title: History of Ethiopia

text: Under the early Solomonic dynasty monasticism grew strongly. The abbot Abba Ewostatewos created a new order called the Ewostathians who called for reforms in the church, including observance of the Sabbath, but was persecuted for his views and eventually forced into exile, eventually dying in Armenia. His zealous followers, also persecuted, formed isolated communities in Tigray. The movement grew strong enough that the emperor Dawit I, after first trying to crush the movement, legalized their observance of the Sabbath and proselytization of their faith. Finally under Zara Yaqob a compromise was made between the new Egyptian bishops and the Ewostathians at the Council of Mitmaq in 1450, restoring unity to the Ethiopian church.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: An interesting side-effect of Ethiopian Christianity was the way it intersected with a belief that had long prevailed in Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far east, whose monarch was known as Prester John. Originally thought to have been in the Orient, eventually the search for Prester John's mythical kingdom focused on Africa and particularly, the Christian empire in Ethiopia. This was first noticed when Zara Yaqob sent delegates to the Council of Florence in order to establish ties with the papacy and Western Christianity. They were confused when they arrived and council prelates insisted on calling their monarch Prester John, trying to explain that nowhere in Zara Yaqob's list of regnal names did that title occur. However, the delegates' admonitions did little to stop Europeans from referring to the monarch as their mythical Christian king, Prester John.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Ethiopia began. Among others engaged in this search was Pêro da Covilhã, who arrived in Ethiopia in 1490, and, believing that he had at length reached the far-famed kingdom, presented to the nəgusä nägäst of the country (Eskender at the time) a letter from his master the king of Portugal, addressed to Prester John. Covilhã would establish positive relations between the two states and go on to remain there for many years. In 1509, Empress Dowager Eleni, the underage Emperor's regent, sent an Armenian named Matthew to the king of Portugal to request his aid against the Muslims. In 1520, the Portuguese fleet, with Matthew on board, entered the Red Sea in compliance with this request, and an embassy from the fleet visited the Emperor, Lebna Dengel, and remained in Ethiopia for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Francisco Álvares, who wrote one of the earliest accounts of the country.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Between 1528 and 1540, the Adal Sultanate attempted, under Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, to conquer the Ethiopian Empire. Entering, from the low arid country to the south-east with support from the Ottomans, Arabs and mercenaries from foreign lands on pretext of a Jihad, encroached upon much of the Ethiopian plateau, forcing the Emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In this remote location, the Empress turned to the Portuguese for military assistance against Ottoman guns. João Bermudes, a subordinate member of the mission of 1520, who had remained in the country after the departure of the embassy, was sent to Lisbon. Bermudes claimed to be the ordained successor to the "Abuna" (archbishop), but his credentials are disputed.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In response to Bermudes message, a Portuguese fleet under the command of Estêvão da Gama, was sent from India and arrived at Massawa in February 1541. Here he received an ambassador from the Empress beseeching him to send help against the Muslims, and in the July following a force of 400 musketeers, under the command of Cristóvão da Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior at first were successful against the enemy; but subsequently defeated at the Battle of Wofla (28 August 1542), and their commander captured and executed. The 120 surviving Portuguese soldiers fled with Queen Mother Seble Wongel and regrouped with Ethiopian forces led by the Emperor to enact several defeats on the Adal over late 1542 and early 1543. On February 21, 1543, Al-Ghazi was shot and killed in the Battle of Wayna Daga and his forces were totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the Emperor and Bermudes, who had returned to Ethiopia with Gama and now urged the emperor to publicly profess his obedience to Rome. This the Emperor refused to do, and at length Bermudes was obliged to make his way out of the country.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Oromo migrations were a series of expansions in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Oromo people from southern areas of Ethiopia to more northern regions. The migrations had a severe impact on the Solomonic dynasty of Abyssinia, as well as an impact to the recently weakened Adal Sultanate. The migrations concluded in around 1710, when the Oromo conquered the kingdom of Ennarea in the Gibe region.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In the 17th century, Ethiopian emperor Susenyos I relied on Oromo support to gain power, and married an Oromo woman. While initial relations between the Oromo and Amhara were cordial, conflict erupted after the emperor tried to convert the Oromo to Christianity. Many Oromo entered in emperor Susenyos' domain in response.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In the 17th and 18th centuries, much of the Oromo people gradually underwent conversion to Islam, especially around Harar, Arsi and Bale. The Oromo Muslims regarded the Imam of Harar as their spiritual guide, while retaining some of their original culture and socio-political organisation. Scholars believe the Oromo converted to Islam as a means of preserving their identity and a bulwark against assimilation into Ethiopia.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: By late 17th century, the Oromo had friendly relations with the Amharas. So when emperor Iyasu I tried to attack the Oromo, he was convinced by local Amharic rulers to back down. The Oromo also formed political coalitions with previously subdued people of Ethiopia, including the Sidama people and the locals of Ennarea, Gibe and Kingdom of Damot.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Gondar as a third permanent capital (after "Aksum" and "Lalibela") of the Christian Kingdom was founded by Emperor Fasilides in 1636. It was the most important center of commerce for the Empire.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed the Gama expedition into Ethiopia, and fixed their headquarters at Fremona (near Adwa), were oppressed and neglected, but not actually expelled. In the beginning of the 17th century Father Pedro Páez arrived at Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon rose into high favour at court, and won over the emperor to his faith. He directed the erection of churches, palaces and bridges in different parts of the country, and carried out many useful works. His successor Afonso Mendes was less tactful, and excited the feelings of the people against him and his fellow Europeans. Upon the death of Emperor Susenyos and accession of his son Fasilides in 1633, the Jesuits were expelled and the native religion restored to official status. Fasilides made Gondar his capital and built a castle there which would grow into the castle complex known as the Fasil Ghebbi, or Royal Enclosure. Fasilides also constructed several churches in Gondar, many bridges across the country, and expanded the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: During this time of religious strife Ethiopian philosophy flourished, and it was during this period that the philosophers Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat lived. Zera Yaqob is known for his treatise on religion, morality, and reason, known as Hatata.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Sultanate of Aussa (Afar Sultanate) succeeded the earlier Imamate of Aussa. The latter polity had come into existence in 1577, when Muhammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to Aussa with the split of the Adal Sultanate into Aussa and the Harari city-state. At some point after 1672, Aussa declined and temporarily came to an end in conjunction with Imam Umar Din bin Adam's recorded ascension to the throne.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Sultanate was subsequently re-established by Kedafu around the year 1734, and was thereafter ruled by his Mudaito Dynasty. The primary symbol of the Sultan was a silver baton, which was considered to have magical properties.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: This era was, on one hand, a religious conflict between settling Muslims and traditional Christians, between nationalities they represented, and, on the other hand, between feudal lords on power over the central government.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Some historians date the murder of Iyasu I, and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, as the beginning of the Ethiopian Zemene Mesafint ("Era of the Princes"), a time of disorder when the power of the monarchy was eclipsed by the power of local warlords.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Nobles came to abuse their positions by making emperors, and encroached upon the succession of the dynasty, by candidates among the nobility itself: e.g. on the death of Emperor Tewoflos, the chief nobles of Ethiopia feared that the cycle of vengeance that had characterized the reigns of Tewoflos and Tekle Haymanot I would continue if a member of the Solomonic dynasty were picked for the throne, so they selected one of their own, Yostos to be "negusa nagast" (king of kings) – however his tenure was brief.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Iyasu II ascended the throne as a child. His mother, Empress Mentewab played a major role in Iyasu's reign, as well as her grandson Iyoas too. Mentewab had herself crowned as co-ruler, becoming the first woman to be crowned in this manner in Ethiopian history.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Empress Mentewab was crowned co-ruler upon the succession of her son (a first for a woman in Ethiopia) in 1730, and held unprecedented power over government during his reign. Her attempt to continue in this role following the death of her son 1755 led her into conflict with Wubit (Welete Bersabe), his widow, who believed that it was her turn to preside at the court of her own son Iyoas. The conflict between these two queens led to Mentewab summoning her Kwaran relatives and their forces to Gondar to support her. Wubit responded by summoning her own Oromo relatives and their considerable forces from Yejju.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The treasury of the Empire being allegedly penniless on the death of Iyasu, it suffered further from ethnic conflict between nationalities that had been part of the Empire for hundreds of years—the Agaw, Amharans, Showans, and Tigreans—and the Oromo newcomers. Mentewab's attempt to strengthen ties between the monarchy and the Oromo by arranging the marriage of her son to the daughter of an Oromo chieftain backfired in the long run. Iyasu II gave precedence to his mother and allowed her every prerogative as a crowned co-ruler, while his wife Wubit suffered in obscurity. Wubit waited for the accession of her own son to make a bid for the power wielded for so long by Mentewab and her relatives from Qwara. When Iyoas assumed the throne upon his father's sudden death, the aristocrats of Gondar were stunned to find that he more readily spoke in the Oromo language rather than in Amharic, and tended to favor his mother's Yejju relatives over the Qwarans of his grandmothers family. Iyoas further increased the favor given to the Oromo when adult. On the death of the Ras of Amhara, he attempted to promote his uncle Lubo governor of that province, but the outcry led his advisor Wolde Leul to convince him to change his mind.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: It is believed that the power struggle between the Qwarans led by the Empress Mentewab, and the Yejju Oromos led by the Emperor's mother Wubit was about to erupt into an armed conflict. Ras Mikael Sehul was summoned to mediate between the two camps. He arrived and shrewdly maneuvered to sideline the two queens and their supporters making a bid for power for himself. Mikael settled soon as the leader of Amharic-Tigrean (Christian) camp of the struggle.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The reign of Iyaos' reign becomes a narrative of the struggle between the powerful Ras Mikael Sehul and the Oromo relatives of Iyoas. As Iyoas increasingly favored Oromo leaders like Fasil, his relations with Mikael Sehul deteriorated. Eventually Mikael Sehul deposed the Emperor Iyoas (7 May 1769). One week later, Mikael Sehul had him killed; although the details of his death are contradictory, the result was clear: for the first time an Emperor had lost his throne in a means other than his own natural death, death in battle, or voluntary abdication.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Mikael Sehul had compromised the power of the Emperor, and from this point forward it lay ever more openly in the hands of the great nobles and military commanders. This point of time has been regarded as one start of the Era of the Princes.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: An aged and infirm imperial uncle prince was enthroned as Emperor Yohannes II. Ras Mikael soon had him murdered, and underage Tekle Haymanot II was elevated to the throne.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: This bitter religious conflict contributed to hostility toward foreign Christians and Europeans, which persisted into the 20th century and was a factor in Ethiopia's isolation until the mid-19th century, when the first British mission, sent in 1805 to conclude an alliance with Ethiopia and obtain a port on the Red Sea in case France conquered Egypt. The success of this mission opened Ethiopia to many more travellers, missionaries and merchants of all countries, and the stream of Europeans continued until well into Tewodros's reign.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: This isolation was pierced by very few European travellers. One was the French physician C.J. Poncet, who went there in 1698, via Sennar and the Blue Nile. After him James Bruce entered the country in 1769, with the object of discovering the sources of the Nile, which he was convinced lay in Ethiopia. Accordingly, leaving Massawa in September 1769, he travelled via Axum to Gondar, where he was well received by Emperor Tekle Haymanot II. He accompanied the king on a warlike expedition round Lake Tana, moving South round the eastern shore, crossing the Blue Nile (Abay) close to its point of issue from the lake and returning via the western shore. Bruce subsequently returned to Egypt at the end of 1772 by way of the upper Atbara, through the kingdom of Sennar, the Nile, and the Korosko desert.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: During the 18th century the most prominent rulers were the emperor Dawit III of Gondar (died May 18, 1721), Amha Iyasus of Shewa, who consolidated his kingdom and founded Ankober, and Tekle Giyorgis of Amhara – the last-mentioned is famous as having been elevated to the throne altogether six times and also deposed six times. The first years of the 19th century were disturbed by fierce campaigns between Ras Gugsa of Begemder, and Ras Wolde Selassie of Tigray, who fought over control of the figurehead Emperor Egwale Seyon. Wolde Selassie was eventually the victor, and practically ruled the whole country till his death in 1816 at the age of eighty.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Dejazmach Sabagadis of Agame succeeded Wolde Selassie in 1817, through force of arms, to become warlord of Tigre.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Under the Emperors Tewodros II (1855–1868), Yohannes IV (1872–1889), and Menelik II (1889–1913), the empire began to emerge from its isolation. Under Emperor Tewodros II, the "Age of the Princes" ("Zemene Mesafint") was brought to an end.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Emperor Tewodros (or Theodore) II was born "Lij" Kassa in Qwara, in 1818. His father was a small local chief, and his relative (possibly uncle) "Dejazmach" Kinfu was governor of the provinces of Dembiya, Qwara and Chelga between Lake Tana and the northwestern frontier. Kassa lost his inheritance upon the death of Kinfu while he was still a young boy. After receiving a traditional education in a local monastery, he went off to lead a band of bandits that roved the country in a Robin Hood-like existence. His exploits became widely known, and his band of followers grew steadily until he led a formidable army. He came to the notice of the ruling Regent, Ras Ali, and his mother Empress Menen Liben Amede (wife of the Emperor Yohannes III). In order to bind him to them, the Empress arranged for Kassa to marry Ali's daughter. He turned his attention to conquering the remaining chief divisions of the country, Gojjam, Tigray and Shewa, which still remained unsubdued. His relations with his father-in-law and grandmother-in-law deteriorated however, and he soon took up arms against them and their vassals, and was successful.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: On February 11, 1855, Kassa deposed the last of the Gondarine puppet Emperors, and was crowned "negusa nagast" of Ethiopia under the name of Tewodros II. He soon after advanced against Shewa with a large army. Chief of the notables opposing him was its king Haile Melekot, a descendant of Meridazmach Asfa Wossen. Dissensions broke out among the Shewans, and after a desperate and futile attack on Tewodros at Dabra Berhan, Haile Melekot died of illness, nominating with his last breath his eleven-year-old son as successor (November 1855) under the name Negus Sahle Maryam (the future emperor Menelek II). Darge, Haile Melekot's brother, and Ato Bezabih, a Shewan noble, took charge of the young prince, but after a hard fight with Angeda, the Shewans were obliged to capitulate. Sahle Maryam was handed over to the Emperor Tewodoros and taken to Gondar. He was trained there in Tewodros's service, and then placed in comfortable detention at the fortress of Magdala. Tewodoros afterwards devoted himself to modernizing and centralizing the legal and administrative structure of his kingdom, against the resistance of his governors. Sahle Maryam of Shewa was married to Tewodros II's daughter Alitash.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In 1865, Sahle Maryam escaped from Magdala, abandoning his wife, and arrived in Shewa, and was there acclaimed as Negus. Tewodros forged an alliance between Britain and Ethiopia, but as explained in the next section, he committed suicide after a military defeat by the British. On the death of Tewodros, many Shewans, including Ras Darge, were released, and the young Negus of Shewa began to feel himself strong enough, after a few preliminary minor campaigns, to undertake offensive operations against the northern princes. However, these projects were of little avail, for Ras Kassai of Tigray had by this time (1872) risen to supreme power in the north. Proclaiming himself "negusa nagast" under the name of Yohannes IV (or John IV), he forced Sahle Maryam to acknowledge his overlordship.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In early 1868, the British force seeking Tewodros’ surrender, after he refused to release imprisoned British subjects, arrived on the coast of Massawa. The British and Dajazmach Kassa came to an agreement in which Kassa would let the British pass through Tigray (the British were going to Magdala which Tewodros had made his capital) in exchange for money and weapons. Surely enough, when the British completed their mission and were leaving the country, they rewarded Kassa for his cooperation with artillery, muskets, rifles, and munitions, all in all worth approximately £500,000. This formidable gift came in handy when in July 1871 the current emperor, Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II, attacked Kassa at his capital in Adwa, for Kassa had refused to be named a ras or pay tribute. Although Kassa's army was outnumbered 12,000 to the emperor's 60,000, Kassa's army was equipped with more modern weapons and better trained. At battle's end, forty percent of the emperor's men had been captured. The emperor was imprisoned and would die a year later. Six months later on 21 January 1872, Kassa became the new emperor under the name Yohannes IV.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Ethiopia was never colonized by a European power, but was occupied by Italians in 1936 (see below); however, several colonial powers had interests and designs on Ethiopia in the context of the 19th-century "Scramble for Africa."


title: History of Ethiopia

text: When Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, in 1867 failed to answer a letter Tewodros II of Ethiopia had sent her, he took it as an insult and imprisoned several British residents, including the consul. An army of 12,000 was sent from Bombay to Ethiopia to rescue the captured nationals, under the command of Sir Robert Napier. The Ethiopians were defeated, and the British stormed the fortress of Magdala (now known as Amba Mariam) on April 13, 1868. When the Emperor heard that the gate had fallen, he fired a pistol into his mouth and killed himself. Sir Robert Napier was raised to the peerage, and given the title of Lord Napier of Magdala.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Italians now came on the scene. Asseb, a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea, had been bought from the local sultan in March 1870 by an Italian company, which, after acquiring more land in 1879 and 1880, was bought out by the Italian government in 1882. In this year Count Pietro Antonelli was dispatched to Shewa in order to improve the prospects of the colony by treaties with Sahle Maryam of Shewa and the sultan of Aussa.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In 1887 Menelik king of Shewa invaded the Emirate of Harar after his victory at the Battle of chelenqo.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In April 1888 the Italian forces, numbering over 20,000 men, came in contact with the Ethiopian army, but negotiations took the place of fighting, with the result that both forces retired, the Italians only leaving some 5,000 troops in Eritrea, later to become an Italian colony.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Meanwhile, Emperor Yohannes IV had been engaged with the dervishes, who had in the meantime become masters of the Egyptian Sudan, and in 1887 a great battle ensued at Gallabat, in which the dervishes, under Zeki Tumal, were beaten. But a stray bullet struck the king, and the Ethiopians decided to retire. The king died during the night, and his body fell into the hands of the enemy (March 9, 1889). When the news of Yohannes's death reached Sahle Maryam of Shewa, he proclaimed himself emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, and received the submission of Begemder, Gojjam, the Yejju Oromo, and later Tigray.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: On May 2 of that same year, Emperor Menelik signed the Treaty of Wuchale with the Italians, granting them a portion of Northern Ethiopia, the area that would later be Eritrea and part of the province of Tigray in return for the promise of 30,000 rifles, ammunition, and cannons. The Italians notified the European powers that this treaty gave them a protectorate over all of Ethiopia. Menelik protested, showing that the Amharic version of the treaty said no such thing, but his protests were ignored.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: On March 1, 1896, Ethiopia's conflict with the Italians, the First Italo–Ethiopian War, was resolved by the complete defeat of the Italian armed forces at the Battle of Adowa. A provisional treaty of peace was concluded at Addis Ababa on October 26, 1896, which acknowledged the independence of Ethiopia.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Menelik granted the first railway concession, from the coast at Djibouti (French Somaliland) to the interior, to a French company in 1894. The railway was completed to Dire Dawa, from Harrar, by the last day of 1902.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Under the reign of Menelik, beginning in the 1880s, Ethiopia set off from the central province of Shoa, to incorporate 'the lands and people of the South, East and West into an empire'. The people incorporated were the western Oromo (non Shoan Oromo), Sidama, Gurage, Wolayta and other groups. He began expanding his kingdom to the south and east, expanding into areas that had never been under his rule, resulting in the borders of Ethiopia of today. He did this with the help of Ras Gobena's Shewan Oromo militia. During the conquest of the Oromo, the Ethiopian Army carried genocidal mass atrocities against the Oromo population including mass mutilation, mass killings and large-scale slavery. Some estimates for the number of people killed as a result of the conquest go into the millions. Large-scale atrocities were also committed against the Dizi people and the people of the Kaficho kingdom. Slavery was of ancient origins in Ethiopia and continued into the early 20th century. It was widely practiced in the new territories, and tolerated by the authorities who often owned slaves themselves. Slaves could be bought and sold (but not to non-Christians), and had limited legal rights. They did have the right to worship, and the right not to have their families broken up by sales.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: When Menelik II died, his grandson, Lij Iyassu, succeeded to the throne but soon lost support because of his Muslim ties. He was deposed in 1916 by the Christian nobility, and Menelik's daughter, Zauditu, was made empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen, was made regent and successor to the throne.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Upon the death of Empress Zauditu in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen, adopting the throne name Haile Selassie, was crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. His full title was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God."


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Following the death of Abba Jifar II of Jimma, Emperor Haile Selassie seized the opportunity to annex Jimma. In 1932, the Kingdom of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia. During the reorganization of the provinces in 1942, Jimma vanished into Kaffa Province.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The abolition of slavery became a high priority for the Haile Selassie regime. International pressures forced action, and it was required for membership in the League of Nations. Final success was achieved by 1942.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Modernization became a priority for the Haile Selassie regime; it began with expanded education opportunities beyond the small old-fashioned schools run by the Ethiopian church. Menelik had founded the first modern school at Addis Ababa in 1908, and sent several students to Europe. Haile Selassie sent hundreds of young men and women to study abroad, set up the capital's second modern school in 1925. He established schools and a number of cities, as well as training institutions and technical schools. Missionaries were also active in education. By 1925 French Franciscan sisters were well-established, running an orphanage, a dispensary, a leper colony and 10 schools with 350 girl students. They settled in the cities of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, along the Franco-Ethiopian railway which opened in 1917. The schools were highly attractive to upper-class Ethiopians. In 1935, 119 Catholic and Protestant missions were educating 6717 pupils across the nation.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Emperor Haile Selassie's reign was interrupted in 1935 when Italian forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Italian army, under the direction of dictator Benito Mussolini, invaded Ethiopian territory on October 2, 1935. They occupied the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. Emperor Haile Selassie pleaded to the League of Nations for aid in resisting the Italians. Nevertheless, the country was formally annexed on May 9, 1936, and the Emperor went into exile.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Many Ethiopians died in the invasion. The Negus claimed that more than 275,000 Ethiopian fighters were killed compared to only 1,537 Italians, while the Italian authorities estimated that 16,000 Ethiopians and 2,700 Italians (including Italian colonial troops) died in battle. Some 78,500 patriots (guerrilla fighters) died during the occupation, 17,800 civilians were killed by aerial bombardment and 35,000 people died in concentration camps.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: War crimes were committed by both sides in this conflict. Italian troops used mustard gas in aerial bombardments (in violation of the Geneva Conventions) against combatants and civilians in an attempt to discourage the Ethiopian people from supporting the resistance. Deliberate Italian attacks against ambulances and hospitals of the Red Cross were reported. By all estimates, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian civilians died as a result of the Italian invasion, including during the reprisal Yekatit 12 massacre in Addis Ababa, in which as many as 30,000 civilians were killed. Crimes by Ethiopian troops included the use of Dum-Dum bullets (in violation of the Hague Conventions), the killing of civilian workmen (including during the Gondrand massacre) and the mutilation of captured Eritrean Ascari and Italians (often with castration), beginning in the first weeks of war.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Italy in 1936 requested the League of Nations to recognize the annexation of Ethiopia. All member nations (including Britain and France), with the exception of the Soviet Union, voted to support it. The King of Italy (Victor Emmanuel III) was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia and the Italians created an Italian empire in Africa (Italian East Africa) with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somalia, with its capital Addis Abeba. In 1937 Mussolini boasted that, with his conquest of Ethiopia, "finally Adua was avenged" and that he had abolished slavery in Ethiopia, a practice that existed in the country for centuries.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The Italians made investments in Ethiopian infrastructure development during their occupation. They created the so-called "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua. More than 900 km of railways were reconstructed, dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private companies were established.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Much of these improvements were part of a plan to bring half a million Italians to colonize the Ethiopian plateaus. In October 1939 the Italian colonists in Ethiopia numbered 35,441, of whom 30,232 male (85.3%) and 5,209 female (14.7%), most of them living in urban areas. Only 3,200 Italian farmers moved to colonize farm areas (mostly in the Shewa Governorate), where they were under sporadic attack by pro-Haile Selassie guerrillas until the end of 1938.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The occupation government closed all schools operated by the Ethiopian church, or by missionaries. They were replaced with two new systems. There was a prestige operation for Italians, and rudimentary one for native Ethiopians. Textbooks featured the glory and power of Mussolini and promoted military careers. The natives were given a rudimentary primary education focused on producing submissive and obedient servants of the empire. New school buildings were constructed for the Italian colonists. The "Plan for development of Italian Addis Abeba" in 1939 proposed the creation of the first university in Ethiopia, but WW2 blocked it.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In spring 1941 the Italians were defeated by British and Allied forces (including Ethiopian forces). On May 5, 1941, Emperor Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa and returned to the throne. The Italians, after their final stand at Gondar in November 1941, conducted a guerrilla war in Ethiopia, that lasted until summer 1943. After the defeat of Italy, Ethiopia underwent a short period of British military administration, and full sovereignty was restored in 1944, although some regions remained under British control for more years. Eritrea became an autonomous part of Ethiopia in 1952, until its war of independence.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: After World War II, Emperor Haile Selassie made numerous efforts to promote the modernization of his nation. The country's first important school of higher education, University College of Addis Ababa, was founded in 1950. The Constitution of 1931 was replaced with the 1955 constitution which expanded the powers of the Parliament. While improving diplomatic ties with the United States, Haile Selassie also sought to improve the nation's relationship with other African nations. To do this, in 1963, he helped to found the Organisation of African Unity.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence began, following the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I's dissolution of the federation and shutting down the Eritrean parliament. The Emperor declared Eritrea the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in 1962. The Negus suffered criticism due to the expenses involved in fighting the Nationalist forces.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: By the early 1970s Emperor Haile Selassie's advanced age was becoming apparent. As Paul B. Henze explains: "Most Ethiopians thought in terms of personalities, not ideology, and out of long habit still looked to Haile Selassie as the initiator of change, the source of status and privilege, and the arbiter of demands for resources and attention among competing groups." The nature of the succession, and of the desirability of the Imperial monarchy in general, were in dispute amongst the Ethiopian people.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Perceptions of this war as imperialist were among the primary causes of the growing Ethiopian Communist movement. In the early 1970s, the Ethiopian Communists received the support of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev. This help led to the 1974 coup of Mengistu.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The government's failure to effect significant economic and political reforms over the previous fourteen years created a climate of unrest. Combined with rising inflation, corruption, a famine that affected several provinces (especially Welo and Tigray) but was concealed from the outside world, and the growing discontent of urban interest groups, the country was ripe for revolution. The unrest that began in January 1974 became an outburst of general discontent. The Ethiopian military began to both organize and incite a full-fledged revolution.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: After a period of civil unrest that began in February 1974, a provisional administrative council of soldiers, known as the Derg ("committee"), seized power from the aging Emperor Haile Selassie I on September 12, 1974, and installed a government that was socialist in name and military in style. The Derg summarily executed 59 members of the former government, including two former Prime Ministers and Crown Councilors, Court officials, ministers, and generals. Emperor Haile Selassie died on August 22, 1975. He was allegedly strangled in the basement of his palace or smothered with a wet pillow.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed power as head of state and Derg chairman, after having his two predecessors killed, as well as tens of thousands of other suspected opponents. The new government undertook socialist reforms, including nationalisation of landlords' property and the church's property. Before the coup, Ethiopian peasants' way of life was thoroughly influenced by the church teachings; 280 days a year are religious feasts or days of rest. Mengistu's years in office were marked by a totalitarian-style government and the country's massive militarization, financed by the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and assisted by Cuba. In December 1976, an Ethiopian delegation in Moscow signed a military assistance agreement with the Soviet Union. The following April 1977, Ethiopia abrogated its military assistance agreement with the United States and expelled the American military missions.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The new regime in Ethiopia met with armed resistance from the large landowners, the royalists and the nobility. The resistance was largely centered in the province of Eritrea. The Derg decided in November 1974 to pursue war in Eritrea rather than seek a negotiated settlement. By mid-1976, the resistance had gained control of most of the towns and the countryside of Eritrea.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In July 1977, sensing the disarray in Ethiopia, Somalia attacked across the Ogaden in pursuit of its irredentist claims to the ethnic Somali areas of Ethiopia ("see" Ogaden War). They were assisted in this invasion by the armed Western Somali Liberation Front. Ethiopian forces were driven back far inside their own frontiers but, with the assistance of a massive Soviet airlift of arms and 17,000 Cuban combat forces, they stemmed the attack. The last major Somali regular units left the Ogaden March 15, 1978. Twenty years later, the Somali region of Ethiopia remained under-developed and insecure.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: From 1977 through early 1978, thousands of suspected enemies of the Derg were tortured and/or killed in a purge called the Qey Shibir ("Red Terror"). Communism was officially adopted during the late 1970s and early 1980s; in 1984, the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was established, and on February 1, 1987, a new Soviet-style civilian constitution was submitted to a popular referendum. It was officially endorsed by 81% of voters, and in accordance with this new constitution, the country was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on September 10, 1987, and Mengistu became president.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: The regime's collapse was hastened by droughts and a famine, which affected around 8 million people and left 1 million dead, as well as by insurrections, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. The regime also conducted a brutal campaign of resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia in the 1980s. In 1989, the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically based opposition movements to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled the country to asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Hundreds of thousands were killed due to the Red Terror, forced deportations, or from using hunger as a weapon. In 2006, after a long trial, Mengistu was found guilty of genocide. The Derg government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic. The government perceived the various southern minority languages as hindrances to Ethiopian national identity expansion.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In July 1991, the EPRDF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and others, established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), which was composed of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992, the OLF withdrew from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition also left the government.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Eritrea separated from Ethiopia following the fall of the Derg in 1991, after a long independentist war.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In 1994, a new constitution was written that formed a bicameral legislature and a judicial system. A general election in 1995 to elect the Parliament also elected Meles Zenawi as prime minister and Negasso Gidada as president. Ethiopia's second multiparty election was held in 2000 and Meles was re-elected as prime minister. In October 2001, Lieutenant Girma Wolde-Giorgis was elected president. In the 2005 general election, allegations of irregularities that brought victory to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front resulted in widespread protests in which the government is accused of massacring civilians (see Ethiopian police massacres).


title: History of Ethiopia

text: With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with the rise of radical Islamism, Ethiopia again turned to the Western powers for alliance and assistance. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Ethiopian army began to train with US forces based out of the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) established in Djibouti, in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Ethiopia allowed the US to station military advisors at Camp Hurso.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In 2006, an Islamic organisation seen by many as having ties with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), spread rapidly in Somalia. Ethiopia sent logistical support to the Transitional Federal Government opposing the Islamists. Finally, on December 20, 2006, active fighting broke out between the ICU and Ethiopian Army. As the Islamist forces were of no match against the Ethiopian regular army, they decided to retreat and merge among the civilians, and most of the ICU-held Somalia was quickly taken. Human Rights Watch accused Ethiopia of various abuses including indiscriminate killing of civilians during the Battle of Mogadishu (March – April 2007). Ethiopian forces pulled out of Somalia in January 2009, leaving a small African Union force and smaller Somali Transitional Government force to maintain the peace. Reports immediately emerged of religious fundamentalist forces occupying one of two former Ethiopian bases in Mogadishu shortly after withdrawal.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Meles Zenawi died on 20 August 2012 and was succeeded as prime minister by Hailemariam Desalegn. On 7 October 2013, Mulatu Teshome was elected president of the country.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Protests broke out across the country, many from the largest ethnic group, the Oromo, in 2016 demanding an end to human rights abuses and the release of political prisoners. Following these protests, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency in October 2016 which was lifted in August 2017. On 16 February 2018, the government declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency following the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who said he wanted to clear the way for reforms. On 2 April 2018, Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo, was declared Prime Minister. Sahle-Work Zewde is the 4th and current President of Ethiopia, the first woman to hold the office.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Ethnic violence rose with the political unrest. There were Oromo–Somali clashes between the Oromo, who make up the largest ethnic group in the country, and the ethnic Somalis, leading to up to 400,000 to be displaced in 2017. Gedeo–Oromo clashes between the Oromo and the Gedeo people in the south of the country led to Ethiopia having the largest number of people to flee their homes in the world in 2018, with 1.4 million newly displaced people. In September 2018 in the minorities protest that took place in Oromo near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, 23 people were killed. Some have blamed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for giving space to groups formerly banned by previous Tigrayan led governments, such as the Oromo Liberation Front, Ginbot 7, ONLF and Sidama Liberation Front .


title: History of Ethiopia

text: In September 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a historic peace agreement, ending 16 years of hostility between the two countries (“no war, no peace” stalemate). As the result of the agreement, Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize 2019.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Fano is an Amhara youth group in Ethiopia, perceived as either a protest group or an armed militia. Fano units are accused of participating in ethnic massacres, including that of 58 Qemant people in Metemma during 10–11 January 2019 . and of armed actions in Humera in November 2020 during the Tigray conflict.


title: History of Ethiopia

text: Relations between the federal government and the Tigray regional government deteriorated after the election, and on 4 November 2020, Abiy began a military offensive in the Tigray Region in response to attacks on army units stationed there, causing thousands of refugees to flee to neighboring Sudan. According to local media, up to 500 civilians may have been killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra on 9 November 2020. Due to conflicts between TPLF's Militia and Ethiopian security forces in alliance with Amhara regional special forces, 25,000 refugees fled from Tigray to Sudan.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: George Fisher (born July 8, 1970), better known by his stage name Corpsegrinder, is an American death metal vocalist who is the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse, Paths of Possession and the supergroup Serpentine Dominion. He recorded two albums with Florida's Monstrosity before leaving and joining Cannibal Corpse in late 1995, replacing vocalist Chris Barnes, who is now the vocalist for Six Feet Under. Fisher released his debut solo album "Corpsegrinder" on February 25, 2022.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Fisher has also provided guest vocals for New York technical death metal band Suffocation on the songs "Reincremation" and "Mass Obliteration" from their debut album, "Effigy of the Forgotten" (1991), as well as guest vocals for California deathcore band Suicide Silence on the song "Control" from their fourth album, "You Can't Stop Me". Fisher also performed guest vocals on Job for a Cowboy's 2014 album "Sun Eater" on the song "The Synthetic Sea." In 2021, Fisher performed guest vocals for Boston metalcore band Ice Nine Kills on the song "Take Your Pick", a tribute to "My Bloody Valentine" from the band’s album "".


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: As a death metal vocalist, Fisher employs the "death growl" extended vocal technique. Fisher has also gained much popularity through the size of his neck. He has explained multiple times that the size of his neck is due to a combination of headbanging and lifting weights when he was younger.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Fisher was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He is married and has two daughters. Prior to joining Cannibal Corpse, Fisher worked as a driller's assistant in the Baltimore area.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Fisher is a huge fan of metal bands such as Death, Dethklok, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Sodom, Dark Angel, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Autopsy, Deicide, Dio, Mercyful Fate, Kreator, Megadeth, Iron Maiden and Metallica. He said, "I am a fan of live records. "Unleashed in the East" by Judas Priest is probably one of the all-time greatest live records ever put out. I also like the Sodom live disc they put out a while ago, and of course Iron Maiden's classic "Live After Death". I also think the live Deicide disc "When Satan Lives" is great too. Glen Benton's vocals are so powerful." "I listen to a lot of straight edge stuff, you know, from the eighties." He is also an avid Horde player of "World of Warcraft". He is a fan of the Washington Wizards and the Denver Broncos. Fisher is apolitical and has never voted in an election; however, he expressed support to NFL players taking the knee.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Contrary to the subject matter of his music, Fisher's personal life, viewed largely through his Instagram page, has been noted to be "cute" and "wholesome", showing him as a father with his children at Walt Disney World and with large plush toys; he himself has noted an affinity towards winning plush animals from claw machine games, which he then often donates to charity.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: In 1991, Fisher made his first official studio appearance on Suffocation's "Effigy of the Forgotten". His vocals can be heard on the songs "Mass Obliteration" and "Reincarnation".


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Fisher does occasional guest appearances in the animated series "Metalocalypse" where he voices the Metal Masked Assassin. He was also the inspiration for the character Nathan Explosion, the lead vocalist for Dethklok. Nathan shares a similar physical appearance to Corpsegrinder, headbangs in a windmill fashion, and also lived in Florida, although Fisher was born in Baltimore and moved to Florida in 1990, because he gave up a death metal band called "Corpsegrinder", in his home city.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: Blizzard Entertainment implemented a non-player character named "Gorge the Corpsegrinder" into "" after he revealed his interest in interviews. Fisher added the phrase "Fuck the Alliance" to the liner notes of the 2006 album "Kill", which he noted in a seven-minute interview in 2007.


title: George Fisher (musician)

text: On the closing night of BlizzCon in October 2011, the band Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftain, made up of Blizzard employees, welcomed Fisher to the stage with a 40-second clip taken from the 2007 interview, which included the phrase "die you emo cocksuckers" with "cocksuckers" bleeped. In addition, the video contained a number of homophobic slurs directed at Alliance players. Under pressure from Warcraft players, Blizzard then-President Mike Morhaime apologized for the video. In October 2021, in the wake of Blizzard's abuse lawsuit, this interview resurfaced which led Blizzard to change the name of "Gorge the Corpsegrinder" to “Annihilator Grek’lor."


title: Hushpuppy

text: A hush puppy (or hushpuppy) is a small, savory, deep-fried round ball made from cornmeal-based batter. Hushpuppies are frequently served as a side dish with seafood and other deep-fried foods.


title: Hushpuppy

text: The use of ground maize (corn) in cooking originated with Native Americans, who first cultivated the crop. Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole cooking introduced one of its main staples into Southern cuisine: corn, either ground into meal or limed with an alkaline salt to make hominy, in a Native American technology known as nixtamalization. Cornbread was popular during the American Civil War because it was inexpensive and could be made in many different shapes and sizes. It could be fashioned into high-rising, fluffy loaves or simply fried for a quick meal.To a far greater degree than anyone realizes, several of the most important food dishes that the Southeastern Indians live on today is the "soul food" eaten by both black and white Southerners. ... Indian boiled cornbread is present in Southern cuisine as "corn meal dumplings", ... and as "hush puppies"...


title: Hushpuppy

text: Hushpuppies are strongly associated with the Southern United States. A southern hushpuppy championship is held annually in Lufkin, Texas, and they are also available throughout the United States at restaurants serving deep-fried seafood.


title: Hushpuppy

text: The first recorded use of the word "hush-puppy" dates to 1899. The name has no verified origin. Etymology is attributed to a variety of sources. One claims, with little verification, that it came from hunters, fishermen, or other cooks who would fry some basic cornmeal mixture (possibly that they had been bread-coating or battering their own food with) and feed it to their dogs to "hush the puppies" during cook-outs or fish-fries. Although there are many possible origins for the dish, it is found to be akin to "red-horse bread", named after the red horse fish of the South Carolina rivers. Associated with former slave chef Romeo Govan, "red horse bread" is said to have been similar in consistency and ingredients. "Red horse bread" of South Carolina then became "hushpuppies" in Georgia around 1927, then gained national traction around 1943 in Florida.


title: Hushpuppy

text: Typical hushpuppy ingredients include cornmeal, wheat flour, eggs, salt, baking soda, milk or buttermilk, and water, and may include onion, spring onion (scallion), garlic, whole kernel corn, and peppers. Sometimes pancake batter is used. The batter is mixed well, adjusting ingredients until thick, and dropped a spoonful at a time into hot oil. Many older recipes call for the batter to be cooked in the same oil as the fish it accompanies. The small breads are fried until crispy golden brown, and cooled. Hushpuppies are often served with seafood or barbecued foods. They are commonly made at home or served in restaurants advertising home-style food.


title: Hushpuppy

text: In Jamaica, such fried bread dumplings are known as "festivals", and are made from a flour and cornmeal dough, with added salt and sugar, which is then formed into hot-dog roll shapes and deep-fried. They are sweeter than hushpuppies, which often contain onion or garlic. They are served with jerked meats such as pork or chicken. Mostly, it is served with fried or escoveitch (see also escabeche and ceviche) fish.


title: Hushpuppy

text: In Puerto Rico, hushpuppies are made in the shape of a short sausage and are called "sorullos" or "sorullitos". Sugar and parmesan cheese is added to the cornmeal and stuffed with a melting cheese or cream cheese with guava. They are dusted with powdered sugar and served with coffee, guava dipping sauce, or fry sauce.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order to increase the quantity of their consumption. The class of nutrient compounds includes vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, and amino acids. Dietary supplements can also contain substances that have not been confirmed as being essential to life, but are marketed as having a beneficial biological effect, such as plant pigments or polyphenols. Animals can also be a source of supplement ingredients, such as collagen from chickens or fish for example. These are also sold individually and in combination, and may be combined with nutrient ingredients. The European Commission has also established harmonized rules to help insure that food supplements are safe and appropriately labeled.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Creating an industry estimated to have a 2020 value of $140.3 billion, there are more than 50,000 dietary supplement products marketed in the United States, where about 50% of the American adult population consumes dietary supplements. Multivitamins are the most commonly used product among types of dietary supplements. The United States National Institutes of Health states that supplements "may be of value" for those who are nutrient deficient from their diet and receive approval from their medical provider.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the United States, it is against federal regulations for supplement manufacturers to claim that these products prevent or treat any disease. Companies are allowed to use what is referred to as "Structure/Function" wording if there is substantiation of scientific evidence for a supplement providing a potential health effect. An example would be "_____ helps maintain healthy joints", but the label must bear a disclaimer that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "has not evaluated the claim" and that the dietary supplement product is not intended to "diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease", because only a drug can legally make such a claim. The FDA enforces these regulations and also prohibits the sale of supplements and supplement ingredients that are dangerous, or supplements not made according to standardized good manufacturing practices (GMPs).


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the United States, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 provides this description: "The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) defines the term "dietary supplement" to mean a product (other than tobacco) intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any of the aforementioned ingredients. Furthermore, a dietary supplement must be labeled as a dietary supplement and be intended for ingestion and must not be represented for use as conventional food or as a sole item of a meal or of the diet. In addition, a dietary supplement cannot be approved or authorized for investigation as a new drug, antibiotic, or biologic, unless it was marketed as a food or a dietary supplement before such approval or authorization. Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are deemed to be food, except for purposes of the drug definition."


title: Dietary supplement

text: Per DSHEA, dietary supplements are consumed orally, and are mainly defined by what they are not: conventional foods (including meal replacements), medical foods, preservatives or pharmaceutical drugs. Products intended for use as a nasal spray, or topically, as a lotion applied to the skin, do not qualify. FDA-approved drugs cannot be ingredients in dietary supplements. Supplement products are or contain vitamins, nutritionally essential minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids and non-nutrient substances extracted from plants or animals or fungi or bacteria, or in the instance of probiotics, are live bacteria. Dietary supplement ingredients may also be synthetic copies of naturally occurring substances (example: melatonin). All products with these ingredients are required to be labeled as dietary supplements. Like foods and unlike drugs, no government approval is required to make or sell dietary supplements; the manufacturer confirms the safety of dietary supplements but the government does not; and rather than requiring risk–benefit analysis to prove that the product can be sold like a drug, such assessment is only used by the FDA to decide that a dietary supplement is unsafe and should be removed from market.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A vitamin is an organic compound required by an organism as a vital nutrient in limited amounts. An organic chemical compound (or related set of compounds) is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism and must be obtained from the diet. The term is conditional both on the circumstances and on the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a vitamin for anthropoid primates, humans, guinea pigs and bats, but not for other mammals. Vitamin D is not an essential nutrient for people who get sufficient exposure to ultraviolet light, either from the sun or an artificial source, as they synthesize vitamin D in skin. Humans require thirteen vitamins in their diet, most of which are actually groups of related molecules, "vitamers", (e.g. vitamin E includes tocopherols and tocotrienols, vitamin K includes vitamin K and K). The list: vitamins A, C, D, E, K, Thiamine (B), Riboflavin (B), Niacin (B), Pantothenic Acid (B), Vitamin B, Biotin (B), Folate (B) and Vitamin B. Vitamin intake below recommended amounts can result in signs and symptoms associated with vitamin deficiency. There is little evidence of benefit when vitamins are consumed as a dietary supplement by those who are healthy and have a nutritionally adequate diet.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The U.S. Institute of Medicine sets tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for some of the vitamins. This does not prevent dietary supplement companies from selling products with content per serving higher than the ULs. For example, the UL for vitamin D is 100 µg (4,000 IU), but products are available without prescription at 10,000 IU.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Minerals are the exogenous chemical elements indispensable for life. Four minerals – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen – are essential for life but are so ubiquitous in food and drink that these are not considered nutrients and there are no recommended intakes for these as minerals. The need for nitrogen is addressed by requirements set for protein, which is composed of nitrogen-containing amino acids. Sulfur is essential, but for humans, not identified as having a recommended intake per se. Instead, recommended intakes are identified for the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine. There are dietary supplements that provide sulfur, such as taurine and methylsulfonylmethane.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The essential nutrient minerals for humans, listed in order by weight needed to be at the Recommended Dietary Allowance or Adequate Intake are potassium, chlorine, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, iodine, chromium, molybdenum, selenium and cobalt (the last as a component of vitamin B). There are other minerals which are essential for some plants and animals, but may or may not be essential for humans, such as boron and silicon. Essential and purportedly essential minerals are marketed as dietary supplements, individually and in combination with vitamins and other minerals.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Although as a general rule, dietary supplement labeling and marketing are not allowed to make disease prevention or treatment claims, the U.S. FDA has for some foods and dietary supplements reviewed the science, concluded that there is significant scientific agreement, and published specifically worded allowed health claims. An initial ruling allowing a health claim for calcium dietary supplements and osteoporosis was later amended to include calcium supplements with or without vitamin D, effective January 1, 2010. Examples of allowed wording are shown below. In order to qualify for the calcium health claim, a dietary supplement must contain at least 20% of the Reference Dietary Intake, which for calcium means at least 260 mg/serving.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the same year, the European Food Safety Authority also approved a dietary supplement health claim for calcium and vitamin D and the reduction of the risk of osteoporotic fractures by reducing bone loss.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The U.S. FDA also approved Qualified Health Claims (QHCs) for various health conditions for calcium, selenium and chromium picolinate. QHCs are supported by scientific evidence, but do not meet the more rigorous "significant scientific agreement" standard required for an authorized health claim. If dietary supplement companies choose to make such a claim then the FDA stipulates the exact wording of the QHC to be used on labels and in marketing materials. The wording can be onerous: "One study suggests that selenium intake may reduce the risk of bladder cancer in women. However, one smaller study showed no reduction in risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly uncertain that selenium supplements reduce the risk of bladder cancer in women."


title: Dietary supplement

text: Protein-containing supplements, either ready-to-drink or as powders to be mixed into water, are marketed as aids to people recovering from illness or injury, those hoping to thwart the sarcopenia of old age, to athletes who believe that strenuous physical activity increases protein requirements, to people hoping to lose weight while minimizing muscle loss, i.e., conducting a protein-sparing modified fast, and to people who want to increase muscle size for performance and appearance. Whey protein is a popular ingredient, but products may also incorporate casein, soy, pea, hemp or rice protein. A meta-analysis found a moderate degree of evidence in favor of whey protein supplements use as a safe and effective adjunct to an athlete's training and recovery, including benefits for endurance, average power, muscle mass, and reduced perceived exercise intensity.


title: Dietary supplement

text: According to US and Canadian Dietary Reference Intake guidelines, the protein Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for adults is based on 0.8 grams protein per kilogram body weight. The recommendation is for sedentary and lightly active people. Scientific reviews can conclude that a high protein diet, when combined with exercise, will increase muscle mass and strength, or conclude the opposite. The International Olympic Committee recommends protein intake targets for both strength and endurance athletes at about 1.2–1.8 g/kg body mass per day. One review proposed a maximum daily protein intake of approximately 25% of energy requirements, i.e., approximately 2.0 to 2.5 g/kg.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The same protein ingredients marketed as dietary supplements can be incorporated into meal replacement and medical food products, but those are regulated and labeled differently from supplements. In the United States, "meal replacement" products are foods and are labeled as such. These typically contain protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. There may be content claims such as "good source of protein", "low fat" or "lactose free". Medical foods, also nutritionally complete, are designed to be used while a person is under the care of a physician or other licensed healthcare professional. Liquid medical food products – for example, Ensure – are available in regular and high protein versions.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Proteins are chains of amino acids. Nine of these proteinogenic amino acids are considered essential for humans because they cannot be produced from other compounds by the human body and so must be taken in as food. Recommended intakes, expressed as milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, have been established. Other amino acids may be conditionally essential for certain ages or medical conditions. Amino acids, individually and in combinations, are sold as dietary supplements. The claim for supplementing with the branched chain amino acids leucine, valine and isoleucine is for stimulating muscle protein synthesis. A review of the literature concluded this claim was unwarranted. In elderly people, supplementation with just leucine resulted in a modest (0.99 kg) increase in lean body mass. The non-essential amino acid arginine, consumed in sufficient amounts, is thought to act as a donor for the synthesis of nitric oxide, a vasodilator. A review confirmed blood pressure lowering. Taurine, a popular dietary supplement ingredient with claims made for sports performance, is technically not an amino acid. It is synthesized in the body from the amino acid cysteine.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Fish oil is a commonly used fatty acid supplement because it is a source of omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty acids are strings of carbon atoms, having a range of lengths. If links are all single (C-C), then the fatty acid is called "saturated"; with one double bond (C=C), it is called "monounsaturated"; if there are two or more double bonds (C=C=C), it is called "polyunsaturated". Only two fatty acids, both polyunsaturated, are considered essential to be obtained from the diet, as the others are synthesized in the body. The "essential" fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid, and linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fatty acid. ALA can be elongated in the body to create other omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).


title: Dietary supplement

text: Plant oils, particularly seed and nut oils, contain ALA. Food sources of EPA and DHA are oceanic fish, whereas dietary supplement sources include fish oil, krill oil and marine algae extracts. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) identifies 250 mg/day for a combined total of EPA and DHA as Adequate Intake, with a recommendation that women pregnant or lactating consume an additional 100 to 200 mg/day of DHA. In the United States and Canada are Adequate Intakes for ALA and LA over various stages of life, but there are no intake levels specified for EPA and/or DHA.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Supplementation with EPA and/or DHA does not appear to affect the risk of death, cancer or heart disease. Furthermore, studies of fish oil supplements have failed to support claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes. In 2017, the American Heart Association issued a science advisory stating that it could not recommend use of omega-3 fish oil supplements for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease or stroke, although it reaffirmed supplementation for people who have a history of coronary heart disease.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Manufacturers have begun to include long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids DHA and arachidonic acid (AA) into their formula milk for newborns, however, a 2017 review found that supplementation with DHA and AA does not appear to be harmful or beneficial to formula-fed infants.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Dietary supplements can be manufactured using intact sources or extracts from plants, animals, algae, fungi or lichens, including such examples as ginkgo biloba, curcumin, cranberry, St. John's wort, ginseng, resveratrol, glucosamine and collagen. Products bearing promotional claims of health benefits are sold without requiring a prescription in pharmacies, supermarkets, specialist shops, military commissaries, buyers clubs, direct selling organizations, and the internet. While most of these products have a long history of use in herbalism and various forms of traditional medicine, concerns exist about their actual efficacy, safety and consistency of quality. Canada has published a manufacturer and consumer guide describing quality, licensing, standards, identities, and common contaminants of natural products.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In 2019, sales of herbal supplements just in the United States alone were $9.6 billion, with the market growing at approximately 8.6% per year, with cannabidiol and mushroom product sales as the highest. Italy, Germany, and Eastern European countries were leading consumers of botanical supplements in 2016, with European Union market growth forecast to be $8.7 billion by 2020.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Claimed benefits of using probiotic supplements are not supported by sufficient clinical evidence. Meta-analysis studies have reported a modest reduction of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and acute diarrhea in children taking probiotics. There is limited evidence in support of adults using mono-strain and multi-strain containing probiotics for the alleviation of symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome. Probiotic supplements are generally regarded as safe.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A meta-analysis provided preliminary evidence that men treated with supplements containing selenium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, coenzyme Q or carnitines reported improvements in total sperm count, concentration, motility, and morphology. A review concluded that omega-3 taken through supplements and diet might improve semen quality in infertile men. A 2021 review also supported selenium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, coenzyme Q or carnitines, but warned that "excessive use of antioxidants may be detrimental to the spermatic function and many of the over-the-counter supplements are not scientifically proven to improve fertility."


title: Dietary supplement

text: There is low quality and insufficient evidence for the use of oral antioxidant supplements as a viable treatment for subfertile woman. A review provided evidence that taking dehydroepiandrosterone before starting an "in vitro" fertilization series may increase pregnancy rates and decrease miscarriage likelihood.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Prenatal vitamins are dietary supplements commonly given to pregnant women to supply nutrients that may reduce health complications for the mother and fetus. Although prenatal vitamins are not meant to substitute for dietary nutrition, prenatal supplementation may be beneficial for pregnant women at risk of nutrient deficiencies because of diet limitations or restrictions. The most common components in prenatal vitamins include vitamins B, folate, B, C, D, E, iron and calcium.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Sufficient intake of vitamin B can lower the risk of early pregnancy loss and relieve symptoms of morning sickness. Folate is also an essential nutrient for pregnant women to prevent neural tube defects. In 2006, the World Health Organization endorsed the recommendation for women of child-bearing age to consume 400 micrograms of folate through the diet daily if planning a pregnancy. A 2013 review found folic acid supplementation during pregnancy did not affect the mother's health other than a risk reduction on low pre-delivery serum folate and megaloblastic anemia. There is little evidence to suggest that vitamin D supplementation improves prenatal outcomes in hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes. Evidence does not support the routine use of vitamin E supplementation during pregnancy to prevent adverse events, such as preterm birth, fetal or neonatal death, or maternal hypertensive disorders.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Iron supplementation can lower the risk of iron deficiency anemia for pregnant women. In 2020, the World Health Organization updated recommendations for adequate calcium levels during pregnancy to prevent hypertensive disorders.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Individuals with hypokalemic sensory overstimulation are sometimes diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), raising the possibility that a subtype of ADHD has a cause that can be understood mechanistically and treated in a novel way. The sensory overload is treatable with oral potassium gluconate.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In 2020, the American market for dietary supplements was valued at $140.3 billion, with the economic impact in the United States for 2016 estimated at $122 billion, including employment wages and taxes. A 2020 analysis projected that the global market for vitamins and dietary supplement products would reach $196.6 billion by 2028, where the growth in market size is largely attributed to recent technological advancements in product manufacturing, increased demand for products advertised as healthy, increased product availability, and population aging.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Over the period 2008 to 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the United States received 6,307 reports of health problems (identified as adverse events) from use of dietary supplements containing a combination of ingredients in manufactured vitamins, minerals or other supplement products, with 92% of tested herbal supplements containing lead and 80% containing other chemical contaminants. Using undercover staff, the GAO also found that supplement retailers intentionally engaged in "unequivocal deception" to sell products advertised with baseless health claims, particularly to elderly consumers. Consumer Reports also reported unsafe levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury in several protein powder products. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that protein spiking, i.e., the addition of amino acids to manipulate protein content analysis, was common. Many of the companies involved challenged CBC's claim.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A 2013 study on herbal supplements found that many products were of low quality, one third did not contain the active ingredient(s) claimed, and one third contained unlisted substances. In a genetic analysis of herbal supplements, 78% of samples contained animal DNA that was not identified as an ingredient on the product labels. In some botanical products, undeclared ingredients were used to increase the bulk of the product and reduce its cost of manufacturing, while potentially violating certain religious and/or cultural limitations on consuming animal ingredients, such as cow, buffalo or deer. In 2015, the New York Attorney General (NY-AG) identified four major retailers with dietary supplement products that contained fraudulent and potentially dangerous ingredients, requiring the companies to remove the products from retail stores. According to the NY-AG, only about 20% of the herbal supplements tested contained the plants claimed. The methodology used by the NY-AG was disputed. The test involves looking for DNA fragments from the plants named as the dietary supplement ingredients in the products. One scientist said that it was possible that the extraction process used to create the supplements removed or destroyed all DNA. This, however, would not explain the presence of DNA from plants such as rice or wheat, that were not listed as ingredients.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A study of dietary supplements sold between 2007 and 2016 identified 776 that contained unlisted pharmaceutical drugs, many of which could interact with other medications and lead to hospitalization. 86% of the adulterated supplements were marketed for weight loss and sexual performance, with many containing prescription erectile dysfunction medication. Muscle building supplements were contaminated with anabolic steroids that can lead to health complications affecting the kidney, the heart, and cause gynecomastia. Multiple bodybuilding products also contained antidepressants and antihistamines. Despite these findings, fewer than half of the adulterated supplements were recalled.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The European Commission has published harmonized rules on supplement products to assure consumers have minimal health risks from using dietary supplements and are not misled by advertising.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the United States and Canada, dietary supplements are considered a subset of foods, and are regulated accordingly. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitors supplement products for accuracy in advertising and labeling. Dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA as food products subject to compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) and labeling with science-based ingredient descriptions and advertising. When finding CGMP or advertising violations, FDA warning letters are used to notify manufacturers of impending enforcement action, including search and seizure, injunction, and financial penalties. Examples between 2016 and 2018 of CGMP and advertising violations by dietary supplement manufacturers included several with illegal compositions or advertising of vitamins and minerals.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which litigates against deceptive advertising in marketed products, established a consumer center to assist reports of false health claims in product advertising for dietary supplements. In 2017, the FTC successfully sued nine manufacturers for deceptive advertising of dietary supplements.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the United States, manufacturers of dietary supplements are required to demonstrate safety of their products before approval is granted for commerce. Despite this caution, numerous adverse effects have been reported, including muscle cramps, hair loss, joint pain, liver disease, and allergic reactions, with 29% of the adverse effects resulting in hospitalization, and 20% in serious injuries or illnesses. The potential for adverse effects also occurs when individuals consume more than the necessary daily amount of vitamins or minerals that are needed to maintain normal body processes and functions. The incidence of adverse effects reported to the FDA were due to "combination products" that contain multiple ingredients, whereas dietary supplements containing a single vitamin, mineral, lipid product, and herbal product were less likely to cause adverse effects related to excess supplementation.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Among general reasons for the possible harmful effects of dietary supplements are: a) absorption in a short time, b) manufacturing quality and contamination, and c) enhancing both positive and negative effects at the same time. The incidence of liver injury from herbal and dietary supplements is about 16–20% of all supplement products causing injury, with the occurrence growing globally over the early 21st century. The most common liver injuries from weight loss and bodybuilding supplements involve hepatocellular damage with resulting jaundice, and the most common supplement ingredients attributed to these injuries are green tea catechins, anabolic steroids, and the herbal extract, aegeline. Weight loss supplements have also had adverse psychiatric effects. Some dietary supplements may also have adverse interactions with prescription medications that may enhance side effects or decrease therapeutic effects of medications.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Work done by scientists in the early 20th century on identifying individual nutrients in food and developing ways to manufacture them raised hopes that optimal health could be achieved and diseases prevented by adding them to food and providing people with dietary supplements; while there were successes in preventing vitamin deficiencies, and preventing conditions like neural tube defects by supplementation and food fortification with folic acid, no targeted supplementation or fortification strategies to prevent major diseases like cancer or cardiovascular diseases have proved successful.


title: Dietary supplement

text: For example, while increased consumption of fruits and vegetables are related to decreases in mortality, cardiovascular diseases and cancers, supplementation with key factors found in fruits and vegetable, like antioxidants, vitamins, or minerals, do not help and some have been found to be harmful in some cases. In general, as of 2016, robust clinical data is lacking, that shows that any kind of dietary supplementation does more good than harm for people who are healthy and eating a reasonable diet but there is clear data showing that dietary pattern and lifestyle choices are associated with health outcomes.


title: Dietary supplement

text: As a result of the lack of good data for supplementation and the strong data for dietary pattern, public health recommendations for healthy eating urge people to eat a plant-based diet of whole foods, minimizing processed food, salt and sugar and to get exercise daily, and to abandon Western pattern diets and a sedentary lifestyle.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The regulation of food and dietary supplements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is governed by various statutes enacted by the United States Congress. Pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and accompanying legislation, the FDA has authority to oversee the quality of substances sold as food in the United States, and to monitor claims made in the labeling about both the composition and the health benefits of foods.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Substances which the FDA regulates as food are subdivided into various categories, including foods, food additives, added substances (man-made substances which are not intentionally introduced into food, but nevertheless end up in it), and dietary supplements. The specific standards which the FDA exercises differ from one category to the next. Furthermore, the FDA has been granted a variety of means by which it can address violations of the standards for a given category of substances.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Dietary supplement manufacture is required to comply with the good manufacturing practices established in 2007. The FDA can visit manufacturing facilities, send Warning Letters if not in compliance with GMPs, stop production, and if there is a health risk, require that the company conduct a recall. Only after a dietary supplement product is marketed, may the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) review the products for safety and effectiveness.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The European Union's (EU) Food Supplements Directive of 2002 requires that supplements be demonstrated to be safe, both in dosages and in purity. Only those supplements that have been proven to be safe may be sold in the EU without prescription. As a category of food, food supplements cannot be labeled with drug claims but can bear health claims and nutrition claims.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The dietary supplements industry in the United Kingdom (UK), one of the 28 countries in the bloc, strongly opposed the Directive. In addition, a large number of consumers throughout Europe, including over one million in the UK, and various doctors and scientists, had signed petitions by 2005 against what are viewed by the petitioners as unjustified restrictions of consumer choice. In 2004, along with two British trade associations, the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) had a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive referred to the European Court of Justice by the High Court in London.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Although the European Court of Justice's Advocate General subsequently said that the bloc's plan to tighten rules on the sale of vitamins and food supplements should be scrapped, he was eventually overruled by the European Court, which decided that the measures in question were necessary and appropriate for the purpose of protecting public health. ANH, however, interpreted the ban as applying only to synthetically produced supplements, and not to vitamins and minerals normally found in or consumed as part of the diet. Nevertheless, the European judges acknowledged the Advocate General's concerns, stating that there must be clear procedures to allow substances to be added to the permitted list based on scientific evidence. They also said that any refusal to add the product to the list must be open to challenge in the courts.


title: Dietary supplement

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the FDA and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned consumers about marketing scams of fraudulent supplement products, including homeopathic remedies, cannabidiol products, teas, essential oils, tinctures and colloidal silver, among others. By August 2020, the FDA and FTC had issued warning letters to dozens of companies advertising scam products, which were purported "to be drugs, medical devices or vaccines. Products that claim to cure, mitigate, treat, diagnose or prevent disease, but are not proven safe and effective for those purposes, defraud consumers of money and can place consumers at risk for serious harm"


title: Dietary supplement

text: Examples of ongoing government research organizations to better understand the potential health properties and safety of dietary supplements are the European Food Safety Authority, the Office of Dietary Supplements of the United States National Institutes of Health, the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate of Canada, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia. Together with public and private research groups, these agencies construct databases on supplement properties, perform research on quality, safety, and population trends of supplement use, and evaluate the potential clinical efficacy of supplements for maintaining health or lowering disease risk.


title: Dietary supplement

text: As continual research on the properties of supplements accumulates, databases or fact sheets for various supplements are updated regularly, including the Dietary Supplement Label Database, Dietary Supplement Ingredient Database, and Dietary Supplement Facts Sheets of the United States. In Canada where a license is issued when a supplement product has been proven by the manufacturer and government to be safe, effective and of sufficient quality for its recommended use, an eight-digit Natural Product Number is assigned and recorded in a Licensed Natural Health Products Database. The European Food Safety Authority maintains a compendium of botanical ingredients used in manufacturing of dietary supplements.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In 2015, the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of herbal supplements to determine if any were suitable for coverage by health insurance. Establishing guidelines to assess safety and efficacy of botanical supplement products, the European Medicines Agency provided criteria for evaluating and grading the quality of clinical research in preparing monographs about herbal supplements. In the United States, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health provides fact sheets evaluating the safety, potential effectiveness and side effects of many botanical products.


title: Dietary supplement

text: To assure supplements have sufficient quality, standardization, and safety for public consumption, research efforts have focused on development of reference materials for supplement manufacturing and monitoring. High-dose products have received research attention, especially for emergency situations such as vitamin A deficiency in malnutrition of children, and for women taking folate supplements to reduce the risk of breast cancer.


title: Dietary supplement

text: In the United States, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) has investigated habits of using dietary supplements in context of total nutrient intakes from the diet in adults and children. Over the period of 1999 to 2012, use of multivitamins decreased, and there was wide variability in the use of individual supplements among subgroups by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational status. Particular attention has been given to use of folate supplements by young women to reduce the risk of fetal neural tube defects.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Limited human research has been conducted on the potential for dietary supplementation to affect disease risk. Examples:


title: Dietary supplement

text: A 2017 academic review indicated a rising incidence of liver injury from use of herbal and dietary supplements, particularly those with steroids, green tea extract, or multiple ingredients.


title: Dietary supplement

text: The potential benefit of using essential nutrient dietary supplements to lower the risk of diseases has been refuted by findings of no effect or weak evidence in numerous clinical reviews, such as for HIV, or tuberculosis.


title: Dietary supplement

text: A review of clinical trials registered at clinicaltrials.gov, which would include both drugs and supplements, reported that nearly half of completed trials were sponsored wholly or partially by industry. This does not automatically imply bias, but there is evidence that because of selective non-reporting, results in support of a potential drug or supplement ingredient are more likely to be published than results that do not demonstrate a statistically significant benefit. One review reported that fewer than half of the registered clinical trials resulted in publication in peer-reviewed journals.


title: Dietary supplement

text: Improving public information about use of dietary supplements involves investments in professional training programs, further studies of population and nutrient needs, expanding the database information, enhancing collaborations between governments and universities, and translating dietary supplement research into useful information for consumers, health professionals, scientists, and policymakers. Future demonstration of efficacy from use of dietary supplements requires high-quality clinical research using rigorously qualified products and compliance with established guidelines for reporting of clinical trial results (e.g., CONSORT guidelines).


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Matteo Messina Denaro (; born 26 April 1962), also known as "Diabolik", is a Sicilian Mafia boss. He got his nickname from the Italian comic book character of the same name. He is considered to be one of the new leaders of Cosa Nostra after the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano on 11 April 2006, and the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo in November 2007. Messina Denaro became known nationally on 12 April 2001 when the magazine "L'Espresso" put him on the cover with the headline: "Ecco il nuovo capo della Mafia" ("Here is the new head of the Mafia", or "Here is the new Mafia boss"). He has been a fugitive on the most wanted list since 1993 and according to "Forbes magazine" he is among the ten most wanted criminals in the world. With the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore Riina in 2017, Messina Denaro is seen as the unchallenged boss of all bosses within the Mafia.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Matteo Messina Denaro was born in Castelvetrano in the province of Trapani, Sicily. His father, Francesco Messina Denaro, known as "Don Ciccio", was the "capo mandamento" of Castelvetrano and the head of the Mafia Commission of the Trapani region. Matteo learned to use a gun at 14, and committed his first of many murders at 18. He is estimated to have killed at least 50 people. "I filled a cemetery all by myself," he once bragged. He made a reputation by murdering rival boss Vincenzo Milazzo from Alcamo and strangling Milazzo's three-months pregnant girlfriend.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: His father started as a "campiere" (armed guard) of the D'Alì family, wealthy landowners who were among the founders of the "Banco Sicula". He became the "fattore" (overseer of an estate) of the D'Alì land holdings. They handed over a significant estate in the area Zangara (Castelvetrano) to Messina Denaro. However, the real new owner turned out to be Salvatore Riina, with whom Messina Denaro was allied.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Antonio D'Alì Sr. had to resign from the board of the "Banco Sicula" in 1983 because he appeared on the list of the secret freemason lodge Propaganda Due (P2) of Licio Gelli. His son Antonio D'Alì Jr. became a senator for Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in 1996, and in April 2001 under-secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, the institution responsible for fighting organised crime. His cousin Giacomo D'Alì is a counsellor of the "Banca Commerciale Italiana" (Comit) in Milan, which acquired the Banca Sicula in 1991. Matteo's brother Salvatore Messina Denaro, arrested in November 1998, worked at the "Banca Sicula" and continued to work for "Comit".


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Messina Denaro is often portrayed as a ruthless playboy mafioso and womaniser, driving an expensive Porsche sports car and wearing a Rolex Daytona watch, Ray Ban sunglasses and fancy clothes from Giorgio Armani and Versace. He is an ardent player of computer games, and is said to be the father of an illegitimate child, which is unusual in the conservative culture of the Mafia. Messina Denaro has a reputation for fast living and allegedly killed a Sicilian hotel owner who accused him of taking young girls to bed. As such, he is remarkably different from traditional Mafia bosses like Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano who claim to adhere to conservative family values.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: After the natural death of his father in November 1998, Matteo became capo mandamento of the area including Castelvetrano and the neighbouring cities, while Vincenzo Virga ruled in the city of Trapani and its surroundings. After the arrest of Virga in 2001, Messina Denaro took over the leadership of the Mafia in the province of Trapani. He is said to command some 900 men and apparently reorganised the 20 Mafia families in Trapani into one single mandamento separated from the rest of Cosa Nostra. The Trapani Mafia is considered the "zoccolo duro" (solid pedestal) of Cosa Nostra and the most powerful except for the families in Palermo.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Messina Denaro gets his money through an extensive extortion racket forcing businesses to pay a "pizzo" (protection money) and skimming off public construction contracts (the family owns substantial sand quarries). He is also active in the international drug trade, allegedly with the Cuntrera-Caruana clan, attracting attention of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He also makes money through legitimate business, he has stakes in a Sicilian supermarket chain and owns vast olive groves. He was involved in olive oil production in a corrupt business, which used cheap African labour.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: According to the Direzione distrettuale antimafia (DDA) of Palermo he has interests in Venezuela and contacts with Colombian drug trafficking cartels as well as the 'Ndrangheta. His illicit networks extend to Belgium and Germany.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Messina Denaro has strong links with Mafia families in Palermo, in particular in Brancaccio, territory of the Graviano Family. Filippo Guttadauro the brother of the Giuseppe Guttadauro – the regent of the Brancaccio Mafia while Giuseppe Graviano and Filippo Graviano are in jail – is the brother-in-law of Messina Denaro. They are involved in cocaine trafficking in agreement with 'Ndrangheta clans from Platì, Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and Siderno, as well as the Mafia family of Mariano Agate.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: After bomb attacks in Capaci and Via D'Amelio that killed prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the arrest of Salvatore Riina on 15 January 1993 and the introduction of strict prison regime (article 41-bis), Cosa Nostra embarked on a terrorist campaign in which Messina Denaro played a prominent role.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: The remaining Mafia bosses, among them Messina Denaro, Giovanni Brusca, Leoluca Bagarella, Antonino Gioè, Giuseppe Graviano and Gioacchino La Barbera, met several times (often in the Santa Flavia area in Bagheria on an estate owned by the mafioso Leonardo Greco). They decided on a strategy to force the Italian state to retreat. That resulted in a series of bomb attacks in the Via dei Georgofili in Florence, in Via Palestro in Milan, in the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, which left 10 people dead and 93 injured as well as damage to centres of cultural heritage such as the Uffizi Gallery.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: Messina Denaro also tailed the TV-journalist Maurizio Costanzo, host of the "Maurizio Costanzo Show", who just escaped a car-bomb attack on 14 May 1993. He also observed the movements of Giovanni Falcone and the Minister of Justice, Claudio Martelli, in 1991. After the 1993 bombings Messina Denaro went into hiding as of June 1993.


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: According to investigators, between 1994 and 1996 Messina Denaro spent his hiding place between Aspra and Bagheria with his lover Maria Mesi, with whom he went on vacation to Greece under the false name of "Matteo Cracolici".


title: Matteo Messina Denaro

text: In 1995, Messina Denaro who by then had a daughter from a previous relationship with Francesca Alagna, went to live with his mother. In a letter addressed to a friend, seized by investigators, Messina Denaro revealed that he had never met this daughter.