Byline: GUY GUGLIOTTA Washington Post
Mounting evidence suggests that increasing numbers of Americans are falling seriously ill or even dying after taking dietary supplements that promise everything from extra energy to sounder sleep.
The victims include men and women of all ages as well as children whose parents are feeding them snacks, drinks and nostrums made with herbal supplements that are neither regulated by the federal government nor tested for their effects on the young.
While the Food and Drug Administration issues periodic warnings about the dangers of individual supplements, no organization or agency has ever made a comprehensive analysis of the sickness and death associated with them.
But in attempting the first national survey, The Washington Post collected statistical snapshots from health officials, researchers and advocates reaching almost every state in the country. Among the findings:
Abuse of the bodybuilding supplement gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and similar substances has skyrocketed in recent years. In 1997-98, Texas recorded 86 hospital visits involving …
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