Vitamin Supplement Industry has Minimal Oversight, No Standards

[From article]
And unlike prescription drugs, which pass through a strict premarket approval process, the Food and Drug Administration does not evaluate a supplement’s contents or effectiveness before it hits the shelves. Even then, the agency has only a modest capacity to test the pills.
The result is a more than $30 billion industry that is largely regulated by the honor system.
Given this framework, there is little to guarantee that any vitamin, mineral, probiotic, sports supplement, herbal treatment, or other dietary supplement is safe, effective, or even contains what’s on its label.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/five-questions-to-ask-when-considering-health-supplements/

Five Questions To Ask When Considering Health Supplements
JANUARY 19, 2016
by KATIE WORTH Tow Journalism Fellow,

FRONTLINE

Columbia Journalism School Fellowships

FRONTLINE, The New York Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation examine the hidden dangers of vitamins and supplements, a multibillion-dollar industry with limited FDA oversight.
produced by NEIL DOCHERTY

[link to complete 54 minute video]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supplements-and-safety/

Vitamin Supplement Study, Inconclusive; May Cause Prostate Cancer, Prevent Breast Cancer

OK, so vitamins may cause prostate cancer. But vitamins may prevent breast cancer. Uh, does that mean men should convert to women if they take vitamins? 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2467729/Taking-vitamin-pills-daily-cut-breast-cancer-death-rate-30.html

Taking vitamin pills daily could 'cut breast cancer death rate by 30%'
Research found multivitamins may boost older women’s chances of beating the disease - developed by 48,000 in the UK every year
Taking the pills daily cut death rates by 30 per cent among post-menopausal breast cancer sufferers, research has found
Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, studied 8,000 women aged 50 to 79 who had been diagnosed with breast cancer
By STEPHEN ADAMS
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 16:00 EST, 19 October 2013 | UPDATED: 16:02 EST, 19 October 2013

* * *
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2466592/Do-high-doses-vitamin-C-raise-prostate-cancer-risk.html

Do high doses of vitamin C raise prostate cancer risk? Study shows popping too many supplements could give men tumours
Study of followed the health of 48,000 men aged 40-75 over 22 years
It found that men who take large amounts of supplements risk disease
The chance of developing prostate cancer increased by 28 per cent
The finds were published in the International Journal of Cancer
By PAT HAGAN
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 18:07 EST, 18 October 2013 | UPDATED: 21:19 EST, 18 October 2013

Vitamins Do Work

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2150397/The-vitamin-pills-actually-work-How-supplements-work-wonders-specific-ailments.html

The vitamin pills that actually work!
How some supplements can work wonders for certain ailments
By DR MAX PEMBERTON
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 16:07 EST, 26 May 2012 | UPDATED: 16:07 EST, 26 May 2012