April 9, 2007
Kelp Supplements: Not The Cure You’re Probably Looking For
So, we’ll admit that we are completely hooked on all sorts of herbal and homeopathic remedies. We wander down the aisles at Rainbow with awe. We love that tingly-clean feeling we imagine we feel when we splurge on a kombucha tea. We dream about detoxing out all of our sludge.
But some news about arsenic poisoning and kelp supplements this past week caught our eye. A study coming from UC Davis public health researchers reports on a woman who started taking kelp supplements for some mild menopausal symptoms. She took the kelp supplements pretty regularly, and over the course of several months her symptoms went from normal to bad. Nausea, rashes, memory loss. By the end, she couldn’t even remember her own address.
Doctors found she had high levels of arsenic in her body. She stopped taking the supplements -- and all her symptoms went away. Researchers found over-the-top arsenic levels in just about all of the different kelp supplements sent they tested. Arsenic is pretty common in marine plants and animals, but it just usually gets diluted before we eat it.
Kelp is supposed to be good for a variety of things like your memory, skin, and metabolism, although we’ve never actually taken it. (Yes, the link goes to a live web cam of a kelp forest at Monterey…)
We don’t like spreading bad news about any natural or herbal supplements - already enough disbelievers out there keeping good remedies on the fringe. But for those who share in our sludge-free fantasies, always a good reminder to do your research first…
By SFist Jessie
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Herbal supplements are a crapshoot. There is no good way to tell what you are getting, there has been case after case of mislabeled supplements (anywhere from ~0% of the labeled ingredient being there to many times over) and no requirement that the product be proven either safe or effective before it's sold. Ephedra was long sold as an unregulated supplement, and it was a very dangerous substance that is now illegal. It was sold for years without proof that it was safe or effective.
I think most supplement ingredients come from China. Production regulations in China are non-existant. There is no control over what gets put into these pills that you willingly put in your body. This is just another sad chapter in the tale of supplements.
This is a good reminder, to try and take a dietary approach as much as possible to get the phytochemicals we need for good health. Lest the arsenic in supplements issue causes us to run from seaweed, kelp as an ingredient in recipes may well have value in a cancer prevention diet. In Japan, where kelp is used in miso soups, as a snack, and as a thickening agent, there is a low incidence of breast cancer. Kelp is thought to have ant-estrogen properties, and studies have shown that women who consume more kelp dietarily have more time between menstrual periods, and significanctly less menstrual pain. At home we use kelp in soups to disguise it from suspicious children!
Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Author, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer"
All herbal and most vitamin supplements go to show there is STILL a sucker born every minute. These "health food" stores and such are nothing but modern day snake oil wagons masquerading as "health and nutrition". Every few years, something like selenium or HGH or anything high in antioxidants comes along with some get-rich-quick quack backing it up as the next panacea. Millions of dollars and poor suckers later, science proves it to be not only ineffectual at it's proclaimed effects, but in many cases harmful.
Let science speak for itself and when you hear about something, ask for the scientific proof. IF there isn't any, you have faith that what you're taking works.
Therefore, you are a faith-based health practioner, not science (reality) based.
And stupid people suffer. Especially stupid hippies or desperate fools who want to believe something magically works.
In that case, you might as well try prayer (also proven ineffectual).
Now I remember what I was leading up to.
Natural supplement ingredients come from unregulated Chinese factories.
Cat food comes from unregulated Chinese factories.
Nuff said.
I include the much-vaunted by the Trader Joe's sect "Airborne" in this category. You have no idea what's in there. Whatever it is, it ain't proven to work, and it's basically unregulated.
Why has nobody questioned the "study" done on the kelp supplements? If you look at the study, ALL of the supplements tested were the same brand. Furthermore, three of the positive results came from the same bottle. This was not a broad test, but a very small test ( 9 bottles total) that the media picked up on and sensationalized. Try taking a look at numerous other studies that show the benefits of preventive supplements.
Hey does anyone have experience brewing kombucha tea.. I know it is crazy healthy and I am thinking about getting a mushroom. mmmm .
Does anyone know how hard it is to brew?
Thanks.
Hey does anyone have experience brewing kombucha tea.. I know it is crazy healthy and I am thinking about getting a mushroom. mmmm .
Does anyone know how hard it is to brew?
Thanks.