CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Doctors often rely on medical journals to stay updated. But the more drug ads a journal contains, the less likely that the journal also will contain articles about dietary supplements (vitamins, minerals and herbs), according to a small pilot study that reviewed a year's worth of issues from 11 major journals.

Another finding: Journals with the most pharmaceutical ads published more conclusions that dietary supplements are unsafe.

More research is needed because "the ultimate impact of this bias on professional guidelines, health care, and health policy is a matter of great public concern," concluded lead author Kathi Kemper, director of the program for holistic and integrative medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.