The usage of dietary supplements has increased in the last decades and it’s getting more common to sell them online on websites in Sweden. Information about dietary supplements is not allowed to be misleading. Companies that sell them are for example not allowed to say that their products alleviate diseases. This study aimed to find out the health risks with dietary supplements online and see how often medical claims are stated on websites. The method used was controlling websites that sell dietary supplements to find medical claims. Also analyzing reports from a Swedish municipalities control done on companies that sell dietary supplements online. The results showed that medical claims appeared on 73% of the controlled websites. It was not possible to ensure any differences for the study’s selected categories on the websites. It was clear according to the study that consumers can be misled with misleading claims or lacking information, which can lead to health risks. Incorrect information can lead to children ingesting dietary supplements and having allergic reactions, as well as overdosing on dietary supplements, which can lead to liver damage. Medical claims can vary in severity but claims that say to reduce various diseases are considered risky as dietary supplements can be taken instead of medicine. This can make an illness or inflammation worse and cause unnecessary suffering. The result showed that buying dietary supplements online does not lead to such great health risks in general.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-216154 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Vänman, Hanna |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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