The Digital Supplement Mess: Are We Sacrificing Patient Safety for Clickthrough Rates?

We’re in the middle of a digital health boom — a market valued at $180B projected to grow to $549B by 2028 — and the potential to make nutrition care more accessible is exciting. But something’s keeping me up at night. But this surge of online platforms pushing supplements — promising personalized regimens, “science-backed” recommendations, and easy fixes for everything from brain fog to bloating — often comes without a real grasp of a patient’s medical history or family background. Having built a digital company based on evidence-based nutrition, I’m deeply worried we’re heading for a reckoning. Digital health platforms promise accessibility and scale — but too often, they optimize for engagement metrics, not medical outcomes.

Think about it: Supplements aren’t candy. They’re bioactive compounds that can interact with medications, worsen existing conditions and even pose serious health risks. I recently heard about a woman who signed up for an online program, mentioned she had a family history of kidney stones on their intake form, and was prescribed a daily Vitamin C supplement regimen. In any clinically sound setting, a prescription like this would raise serious red flags. Basic human physiology warns against recommending someone with a predisposition to kidney stones high doses of Vitamin C.

The problem isn’t just about potential drug interactions or the misuse of certain compounds. It’s about the lack of rigor in quality control and a focus on quantity of patients not quality of care. Supplements aren’t regulated like medications. A lot of the time you can get away with making misleading claims on products. Many companies don’t bother with third-party testing to verify purity and potency. Consumers are trusting digital companies without knowing what they’re actually getting. Frankly, it’s a Wild West out there.

What’s missing? The personal touch, that deep dive into someone’s health story. An algorithm can’t ask about your grandmother’s battle with osteoporosis or spot the subtle signs of a developing nutrient deficiency the way a trained RD can. Personalized nutrition means going beyond the surface, meticulously reviewing medical records, discussing lifestyle habits and creating evidence-based plans that are tailored to each individual. 

I’m personally obsessed with outcomes — and if you’re a company in this space, you should be too. Tracking outcomes—not just engagement—should be non-negotiable for any company in the space. If patients aren’t improving, the system should be designed to find out why. Get to know the roadblocks and what can be done to help them. It’s about building trust, fostering accountability and continuously raising the bar for nutrition care. It’s more than just handing someone a list of supplements.

The current trend of unregulated supplement recommendations is a ticking time bomb. We are going to have a reckoning that will have a big impact on a lot of people, and eventually it is going to fall on our healthcare system to take care of the people who have been harmed. We need to move beyond the promise of quick fixes and embrace a more responsible, evidence-based approach to digital nutrition.

So, what’s the solution? Consumers need to do their homework and ask tough questions. If a digital health company is promising miracle cures or pushing supplements without a thorough assessment, that’s a red flag. Healthcare CEOs and founders, it’s time to step up. We need greater oversight and transparency in the digital supplement space to protect consumers from harm. Ultimately, we need to value patient safety and quality of care over click-through rates. The future of digital nutrition depends on it.

Photo: John-Kelly, Getty Images

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