Proposal:

For my research topic I will be examining the safety and efficiency of different dietary supplements that are, or have been out on the market. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not classify dietary supplements as drugs, and therefore they do not have to be proven safe before sale. They can be put out on the market claiming to help people lose weight or with other different problems that they could face without being checked for problematic side effects first. The FDA will only investigate the supplements for problems after there has been many claims of harmful side effects from such supplements. There have been many different supplements that have caused opposite reactions for which they are suppose to help with, and also have caused even worse problems that can be life threatening to the user. Producers of these supplements also aren’t regulated to define harmful side effects from their products on the label, which can hide valuable information from the user. I will be researching the effects from certain supplements and finding information on how effective and helpful certain products will be to someone. I will also be looking for different unseen side effects from these products to figure out just how safe some products are, or were that had been removed from sale. My main goal is to find out just what these different supplements help with and how true their claims are. I also want to know how they have effected people, and if some cause side effects that are not being told about that could cause different, or worse physical problems to the user.I will be trying to find the risk to the health and safety of the user of these supplements that the people using the product are so sure of will help them.

Sources:

1.Worts and All link:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=bedd1bcb-95d1-431a-9a38-e981243790c8%40sessionmgr15&vid=4&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=52111639

Background: This source talks about how the Government accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study on such herbal supplements with certain ingredients that may have been harmful to the very users it claimed to help. It talks about the different regulations supplements makers have to follow, but how they don’t have to show prove of their findings and can easily trick customers with certain sayings of praise. The GAO asked supplement retailers certain questions about their products and if certain mixes with medication was safe. All the answers by the retailers were yes, yes,yes showing how great their product was, but when examined upon the real answer of no was discovered. The GAO also discovered that out od the forty herbal supplements they tested, thirty-seven of them had contained at least one harmful compound.

How I intend to use research: This research distictly describes the loose regulations that the supplement industries have to follow. It also gives me clear examples of lies being told to users and examples of products that were found unsafe, which all supports my proposal of finding how safe, or in this case how dangerous these supplements are to a user.

2. Supplements: The Whole Truth Link:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=bedd1bcb-95d1-431a-9a38-e981243790c8%40sessionmgr15&vid=4&hid=9&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=70479736

Background: This article starts by talking about how military members looking to dietary supplements to increase their physical fitness out in combat. They felt their health benefits were good for them, but closer studies discovered opposites. It goes into further detail about certain ingredients in supplements and stimulants that could be harmful and cause very severe problems for a user. It talks about Ephedra basied products for example that are used in lots of dietary supplements to increase weight loss, but in fact cause heart problems along with other issues. It also states it’s Ephedra based products because ephedra was banned by the FDA for its dangerous side effects.

How I intend to use research: It backs up my point of dangerous supplement side effects, and goes into detail of contents along with examples of such. It even names a banned content that had caused severe health issues. It gives plenty of back up to my overall point and question of the safety and efficiency of these supplement products being sold.

3.Dietary Supplementation Habits and Perceptions of Supplement Use Among Elite Finnish Athletes link:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=bedd1bcb-95d1-431a-9a38-e981243790c8%40sessionmgr15&vid=5&hid=9&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=64742647

Background: This is an experiment examining elite finish athletes and their use of different supplements between two years. It gives numbers, graphs, and figures to examine and look at between the years of 2002 and 2009. It demonstrates their findings, use and reason for why athletes use supplements.

How I intend to use research: This research gives me actual figures and numbers to look at and examine. It gives me adequate numbers demonstrating the large use of supplements by athletes in the world, which shows their importance in being safe. It also gives me findings of some health concerns brought up with the supplement use. It’s a bunch of quantitative data that I can use and show in numbers for reasons of use and get a good picture of which type of supplements most athletes and others use.

4. Who’s Spiking Your Supplements? link: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=bedd1bcb-95d1-431a-9a38-e981243790c8%40sessionmgr15&vid=8&hid=9&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=61983873

Background: This link starts to talk about a man named Heath that bought a supplement to gain some muscle before vacation. Next thing he knew he ended up in hospital with liver failure, and the supplement he had just bought was recalled for having steroid ingredients that weren’t on the label. It goes on to talk about how supplements are spiked with banned ingredients and not put on the labels of the product. With the loose dietary supplement regulations it’s easy for spiked supplements to be sold to millions before being shutdown.

How I intend to use research: This research gives a great example of a person that bought a specific supplement with hidden ingredients and the life threatening result of this supplement. It completely backs up the unsafety of the supplements out there to but and how dangerous some can really be. You can go from planning on putting on muscle for a vacation to dying in a hospital in a short time period.

5. STEMI in a 24-Year-Old Man after Use of a Synephrine-Containing Dietary Supplement link:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=9&sid=bedd1bcb-95d1-431a-9a38-e981243790c8%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=48077984

Background: This gives the information on how a man was checked out using STEMI and found to be in a complete healthy state, but after taking the supplement Nutrex Lipo-6x, which is suppose to be a safe Ephedra free product, caused him to be at risk for heart problems as they found a problem in his coronary artery. This was found just a few hours after the use of the product. It goes on about the research presented in this finding.

How I intend to use this research: I plan to use this as another one of my examples of how supplements that claim to be safe causing health problems. It also shows how quickly problems can occur after use of these supplements. It’s a huge surprise factor at how quickly this man went from a healthy heart to problems in his artery after such an early use of this supplement.