More than half of Americans take supplements. That’s becoming a health problem

At a time when Americans are buying and taking record amounts of supplements — well over half of adults consume one — some doctors and dietitians are trying to convince patients to take it easy.

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Almost all doctors say a few of them have their place; women benefit from taking folic acid, for example, when trying to have a baby. Some people have vitamin or mineral deficiencies that supplements can help address.

But supplements can also come with side effects, which patients are sometimes “shocked” to learn about, said Dr. Mitra Rezvani, a hospitalist at Westchester Medical Center in New York. Many are merely uncomfortable — stomach issues, for example. But some are more serious. One paper in The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that supplements are responsible for 23,000 emergency room visits a year.

The Food and Drug Administration only lightly regulates supplements, monitoring them less rigorously than drugs and not approving them for safety or effectiveness before they reach the public. …

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Because of what some have called “the wild west” nature of the market, it can be difficult to predict adverse side effects. 

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