NutritionFacts.org
Browsing: Home / Videos / Dangerous Advice From Health Food Store Employees

Health Topics

Browse through 1,581 different health topics
from A-Z!
  1. #
  2. A
  3. B
  4. C
  5. D
  6. E
  7. F
  8. G
  9. H
  10. I
  11. J
  12. K
  13. L
  14. M
  15. N
  16. O
  17. P
  18. Q
  19. R
  20. S
  21. T
  22. U
  23. V
  24. W
  25. X
  26. Y
  27. Z
Browse All Topics

Dangerous Advice From Health Food Store Employees

Employees in natural food stores have been caught giving advice that is not only scientifically baseless, but also risky and downright dangerous.

June 4, 2012 |
GD Star Rating
loading...
FavoriteLoadingAdd to My Playlist

Topics

Supplementary Info

Sources Cited

Mills E, Singh R, Kawasaki M, Bast L, Hart J, Majlesi A, Kiani P, Wilson K. Emerging issues associated with HIV patients seeking advice from health food stores. Can J Public Health. 2003 Sep-Oct; 94(5):363-6.

Mills E, Singh R, Ross C, Ernst E, Wilson K. Impact of federal safety advisories on health food store advice. J Gen Intern Med. 2004 Mar; 19(3):269-72.

Matthews A, Dowswell T, Haas DM, Doyle M, O'Mathúna DP. Interventions for nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010 Sep 8; (9):CD007575.

Buckner KD, Chavez ML, Raney EC, Stoehr JD. Health food stores' recommendations for nausea and migraines during pregnancy. Ann Pharmacother. 2005 Feb; 39(2):274-9.

Acknowledgements

Images thanks to Les_Stockton

Transcript

Sometimes the advice on dietary supplements people are given are worse than worthless. “HIV Patients Seeking Advice from Health Food Stores” 26 stores recommended 36 different products, including some, like garlic, that can critically interfere with certain HIV meds.
 When the FDA and Health Canada issued advisory warnings to stop taking the herb kava kava due to one too many cases of fatal liver toxicity, it didn’t seem to affect things much in health food stores.
 What about “Health Food Stores’ Recommendations for Nausea and Migraines During Pregnancy.” Would health food store employees recommend supplements contraindicated in pregnancy that could cause “significant harm to the mother and.or fetus”? You betcha. And what kills me is that there are pregnancy-safe supplements for nausea like powdered ginger, that may be effective yet were instead advised to take a long list of untested things including herbs like feverfew and black cohosh which can cause uterine contractions and possible miscarriage.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena Mylchreest

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

This is the third of a four-part series on the quality of advice given by employees of natural food stores. See Health Food Store Supplement Advice and Bad Advice From Health Food Store Employees for parts 1 & 2. I have more than five dozen videos on dietary supplements in general for those interested in taking a deeper look, with a number suggesting toxicity, including ayervedic medicines, fish oil, Juice Plus, Herbalife, blue-green algae, cod liver oil, spirulina, green tea extracts, and noni juice. There are supplements likely to be health-promoting though, including vitamin B12 and vitamin D, but we should really try to get our nutrients from Produce, Not Pills. Then there are another 25 videos on pregnancy and 1,000+ other topics.

For some context, please check out my associated blog posts: Plant-Based Workplace Intervention and  Countering Dietary Pollutants & Pesticides

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    This is the third of a four-part series on the quality of advice given by employees of natural food stores. See Health Food Store Supplement Advice and Bad Advice From Health Food Store Employees for parts 1 & 2. I have more than five dozen videos on dietary supplements in general for those interested in taking a deeper look, with a number suggesting toxicity, including Ayervedic medicines, fish oil, Juice Plus, Herbalife, blue-green algae, cod liver oil, spirulina, green tea extracts, and noni juice. There are supplements likely to be health-promoting though, including vitamin B12 and vitamin D, but we should really try to get our nutrients from Produce, Not Pills. Then there are another 25 videos on pregnancy and 1,000+ other topics.

    • Kpaddles

       Thanks Dr. Greger,

      I was one of the lucky ones. I went into a health food store and asked about the efficacy of a certain diet. The employee didn’t know, but she suggested I read The China Study. It has been five years since that fateful day. I am happily eating a plant-based diet with no supplements except vitamin B-12. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

      • HemoDynamic, M.D.

        The key is to say, “I don’t know” when you really don’t know.  However, for many people (altruistically speaking) they want to help others so bad that will recommend something that they have heard might work without knowing the true consequences of their recommendations.
        Reminds me of a great line in Monty Python, The Holy Grail from Roger the Shrubber, ”Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to old ladies. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.”

  • Vera Springate

    Sorry but it makes absolutely no sense for someone in such “serious/grave” situation such as HIV or pregnant to seek advice from a health food store employee.  But I will admit HIV or pregnant crowds may not be educated enough to go with advice of a minimum wage worker.

  • RobG

    Water extracts of Kava Kava, which is how it is traditional used, is not hepatotoxic and is still legal in Australia because of this. However ethanol extracts of Kava Kava are potentially hepatotoxic and are illegal here. Thought of would clarify that there is a clear difference between the two in terms of safety. 

  • Roy M.

    Are enzyme supplements safe?
    Is there any research indicating that the enzyme supplements might be harmful? Please let me know, thanks a lot.

    • Toxins

      Unless prescribed by a doctor, I see no reason to consume an enzyme supplement based on whatever advertised benefits may be said. These things almost always are harmful.

  • Lillis

    Take a look at scientific studies:

    “Hepatotoxicity and subchronic toxicity tests of Morinda citrifolia (noni) fruit.

    Abstract
    Morinda citrifolia (noni) fruit juice has been approved as a safe food in many nations. A few cases of hepatitis in people who had been drinking noni juice have been reported, even though no causal link could be established between the liver injury and ingestion of the juice. To more fully evaluate the hepatotoxic potential of noni fruit juice, in vitro hepatotoxicity tests were conducted in human liver cells, HepG2 cell line. A subchronic oral toxicity test of noni fruit was also performed in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats to provide benchmark data for understanding the safety of noni juice, without the potential confounding variables associated with many commercial noni juice products. Freeze-dried filtered noni fruit puree did not decrease HepG2 cell viability or induce neutral lipid accumulation and phospholipidosis. There were no histopathological changes or evidence of dose-responses in hematological and clinical chemistry measurements, including liver function tests. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for freeze-dried noni fruit puree is greater than 6.86 g/kg body weight, equivalent to approximately 90 ml of noni fruit juice/kg. These findings corroborate previous conclusions that consumption of noni fruit juice is unlikely to induce adverse liver effects..”

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19797868

©2012 NutritionFacts.org - All Rights Reserved | In partnership with the Jesse & Julie Rasch Foundation
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Contact Us