Dietary supplement safety information in magazines popular among older readers

Dietary supplements are extensively used in the United States, especially by people age 50 and over. Surveys have shown that magazines and other news media are an important source of information about nutrition and dietary supplements for the American public. It is uncertain, however, whether magazines provide their readers with adequate information about the safety aspects of supplement use. This report presents an analysis of supplement safety information in articles published during 1994-1998 in 10 major magazines popular among older readers. This time period was chosen to allow the impact of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) to be assessed. The evaluation included 254 magazine articles. More than two-thirds of the articles did not include comprehensive information about the safety aspects of the dietary supplements that were discussed. Information about safety issues such as maximum safe doses and drug-supplement interactions was often lacking even in otherwise informative and well-researched articles. A total of 2,983 advertisements for more than 130 different types of supplements were published in the magazines surveyed. The number of advertisements per year increased between 1995 and 1998. Supplements of particular interest to older adults (such as antioxidants, calcium, garlic, ginkgo biloba, joint health products, liquid oral supplements, and multivitamins) were among the most frequently advertised products. Although magazines popular among older readers contain extensive information about dietary supplements, these publications cannot be relied upon to provide readers with all of the information that they need in order to use supplements safely.