Over-the-counter weight loss or athletic supplements may seem like a great way to get an extra boost in your performance, fat-shedding attempts, or daily weight maintenance. But regulators have said that most aren’t safe at all.
It isn’t that all will contain ingredients likely to hurt your health, but that there is no way of telling which ones will. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) reports that most go without any safety checks into what is contained in their drugs, or where the ingredients come from.
Because they are an over-the-counter product, they can go for years while approval waits in limbo, advertising themselves with any claims they may choose to put on their labels.
While many just won’t work, leaving you buying what are effectively sugar pills, others have been found to have links to cancer, liver and kidney failure, and heart damage. Some can even hinder your ability to lose weight, and precipitate fatal conditions.
Though fully aware of the problem, the FDA is still no closer to getting a handle on the problem, and gaining the power to regulate such products. Instead, they are warning consumers against buying anything that has not been properly regulated.
Watchdog groups are also putting pressure on companies, many of which use harmful ingredients bought from factories in China, where safety hazards have been frequently linked.