Consumer Reports states that dietary supplements might not be the way they are believed to be. Lots of money is spent every year by Americans to lose weight that is promised by these supplements. But it will come as a shock to many that they contain ingredients that could cause heart problems, cancer, or liver and kidney damage.

Some level of safety is maintained by about a third of the more than 54,000 dietary supplements in the Therapeutic Research Center's Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database that supports some scientific evidence.

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration can not use its power when it comes to these supplements as it lacks the power to adequately regulate such supplements.

The FDA is prevented from regulating supplements under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in the same way that it regulates prescription medications. Congress is being urged to give more power to the agency.

Rudolph Leibel, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons who helped discover leptin, the hormone that regulates hunger said, "I'm sure the first lady has every sort of concern for this problem and the belief that it's in our hands, but we've been studying this for years and still don't have precise answers."