From food supplements, there are all kinds: to boost us, to increase our concentration, to fill our nutritional deficiencies, to calm our stress, to help us sleep … Result: we trust them to regulate all our (little ones) health concerns. Experts estimate that in France, one in 5 adults and one in 10 children consume it regularly.
Except that they are not harmless. Each year in the United States, 23,000 people are hospitalized for chest pain or some heart troubles, which occurred following an overdose of food supplements.
It is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that are sounding the alarm bells. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the institutions recorded the emergency admissions of 63 American hospitals. Most of the patients studied were between 20 and 34 years old.
The capsules most often implicated are those made from plants for losing weight Where fight against fatigue. These are responsible for 70% of hospitalizations.
In France, the sale of food supplements is subject to European regulations. But a vagueness remains: thus, in the law, they are not considered as drugs, but as food. Therefore, they do not undergo the same toxicological tests! In 2014, a report identified 1,500 annual cases of adverse effects linked to these “health foods”. Among which hepatic, gastroenterological disorders, allergies etc. Be careful, therefore …