Before the weekend of November 1st, 2024, I had never been to a health and wellness conference—which may surprise you, especially because I’ve been studying and writing about health and wellness for more than 10 years. But I can now safely say I’ve missed out on a massive trend and a great time.
I went to the Eudemonia Health and Wellness Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, over the November 1st weekend. I’ve never been in such a large crowd where everyone was so fit and active.
The exercise classes held in the mornings were more crowded (with probably 2,000 attendees) than were the lectures in the afternoons. I did “The Dancer’s Blueprint: Fundamentals of Dance” one day, and participated in “Walking MindTravel Meditation” the next morning.
Health industry leaders abounded — famous YouTuber Adriene Mishler of Yoga with Adriene held classes, Soul Cycle had 35 or 40 bikes and completely full classes, and Jillian Michaels did double duty leading a live workout and later joining the very heated discussion onstage about weight-loss drugs.
I spoke with people from England, Korea, Texas, Georgia, New Jersey and lots of West Palm Beach locals. Every person I met at the conference espoused the health benefits of yoga, meditation, mental and physical exercise, stress avoidance and … supplements.
Conference Freebies: Did I Really Need All Those Supplements?
Supplements were brought up by nearly every presenter. Most presenters also sold supplements or had direct financial connections with supplement companies. Well, almost every presenter. James Gordon, M.D., seemed to be the exception. (More about him later).
The exhibit hall was also packed with supplement companies. As a member of the press, I received a sample bag filled with cognitive improvement supplements, several different brands of multivitamins, a body wash with botanical supplements, and an all-in-one optimized digestion powder.
I was also given an amino electrolytes powder boasting no sugar (but which did contain stevia and monk fruit, both sweeteners) and protein tablets, which promised 15 grams of protein in five tablets. That’s a lot of protein in five pills.
There were even more samples available on the exhibit floor. I picked up a can of microdosed cannabis and another can of adaptagenic mushrooms. I was handed a vagus nerve oil, and some organic instant coffee with lion’s mane and chaia mushrooms.
But here’s an important caution: To use a supplement is to trust your health to a stranger who makes money when you take those pills/powders/injections/liquids. Many people don’t realize that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t approve or inspect supplements for safety or efficacy. Supplements are typically only removed from the market after they have caused enough harm to draw the FDA’s attention. Which means that useless supplements filled with inactive ingredients (that waste your money) are almost never identified by the agency. (By contrast, the FDA is responsible for approving prescription drugs for safety and efficacy before they are released to the market and keeps routine track of their effects on those who take them.)
Supplements can improve your life and help make you healthier. But before you buy, make sure your supplements are evaluated by an independent company. Look for companies like USP, ConsumerLabs or NSF International. While the laboratories don’t verify the claimed health benefits of the supplements, they do verify that the products meet quality standards and are accurately labeled.
Risks of Unregulated Supplements
Many studies have shown that supplement manufacturers sometimes fail to disclose certain ingredients, add in rogue ingredients, or fall short on the amounts of key ingredients claimed on the label.
One study reported in MedShadow found unapproved drugs listed right on supplement labels. How would you know that an ingredient is unapproved when it’s listed like any other ingredient? The same study found prescription drugs hidden in supplements and not included in the ingredients. And it found that many of the drugs they tested had very little or none of the main ingredients!
Another recent study, led by Pieter Cohen, M.D., an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an internist at Cambridge Health Alliance, looked into issues with sports enhancement supplements. Dietary supplement products were included in this case series if they were labeled as containing one of the following ingredients: R vomitoria, methylliberine, turkesterone, halostachine, or octopamine. All products were purchased online. Of the 57 products tested (which is a small sample of all the supplements available), “23 of 57 products (40%) did not contain a detectable amount of the labeled ingredient.” The study goes on to note that of the products that contained detectable amounts of the listed ingredient, “the actual quantity ranged from 0.02% to 334% of the labeled quantity.” And “six of 57 products (11%) contained a quantity of the ingredient within 10% of the labeled quantity.”
The two categories of supplements probably best known for hidden ingredients are energy and sexual enhancement supplements. Just the other day, the FDA withdrew two of them from the market.
The recalled products—ZoomMax and ZapMax—are marketed as dietary supplements to enhance male performance and energy. However, these supplements were found to be tainted with sildenafil and diclofenac, a prescription-based vasodilator used to treat erectile dysfunction (a.k.a Viagra), and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), respectively. Neither sildenafil nor diclofenac were listed on their packaging.
Tainted supplements such as these are not unusual. Here’s a list of hundreds of supplements marketed either for “energy” or “sexual enhancement” that the FDA has issued warnings about or taken off the market.
James Gordon, Making Ourselves “Needable,” and MedShadow’s Mission
Returning to the one Eudemonia presentation I attended that did not mention supplements was Dr. James Gordon’s presentation, “Mindfulness in Action: Transforming Trauma and Restoring Balance.” He and his organization operate internationally, providing aid in regions affected by war and famine. He talked about expressive meditations and how, all throughout history, warriors were welcomed home with dancing, feasting, and storytelling. All of this was to help them release the trauma and prepare them to re-enter society. After telling us difficult stories of trauma, Dr. Gordon insisted we all join him in full-body laughing. We stood and laughed as loudly as we could — shouting our laughter! And prepared to re-enter our society.
I’ll end this conversation about wellness retreats and supplements with my absolute favorite quote from the conference. In “Innovative Approaches for Mental Clarity,” Shai Efrai, M.D., was asked how to avoid cognitive decline. He said, “Make yourself needable—be needed by others. It will ensure your life has meaning and connection. All the rest will work out.”
I love the way this reflects my dedication to MedShadow Foundation. People deserve to be aware of the minimized and hidden risks of medications. At MedShadow, we empower individuals to make informed medical decisions for themselves and their families.
In other words, we are proud to be “needable” by so many of our site visitors and social media followers.
