New Consumer Survey Finds Dietary Supplement Use In United States More Popular Than Ever

NEWS

A new consumer survey in the United States has found that more than three-quarters of Americans now use dietary supplements.

COMMENT

As this story illustrates, the great progress in the field of micronutrient research in recent years has aroused widespread interest. An inevitable result of this is that a growing number of manufacturers and suppliers want a share of this ‘boom’ and are offering multivitamin products and other dietary supplements in all shapes, colors and sizes. In general, all of these products have one thing in common: they were not scientifically tested for their effectiveness and, instead, are advertised using health claims taken from random publications by third parties.

What’s more, due to growing competitive pressure in the supplements market, manufacturers increasingly feel obliged to reduce the costs of their ingredients. However, this is only possible if synthetic – i.e. artificially created – substances are used instead of micronutrients from natural sources. While human body cells are able to identify and utilize vitamins of natural origin, their interaction with synthetic substances is largely unclear. As a result, millions of users across the world are currently taking supplements that have a doubtful or even harmful effect.

To learn how quality and research matter enormously when choosing dietary supplements, and why it is vital to only use micronutrient combinations that have been developed and tested on the basis of proper scientific research, see the special ‘Vitamins: Harm or Benefit’ feature on our website.