OT: Whos Protecting Your Health?
Who’s Protecting Your Health?
Diet pills laced with antiseizure medicine. Soda “fortified” with vitamins and minerals. “Sexual enhancement” supplements pumped up with illegal drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently started to crack down on these and other products — moves we applaud because this important agency has taken a lot of heat for not being tough enough (as with the blockbuster pain pill Vioxx, pulled from the market after it was linked with a 30% or more increase in heart attack risk).
In December, the FDA scolded Coca-Cola for making nutrition claims about its Diet Coke Plus, which contains some B vitamins and a touch of magnesium, niacin, and zinc. This label violated a so-called jelly-bean rule that says it’s not appropriate to fortify snack foods. (Good point: Adding almost nothing to nothing is still nothing.) That’s not a huge flex of muscle by the FDA, but it was a sign that the agency may no longer let iffy claims just slip by.
Later in the month, the FDA issued a nationwide alert about 69 over-the-counter diet pills, some containing prescription drugs. The agency has issued a similar alert for 27 sexual enhancement drugs laced with chemicals it says are similar to the active ingredient in Viagra. Slipping prescription drugs into supplements is dangerous for many reasons. Quality control is poor at best. Trust us, we’ve visited such plants. In some cases, the doses are sky-high and side effects can be life-threatening.
The FDA says it’s working to have the diet pills recalled — and they’ll seize the pills and press criminal charges if manufacturers don’t comply.
Despite the FDA’s outrage, there’s no guarantee that the dangerous products are off the market. We’ve found recalled sexual enhancement supplements online in a matter of seconds. And plenty of “fortified” snack foods with zero benefit are on supermarket shelves.
The take-home message: You have to make your own smart decisions about the products you buy — in essence, be your own FDA (without all the red tape).
How? Just ask yourself these 5 questions when considering a product:
Tags: Health?, OT:, Protecting, Whos, Your
March 5th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
1. Is this the best way to get the nutrients I need? Here’s all most of us need to fill any gaps in our diet: a moderate-dose multivitamin, cut in half and taken morning and night, plus additional supplements for vitamin D (1,000-1,200 international units per day), calcium-plus-magnesium (600 milligrams of calcium and 200 milligrams of magnesium twice a day), and B12 (25 micrograms). If you like soft drinks, enjoy a no-calorie version once in a while, but there’s no way they can make up for nutrients you should be getting every day.
2. Does the health claim make sense? FDA rules say products can’t claim to treat or cure diseases, but marketers are sneaky. Be skeptical. Sorry, but as of now, you can’t take a “miracle” weight loss pill and eat what you want “without worry.” And a cholesterol-lowering supplement won’t make your numbers plummet in a few weeks. (There may be one in a couple of years, but we said that 2 years ago, too).
3. Can I reach the same health goal by a safer route? Losing weight with a questionable product may bring on far more problems than the extra pounds did, especially if substances in the supplement interact with other medications you’re taking.
Eating smart (lots of fruit, vegetables, and fiber) and exercising regularly might take a little longer but won’t land you in the ER. Looking for a boost in the bedroom? Try this instead of what’s at the corner store: Turn off the tube and spend more quality time cuddling, laughing, and even exercising with your mate. Watching TV in the bedroom is associated with increasing rates of erectile dysfunction.
4. Is it really safe? Don’t assume that over-the-counter drugs are harmless. Fact is, almost anything can be harmful when taken in large enough doses for a long enough time, especially when combined with other supplements or meds you may be taking.
5. Is it USP-verified? When we YOU Docs buy supplements, we look for the “USP verified” mark on the label. This means the United States Pharmacopeia, a reliable nonprofit science organization, has tested and verified a product’s contents. It’s the best evidence that a supplement doesn’t contain contaminants and actually does contain the ingredients listed on the label, in the quantities claimed. You can find a list of supplements tested by the USP at The United States Pharmacopeial Convention.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Well written Jezzie. My Mom, who self medicated with supplements for years, didn’t even know what was "normal" for her anymore, until she was hospitalized for several weeks. She was taking something for every little symptom she had, and believing every ad she read. If she would have been a man, she would have bought that "spray on hair" they used to sell to men who had a bald spot, lol lol. We think the only thing that saved her was the walking and exercise she did. But the main thing that made her do that was, when she grew up in Germany, they couldn’t afford a doctor, so went to Homeopaths now and then, and that was what she was used to doing.
The government shouldn’t give these companies time to make changes before fining them, the companies should be closed down immediately and the people running them thrown in jail or into the ocean to feed the sharks, which would be more helpful. We have been nice for too long to these creeps. My opinion only.
Doris
March 5th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I guess I have strong feelings because I’ve been there and did that.
Took every cure and prevention supplement touted in every ‘experts’ book.
My liver profile was getting worse and worse … but I believed and kept on.
After the third bad profile in a year I finally gave up on them. Fortunately,
it returned to lower levels within six months.
I also lost an employee to cancer. Thought he could cure it with nutrition.
Now a days he probably would have thought he could cure it with coconut.
The snake oil salesman will be with us as long as there are $$$ to be made.
He just doesn’t travel in a covered wagon anymore.