Consumer Health Digest

:Not to be confused with Dr. Stephen Barrett's newsletter of the same name.
Consumer Health Digest or ConsumerHealthDigest.com is a popular dietary supplement product review site. As of June 27, 2017, the site had an overall Alexa rank of 42,436 and a US Alexa rank of 10,978.consumerhealthdigest.com Traffic Statistics Alexa (archived from 28 Jun 2017 02:52:29 UTC7). The site earns money from commissions on some of the products that they review,FTC Disclosures Statement Consumer Health Digest (archived from 28 Jun 2017 02:55:18 UTC). so there is a monetary incentive for positive reviews.
==Staff==
The review staff includes experts from fields that could in principle be relevant (MD, pharmacy, dietician), it also includes several "experts" from woo-related fields, naturopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, Ayurveda, nutrition, and holistic health. As of 2017, the main expert staff included in the "medical", "makeup, beauty & skin care", "nutritionist", "holistic health & diet" sections were:Meet the ConsumerHealthDigest.com Expert Panel: We have selected top doctors & professionals in their fields to help give you expert tips and advice. Consumer Health Digest (archived from 28 Jun 2017 03:14:46 UTC).
 
There is also a cast of dozens of even less qualified people included in the "authors expert panel" section.
As of 2024, from the above panel, only Helmy remains, and there are only about one dozen witers.About Us Consumer Health Digest (archived from 18 Dec 2024 16:42:51 UTC).
In 2018, the expert panel has been pared down to: Atanasov (above), Penny S. Brooks (registered dietician), Friedman (above), Mallory Haldeman (health & fitness coach), Tahir (above), Rosenberg (above), Carin Astrup (personal trainer), Rosa Mendes (professional wrestler), and Dennis Wolf (bodybuilder).People – Medical Doctors, Fitness Expert’s & More Consumer Health Digest (archived from 4 Sep 2018 20:01:25 UTC).
==Review structure==
A typical product review is titled, "X Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product?" With that in mind, one should expect that the review of X will actually critically review the X's safety and efficacy. Alas, there is no effort to search the medical literature on the product's ingredients. A review typically consists of the following sections: expert rating (up to 5 stars), product details or overview, specific ingredients, advantages, disadvantages, summary (or bottom line), and a links to reviews of similar products. Some herbs are also reviewed independently of commercial products. Every page contains a Quack Miranda Warning at the bottom.
*Rating: The rating is a bit deceiving since the actual range of ratings seems to be between 2.1 and 4.8 stars, and there is no indication as to how such precise ratings are arrived at.
*Advantages: This section can have an appeal to nature ("The ingredients are natural herbal extracts or naturally-occurring substances"), chemophobia ("It doesn’t contain harsh chemicals"), and vague testimonials ("Some people who have tried it claim it works")Yohimbe Power Max 2000 Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 28 Jun 2017 04:21:43 UTC). Appeals to nature can even appear in the same product review that seemingly questions its logical validity. For example, the review for Erectinol lists under the pros section, "Ingredients are natural", but lists under the cons section, "Contains Yohimbe which can results in brutal side effects".Erectinol Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 6 Jul 2017 04:07:00 UTC).
*Disadvantages: This section does sometimes give medical warnings, but does not give an indication as to what the medical information is based on. In at least one case the warnings do not even include everything that is on the product label: Consumer Health Digest states, "Yohimbe is known for causing several side effects like rapid or irregular heartbeat, stomach upset, tremor, sleep problems, anxiety and kidney failure" but there is nothing about yohimbe being a which is on the label and is a rather serious issue for people taking certain pharmaceuticals, illegal drugs and herbal medicines.Action Labs Yohimbe Power Max 2000 — 100 Capsules Amazon.com (archived from 28 Jun 2017 04:37:07 UTC).Yohimbe: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions and Warnings… WebMD
==Really awful reviews==
Not only does Consumer Health Digest not do much in the way of searching the scientific literature, but once a problem product appears, the website neither removes nor updates the review. These reviews are additionally poorly written by being unnecessarily wordy.
===Aristolochia===
The toxicity of Aristolochia was first discovered around 2000,Urothelial carcinoma associated with the use of a Chinese herb (Aristolochia fangchi) by J. L. Nortier et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 2000 Jun 8;342(23):1686-92. and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that Aristolochia was a human carcinogen by 2002.Some Traditional Herbal Medicines, Some Mycotoxins, Naphthalene and Styrene. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 82 (2002) World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. By 2012, IARC concluded that the aristolochic acid that is naturally-occurring in Aristolochia is also a human carcinogen.Review of Human Carcinogens IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 100A (2012) World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Consumer Health Digest has been around since 2004,Whois Record for ConsumerHealthDigest.com (archived from 30 Jun 2017 06:22:21 UTC). but despite this, they issued a rather mealy-mouthed review of Aristolochia that was still available as of 2017.Aristolochic Acid: Benefits, Side Effects, Dosage and Interactions Consumer Health Digest (archived from 30 Jun 2017 06:25:12 UTC). The review concluded:
In 2018, the above conclusion was revised to a word salad with a slightly better salad dressing:Aristolochic Acid: Benefits, Side Effects, Dosage and Interactions Consumer Health Digest (archived from 4 Sep 2018 05:39:31 UTC).
What a proper review should have concluded with would be something to the effect of "Do not take products containing Aristolochia or any of its various synonyms (or any of the herbs with which it is a known substituent) under any circumstances. It causes cancer and kidney disease." Simply warning people not to take aristolochic acid is not helpful because this chemical never appears on ingredient labels and because Aristolochia has been found to be a substituent in herbal medicine, not appearing on on the ingredient label in any obvious way.Aristolochic acid nephropathy: A worldwide problem by Debelle et al. Kidney International (2008) 74, 158–169; doi:10.1038/ki.2008.129.
===Ephedra===
As of 2017, Consumer Health Digest still had positive reviews for ephedra-containing products (e.g., "Hellfire EPH 150"Hellfire EPH 150 Review: How Safe and Effective is this Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 30 Jun 2017 06:51:09 UTC). and "Lipodrene With Ephedra"Lipodrene With Ephedra Review: How Safe And Effective Is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 30 Jun 2017 06:52:38 UTC).) even though the US FDA banned such products in 2004 over safety concerns due to cases of heart attack, stroke and death.FDA's Ephedra Ban Takes Effect: Sale of Dietary Supplements Containing Ephedra Now Illegal (April 12, 2004) WebMD. The 2017 Lipodrene With Ephedra review concluded the following, with all the cruftiness associated with horrible writing:
A 2018 revision of the conclusion stated the following:Lipodrene With Ephedra Review: How Safe And Effective Is This Product? Hellfire EPH 150 Review: How Safe and Effective is this Product?] Consumer Health Digest (archived from 30 Jun 2017 06:52:38 UTC).
Both the 2017 and 2018 reviews gave the product 3.1 out of 5.0 stars despite the 2018 review acknowledging that the product contains a banned substance!
===Betelnut===
Himalaya ProstaCare is a "prostate health supplement" that includes betelnut as an ingredient.ProstaCare Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 2 Jul 2017 03:07:09 UTC). Betelnut is a human carcinogen that can cause cancers of the mouth, liver, cervical, stomach, prostate, lung, and sweat gland."IARC Monographs Programme finds betel-quid and areca-nut chewing carcinogenic to humans." World Health Organization. 2003 August 7. Bizarrely, the Consumer Health Digest review states the opposite, "This nut is usually used to treat higher risk of prostate diseases, cancers in liver and esophagus." The review's section on side effects and warnings is vague and confusing:
===Liver toxins===
In 2016, the FDA took action against three herbal supplement products for hepatotoxicity: Lipokinetix, OxyELITE Pro, and Hydroxycut.Scientific and Regulatory Perspectives in Herbal and Dietary Supplement Associated Hepatotoxicity in the United States by Mark I. Avigan et al. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016 Mar; 17(3): 331. doi:10.3390/ijms17030331. Of the three products, Consumer Health Digest has reviews of two of them, OxyElite ProOxyElite Pro Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 2 Jul 2017 03:36:35 UTC). and Hydroxycut.Muscletech Hydroxycut Sx-7 Review: How Safe And Effective Is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 2 Jul 2017 03:37:58 UTC).
In the case of OxyELITE Pro, hepatoxicity was possibly due to the ingredient aegeline, a chemical extracted from the fruit of the Aegle marmelos tree. In the case of Hydroxycut, it is suspected that green tea extract caused the hepatotoxicity.Hepatotoxicity of green tea: an update by G. Mazzanti et al. (2015) Arch. Toxicol. 89(8):1175-91. doi: 10.1007/s00204-015-1521-x. In some cases, consumers of these products required a liver transplant.
In the case of OxyElite Pro, the Consumer Health Digest review warns against taking it if one has a liver disorder but does not state that the product can itself cause a liver disorder (hepatotoxicity). Though the formulation that the review gave did not include aegeline, it is not possible to tell whether the review came before or after the aegeline formulated version of OxyElite Pro since Consumer Health Digest are not dated and are not archived by the Internet Archive. In the case of Hydroxycut Sx-7, the Consumer Health Digest review does not give any warning about liver toxicity. A 2018 revision of the review now mentions hepatotoxicity, but not the FDA action against these products.OxyElite Pro Review: How Safe and Effective is This Product? Consumer Health Digest (archived from 4 Sep 2018 06:30:30 UTC). The product remarkably has the same rating for both versions of the review (3.5 out of 5.0).
==External links==
*Consumer Health Digest — caveat emptor
*Examine.com — a site that actually does do "independent, unbiased, and objective" reviews of dietary supplements and is easier to read.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Alternative medicine promoters
Category:Chemophobes
Category:Food supplement woo
Category:Food woo promoters
Category:Websites