All oral supplements (including whey protein, collagen, creatine and omega-3) are unnecessary and harm the liver; liver enzymes will be raised after any supplement.

Original statement

المكمل الغذائي الويب بروتين غلط غلط غلط انا مش عايز اي مكملات غذائيه اي حاجه بتتاخد بالفم كدواء او مكمل غذائي مرفوضه مرفوضه مجهده لجسم حضرتك لو عملت انزيمات الكبد بعد اي مكمل غذائي هتلاقيها عليت اعمل اي ال تي اي اس تي اسبارتي ترانسفريز او الانين ترانسفريز دول انزيمات ميتوكوندريه وسيتوبلازميه للخليه الكبديه يعني الميتوكوندريا هيبقى اتضربت والخلايا الكبديه نفسها اتضربت

verbatim according to source. Translation by the project; the Arabic wording is authoritative.

Translation

All oral supplements (including whey protein, collagen, creatine and omega-3) are unnecessary and harm the liver; liver enzymes will be raised after any supplement.

Origin

Source status

Video transcript (own words)

Attribution

Elawady (machine transcript)

Video

Dr Diaa Al Awady د ضياء العوضي is live! مصدر الغذاء الوريد البابي (Open source)

Published

27 July 2025

Timestamp

0:51:08 (location in the original video’s automatic YouTube caption track; confirms where the words occur, not who speaks)

Attribution uncertainty

Machine-generated or CC transcript of a live stream; wording may contain transcription errors; context is conversational.

Claimed mechanism

Supplements burden the liver; raised ALT/AST prove hepatocyte damage.

Claimed health effect

Liver injury.

Population concerned

All users.

Geographic restriction by Elawady

none found

Diverging source versions

Scientific assessment

Mostly false – Essential parts of the statement are not supported by the evidence or are strongly exaggerated.

Certainty of evidence: low – Further research is likely to change the assessment considerably.

1. What was claimed?

Every supplement damages the liver.

2. What is demonstrably correct?

Some supplements do cause liver injury; HDS-induced injury is an increasing share of hepatotoxicity cases, and product quality and contamination are real problems.

3. What is wrong or exaggerated?

The risk is concentrated in specific product classes (anabolic steroids, green tea extract, multi-ingredient products). Ordinary vitamins at recommended doses, whey protein and creatine are not established liver toxins; the statement that liver enzymes rise after 'any' supplement is not supported.

4. What remains unclear?

Long-term safety data for many multi-ingredient products are lacking.

5. Which studies support it?

Navarro 2017 (I-SUP-10) and the DILIN primary report (I-SUP-119): supplements caused 15.5% of liver-injury cases in a US network (rising from 7% to 20%), concentrated in bodybuilding and multi-ingredient products; non-bodybuilding cases were often severe (death or transplant 13%). Half of implicated products were mislabelled (I-SUP-120).

6. Which studies contradict it?

Kreider 2017 (I-SUP-11) on creatine safety (industry COI); I-SUP-10 and I-SUP-119 contradict the universal parts ('all supplements', 'enzymes raised after any supplement'): simple vitamins/minerals were only 6 of 85 non-steroid supplement cases.

7. What applies to Germany and Europe?

In the EU, food supplements are regulated as foods; BfR warns about specific high-dose products (not fetched).

8. What is known about Egypt?

Product quality and counterfeit products may differ; no Egypt-specific data reviewed.

9. What practical conclusion is appropriate?

Avoid bodybuilding 'stacks', anabolic products and multi-ingredient weight-loss products; do not assume that all supplements are equally risky.

Assessment details

Rationale for certainty of evidence

Herbal and dietary supplements cause about 20% of drug-induced liver injury cases in a US research network, mainly anabolic steroids marketed as bodybuilding products, green tea extract and multi-ingredient products – not standard vitamins, minerals, whey or creatine. An ISSN position stand (authors with industry ties) reports creatine to be safe in healthy people up to 30 g/day for 5 years. No evidence was found that 'any' supplement raises liver enzymes.

Source quality

Video statement generalising from real but product-specific hepatotoxicity.

Regional transferability

Supplement regulation is stricter for medicines than for supplements in both EU and Egypt; contamination risks vary.

Individual exceptions

People with liver disease, and users of bodybuilding or multi-ingredient weight-loss products, are at higher risk.

Regional scope of the claim

general (biological/medical)

Last reviewed

26 October 2026 provisional

Scientific evidence in detail

Overinterpreted – A real finding exists, but the claim draws more from it than the data allow (e.g. association taken as cause, animal data applied to humans, small effect presented as large).

Research question: In people taking oral supplements (including whey protein, collagen, creatine, omega-3), do all supplements raise liver enzymes and harm the liver?

Study results as reported by the authors. Our assessment follows below.

Open questions

RCT data on liver enzymes for whey and creatine were screened (PubMed search 81) but not added; a targeted review could raise certainty.

How deeply was this checked?

4 linked studies: 1 checked in full text (1 of them with a structured risk-of-bias assessment), 3 on the basis of the abstract, 0 bibliographically only. No formal assessment with two independent reviewers and no independent human expert review has taken place yet.

Last scientific review: 26 October 2026

In plain language

Some supplements, especially bodybuilding products that contain steroids, green tea extracts and mixed weight-loss products, can damage the liver. But ordinary vitamins at normal doses, and well-studied products such as creatine, are not known to harm the liver. The claim that every supplement raises liver values is not supported.

Studies on this claim

Regional context

Germany / EU

In the EU, food supplements are regulated as foods; BfR warns about specific high-dose products (not fetched).

Egypt

Product quality and counterfeit products may differ; no Egypt-specific data reviewed.

What applies in my country?

General scientific assessment

Mostly false Mostly false: liver injury is linked to specific products, not to supplements in general.

This statement concerns biological or medical relationships. The scientific assessment above applies regardless of the country; country-specific food data do not change it.

References

1. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine.. Kreider RB et al.. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017 · PMID 28615996 · DOI 10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
2. Liver injury from herbal and dietary supplements.. Navarro VJ et al.. Hepatology 2017 · PMID 27677775 · DOI 10.1002/hep.28813
3. Liver injury from herbals and dietary supplements in the U.S. Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network.. Navarro VJ et al.. Hepatology 2014 · PMID 25043597 · DOI 10.1002/hep.27317
4. The Contents of Herbal and Dietary Supplements Implicated in Liver Injury in the United States Are Frequently Mislabeled.. Navarro V et al.. Hepatol Commun 2019 · PMID 31168513 · DOI 10.1002/hep4.1346