I've launched a new website where I give you a review of various health and fitness products that include exercise and fitness books, equipment, supplements, etc., from other authors and companies (just as an FYI, I'll be launching my own products in the near future so keep an eye out for that).
If you know of any product (or service) that you'd like for me to review, please don't hesitate to e-mail me and let me know and I'll see if it's worthy enough to add to this new website.
Okay, enough babbling. The new website is called www.LBfreview.com. Go check it out and let me know what you think.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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Showing posts with label supplements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supplements. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
"Natural" Diet Pill Not So Natural
Well, another flop on the supplement front. This article talks about how a diet pill that was promoted as having all "natural" ingredients wasn't completely accurate.
The violators are a supplement called Starcaps that promotes the use of papaya as an ingredient the help with weight loss actually has a dangerous pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide which can have some bad side effects.
What's even worse is that this supplement isn't the only culprit. The FDA found dozens of other supplements with pharmaceutical drug in them that are not declared on their ingredient list.
From the article:
But this is where my blood pressure rises substantially with how we deal with supplements in this country from this part of the article:
What this means is that as long as a company puts the word "supplement" on the bottle of a product, they can make any claim they want about what the product can do and don't have to provide a shred of evidence to back it up. The only time the FDA gets involved is when there is a health claim or substantial complaints about the product (like ephedra was investigated and subsequently banned in 2004 by the FDA).
There was a laughable (in my opinion) update to the law last year as the article states:
Oh big whoop. So the manufacturers have prove that the supplements they are providing actually have the ingredients in them that they claim and that there are no other ingredients, but they still don't have to show that any of those ingredients actually do what they say the product will do.
Sure, the law protects consumers into MAYBE not getting sick by taking these supplements, but it doesn't protect them from throwing money at products that, in my opinion are nothing more than placebos.
But, it's a hard climb to the top in trying to prove a $24 billion industry is nothing but a scam.
Sorry, that turned into more of a rant than I had originally intended too. Stay away from weight loss supplements folks. Just eat right, exercise and you'll get results in the purest of forms.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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The violators are a supplement called Starcaps that promotes the use of papaya as an ingredient the help with weight loss actually has a dangerous pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide which can have some bad side effects.
What's even worse is that this supplement isn't the only culprit. The FDA found dozens of other supplements with pharmaceutical drug in them that are not declared on their ingredient list.
From the article:
“A large percentage of these products either contain dangerous undeclared ingredients or they might be outright fraudulent on the ingredients and have no effect at all,” said Michael Levy, the director of the F.D.A.’s division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance. “We don’t think consumers should be using these products.”
But this is where my blood pressure rises substantially with how we deal with supplements in this country from this part of the article:
Enacted in 1994, the main law on dietary supplements gives the F.D.A. jurisdiction only after the products go on the market. Rather than reviewing the supplements and approving them for sale, as the agency does with drugs, the F.D.A. is limited to spot-checking manufacturers and distributors, and testing products already on store shelves. Even the F.D.A. acknowledges there may be hundreds of other drug-contaminated weight-loss supplements for sale that the agency does not have the resources to identify.
What this means is that as long as a company puts the word "supplement" on the bottle of a product, they can make any claim they want about what the product can do and don't have to provide a shred of evidence to back it up. The only time the FDA gets involved is when there is a health claim or substantial complaints about the product (like ephedra was investigated and subsequently banned in 2004 by the FDA).
There was a laughable (in my opinion) update to the law last year as the article states:
Last year, the F.D.A. adopted new “good manufacturing practices” rules that require makers of dietary supplements to test the purity of each ingredient and the final product. Another new statute, which went into effect in December 2007, requires manufacturers to notify the F.D.A. of any reports of serious health problems caused by the pills. “The law adequately protects consumer health because it does have the monitoring system in place,” said Mr. Mister, of the industry trade group.
Oh big whoop. So the manufacturers have prove that the supplements they are providing actually have the ingredients in them that they claim and that there are no other ingredients, but they still don't have to show that any of those ingredients actually do what they say the product will do.
Sure, the law protects consumers into MAYBE not getting sick by taking these supplements, but it doesn't protect them from throwing money at products that, in my opinion are nothing more than placebos.
But, it's a hard climb to the top in trying to prove a $24 billion industry is nothing but a scam.
Sorry, that turned into more of a rant than I had originally intended too. Stay away from weight loss supplements folks. Just eat right, exercise and you'll get results in the purest of forms.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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