"If I were talking to somebody who was a former smoker and who was concerned about minimizing their risk of not only lung disease but also heart disease and cancer, then taking a supplement of C and E would be a reasonable thing to do, " he says.

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Then there's cocoa as a dietary supplement.

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Via email and telephone, many women I talked to rattled off stories about going into New York City hospitals saying they wanted to breast feed exclusively and then having nurses bully them into using formula as a supplement because they were having difficulties nursing.

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Yet area residents say they've seen no progress since then, while work on a towering bridge nearby, intended to supplement the rickety old one in Dandong, has slowed to a snail's pace.

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But last year researchers at the University of Georgia found no benefit from the supplement in 30 healthy volunteers tested on seven different performance measures. (The study was funded by Coca-Cola, which apparently was thinking of launching its own quercetin supplement.) Lead researcher Kirk Cureton has tested 60 more patients since then, with the same null result.

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The problem in the early days, experts say, is that many mistakenly supplement with formula because they think they aren't producing enough milk and then end up hurting their supply.

WSJ: One Sure Formula for Controversy