A health risk for consumers: the presence of adulterated food supplements in the Netherlands

The use of food supplements is increasing. They are marketed as beneficial for health, well-being, physical or mental condition and performance, or to prevent diseases. Producers add synthetic compounds or illicit herbal material to food supplements to claim desired effects. Claims made to support marketing without scientific evidence are, however, illegal. Intake of adulterated food supplements may lead to serious adverse effects. The aim of this paper is to report the results of analyses of (adulterated) food supplements conducted by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority... Mehr ...