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Another Reason to Choose Real Food: Both Drugs and Certain Supplements May Cause Liver Damage
Most of us know that pharmaceutical drugs often carry with them a nasty list of side effects: they come with warning labels and extensive information sheets detailing the unpleasantries that may accompany their use.
What is less known is that many supplements, marketed as “natural,” may also come with side effects and risks.
However, due to a lack of regulation, these are not required to be detailed on a label, and what’s worse is that many supplements are not what they claim to be.
The American College of Gastroenterology recently revised their guidelines concerning drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare reaction to certain drugs that can culminate in liver failure and death. Along with prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications, dietary supplements were implicated in the rise of this condition. 
Dr. Herbert Bonkovsky, who co-authored the new guidelines: “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case.
Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements.”
Because the FDA does not test supplements for content and quality unless they are reported for adverse side effects, many imposter products slip through the cracks. As we explored in detail in an earlier article, when 60 brands of multivitamins were tested by ConsumerLab.com in 2009, 12 were found to be mislabeled, nutrient deficient, or even contaminated with lead. In 2003, a workout supplement was found to contain an unlisted, untested ingredient very similar to methamphetamine.
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Source: http://www.riseearth.com/2014/07/another-reason-to-choose-real-food-both.html
