Jen Gunter Instagram – I get asked about supplements a lot, so I decided to organize all my posts in a subheading on my Substack, TheVajenda.com. Look, if the supplement industry isn’t going to give you the information you need for informed consent, I will. I have basic posts on understanding the different types of supplements, as well as the money to be made, the backstory behind the lack of legislation in the US, and posts about specific products. One issue with supplements is that they often don’t contain what they claim, they can be contaminated with microbials, and be adulterated with pharmaceuticals or even poisons. In a study published in JAMA (2024), researchers looked at the accuracy of labeling for products containing galantamine, a medication used to treat dementia (primarily Alzheimer’s disease), but it has some off-label indications as well. Galantamine offered a unique opportunity to compare the accuracy of labeling for a prescription product versus a supplement, as galantamine is available as both a prescription (regulated) and as a supplement (unregulated). With the regulated prescription (generics were chosen), the amount of galantamine in the pills was between 97.5% and 104.2% of the amount indicated on the label, which is not an uncommon margin of error, and there was no bacterial contamination. However, with the unregulated, over-the-counter supplement version, the amount of galantamine ranged from less than 2% to as much as 110% percent of what was printed on the label, and only one product contained what is claimed with the same margin of error as the prescription products. In addition, three or 30% of the supplements were contaminated with genes for the enterotoxin produced by Bacillus cereus, which is a cause of food poisoning. Please head over and check it out so you can be informed. Because you can’t make an informed choice without the I formation!