Georgia Man Says Vitamin Supplement Caused Hair, Nails to Fall Out

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/17225658/detail.html

An attorney told Channel 2 he has fielded hundreds of calls from people who say they got sick from a liquid vitamin. The "Total Body Formula" supplement is already linked to 197 illnesses in several states.

"You do a cupful in orange juice. I was trying to get the right nutrition by taking vitamins and minerals," said Marietta resident Edgar Gurley.

Gurley went from healthy to desperately sick in a matter months. "All my hair fell out. All of it," said Gurley.

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Ends up that the product had way too much selenium (another example of the principle of "The Dose makes The Poison", btw).
The story is a good example of why you need to check carefully who is making your supplements. The company that puts their name on the label of this product, Total Body Supplements, says that it is the responsibility of the manufacturer and bottler of the supplement to "correctly prepare the product in accordance with the product label." Sounds to me like they are passing the buck.

There probably isn't much chance that Total Body Supplements will face charges over this.

I wonder how many of the actual pills do?

cheap labor + gov't-enforced monopoly for "intellectual property" = superprofits!

I realize it wasn't the case with THIS particular supplement, but MANY times, people get bad reactions from supplements because THEY TAKE TOO MUCH! Some have the idea that if some is good, MORE IS BETTER! THAT is not true!

Back in the '70"s I was working for a national health food chain, in their home office. There was a BIG PROBLEM with a product called "Liquid Protein". After a lot of people had gotten sick, and even a few died, it was finally discovered that the people who were adversly affected used the Liquid Protein INSTEAD of FOOD!

There ARE unethical suppliers out there, but if you make sure the supplier is a reputable company and FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES on the lable, taking supplements is a good thing...especially if you don't eat a balanced diet.

So it couldn't possibly be harmful.

:sarcasm: