No Evidence for Beneficial Effects of Garlic, Soy Supplements
Although garlic and soy supplements are widely available and touted as providing a number of health benefits, a two-day conference sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute concluded that there is no evidence that taking such supplements provides any benefit.
One of the major problems with over-the-counter dietary supplements such as garlic and soy pills and powders it that there is little quality control involved to determine how much active ingredient is in such supplements. Similar supplements may actually vary widely in how much active ingredient they contain, and some supplements may contain soy and garlic in a form that the body can’t even use.
“Very, very high on the list [of issues to be resolved] is the need for standardization of botanicals to ensure that we know what we are getting,” State University of New York in Albany researcher Eric Block told the conference.
Pharmaceutical companies manufacturing processes are strictly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but supplements for things like soy and garlic are not subject to those regulations.
Source:
Experts: Benefits unproven for popular supplements. Maggie Fox, Reuters, August 23, 2002.
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