Are the supplements you take killing you? – Valley News Live

Fargo, N.D. (Valley News Live): Products you think are helping you live a healthier life could be killing you. Herbal and dietary supplements are used across the U.S. but a new study finds these supplements are causing increased liver injuries. According to the study, liver injuries from dietary and herbal supplements are more than 20% of cases in the U.S.

Heidi Larson of Mentor, Minnesota, continues to count her blessings while still healing after suffering a severe liver injury. The injury was caused from a diet pill in the fall of 2015. Larson says she followed the directions on the bottle for the supplement.

"Within six weeks I was very ill and I didn't think much of that product," said Heidi Larson.

She began to have stomach pains, dark urine and her skin and eyes became yellow. Her doctors ran tests and found her numbers for her liver were up and her gallbladder was enlarged.

"My mom had called and said did you tell them you are on this nutritional product?" explained Larson. "I said well no because it's all natural and I didn't even think of it."

Larson stopped taking the product six weeks in but her symptoms continued to worsen. She was sent to a liver specialist in Fargo and they did an array of testing. Weeks later she found out it was from the Green Tea Extract in the supplement.

"It pretty much destroyed my liver," stated Larson. "Good thing the liver regenerates and I stopped taking it in time so I didn't totally destroy it."

"2014, it was roughly 10,000 cases since then the number of herbal and dietary injury has increased by 10 folds," explained Sanford Hepatologist Dr. Sajid Jalil.

The liver plays an important role in the body by filtering out toxins.

"People tend to believe that these supplements are natural and by extension harmless, that is not the case," said Jalil.

The study found most liver injuries tend to come from supplements that include green tea extract, anabolic steroids like bodybuilding and sport supplements, multi-ingredient nutritional supplements such as products mixed with vitamins, amino acids, proteins and botanical extracts.

"Most of these supplements are safe," explained Jalil. "I am not going to say that all of them are unsafe but with increasing use you will see increased risk of liver injury and they can range from no symptoms at all, just minor elevation of liver tests versus severe injury liver failure."

Dr. Jalil says products like Hydrocut have been taken out of the market but reformulated and introduced with a different name.

H&I Nutrition is a Fargo supplement store. The store manager says they educate their customers on what they are taking and advise them to follow the directions.

"Everyone thinks the more the better, that is not the case," said H&I Nutrition Manager Thomas Hastad. "A lot of times you take the recommend doses of the product, keep your water intake high and a healthy diet and you will be completely fine."

Hastad says he does ask his customers what their goals are and if they do have a plan. We asked if he ever tells his customers to tell their doctor the products they are taking.

"I don't stress that fact,that they need to tell, that is more their decision," explained Hastad. "That is kind of common knowledge you should be open with your doctor."

"Have you ever disclosed these things that you take? These supplements to your Doctor?" asked reporter Ashley Bishop.

"I guess not specifically, which I probably should because I am on some medications," said Justine Millar.

"You need to disclose pretty much everything," explained Jalil. "These supplements get ignored but when you're taking other medication there are a lot of drug to drug interactions. We have to know what you are taking so you make sure you are getting proper medication without drug interaction."

Dr. Jalil says everyone should remember that anything you ingest could cause liver problems and recommends not mixing supplements. Many people forget or are unaware that supplement manufactures are not required to prove to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) their products are safe or even effective. The study referenced earlier suggests more regulation is needed to provide safer products to the public. If you are looking for a way to keep your liver in good health, drink coffee or take Vitamin E.

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Are the supplements you take killing you? - Valley News Live