CRN this week issued a press release highlighting results from an omnibus survey the association commissioned. According to the survey of 1,025 adults 18 years of age and older, 58 percent of Americans acknowledged that they do not eat a balanced diet on a regular basis.

 

Over 100 million Americans have adopted the use of dietary supplements, and numerous research studies are now validating the efficacy and safety of supplement use. The current dietary supplement research suggests an important health promotion role for dietary supplements which may be helpful to counter the effects of the pandemic lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer. Unfortunately, current patent law and high research costs limit private investment in “new drug approval” types of clinical research for dietary supplements.

 

A lack of understanding of the current body of scientific literature, limited private investment in dietary supplement research, along with limited government funding of research has resulted in misperceptions and biases in the media regarding safety and efficacy of these products. It is important that the public and legislators understand the facts regarding dietary supplements in order to make informed decisions, rather than over-react to exaggerated misinformation perpetuated by those with a lack of knowledge, ideological differences or a commercial conflict of interest.
  

Journalists and scientists have raised questions regarding the health benefits of soy and its components. Some select individuals and/or organizations even go as far as alluding to soy having a "dark side."