How Safe Are Your Supplements?

A quarter of dietary supplements tested in a recent study—mostly "testosterone boosters" and other supplements used by athletes—were contaminated with steroids. In addition, 11.5% contained banned stimulants, according to the Associated Press.

It’s the Wild West out there, in supplement-land, especially with products aimed at athletes seeking a competitive edge. And that’s the way the government apparently wants it.

When Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994, the U.S. government stopped regulating supplements as a type of food, as it had done for decades. The supplement manufacturers had lobbied for self-regulation, and they got what they asked for.

Companies are supposed to make sure that their pills aren’t stuffed with sawdust—or banned steroids—but no regulatory agency checks to make sure that they have done so.

Result: There have been several tainted-supplement incidents since deregulation, and these occurred outside the narrow athletic supplement category—calcium supplements that contained lead, herbal remedies that contained prescription drugs such as Viagra, and a weight-loss supplement that provided the same caffeine content daily as 30 cans of cola.

The study that turned up the steroids was done by Informed-Choice, a nonprofit coalition of supplement companies and an anti-doping laboratory that hopes to proactively clear murky air around the sports-supplement category. It was done in part to counter the I-took-a-tainted-supplement argument used by athletes who test positive for banned substances, according to Kelly Hoffman, executive director of Informed-Choice.

The group didn’t release a list of companies or supplements that were tainted, but it does keep a list of supplements that have passed its testing on its site. Informed-Choice alerts companies with tainted products, and if those supplement makers are members of the coalition, their manufacturing process and raw materials are reviewed by an independent board. If the company doesn’t pass a retest, the specific products with the Informed-Choice logo are removed from store shelves.

The industry isn’t calling for the government to step in, but it does want better self-regulation. “If all products were tested for banned substances, then everybody would be held to the same standard,” says Hoffman.

Well, sure. Meanwhile, here’s one rule of thumb when buying a food supplement: While the claims made for the product (often in brochures or Web promotions, rather than on labels) may be suspect, the manufacturing process could be too.