What You Need—and Don't Need 

In Focus This Month: Magnesium

People buy dietary supplements because they want to take control of their own health care. But in today's go-go marketplace, you need to think before you buy and try. The Wellness Letter has discussed many supplements, including the popular ones listed below. Click on a name to find the claims, purported benefits, and our bottom line.

	• Açaí Juice • Alpha-Lipoic Acid • Arginine • Beta Carotene • Black Cohosh • Blue-Green Algae • B Vitamins • Calcium • Chromium • Cocoa Supplements • Cod Liver Oil • Coenzyme Q-10 • Cold-fX (ginseng extract) • Coral Calcium • DHEA • Echinacea • Evening Primrose Oil • Fish Oil • Flaxseed • Focus Factor • Garlic		• Ginkgo Biloba • Ginseng • Glucosamine, Chondroitin Sulfate • Glyconutrients • Hoodia • Juice Plus+ • Magnesium • Melatonin • Multivitamins and Minerals • Niacin • Policosanol • Resveratrol • SAM-e • Saw Palmetto • St. John's Wort • Vitamin B12 • Vitamin C • Vitamin D • Vitamin E • Zinc

Why It's So Confusing

In 1994 federal legislation—passed after intensive lobbying by the supplements industry—essentially removed "dietary supplements" from FDA control. Manufacturers can now suggest almost anything—on their packages, in ads, on the Internet, on drugstore windows, on TV screens and the radio. They don't need any proof of safety or efficacy. Flawed studies are vigorously cited in support of dubious products. Studies that show a negative effect are never mentioned. False hopes, and false fears, are raised in ad copy. Standard medical treatments are impugned as "unnatural" or motivated only by greed.

It's a seller's market, and supplement purveyors need not even guarantee that what's in the bottle conforms to what's on the label. Yet some supplements are highly beneficial and do come in standard doses. No wonder people are confused.