Gulping down a protein shake from a bottle, Amit Zutshi, 5ft 11 inches, took one last approving look at his six-pack-in-the-making before putting on his jersey and rushing out to his car, on his way to meet his parents. At home, after a meal of broiled chicken, pulses and salad, Zutshi fainted. He was rushed to hospital, where after four days, doctors declared him dead. The cause? “The cocktail of supplements he was taking,” says his father Jeevan Zutshi. “The doctors told us that the supplements—whey protein (a mixture of proteins extracted from milk) along with colleen cleansers—caused a fall in his sodium levels, which led to improper functioning of the organs.”
The global dietary supplements market is valued at $131 billion, according to a Future Market Insights report. India accounts for $2 billion (about Rs 13,400 crore) in dietary supplement sales, a market that is growing at 16 per cent, says an Assocham study. But almost 70 per cent of dietary supplements being sold across the counter are fake, counterfeit,...
