Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert reveals what's actually in supplements

Supplements are regarded as a healthy choice to give you an extra boost - but do these products really have the benefits they claim they do?

Numerous studies have identified tainted supplements or misleading labels, so it's important to do your research before you take them.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains further - and explains why supplements aren't an insurance policy or a substitute for a good diet and healthy habits.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'b Aaron O'Hara joins us, Good morning, Good morning. Is
this such an interesting topic you've got for us today?
We were just talking about the regulation of supplements because
I said to you, but hang on, we've been working
hard at trying to, you know, put some regulation in
place for supplements and things. Has that not gone through?
And you said to me, no, no, the bill was

(00:32):
thrown out.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, the Therapeutic Bill hasn't gone through. It's still in
work in progress right, And it means that basically supplements
are not very regulated within New Zealand. Different countries have
different regulations and roles. Australia is actually really strict on
supplements and regulation and testing. New Zealand very free flowing.
It is not your dietary. Supplements that you buy are

(00:55):
not tested and like prescription drugs at all. So what's
on the label, is it really in the bottle? Questionable?
But they're in New Zealand with med Safe. The only
thing they do regulate is certain ingredients. So for instance, zinc,
you only allowed fifteen milligrams a day, which as a practitioner,
I usually sometimes would use more than that, but it

(01:16):
is regulated that the tablet can only have fifteen miligrams,
so they regulate what ingredients can go into it and
it might be checked off. However, what is actually in
the supplement itself? Is it actually tested? And it's not
a New Zealand at this stage.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
And there was a particular sort of controversy this week,
wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, So there was the creating supplement from push gummies
and somebody independently tested it. And what they found when
they independently tested these gummies is actually they contained virtually
no creating in them. So people were taking them and
literally just eating lollies because their creating content was not

(01:56):
in there. And that just shows you how what people
were making and manufacturing because there's no strict regulation, not
like the pharmaceutical drug. If you were taking you know
what is in it because it has been tested. When
it comes to the supplement, what you think you're taking,
is that really what's in it? And is it the

(02:16):
actual bioavailability to the body. And that's where there's a
big gap in testing in New Zealand. So when you
are if you are wanting to take supplements, you really
want to be cautious what you're taking because you really
don't know what's in it, and that's where there can
be mislabeling, and there's numerous studies done around supplements and

(02:36):
mislabeling of what it says on the bottle is not
really in the tablet, as well as contamination of supplements,
so if they've made in a manufacturing line. There's some
interesting studies I read around supplements that actually contained viagra
which shouldn't have because they were manufactured on the same life.
Is so interesting how you can get those contaminants within

(02:57):
the supplements as well as well as things like heavy metals,
which you might not think, oh, I'm taking a supplement
and oh no, now I'm taking heavy metals coming in
through the supplements as well, and they can be really
poor manufacturing practices when it comes to manufacturing supplements compared
to our pharmaceutical drugs.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
So then how do we make a good choice about
purchasing quality vitamins and vitamins and supplements.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
And that's where it's not kind of getting sucked into
social media. That can be a real thing that we
can get sucked into. So looking for reptable brands that
you know and that maybe have third party testing. So
before you buy a supplement, go okay, where was this manufactured?
Is there any extra testing done? Personally, I like to

(03:42):
use lots of supplements that come from high quality companies
but also are tested through the TGA, which is actually
the Australian governing body for therapeutic goods, so they have
very strict regulations over there round testing and labeling what's
in it is really in it. So I think looking

(04:03):
at where are the supplements coming from. Generally, if they
from America, it's like free flow for all, so you
might not get what is actually meant to be in
their capsule in there, So being a little bit more
cautious around those sorts of things, and you can look
for things like certificates of analysis, which is something that
I'd usually suggests, especially if you're a professional athlete, because

(04:24):
you obviously don't want to contain things that are illegal
drugs within your all, things that are not allowed for
sporting performance that are in your supplements, and that's where
they have to be really careful around the testing of supplements,
So really looking into what you're taking and where it's
manufactured and whether it contains the actual ingredient. And you

(04:48):
can look through independent testings and there's certain websites through
independent testing and consumer websites you can look at for
checking that the supplements are actually manufactured at high quality, brilliant.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Thank you so much, Erin very much appreciated.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio