Posts Tagged ‘dietary supplements’
A diet supplement is like a good friend
A diet supplement is a good friend that helps you along with your weight loss goals. It helps act as your conscience during the times when you are considering cheating on your carefully laid out diet plan. A good diet supplement will tap you on the shoulder with “appetite suppressors” to let you know before you even want to cheat that you are not hungry, At least not hungry enough to sabotage all your hard work!
Also like a good friend a diet supplement will provide you with the motivation you need to get your butt in the gym. A diet supplement will also promote well being and elevate your mood. Doesn’t this sounds like the qualities you are looking for a in a good friend?
Something there to give you a kick in the pants while motivating you to reach your goals?
Just what kind of friend are you looking for? There are different types to choose from. The first is an IN YOUR FACE DRILL SARGEANT friend. We will call this friend: Mister Ephedra
Diet supplements With Ephedra
This is going to be the really loud, over the top friend that is constantly in your face pushing you to, and beyond the limits you thought were possible. Diet supplements with Ephedra are going to be very POWERFUL. If you have never taken diet supplements before then you should be careful with these. Ephedra takes fat burning, energy boosting to another level. Ephedra has been shown to increase metabolism which helps promote weight loss. It also relaxes the air way passages in the lungs to help ease asthma symptoms and coughs. Ephedra promotes perspiration and is a diuretic to help relieve edema.
3 Ephedra Product examples
This is the baby bear of the group but make no mistake, 25 mg of ephedra contains quite a bite! If you are just starting with Ephedra, this will not give you the jittery feeling that higher doses may bring. You will still get all the energy and fat burning characteristics of a stronger product but you won’t feel quite the POW!
This is the good friend of the group. ThinQuik with 30mg of Ephedra is strong but it is fair. You will get the intense energy and appetite control that you need to maintain your fitness regimen. You will also get tons of motivation and a sense of well being that comes along with any good friend.
Watch Out! This is not for the timid. With 100mg of Ephedra Eph100 is the king of the mountain when it comes to Ephedra. This is one of the fastest MOST POTENT HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENERGY ON THE PLANET. Put on your seatbelt, hold on and get ready for one hell of a ride!
If you are looking for a good friend to help you with your weight loss goals why not look to a diet supplement. If you want explosive fat burning results then a diet supplement may be right for you.
FDA Notified Consumers About Ejaculoid XXTREME
ISSUE: FDA notified consumers that lab analysis of lots of ejaculoid XXTREME and stimuloid II found that the products, sold as dietary supplements, contain sulfoaildenafil, similar to sildenafil, which is an active ingredient of an FDA-approved drug for male erectile dysfunction, making these products unapproved drugs. This active drug ingredient is not listed on the product labels and may interact with nitrates found in drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Consumers with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease often take nitrates.
BACKGROUND: The recalled products were distributed in black plastic bottles to distributors and via internet sales. The company press release contains specific lot numbers and additional recall information.
RECOMMENDATION: Customers who have any of the above products in their possession should stop using them immediately and contact their physician if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking these products.
Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program:
Dietary and Nutrition Supplments are a Neccessity.
The USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion released a draft report for its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans last week. This report that ultimately form the basis for 2010’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Within the report’s language, dietary supplements receive mixed approval. While highlighting the benefits of some dietary supplements “…if needs cannot be met through whole foods.” This statement has prompted a public response from the Natural Products Association (Washington, DC). “When less than 25% of the U.S. population eats the recommended serving of five fruits and vegetables daily, how are Americans to get the vitamins and minerals they need?” said NPA executive director and CEO John Gay. “Advice to cut off a reliable and safe nutrition source, such as a daily multivitamin, doesn’t seem logical or responsible.” Aside from dietary supplement coverage, much of the report focused on addressing obesity issues and expanding access to nutritional products for Americans. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (Washington, DC) applauded such discussions, stating, “The report wisely recommends that USDA and Health and Human Services develop a national strategy to help people eat better, including ramping up nutrition education, expanding access to fruits and vegetables, and getting industry to provide more healthful products.”
Dietary Supplements Are Safe!
On March 25th, 1999, I was part of a live television debate on FOX-TV’s “Good Day New York” with a drug industry attorney on the topic: “Are dietary supplements regulated?”
Needless to say, with all of the facts showing how well regulated dietary supplements were then, winning the debate was not a difficult accomplishment; I even had the host, Jim Ryan, on the side of supplement consumers about midway through the segment.
In fact, the regulations and laws governing nutritional supplements today are even more stringent than they were in 1999, when I did that TV segment.
According to attorney Peter Barton Hutt, the “bedrock food safety requirement that has been the foundation of the American food supply since 1906—the prohibition of poisonous or deleterious substances in food—applies equally to dietary supplements and conventional food.”
Supplements: A Super-Regulated Category
Today, dietary supplements have the following requirements and controls over them:
- Pre-market notification to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—not required for drugs or medical devices
- Labeling
- Mandatory adverse event (side effect or reaction) reporting to the FDA (not required for foods)
- FDA Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)
- Facility registration (for the FDA)
- Advertising (by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
In fact, broadly speaking, the laws governing supplements under the umbrella of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) are: the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA); the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA); the Bioterrorism Act of 2002; the Food Allergen Labeling an Consumer Protection Act of 2004; the Dietary Supplement and Non-Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Act of 2006 (AER Law); and Federal GMPs.
Regarding dietary supplements, the FDA has significant powers, including (but not limited to) the authority to:
- Stop a company from selling any dietary supplement that is unsanitary or unsafe
- Stop the sale of any dietary supplement that makes false or non-substantiated claims on its labeling.
- Stop the sale of any nutritional supplement that poses “a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.”
- Block a new dietary ingredient (NDI) from being marketed if the agency does not receive enough safety information in advance.
Likewise, the FTC has a great deal of surveillance and enforcement powers that it uses for dietary supplements, including the ability to:
- Challenge and stop advertising that is not sufficiently substantiated,
- Negotiate a consent order for a company to change or fix its promotional, marketing or advertising practices, and
- Seek substantial civil penalties for violations of trade regulation rules or violations of cease and desist orders.
So Why Do We Keep Hearing About Supplements Being Unregulated?
Part of the problem is the media.
As I noted way back in 1999,1 despite powerful and authoritative research underpinning many of the most popular supplements today, the mainstream media appear to be on a planet where this research is unavailable or incomprehensible.
The FDA itself has been stoking the misinformation fires about the supplement regulations that it is mandated to implement and enforce. As I noted in July 2009, “The FDA should cooperate with the responsible core of the natural products industry rather than criticizing the very laws that the American people saw fit to pass and which the FDA is sworn to uphold and enforce.”3
Dietary supplements have “always been regulated as a category of food in this country, and DSHEA did not change that,” according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).4
“Dietary supplements are not regulated as drugs because they are not drugs,” added Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, FACN, director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, at Tufts University.3
According to Hutt, it is “apparent that FDA has adequate statutory authority to assure the safety of both dietary ingredients and conventional food ingredients.”2
In fact, Hutt adds that the “safety provisions under the FD&C Act applicable to dietary supplements would appear to be stronger than those applicable to conventional food.”2
‘Supplements Are Safe, Healthful and Well-Regulated’ may not be a very “sexy” story as news stories go, but it is one that really should be front-page.
Gormley Take-Away: Given all of the recent drug recalls and food contamination outbreaks, I would be much more concerned about the safety of pharmaceuticals and conventional foods than about dietary supplements if I were the average consumer advocate, legislator or reporter. Looking at the powerful safety record of dietary supplements, now officially demonstrated via the AER Law, I would consider beating a different drum than the one associated with unwarranted and uninformed attacks on supplements.
About the Author: James Gormley is an award-winning journalist, published author and member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). He is a senior policy advisor for Citizens for Health, an advisory board member of the National Health Research Institute (NHRI), editor of a medical journal and an industry consultant
Healthcare Reform Includes Alternative Medicine, Dietary Supplements
Healthcare Reform Includes Alternative Medicine, Dietary Supplements
The landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act forced on us by President Obama on March 23 includes several provisions that address complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and dietary supplements.
With the goal of educating Americans about preventive care, the bill stipulates the creation of wellness plans to be carried out through community health centers, typically in lower-income areas as if people in the middle class don’t need to be healthy. This seems to be just more item in the long line of racist provisions in the new law, much like the tax on tanning beds. In addition to providing wellness assessments and education, the programs will provide participants with a selection of dietary supplements that have FDA-approved health claims.
These supplements include folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, omega-3, and multivitamins. Supplements will be targeted at “at-risk” groups, such as folic acid for pregnant women.
Provisions have also been included to ensure that insurance plans do not discriminate against CAM practitioners. These practitioners include acupuncturists, chiropractors, and naturopath doctors who prescribe may prescribe dietary supplements.
Industry members were pleased with the provisions. Some say that it may open the door to CAM and dietary supplements in mainstream medicine in the future.
Daniel Fabricant, PhD, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Natural Products Association (Washington, DC), said that he was glad that the government’s focus on prevention and long-term healthcare cost savings included dietary supplements and nutrition in its approach. “Prevention means a lot of different things to people. It could mean vaccination, but it also looks like it’s also going to mean nutrition, the way that the final bill is written,” he said.
“If managed properly, the greater inclusion of alternative practitioners in healthcare should open a pathway for increased acceptance of the dietary supplement products they provide,” said Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (Silver Spring, MD).
It has only taken a few 100 years but is it possible that the government finally understands that health supplements are healthy?