My take on this is that there is quite a mess going on with supplements.

On one hand, as you reference, there are the powerful pharmaceutical companies that stand to lose sales if alternative non-prescription remedies are available for consumers. And certainly, I believe that most basic chronic ailments, more than likely have a healthy supplement alternative.

On the other hand there is a terrible lack of regulation on the purity and efficacy of supplements, to the point that many people are 1) swindled by "magic" snake-oil pills, 2) made ill by impure or unsafe supplements, or 3) simply buy supplements that say they have a certain milligram of ingredient, but don't.

Those three areas of serious concern to me. Self-regulated industries are as bad or worse sometimes than government-regulated industries.

I've come to realize that I can't depend on medical studies necessarily, because I can't determine how unbiased they are.

So there is definitely a rock and a hard place going on.