EXCESS SELENIUM IN SUPPLEMENT LINKED TO HEALTH PROBLEMS
A recent report revealed that in the US in 2008, numerous people fell ill after taking the supplements "Total Body Formula" and "Total Body Mega Formula. They started losing their hair and began suffering from fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea and other symptoms. The symptoms, first reported by patients of a Florida chiropractor who was selling the products in his office, were subsequently traced to a batch of the supplements carrying up to 200 times the amount of selenium stated on the label. Further investigation found 201 people in ten states who had been sickened by the supplement. Although selenium is essential to the optimum functioning of the human body, excess amounts are toxic. The Food and Drug Administration determined that a "human error" by one of the company's suppliers was behind the selenium overage. "This is more of a rarity than the usual thing," says Dr William Obermeyer, vice president of research at Consumerlab.com, an independent company that tests the quality of health and nutritional products. Although some companies subscribe to Good Manufacturing Practices, whether those rules would have helped prevent the selenium poisonings is unclear.