Have Supplements Really Changed?
- Lewis Meline M.D.
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Have Supplements Really Changed Over the Past 200 Years?
I’m going to do a brief overview of the history of supplementation. At the end, you will see that not much has changed with supplements over the past two hundred plus years. Read all of the post. It will be well worth your time.
Dietary supplements have been around for a very long time.
There is some misconception that they are a recent addition to our nutritional health made possible by improved science and technology.
The idea that certain components of our food were associated with the prevention and cure of certain diseases was noted as far back as 1550 BC by the Egyptians.
There is evidence that they used pills which is documented on Egyptian papyri.
The pills were mixtures of bread dough, honey, or grease with medicinal ingredients added.
Herbal remedies, salves, and ointments were also commonly used in ancient Greece and Rome.
Although the treatments they used may have contained herbs or other substances with potential value,
the efficacy was based on anecdotal evidence,
(there were no studies to demonstrate the efficacy of these treatments)
and the testimonials of those who used the products.
Whenever there is a chance to take advantage of someone’s ignorance, history has proven that someone will do so.
This is evidenced by the multitude of medicinal remedies that were produce during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
During this time, “patient medicines” were quite prevalent.
These are concoctions made and marketed under a patent.
They were available:
without a prescription,
similar to today’s over the counter medications and supplements.
typically marketed as “cure-alls” for many ailments
with exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims.
to gain popularity,
they depended on testimonials and aggressive promotion.
One of these concoctions, that is still sold today, is Carter’s Little Liver Pills, although they are now known as Carter’s Little Pills.
Patented in 1868 by Samuel J. Carter.
He claimed that his pills would cure headaches, constipation, dyspepsia, and biliousness.
These pills were heavily advertised when I was growing up.
Undoubtedly, there were concoctions that did provide some relief for many ailments,
these were overshadowed by the scammers,
they later became known as the “snake oil salesmen.”
Certainly these concoctions were not successful without there being a valid need for such things.
James Lind in 1747 observed
citrus fruits would effectively treat and prevent scurvy which was prevalent in sailors.
Around 1870 a new technology called “roller milling” became available for processing flour.
This became very popular as it allowed for the efficient separation of the wheat kernel into its components,
bran,
germ
endosperm.
If you remove the bran and the germ, the starchy endosperm makes a very fine white flour.
The white flour became very popular, and was readily available and affordable.
Unfortunately, removing the bran and germ also removed most of the nutritional value of the white flour.
This resulted in the rise of several diseases from vitamin deficiencies
beriberi from thiamine deficiency,
pellagra from niacin deficiency,
anemia from iron deficiency.
Until the late 1800s to early 1900s, chemistry techniques were not sophisticated enough to be able to isolate molecules from food.
several molecules were identified that were determined to be essential for health.
In 1912, Casimir Funk was credited with being the first to make the association between certain molecules and the diseases they prevented or treated.
These molecules were considered “vital” for health
came from a class of molecules knows as “amines”.
Casimir made a contraction of these two words and coined the term “vitamins.”
In the early 1900s, vitamins were obtained by extracting them from natural sources.
In 1933 the first vitamin was synthetically manufactured in a laboratory.
Vitamin C.
Vitamin A was first synthesized in 1947.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the 1930s that scientists started identifying the specific nutrients that were missing in the white flour and their roles in disease.
White flour began to be supplemented or enriched in the 1930s
by 1941, the US and other countries began mandating that white flour be enriched
iron,
niacin,
thiamin,
riboflavin.
In 1998, folic acid was added.
Backing up a bit, many of these early concoctions contained chemicals that could be harmful.
The first attempt to insure that these products were safe and reliable
the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906
administered by the Bureau of Chemistry.
act had many provisions
was generally ineffective.
In 1927, the regulatory functions of the Bureau of Chemistry
reorganized into the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration,
changed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1930.
The FDA presented the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938.
broadened the FDA’s authority
required the manufacturers to provide proof of safety of new drugs.
Note that this included drugs intended to treat medical illness as well as supplements.
This tight regulation made it difficult for supplement manufacturers
they had to provide research showing the efficacy and safety of their products.
The majority of supplements were vitamins, minerals, and protein
these had already shown efficacy and safety.
Any new concoction was met with great scrutiny.
The supplement manufacturers got a break in 1994
U.S. Congress passed the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA).
DSHEA basically classified supplements as food.
This made it so that unless a manufacturer claimed their product could
diagnose,
treat,
prevent,
cure a disease,
they were free to make any claims that they wanted about their supplement.
They also did not have to prove any efficacy or safety
if they used ingredients that were known to be safe for human consumption.
At the time DSHEA was enacted,
an estimated 600 U.S. dietary supplement manufacturers
marketed about 4,000 products.
The FDA estimates that in 2025
more than 100,000 different dietary supplements are available,
with an average of 5,660 new products being introduced annually.
Is it any surprise that with the reduced restrictions that everybody and their brother is producing any concoction that they can dream of?
best of all, they can make any claims that they want, and they don’t have to prove it, as long as they don’t claim that their product could
diagnose,
treat,
prevent,
cure a disease.
Just listen to the supplement advertisements and you will here this disclaimer. Listen carefully, they try to hide it the best they can.
Science and our ability to analyze biological processes has greatly improved since the discovery of the first vitamins.
Over the past few decades,
several vitamins,
minerals,
many other molecules
involved in metabolic processes have been discovered.
Anytime that there are such discoveries, someone starts manufacturing a supplement containing that molecule with the claims that it greatly improves the metabolic process it's involved with.
For example, in 1992,
because of previous research that folic acid supplementation could significantly reduce the incidence of neural tube defects,
CDC recommended that all reproductive-aged women consume 0.4 mg of folic acid daily.
The neural tube affects development of the brain and spinal cord, so this really is a big deal.
However, the researchers did not take into account the diets of the women in their studies.
They only noted that the supplementation of folic acid had a significant reduction in NTDs,
but what was the base line diet like in these women?
When folic acid was mandated to be added to enriched grain products in 1998,
folic acid supplements also became available that year.
Just having an excess of something doesn’t mean that it improves the process that it is involved with.
It is more likely to interfere with that process.
Imagine a person in a crowd of people.
They are less likely to be able to get to their destination forcing their way through the crowd,
i.e. the excess supplements, than if there was an ideal number of people around them.
Another example was the discovery that omega-3 fatty acids were a major player in the development of neural tissue.
Omega-3 fatty acids are contained in many foods,
recommendations were for pregnant women to consume more of these foods.
The supplement companies,
jumped on this recommendation
promptly developed and promoted their omega-3 supplements,
including, you guessed it, a prenatal supplement.
There are many supplements that have been overused for many years.
This is especially true of athletes,
in particular, bodybuilders.
There is a prevalent philosophy that more is better.
after researching supplement use for over forty years,
similar results were achieved by those who simply maintained a well-balanced nutritious diet.
In the big scheme of things,
nothing has really changed over the past two hundred plus years except for a few things.
Scientific methods have improved
allowing the identification of specific molecules involved in particular processes in our bodies.
Manufacturing techniques have also improved
allowing for the manufacturer of synthetic versions of these molecules.
Government agencies have been developed to provide oversite of these processes to ensure their safety. Wink wink.
Unfortunately, there are still those who look to make a buck by deceiving the unwary seeker of better, easier ways to achieve perfect health without significant effort on their part.
Manufacturers still claim that their products provide extensive benefits without any or at best unreliable evidence.
Their targets are the unwary people who are looking for a quick fix to their problems or at least to make sure that their diets are healthy because of these supplements.
Supplement products are still sold using aggressive advertising and testimonials.
P.T. Barnum gave us some insight into supplement marketing practices when he was credited with saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Mark Twain warned us that “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
Well, I hope this brief overview helps you to see the motive for the production of so many supplements. Are there supplements that provide benefit? Yes, of course there are. For example, there are people who have absorption problems. They must take large doses of certain vitamins, or minerals, or some other nutritional components that cannot be absorbed from just eating large portions of foods containing those components. There are several other beneficial uses for some supplements that I won’t get into now.
Just remember that there is no substitute for a well-balanced nutritious diet.
Keep watching for more BLOGs. I will continue to enlighten you on nutritional information, and health and weight loss insights. If you would like to have some help evaluating your diet and nutritional health, schedule a free consultation available from several pages on the Straight Shooter Health website. Have a wonderful day.
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