Evaluation of dietary supplement advertisements in popular Spanish, Chinese, and Korean media outlets: a cross sectional study

Anthony Lee,Wing Chi Wong,Jaekyu Shin,Lesley Joanna Vásquez

doi:10.1186/s40795-015-0038-2

Abstract

The prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) advertisements in non-English daily periodicals, weekly periodicals, and television in the United States is unknown. Additionally, it is unclear if the claims presented in these advertisements are validated. This study aims to compare the prevalence of DS advertisements and percent of validated claims in DS advertisements among popular English and non-English daily periodicals, weekly periodicals, and television. This is a cross-sectional study involving daily periodical, weekly periodical, and television advertisements for DS in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles Area, California, USA. Study outcomes are percent prevalence of DS advertisements, percent of claims in DS advertisements that made therapeutic claims, and percent of validated claims in DS advertisements. Claims in DS advertisements were validated by using the effectiveness rating of the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database and/or identifying a supporting randomized controlled trial (RCT). The prevalence of DS advertisements across all three media outlets were 0 % in English, 0 % in Spanish, 14.8 % in Chinese, and 11.4 % in Korean. Across all three media outlets, DS advertisements were significantly more prevalent in both Asian languages than in English (p < 0.001). None of the products identified in English media outlets made a therapeutic claim whereas 18.6 % of products identified in non-English media outlets did. None of the claims in DS advertisements had an effective rating. Only one product identified in English media outlets had supporting data from an RCT. Our data suggest that DS advertisements are more common in Asian language media outlets than in English and Spanish language media outlets. Given the lack of validated claims in DS advertisements, rigorous evaluations of their claims should be carried out to guide and protect consumers.

Highlights

The prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) advertisements in non-English daily periodicals, weekly periodicals, and television in the United States is unknown
We considered the purpose of a dietary supplement product as cosmetics if the advertisement contains a claim to improve structure or function for a better appearance
We considered the claim as validated if it had an effective rating or a randomized controlled trial (RCT) report that 1) it had a statistically significant lower incidence of adverse clinical outcomes or better improvement in surrogate outcomes compared with placebo or standard treatment or 2) it had no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse clinical outcomes or improvement in surrogate outcomes compared with standard treatment

Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of dietary supplement (DS) advertisements in non-English daily periodicals, weekly periodicals, and television in the United States is unknown It is unclear if the claims presented in these advertisements are validated. Under DSHEA, dietary supplement manufacturers can make 3 types of claims: health (e.g., vitamin D may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis), nutrient content (e.g., high vitamin D content), and structure/function (e.g., vitamin D helps maintain strong bones). They are not allowed to make therapeutic claims such as treatment, prevention, or cure of a specific disease (e.g., vitamin D treats osteoporosis)

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