web supplement claims doubtful, study finds

The failure isn't the absence of powers rather it is the lack of the exercise of powers and the
lack of funds.

All powers over and regulation of supplement and herbs by the FDA should be stopped and replaced
with an office in the NIH having regulatory powers, ample public funds and a research arm to develop
the science of vitamins, AAs, minerals, herbs, and vitamin-like materials. Guess what I would use as
the nucleus of the new Bureau. The FDA is in the pocket of the drug companies.

Both the FDA and FTC already have the power to require supplements to be accurate about the
amounts of vitamins and etc which they contain. They just don't check, claiming a lack of funds.
It seems to me they want bad actors to grow in number so that they can seek to effectively ban
supplements. Consider the following, just what private company is going to do the research on
unpatentable substances like herbs and vitamins???? It has to be publicly funded research!!! It is
the public commons.

As one futurist said several decades ago, "vitamins will become accepted as wonder pills after the
big drug companies have them under patent."

Someone is beating the drum and someone is paying the drummer.............................
...............William A. Noyes

<[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Here is an article that examines part of the current failure of regulation of supplement claims.
We need to know what is in the product, is it safe based on testing, does it do what is claimed,
does it spell out side effects, does it contain what the label says. The article shows much web
content doesn't meet a consumer's needs for informed choices:

Studies find herbal remedies marketed with unproven health claims By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical
Writer (Published September 16' 2003) CHICAGO (AP) - Herbal remedies are often marketed on the
Internet with misleading or unproven health claims that violate federal law, according to a
study of 443 Web sites.

The finding - and an unrelated study suggesting that magnetic heel insoles are ineffective at
relieving pain - question the marketing practices of widely popular alternative medical
products.

An editorial published with the studies in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
Association said improvements are needed in the regulation of alternative treatments.

In one study, Drs. Charles Morris and Jerry Avorn of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital
analyzed Internet marketing claims of eight popular items, including St. John's wort for
depression, echinacea for infections and ginseng for stress. Such products are used by an
estimated 14 percent of U.S. adults, according to data cited in the study.

Of the 443 Web sites examined, 292 made health claims for their products, such as claiming they
could cure, prevent or treat a disease. More than half of those, or 153, omitted a federally
required disclaimer saying that the claims had not been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration and that the products are not intended to treat or prevent disease.

On 39 percent of the sites for the herb kava kava, no information was listed about an FDA
advisory linking the products with liver problems.

Unlike prescription drug makers, herbal products manufacturers can make health claims in
marketing that are not supported by science.

The findings show that system is not effective and bolster the argument for having one system
for both herbs and drugs, Drs. Catherine De Angelis and Phil Fontanarosa, JAMA's editor and
executive deputy editor, said in the accompanying commentary.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade group for dietary supplement makers, advises
members not to make unsubstantiated claims and tells them to disclose "any adverse event
information," said Annette Dickenson, group president.

She said the study should not lead people into thinking all such products are ineffective.
"There are proven benefits of many of the botanical products and consumers want to know that,"
Dickinson said.

The other study, from the Mayo Clinic, casts doubt on the health claims of products containing
magnets as purported pain relievers. It involved 101 volunteers with heel pain who wore either
heel insoles with magnets or insoles with fake magnets for eight weeks.

At the study's end, about a third of patients in each group reported pain relief.

Spenco Medical Corp., manufacturer of the insoles used in the study, no longer makes magnetic
products, said a company spokeswoman who declined further comment.

William A. Noyes said:

following, just what private company is going to do the research on unpatentable substances like
herbs and vitamins???? It has to be publicly funded research!!! It is the public commons.

agree heartily about that. I hope that our government will in future fund research on taurine
supplementation, as a starter over here. I'm afraid diet need is higher than thought today, at least
in diabetic persons and people with liver failure and inchronic alcoholics. The diet give only a few
mg daily, while the diet most possibly did give several times more a century ago or more due to more
fish and taurine rich parts of animals was used in diet (offals and blood for instance, plus most
possibly, the animals most possibly had more methionine and cysteine in their diet, giving more
taurine production and thus higher steady-state concentration (maybe also the diet in animals gave
less loss in the form of taurocholic acid too??)

"Alf Christophersen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

William A. Noyes said:

following, just what private company is going to do the research on unpatentable substances like
herbs and vitamins???? It has to be publicly funded research!!! It is the public commons.

agree heartily about that. I hope that our government will in future fund research on taurine
supplementation, as a starter over here. I'm afraid diet need is higher than thought today, at
least in diabetic persons and people with liver failure and in chronic alcoholics. The diet give
only a few mg daily, while the diet most possibly did give several times more a century ago or
more due to more fish and taurine rich parts of animals was used in diet (offals and blood for
instance, plus most possibly, the animals most possibly had more methionine and cysteine in their
diet, giving more taurine production and thus higher steady-state concentration (maybe also the
diet in animals gave less loss in the form of taurocholic acid too??)

Any chance you could be the one to do the research Alf?? Or at least your University? Taurine,
arginine, trimethylglycine, carnitine, and carnosine look like good AAs to start with. Perhaps we
have a new topic in the last sentence?

...................William A. Noyes