CBC News launches a week of investigative stories about the billion-dollar vitamins and supplements industry, beginning today with The National on Wednesday and Thursday night (10 p.m.) and culminating with special documentaries on the fifth estate and Marketplace on Friday, Nov. 13 (Marketplace at 8 p.m./8:30 p.m. NT and the fifth estate at 9 p.m./9:30 p.m. NT).
These investigations into popular, top-selling vitamins and supplements and the regulatory bodies that are supposed to protect consumers, reveal disturbing insights into the claims, labeling and regulation of vitamins and supplements in Canada. The shows will take different approaches: Marketplace will be focusing on the consumer experience, while the fifth estate will be examining the corporations and institutions we believe are protecting us.
Leading experts say excess use of some supplements can increase the risk of cancer and heart disease. the fifth estate, in collaboration with PBS Frontline and The New York Times, asks if we could be taking too many and whether vitamins and supplements could they actually be harmful to our health. Studies have shown that mega dosing of vitamin E supplements definitively increase your risk of prostate cancer.
This the fifth estate investigation is led by host Gillian Findlay, who takes a look at how vitamins and supplements are regulated in Canada. Health Canada used to reject about half of the new supplement applications and now they are approving over 90% and yet 40% of complaints to the Health Canada inspectors concern supplements. the fifth estate reveals shocking adulteration and contamination in some products and woeful inadequacies in how Health Canada is monitoring a booming business.
Canadians spend more than $1.4 billion a year on vitamins and supplements and almost two thirds of Canadians believe that taking vitamins and supplements helps prevent illness. In a series of investigations led by hosts Erica Johnson and Charlsie Agro, Marketplace tests popular vitamins and supplements, including Vitamin C, fish oil and protein powder, to see if what is on the label represents what is actually in the bottle. In the first testing of its kind in Canada, Marketplace shows that many products on Canadian shelves failed either freshness or label claims, including fish oil that was rancid and supplements that contained less than half of their claimed ingredients.
Marketplace, Canada’s most-trusted watchdog and the fifth estate Canada’s premier investigative documentary program join forces to expose corruption and question trusted corporations and practices to ensure that Canadians are informed and protected and able to make better choices in their day-to-day lives.
Marketplace airs on at 8 p.m./8:30 p.m. NT and the fifth estate airs on Fridays at 9 p.m./9:30 p.m. NT
