Science Friday How Shoddy Science Is Driving A Supplement Boom
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Sep 9, 2025 Pieter Cohen, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard and head of the Supplement Research Program, teams up with Colleen Derkatch, a rhetoric professor and author of 'Why Wellness Sells.' They dive into the booming $64 billion dietary supplement industry, discussing its appeal and the regulatory pitfalls at play. The conversation reveals the myths around popular supplements like CoQ10, the dangers of mega dosing vitamins, and the urgent need for transparency in the industry. Get ready for an eye-opening exploration of wellness culture!
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Supplements Are A Huge Legal Bucket
- "Dietary supplement" is a broad legal category created by Congress that groups many different ingredients together.
- Supplements can include vitamins, minerals, proteins, botanicals, animal extracts, and live microorganisms.
The 'Farm to Capsule' Illusion
- People see supplements as fundamentally different from pharmaceuticals and often imagine 'farm to capsule' purity.
- In reality supplements are pills made in labs and can mirror pharmaceuticals in form and function.
Regulation Relies On Industry Self‑Policing
- U.S. law treats supplement ingredients as presumed safe and lets industry largely self-police.
- The FDA mainly reacts and has limited power to proactively require safety testing or premarket approval.
