REPORT: SOME DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS ILLEGALLY LABELED

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NUTRITIONAL_SUPPLEMENTS_SAFETY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-03-04-58-35

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Dozens of weight loss and immune system supplements on the market are illegally labeled and lack the recommended scientific evidence to back up their purported health claims, government investigators warn in a new review of the $20 billion supplement industry.

The report, being released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, found that 20 percent of the 127 weight loss and immune-boosting supplements investigators purchased online and in retail stores across the country carried labels that made illegal claims to cure or treat disease.

Some products went so far as to state that the supplements could cure or prevent diabetes or cancer, or that they could help people with HIV or AIDS, which is strictly prohibited under federal law.

Consumers may not just be wasting their money on pills or tablets, but they could be endangering their health if they take a supplement in place of a drug thinking it will have the same effect, the report concluded.

[djean111]

1. So, I imagine, the answer will be to regulate or block supplements,

so they will become costly or not available, leaving us to take drugs with sometimes horrific side effects.

[2on2u]

2. If it isn't one thing it's two things.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alternative-medicine/PN00001

Complementary and alternative medicine
You've heard the hype about complementary and alternative medicine. Now get the facts.
By Mayo Clinic staff

Complementary and alternative medicine has never been more popular. Nearly 40 percent of adults report using complementary and alternative medicine, also called CAM for short. Doctors are embracing CAM therapies, too, often combining them with mainstream medical therapies — spawning the new term "integrative medicine." But what is CAM? This guide explains the ABCs of CAM.
What are some examples of complementary and alternative medicine?

Exactly what's considered complementary and alternative medicine changes constantly as treatments undergo testing and move into the mainstream. To make sense of the many therapies available, it helps to look at how they're classified by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the agency that funds scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine:

[HuckleB]

3. I'm always boggled by people who don't seem to care if these companies are scamming them.

It's an odd response, IMO.

[djean111]

4. If you are referring to my response as odd,

of course I would care if I was being scammed. But I feel that this is a start on way of making supplements too costly to market.
I don't think this represents all supplements, either.
Just test them and publish the results, don't act as if all supplements are bad because a few were bad.
The drug companies don't let us know about their bad testing until way after the fact. If at all.

Tell you what I do care about - the experimental crap that is foisted on us - at great cost - by pharmaceutical companies.
"Oh dear, we DID mention that Yaz might kill you!" "Oh dear, did we forget to mention that pumping you full of radiation or hormones might give you cancer?" or pushing drugs for off-label uses, etc.

[HuckleB]

5. That makes no sense.

These companies are clearly scamming people, and you ignore that part. Try again.

BTW, that "experimental" stuff has far more research and safety revue than he scam supplement companies.

[djean111]

6. I know some are scamming people.

But I feel this is just the start of regulating all supplements.
I tend to doubt research and safety reviews that are given to the government by drug companies who need to make ever-increasing profits.
Not "trying" to change your mind, just stating my opinion.