taken these drugs and so when they consult with their physician they may not declare this and it may be hard to determine what is causing the side effects.

The authors explained that this work highlights the significant function that research and methods like data mining, can play in informing regulators about present tendencies in supplement contamination. This is very important to make sure that there are effective treatment procedures being carried out.

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