An assessment of weight loss supplements sold in the US has revealed that many were incorrectly labelled or had ingredients missing.
The Consortium for Health and Military Performance highlighted this issue though its investigation of the quality of supplements designed for weight loss in and around US military bases.
These findings suggest that a majority of the supplements available to service members are a "no-go", and that more should be done to provide the military with third-party approved weight management supplements.
This likely also affects the supplements available to the general population, meaning that finished product brands should place a strong focus on sourcing tested, high-quality ingredients.
"Concerning" label discrepancies
In recent months, there has been an increase in the identification of supplements that do not match their label claims, with a majority of these products being found online through Amazon.com.
However, this study wanted to explore what supplements were available to members of the military through retail stores such as General Nutrition Centers (GNCs), shopettes and exchanges.
Therefore, researchers bought 44 different weight loss supplements across 12 military installations and tested them via liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.
By doing this, they revealed that 36 (82%) of these supplements featured inaccurate label claims, while 61% of the tested products had ingredients listed that were not present in the formulation.
Of all the supplements tested, only 9% were considered "okay" when employing an OPSS Scorecard, which assesses an average consumer's ability to determine the safety of a supplement.
Notably, not a single product was third-party certified, and many contained multiple stimulants — putting their safety into question.
Getting it right
With global obesity levels at an all-time high, an increasing proportion of consumers are turning to catered supplements that can help them to manage their weight.
With the sudden growth of this market, there has been a huge influx of supplements that claim to help users shed the pounds while also supporting their wellness during the weight loss journey.
However, it appears that not all supplements are made equal, and many brands have not performed the necessary quality checks to ensure that their products are reliable, safe and efficacious.
As many of the supplements tested in this study were considered a "no-go" for military personnel, this may also apply to the weight loss supplements present across US retail stores for a regular consumer.
Therefore, supplement companies could strongly benefit from vigorously testing all their products, either by employing a third-party supplement testing company or by conducting tests in-house.
It would also be sensible for businesses to ensure that their quality checking processes are fully optimised, meaning that all supplements released onto the market are consistent, reliable, safe and beneficial.
First author of this study, Cindy Crawford, wrote: "Third-party certification requirements for dietary supplements, specific to the DoD and leveraging standards already in place, will help protect service members who search for ways to improve their health and optimise their performance,"
"DoD stakeholders and military establishments are working together with OPSS to establish effective ways for service members to have more third-party-certified products available on military bases."