War on Supplements

To the increasing media battle against dietary supplements add the new U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) concerns over the effects of these products on the health of soldiers, especially those in the Iraq War. The New York Times quoted Col. Erin Edgar, an army physician whose medical support unit in Baghdad saw a couple thousand cases of soldiers complaining of palpitations or fainting spells, reporting 20 percent of those soldiers reported using either prescription psychotropic drugs or performance-enhancing supplements.

Edgar cited one case in which a soldier who had complained merely feeling badly died later of a possible heart attack. He was a little vague on that case report, but did note officials found the soldier's room filled with legal performance-enhancing supplements.  Col. Edgar isnt quite calling for a ban of supplements in the military, but he does favor removing them from military base stores so as not to present the image the DOD is endorsing the products. Other military insiders countered removing supplements from military base stores would hurt soldier morale.

Egar moved on to more productive comments, explaining many of the supplements popular with soldiers contain ingredients that leave users susceptible to heat stroke. Among these, he noted, stimulants such as caffeine increase metabolism but also raise heart rate and blood pressure, which is not good for combat zones in hot, dry climates.  Col. Edgars most informative comments were about how elite troops, including Special Operating Forces, appear to take supplements more cautiously and have fewer problems. On the contrary, other soldiers over-consume certain types of supplements, thinking them magic bullets that will make them muscle-bound overnight.

While DOD health affairs officials are looking into the value of offering supplements on base, the office is not yet prepared to remove these products from military shelves. Perhaps educating the soldiers on safe use of both prescription and over-the-counter health products, including supplements, and especially relative to the desert combat conditions of the Middle East, would be a better approach than removing the products from bases, taking away the soldiers health choice and suggesting supplements are dangerous on their own. Im guessing a few reputable dietary supplement companies would love to be involved in educating soldiers about safe supplement use and choosing high-quality supplements.