Nutritional assessments for cancer patients can be improved when mineral concentrations in dietary supplements are considered during medical nutrition therapy consultations

American consumers often purchase multiple dietary supplements, particularly consumers with diseases such as cancer. Nutrient assessments by health professionals do not consider the consumption of essential and nonessential elements from these products, often overlooking potential health hazards of mineral toxicities. Serious tissue damage such as atherosclerosis and carcinogenesis has been reported as a result of overconsumption of selected minerals. Also, the chemical interactions may have serious consequences; for example, a slight overload of manganese can cause or aggravate iron deficiency, producing anemia. To identify potentially high mineral concentrations in dietary supplements, selected commercial products were analyzed using the Axiom, a high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, for concentrations of aluminum, arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, selenium, vanadium and zinc. Samples and certified reference materials [oyster tissue (NIST 1566b (and tomato leaf) (NIST 1573)] were digested using nitric acid with a microwave digestion system. Preliminary data indicated that concentrations ([micro]g/g) of magnesium, aluminum and manganese were 744, 11 and 21 in St. John's wort; 723,188 and 37 in Siberian ginseng; and 1000, 27 and 6 in dong quai, respectively. Patients prone to the overuse of nutritional supplements will consume vitamins and minerals in amounts that exceed the current safe recommended intakes. Health professionals require more information regarding the mineral content of commercially available dietary supplements in addition to food, beverage and drug use data to complete true daily nutrient analyses for cancer patients, thus preventing the potential health hazards of nutrient overconsumption and drug-nutrient interactions.