Top pharmacist reveals the 5 nasty additives in your supplements to look out for

Your supplements aren't just pure, distilled versions of whatever nutrient you're trying to get in. 

The nutrients are combined with fillers, thickeners, stabilizers and other additives to make them shelf-stable, robust or more colorful, an expert has warned.

According to pharmacist Dr Pupinder S Ghatora, some of these additives are linked to health risks - and have even been banned in other countries. 

Pharmacist Dr Pupinder S Ghatora has urged consumers to be curious about the additives that are in their supplements.

Dr Ghatora, who has worked in the vitamin industry for nearly two decades, told the Daily Mail that, at best, some of these additives reduce the effectiveness of your supplement. 

At worst, they might raise your risk of cancer. 

Read below to discover the five additives you should be looking out for on your nutrition label.  

Magnesium stearate

This additive is put into vitamin powders to make them flow more easily into other containers and avoid sticking to equipment or bottles. It's also found in cosmetics. 

But magnesium stearate might cause your supplements to flow right through you so swiftly that you don't even get the benefits from them, Dr Ghatora said. 

'It serves no health benefits and will simply cause the supplement to pass through you without being absorbed. Brands often use it to bulk out supplements so that they can reduce the amount of the more expensive active compound,' Dr Ghatora said. 

Other research, like one 2017 study from Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories in Japan, found that taking too much of this additive could have a laxative effect. 

That's fewer than 2,500 milligrams per kilogram daily about 170,000 mg for a 150 pound adult, according to PubChem, a public information database run by the NIH that publishes information on chemical substances. 

Carrageenan

Carageenan is a natural protein that is derived from sea moss. However it can mean trouble for your digestion.

'At first glance, you’d think carrageenan, AKA Sea Moss, is beneficial for health as it’s derived from seaweed,' Dr Ghatora said. 

However, he said, 'research indicates it can have adverse effects on digestion, triggering inflammation, ulceration, and elevating blood sugar levels while exacerbating glucose intolerance.'

Skepticism about this additive has been around since at least the 1960's. 

A 2021 review from TK at the University of Milan found that carageenan has been linked to chronic inflammation in multiple rodent studies. They cautioned that this effect hasn't been tested in humans, but tests on human cells in a petri dish have elicited suggest a similar response.

Inflammation is your body's natural response to foreign invaders. But prolonged inflammation is  linked to quicker aging and cancer. 

Carrageenan is found in a wide range of vegan products supplements. But it's also taken on it's own in the form of sea moss gels, favorites of celebrities like model Bella Hadid. 

Titanium dioxide 

Titanium dioxide, often listed as E171 on nutrition labels, was outlawed by the European Commission in 2021. 

The EC based their decision on a review published by the European Food Safety Authority in May of that year which said that titanium dioxide can accumulate in greater amounts in the body over time, and may increase the likelihood of developing cancer. 

'Worryingly, research has suggested that the ingredient may have a carcinogenic effect,' Dr Ghatora said. 

But countries like the US and UK didn't follow the EC's suit in banning E171. It's still used in small amounts in both countries to make pills more white, according to Consumer Lab. 

Since it's used in making pills more white, it's common in supplements like multivitamins. For example, it's found in Centrum adult multivitamins. 

Talc

Talc used to be found in baby powder, but now most companies put corn starch in, because of the negative public opinion about the additive. 

Talc is used in supplements to make it whiter and to help products avoid sticking to themselves. On it's own, it hasn't been linked to any health conditions, according to the FDA.

But it is particularly good at soaking up other chemicals that it comes in contact with, which means it could soak up chemicals and pollutants during the manufacturing process, Dr Ghatora said.  

'Talc has garnered attention recently due to concerns about contamination in industrial-grade talc, which can include impurities and even asbestos,' he said. 

Asbestos exposure irritates the lungs, leading to scarring, and in some cases lung cancer, according to Mayo Clinic. 

Talc also used to be widespread in beauty products, and was linked to an uptick of ovarian cancer cases in the 1960's- which the FDA attributes to asbestos contamination. 

The FDA still screens talc products for asbestos, and releases annual reports about cosmetics that contain it. 

Talc, similarly to titanium dioxide, is often used in white pills to keep the coloring bright. Many multivitamins, like One A Day Women's Complete, list the ingredient as a component in their product. 

Sweeteners and sugars 

Many different diet products have the same artificial sweeteners added into some supplements.

There are a wide range of chemicals that might be added to sweeten a supplement- but Dr Ghatora said that most are synthetic, highly processed molecules. 

These include sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol and sucralose. Previous research, like a 2023 study from SUNY Upstate medical center, has linked these alcohol-based sugars to an increase in liver cancer.

'We should avoid using sugar alcohols, such as erythritol and sorbitol, as sweeteners,' study author Dr Andras Perl said. When he fed these synthetic sugars to cancer cells, it caused them to multiply rapidly, he said. 

Dr Ghatora also highlighted aspartame- the synthetic sweeter popularly linked to gum and diet sodas. 

'There are new emerging studies showing that it [aspartame] can have a negative impact on our body’s oxidant/antioxidant balance, which has a knock effect on many of the body’s functions,' he said. 

Sweeteners can be added to any supplement, but are especially common in gummy formulas and those you're encouraged to eat, not swallow. Nature Made's Zero Sugar Multi Gummies, for example, list maltitol on their product label.