The supplement sales have surpassed $150 billion in the United States in 2023. There are over 80,000 unique supplement products available for purchase worldwide. However, mislabeling of the products is common.
“We performed analytical chemistry and found about a 50% mismatch between stated ingredients on the label and what they actually contained, which is quite alarming. If you buy a supplement and it says it has a certain ingredient, it’s basically a coin flip if that’s true or not,” Robert Fontana, M.D., Michigan Medicine hepatologist, professor of medicine, and the study’s senior author, said.
“We’re not trying to create an alarm. We’re just trying to increase awareness that the over-the-counter supplements people are taking and buying have not been tested nor necessarily proven to be safe,” Fontana added.