What are the comparative risks between the use of medicinal drugs and nutrients / herbs in food supplements?
There are interactions between some herbs and medicinal drugs and there are harmful impacts of large intakes of some vitamins during certain body states such as pregnancy. Apart from the above, the risk of death due to the side effects of medicinal drugs is infinitely greater than that caused by consuming quality controlled nutrients and herbs in food supplements. This does not, of course, mean that drugs should not be taken in order to avoid death. It simply puts in perspective the implicit harmlessness of quality food supplements. What would the pharmaceutical companies prefer? The self-care market has grown substantially over the last two decades. On the one hand pharmaceutical companies may view it as a threat to future sales in certain markets; on the other they want to regain control over and exploit for themselves the explosion in interest for nutrients. The neatest way is to engineer the introduction of restrictions on the supply of nutrients through current channels, introduce
