NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you spend any time on Facebook, you're used to seeing ads and there are some for supplements that make some pretty incredible health claims.
These ads are selling products that claim to do everything from treat diabetes to boost your brain power. But many of these ads actually target users with products that it turns out can be both dangerous and illegal.
“We found ads and posts that promoted the use of some supplements that are dangerous or even illegal," said Kaveh Waddell, Consumer Reports Investigative Reporter. "For example, we found a series of posts from a verified Facebook page that promoted the use of Comfrey, which is a dangerous supplement.”
Consumer Reports investigation also found a disturbing trend: some of the supplement ads targeted specific groups of people.
“We found some ads that targeted people who Facebook thought were interested in diabetes awareness and Facebook was allowing marketers to put ads in front of those people that marketed things like a reverse diabetes kit," Waddell said. "Now medical experts say that supplements in general can’t cure or reverse diabetes.”
New Life USA took down that product listing and its CEO told Consumer Reports he thinks that people with diabetes should continue to work with their doctors, but he also said they should “wean [themselves] off medication.”
Consumer Reports also found dangerous supplements being sold on Facebook Marketplace, a part of Facebook where users can buy and sell new and used items, including “kratom,” which the Drug Enforcement Agency lists as a “drug of concern.”
Facebook said the kratom listing violated the platform’s rules, and soon after CR started asking questions, most of the kratom listings disappeared.
But, even if these ads for dangerous supplements are taken down, that might not solve the larger problem.
“So unlike a medication for example, where clinical trials have to be presented to the FDA before something can be approved and be sold, these supplements might end up on the shelves, they might not be going through a filter beforehand,” Waddell said.
In general, check with your doctor before trying new supplements and be sure to search for information about them in official sources like the NIH’s MedlinePlus.gov.
And if you ever get sick after taking a supplement, be sure you report it to the FDA. Federal regulators collect information on and track what’s known as adverse events.
