Nearly half of all U.S. residents take one or more dietary supplements, often with the intention to improve their health and well-being. However, a growing number of individuals, including those in law enforcement and public safety, are taking a variety of pills, powders, and liquids that go far beyond the standard vitamins and minerals, lured by labels promising dramatic weight loss, massive muscle gains, and explosive energy.
U.S. consumers spend approximately $32 billion annually on dietary supplements—a broad category of products that includes vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanicals, extracts, metabolites, concentrates, constituents, and other dietary substances used to supplement a person’s diet.1 Yet consumers of dietary supplements are not always benefitting from their investment; in fact, rather than improving their health, an increasing number of supplement users have suffered adverse reactions, including those as severe as liver failure, heart attacks, and death. In the past 10 years, cases of drug-induced liver failure (some requiring liver transplants) attributed to dietary supplements have increased from 7 percent to 20 percent—a seven-fold increase in the actual number of cases.2
