Health and Suppliments

Staff in health food stores, routinely, gives advice to sell expensive supplements instead of supporting health of the consumers, as per a Canadian study.

This study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, was conducted by Athabasca University between 2002 and 2008.

From Cbc.ca:

In 88 per cent of cases the health food stores provided advice that was either unscientific or poorly supported by science.

“When people go into health food stores and ask for advice on dietary supplements in the great majority of times they’re going to get misleading advice to lead them to buy expensive and unnecessary supplements,” said Norman Temple, the lead author of the study.

By contrast, pharmacies offered advice backed by solid science 73 per cent of the time.

The study suggests that because pharmacists have several years of rigorous training and must adhere to a code of ethics they and their staff are far less likely to give misleading advice.

In an interview with CBC News, Temple said staff in health food stores lack training in nutrition and medical science.

“They certainly hire people fresh off the street that are no more qualified than somebody pouring coffee in Tim Hortons. That’s certainly the case,” he said.

If you are about to rely on advice of health store staff, it is time to think again and confirm the same from a qualified medical practitioner.

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