|
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Warning over
safety of food supplements
CLAIRE O'CONNELL Source of Article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2008/1014/1223680492195.html FOOD SUPPLEMENTS that offer health-promoting properties could also contain
potentially harmful contaminants, a conference in Screening has identified a number of contaminated products on the Irish
market, according to Dr Martin Danaher, a senior research officer at Teagasc's Ashtown Food Research
Centre in In particular, blue-green algae harvested from a lake in the US can be
contaminated with a liver toxin, said Dr Danaher, who collaborated with
Belfast company Xenosense on a screening study of
about 200 blue-green algae products on the Irish market. The project found that products with blue-green algae harvested from "What can happen is that along with the good algae which has
health-promoting properties you can also harvest toxic algae," said Dr
Danaher, who will discuss the findings at the annual meeting of the Irish
Society of Toxicology (IST) at Jurys Cork Hotel on
Thursday. "Generally the [toxins] make you sick. The people selling the tablets
claim that this is the natural detoxification process," he said.
"The levels in the tablets mean if you were taking them over a long
period of time there might be cause for concern but over a short period it's
probably of no significance." The safefood-funded biosensor project also
screened Spirulina blue-green algae products, which
are grown under controlled conditions, and they came up clear for the toxin. "I would say that Spirulina are safe, from
our work there, no [microcystin] toxin in
them," said Dr Danaher, who suggested that consumers contact the Food
Safety Authority of Ireland if they have concerns. Consumers should be wary when buying food supplements, said Christopher
Elliot, professor of food safety at Queen's University Belfast, who will also
speak at the IST conference. "In many cases the products are from bone fide companies and the
contents are well characterised and described.
However, this is not always the case," he said. "Some products
contain 'health-giving ingredients' that are not fully understood. They have
shown some beneficial properties but the possible downsides of consumption
have not been fully explored." Prof Elliot described the message to consumers as straightforward:
"Don't think of these supplements as a substitute for a healthy
lifestyle; a balanced diet and regular exercise remain the best way to
maintain your health," he said. "While it may be wise to buy shoes and CDs over the internet, I would
advise people to think twice before purchasing any food supplement with
claims of wondrous properties. |
Copyright (C) All rights reserved under FoodHACCP.com
If you have any comments, please send your
email to info@foodhaccp.com
