On ingesting her bone meal dietary supplement to prevent osteoporosis a woman felt just fine – until she didn’t. Over time she began to feel weak and sought out medical attention. Even a top neurologist wasn’t able to establish a diagnosis. After months of searching, she literally dragged herself into a medical library and began to research about weakness. One possibility was lead poisoning. Long story short, her blood lead levels were sky high. A bit more research found that the bone meal came from stockyards where the cows had ingested lead in their contaminated feed. The lead contaminated cow bones became her dietary supplement.
Dietary supplements in the USA are not under the control of the FDA. Congress prohibits that. The supplements frequently do not even have the substance in them that they have on the label – again the FDA cannot regulate this. The supplements often make health claims without any research to back them up. Dr. Oz, who knows better, pushes supplements and has been grilled about this in the Senate.
Dietary supplements also will not prevent dementia. But there are a few steps that appear to help: blood pressure control, physical activity and social engagement. Read more about this in the NYT’s article “Supplements won’t prevent dementia. But these steps might.“