DSHEA is the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. (Thank you, Bill Clinton, for signing a bill into law that gives free rein for abject quackery in medicine.)

It is a horrible law.

BTW, big Pharma is the largest marketer of so-called supplements. The only differences between supplements and medicine are:

1. Medicine is tested for efficacy and safety; supplements are not.

2. Medicine can make claims of efficacy for diseases; supplements are limited to "structure/function" claims, whatever the fuck that means.

Of course, supplements are merely drugs, except without regulation and without testing for either efficacy or safety.

I prefer science-based medicine to abject quackery.

I read that as... La-La-La-La... with your fingers in your ears.

At least I posted a link to support my claims.

This is a complex issue, and I don't have the time to write a long post or dig up articles from 1994.

There are arguments in favor of some supplements, like D3 and fish oil.

as a normal habit.

Whole organic herbs, taken whole, not from a bottle or jar with a label, from a reputable herbalist. Grow them yourself even. Whole, as ingest the herb whole dried or raw or as a tea or as a tincture.

Unregulated. Untested for either efficacy or safety. Thanks to DSHEA (<== Please click through this time.)

Medicine is regulated and tested for both efficacy and safety. That is why the caveats are printed for all prescription drugs, something supplement manufacturers do not have to do -- you DO realize that they are the same companies people call Big Pharma.

There is no such thing as alternative medicine. There is only medicine. And it is based on science. DSHEA put power in quackery. And people actually believe the garbage they spew. It is all marketing and no science. What the fuck do claims like "supports the immune system" even mean? As far as I can tell, nothing whatsoever.

Take a trip to Science Based Medicine.

Big Pharma knows this. Safe, my ass. Tell The Pap pharmas are safe, he'll laugh you out of his office.

The ONLY reason we don't use herbs today as medicines is that Big Pharma can't figure out a way to patent a plant other than with chemical company's gmo garbage.

Utah the home of MLM's,will have a 50% unemployment rate.

them myself and put them in a shake. Screw the capsules even. I have been doing wholistic medicine to heal my many maladies over the years and taking bottles and bottles of herbs and supplements DOES NOT WORK. Only whole organic herbs taken whole work. Grow your own if you can.

I just bought some vitamin D from Wholefoods .. was surprised to see it had corn oil in it after I got home and read the ingredients. My fault for sure. But with pesticides and growing practices (for profit), not nutrition, has lead us to believe we need supplements in order to get the nutrition we're lacking in our foods. Buying organic, for some, might seem a reassuring way that we're getting our daily requirements, but organic is expensive, and even still, we have to question where exactly that food was grown and under what conditions.

......of fish oil. As Bananas said, this is a complex issue.