Are supplements safe and do they work?

According to BBC health news, The story of a man who ended up needing a liver transplant after taking green tea capsules has brought the topic of dietary supplements back into the news. When Jim McCants started taking green tea pills he had hoped he was giving his health a shot in the arm.It appears the pills caused such serious damage to his liver that it required an urgent transplant. In the UK, supplements are subject to EU regulations over their safety and the health claims manufacturers make about the products. Doctors said, approved supplements bought from reputable businesses are almost always going to be safe, provided the manufacturer's instructions are followed. But it is wrong to assume that food supplements do not sometimes have the potential to be harmful, says Dr Wayne Carter, from the University of Nottingham. If you take supplements in quantities above recommended levels there are risks. While in many cases excess levels of a supplement will be excreted, there is the potential for it to be toxic, particularly to the liver, which detoxifies the substances we consume.