'Consumer Reports' Lists Weight Loss Supplements To Avoid

PHOENIX - Many people use energy boosters and weight loss supplements hoping to get a little more out of their body -- but are they doing more harm than good?

“Consumer Reports” recently released a list of supplements to avoid.

Click here to read the entire list.

Workouts are part of Roy Taylor’s daily routine. After it's over, he blends up a mixture of fruit and protein powder supplements, but he said he doesn't get his fit and trim body from a bottle.

“It's a shortcut. We live in a world of instant gratification, but the reality is, if you want to have a nice body, there's a price you’re going to have to pay for it,” Taylor said.

That payment includes a healthy diet and exercise, but in the past, Taylor admitted he had also tried energy boosting and weight loss supplements.

“The aftereffects, the jittery, feeling exhausted and wired at the same time -- we just decided, let’s just do it the right way,” Taylor said.

Now, one of the supplements Taylor had taken has showed up on a list of supplements that “Consumer Reports” said should be avoided.

Other supplements the magazine said to avoid include colloidal silver, kava, bitter orange, yohimbe and comfrey.

The magazine said these and other supplements have been linked to cancer, comas, heart problems, kidney damage, liver damage and death.

“A lot of people, I think, are mistaken -- No. 1 to think supplements are not drugs and are more like food,” said Tampa General Pharmacologist Drew Silverman.

Silverman said the report was not surprising.

“I was surprised they only came up with 12,” Silverman said.

He said part of the problem is that the FDA doesn't monitor supplements in the same way as prescription medicines are monitored.

“They don't have the manpower to check for supplements -- to check that what is on the label is actually in the bottles,” Silverman said.

Some industry groups dispute the findings, but “Consumer Reports” recommends talking to your doctor about supplements.