Six supplements that claim to boost immune health and energy could lead to irreversible liver damage, study suggests.
Michigan researchers analyzed data from nearly 10,000 American adults surveyed over a three-year period.
Participants were asked how often they used six popular but unproven supplements, including turmeric, green tea extract and ashwagandha.
The team found that the supplements, used by one in 20 Americans, were most popular with older, white women trying to treat conditions such as arthritis, low energy and hot flashes.
As many as one in 20 Americans take these supplements, the researchers found. Users were mostly older white women
They warned that these common supplements may contain ingredients that lead to permanent liver damage and organ failure, although they did not specify how many they contain or what specific ingredients they contain. The arrangement is also unclear.
Dr Alisa Likhitsup, lead study author and gastroenterologist at University of Michigan Health, said: “Herbal and dietary supplements (HDS) include a number of products that millions of people consume every day to improve their general health and to treat minor ailments.
“Chemical analyzes of HDS products associated with confirmed hepatotoxicity often show discrepancies between product labels and analyzed ingredients.”
The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, collected data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a survey of the US population.
The 9,685 participants were surveyed about how often they had used one of six supplements in the past 30 days. These were turmeric, green tea extract, garcinia cambogia, black cohosh, red yeast rice and ashwagandha.
About 58 percent said they had used at least one of the supplements in the past month, and those who used them tended to be eight years older — 52 — on average than those who didn’t.
White women were the most likely group to take at least one of these supplements. They were also more likely to have health problems such as arthritis, thyroid disease and cancer.
Maintaining general health, preventing health problems and boosting immunity were the most common reasons participants took the supplements. One in four people who took turmeric did so for joint health or arthritis and used green tea for energy.
In addition, 70 percent of garcinia cambogia users did so for weight loss, and 84 percent of those who took black cohosh tried to treat hot flashes. And nine out of 10 of those who took red yeast rice wanted to improve their heart health.
Turmeric was the most popular supplement in the survey. It has been touted for joint benefits, although it may be associated with liver damage
The graph above shows why users chose to take the six supplements studied
The researchers did not specify which ingredients in these supplements could lead to liver problems, although they warned that the effects “may not only be severe” but also lead to “death or liver transplantation.”
They also noted that drug-induced liver injury, also called drug-induced liver toxicity, especially from dietary supplements, has increased and accounts for 20 percent of these injuries.
In addition, the team cited research that found liver transplants for accessory-related injuries from 2010 to 2020 increased by 70 percent compared to 1994 to 2009.
Some studies have suggested that these supplements are associated with liver problems, although most claim that these complications are rare.
For example, a 2022 study in the American Journal of Medicine found that turmeric may be associated with drug-induced liver damage, although the link is not clear.
The new study had some limitations, namely that it did not accurately explain the risk of liver damage from taking these six supplements. In addition, the ingredients in dietary supplements vary widely, as they are not regulated by the FDA.
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