The disorder of the digital supplement: we are sacrificing patient safety for click rates?

We are in the middle of a digital health boom – a market valued at $ 180 billion which was to reach $ 549 billion by 2028 – and the potential to make care in nutrition more accessible is exciting. But something keeps me at night. But this increase in online platforms pushing supplements – promising personalized diets, recommendations “supported by science” and easy fixes for everything, from brain fog to bloating – often comes without understanding of medical history or family history of a patient. After having built a digital company based on nutrition based on evidence, I am deeply worried about heading for a calculation. Digital health platforms promise accessibility and scale – but too often, they optimize commitment measures, not medical results.

Think about it: supplements are not candy. These are bioactive compounds that can interact with drugs, worsen existing conditions and even pose serious health risks. I recently heard of a woman who signed up for an online program, said that she had family history of kidney stones on their form of admission and was prescribed a daily vitamin C supplement diet. In any clinically solid framework, a prescription like this would increase the serious red flags. Fundamental human physiology warns against the recommendation of a person predisposed to kidney stones of high doses of vitamin C.

The problem is not only potential drug interactions or the abusive use of certain compounds. This is the lack of rigor in the control of quality and emphasis on the quantity of patients and not of quality of care. Supplements are not regulated as medicines. Most of the time, you can get out of it with misleading complaints on products. Many companies do not care about third -party tests to verify purity and power. Consumers trust digital companies without knowing what they really get. Frankly, it’s a West West over there.

What is missing? The personal touch, which plunged deep into the history of someone’s health. An algorithm cannot ask questions about your grandmother’s battle against osteoporosis or locate the subtle signs of a development in developing nutrients like a formed RD can. Personalized nutrition means going beyond the surface, meticulously examining medical files, discussing lifestyle habits and creating plans based on evidence that is adapted to each individual.

I am personally obsessed with the results – and if you are a business in this space, you should be too. Monitoring of results – not just a commitment – should not be negotiable for any company in space. If patients do not improve, the system should be designed to know why. Get to know the roadblocks and what can be done to help them. It is a question of strengthening confidence, promoting responsibility and constantly increasing the nutritional care mark. It is more than just giving someone a list of supplements.

The current trend of unregulated supplement recommendations is a time bomb. We are going to have a calculation that will have a big impact on many people, and finally he will come across our health system to take care of the people who have been injured. We must go beyond the promise of rapid corrections and adopt a more responsible approach and based on evidence of digital nutrition.

So what is the solution? Consumers have to do their homework and ask difficult questions. If a digital health company promises miracle remedies or pushes supplements without in -depth evaluation, it is a red flag. CEO and founders of health, it is time to intensify. We need greater monitoring and transparency in the digital supplement space to protect consumers from damage. In the end, we must assess patient safety and the quality of care in relation to click rates. The future of digital nutrition depends on it.

Photo: John-Kelly, Getty Images

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