- Doctors have lifted the lid on deadly contamination inside health supplements
- A pair of Australian pharmacologists have found tablets with animal products
- Herbal supplements were found to have traces of heavy metals and arsenic
Medical researchers have lifted the lid on some of the more bizarre and deadly ingredients hidden in herbal supplements.
Heavy metals, arsenic and animal products are some of the components found in nutrients being sold Australia-wide, new research out of the University of Adelaide reveals.
The groundbreaking analysis of more than a dozen supplement products on Australian shelves found that more than 90 per cent ‘had something wrong with them’.
Pharmacologists Dr Ian Musgrave and Dr Roger Byard recently conducted the world-first research.
They found herbal supplements and Chinese medicine products were littered with contaminants like ‘heavy metals, like arsenic, animal products’.
‘[We found] rats, dogs, cats, snow leopard,’ Dr Byard told 60 Minutes.
He says his interest in the research was brought on by a pair of deaths related to contamination in health supplements.
New South Wales woman Merrill Gemmell found herself battling liver failure 18 months after she began taking a herbal supplement.
A chemist had prescribed her the drug to help her sleep, but instead handed her the prospect of a liver transplant.
‘I was petrified. I thought I was going to die,’ she said.
Brisbane-based surgeon Dr Paul Clark found that one-third of Ms Gemmell’s liver cells had died and the supplement was likely to blame.
He shared an opinion held by Dr Musgrave and Dr Byard – regulation on the $5billion industry is growing increasingly necessary.
Seven of every 10 Australians take some form of vitamin or supplement on a regular basis.
Source: Daily Mail
