How Safe Are Diet Supplements?

FDA regulation is weak, so private watchdogs are stepping in

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January 30, 2006 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Jennifer Anger was just looking for a bit more energy. So the 25-year-old graphic designer took the recommended dose of Zantrex-3, a dietary supplement billed on the Internet as "America's hottest new Super Pill," offering "rapid weight loss and incredible energy." She got something very different. "My heart started pounding. I thought I was having a heart attack," she says. When that symptom subsided, she was left with a splitting headache.

Anger was stunned that a popular supplement could have such a powerful effect. But Dr. Tod Cooperman isn't surprised. His company, ConsumerLab.com LLC, tests dietary supplements to see what's actually in them. The Zantrex-3 that he analyzed in late 2005 contained a huge amount of caffeine per daily dose: 1,223 milligrams. That's a bigger jolt than you would get from 35 cans of Classic Coke or 12 cups of espresso. "There is a shocking quantity in some of these products," says Cooperman.