Study: Many Supplements Contain Prescription Drugs

FDA investigators found trace amounts of prescription drugs or other unauthorized ingredients in hundreds of over-the-counter supplements, a new analysis of a decade of agency records reveals.

Researchers in California reviewed CDER’s warnings database for 2007 to 2016 and found that some 776 dietary supplements had at least trace amounts of prescription drugs or other unauthorized ingredients, implicating 146 different companies.

More than 20 percent of the offending supplements—157 different products—contained two or more impurities, the researchers found, publishing their findings in the JAMA Open Network. More than two dozen products were repeat offenders, racking up two or even three separate FDA warnings within a calendar year.

The most common offenders were sexual enhancement supplements, which were most likely to contain Viagra (sildenafil), followed by diet pills, which were most likely to contain sibutramine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and muscle building pills, which were most likely to contain synthetic steroids.