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Stuart L. Nightingale, MD
Food and Drug Administration Rockville, Md

JAMA. 1993;270(4):454.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Two recent studies have attested to the popularity of unconventional therapy and dietary supplements.^1,2 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would like to reiterate the need for physicians to obtain information regarding the ingestion of dietary supplements as part of obtaining complete medical histories and for reporting adverse events to the FDA. We have received reports of harmful effects that are the sequelae of taking dietary supplements, eg, eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with L-tryptophan ingestion, and believe that reporting of such adverse events could be instrumental in mitigating similar situations in the future.

When problems with specific products occur, the FDA alerts the public and the medical community, tailoring its actions to each particular situation. Recently, for example, the agency issued a press release to warn the public against consuming products containing the herbal substance chaparral, following reports of its association with acute, toxic hepatitis.³ In . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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