Getting through the maze of misinformation: health supplements stores

When it comes to your health, it's important to have accurate information to make a decision. Health food stores don't often make that decision easier. So, here's some things to watch out for when shopping.

• Finding your way safely around a health food store is much like navigating a minefield. There are a lot of traps — hidden behind a lot of hype, misinformation and outright ignorance — to be on the lookout for while trying to find useful products.
• The following advice comes from Dr. Mary Hardy, medical director of the Center for Integrative Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The clerk behind the counter should know the difference between various forms of calcium, why liquid echinacea is preferred over tablets and why you shouldn't take kava kava if you have liver disease. But he usually doesn't.

In one published report, a researcher from the University of Hawaii posed as the daughter of a breast cancer patient and visited 40 health food stores. She was frequently told to take shark cartilage, a remedy linked to liver toxicity, nausea, fever and other ill effects in cancer patients.

• A Canadian study in which employees of 34 retail health food stores were asked what they'd recommend for a patient with breast cancer found 33 different products recommended, none of which had any significant research behind them.
• Only eight employees discussed the potential for drug interactions, and one actually suggested the patient stop taking tamoxifen (a proven cancer treatment).

So ask about the clerk's training (large chains say they invest in training) and don't follow any recommendations if the clerk doesn't at least ask about your health and other medications you're taking.

• If you're being pitched a membership in a health food club, get out of there.
• Health food stores should be dedicated to helping you find the best remedy for your needs, not plying you with stuff you don't need.

• If all you're handed regarding the benefits of a supplement is literature from the manufacturers, you're in the wrong store.
• First of all, manufacturers can't make disease claims about their products (for instance, that it improves fertility).
• Second, you need some unbiased information. Ask to see information about the supplements that don't mention the brand name and comes from experts not connected with the manufacturer.

• It's best not to walk in looking for "something to help the pain in my knee." If you've done some research, you'll know to ask for glucosamine.

• Compare the amounts of active ingredients and the types of ingredients in the supplement, dosages and number of doses in the bottle. Such comparisons will lead you to the best value for your money.