• Slimming Products
    • Fatfix
    • Slimberry
    • Piperine Forte
    • Slimjoy
    • Slimy Liquid
    • Revolyn Keto Burn
    • Keto Tropfen
    • Reduslim
    • Vitalrin
    • Ultra Rev
    • Keto Guru
    • Purosalin
    • Slim XR
    • Vanefist Neo
    • Herzolex Ultra
    • Sliminazer
    • Idealica
    • Black Latte
    • GC Rocket
    • Formoline L112
    • Panaslim
    • Refigura
    • Slimymed
  • Painkiller
    • Jointfuel360
    • Hondrostrong
    • Arthrolon
    • Flexa Plus Optima
    • Sustafix
    • Flexumgel
  • Reviews
    • Testonyl
    • Parazitol
    • Detonic
    • Sarahs Blessing
    • Recardio
    • Cardiline
    • Mindinsole
    • Detoxic
    • Nuubu
    • Viscerex
    • Nutresin
  • Guides
  • Potency Funds
    • Maral Gel
    • Eroxel
    • Maxatin
    • Urotrin
    • Viarax
    • Viraxol
    • Erogen X
    • Collosel
    • Potencialex
  • Beauty
    • Veona
    • Varicofix
    • Vibrosculpt
    • Varikosette
  • Foot Care
    • Onycosolve
    • Fungonis Gel
    • Micinorm
  • Home
  • Uncategorized
  • Consumers ‘Flying Blind’ When Purchasing Dietary Supplements, Expert Says
  • 29. October 2020
  • 0 comments
  • Maria Bauer
  • Uncategorized

Consumers ‘Flying Blind’ When Purchasing Dietary Supplements, Expert Says

Dietary supplements spiked with pharmaceutical drugs often remain on the market, even when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified these products as tainted, a new study suggests.

Over the last eight years, the FDA has recalled 237 dietary-supplement products because they containedpharmaceutical drugs that were not listed on the product labels. However, an additional 110 supplements that were known to contain drugs were not recalled, the study found.

Dietary supplements are allowed to contain ingredients that supplement the diet — such as vitamins, minerals and herbs — but they are not permitted to contain prescription or illegal drugs.

The new findings are concerning because they suggest that, even when the FDA tests supplements and discovers prohibited ingredients, the agency doesn’t always remove these dangerous products, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance in Boston.

“What’s the point of identifying products [with prohibited drugs] if you can’t take them off the marketplace?” said Cohen, who was not involved in the new study.

The recalls described in the new study are voluntary, meaning the FDA asked the manufacturer to recall the product but did not mandate it. It’s not clear why 110 products were found to contain drugs but were not recalled, Cohen said.

One possibility, Cohen said, is that the FDA couldn’t get in touch with the manufacturer. Indeed, a recent investigation by the Office of the Inspector General found that the FDA did not have accurate contact information for 20 percent of the supplement manufacturers. It’s also possible the FDA contacted the manufacturer, but the manufacturer refused to comply, Cohen said.

Of the 237 dietary supplements that were recalled, 40 percent were sexual-enhancement products, 31 percent were body-building supplements and 27 percent were weight-loss supplements.

Unlike medical drugs and devices, dietary supplements do not require FDA approval before they are sold to consumers. The FDA regulates supplements only after they enter the market, and typically must undertake lengthy steps to remove a product it deems unsafe.

“The consumer is flying blind when it comes to purchasing supplements,” Cohen said. Until manufacturers follow the law — and the FDA enforces it — “these huge categories of supplements need to be completely avoided,” he said.

A 2011 study by Cohen and his colleagues found that even supplements that are recalled can still be bought by consumers. The study found that the weight-loss supplement Pai You Guo, which was recalled in 2009 because it contained a banned drug, could still be bought at retail stores.

Cohen said his lab recently tested a sexual-enhancement drug and found it contained pharmaceuticals. Even though the lab alerted  the FDA about the supplement — called Sex Plus — in December 2012, the FDA has yet to warn consumers about it, Cohen said. In March, the FDA issued an alert to consumers about several sexual-enhancement supplements that were found to contain drugs such as Viagra, but Sex Plus was not included in that alert.

Just last Friday the FDA warned consumers not to buy supplements containing the ingredient DMAA, which has been linked to heart attacks. Although the FDA has sent letters to supplement manufacturers, asking them to stop making and selling the DMAA-containing supplement, one manufacturer — USPlabs —  continues to do so, the FDA said. The FDA said it is working on a response to USPlabs, which makes the DMAA-containing drugs OxyELITE Pro and Jack3D.

The dietary supplements that are tested and recalled by the FDA are likely just “the tip of the iceberg,” in terms of the percentage of supplements that contain prohibited drugs, Cohen said.

“Given the limited regulation of these products, it is likely that the number of recalls grossly underestimates the number of products on sale with unapproved ingredients,” Dr. Mitchell H. Katz, of the Journal of the American Medical Association, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

“Dietary supplements should be treated with the same rigor as pharmaceutical drugs and with the same goal: to protect consumer health,” Katz said.

Consumers who want to buy supplements should stick with vitamins and minerals, or single-ingredient supplements, Cohen said. They should look for supplements that have been certified by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention or NSF International, which can provide reassurance that the products contain the proper dosage of ingredients and that they don’t contain illegal ingredients, Cohen said.

The study, conducted by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, examined Class I drug recalls — serious recalls for which there is a reasonable likelihood that exposure to the product will cause adverse health consequences. Researchers compared those products with those listed on the FDA Tainted Supplements Report, which lists supplements found to be adulterated.

The study is published online today (April 15) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Pass it on: Even after the FDA identifies supplements that contain prohibited drugs, it does not always recall them.

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on MyHealthNewsDaily.

  • 10 Medical Myths that Just Won’t Go Away
  • Myth or Truth? 7 Ancient Health Wisdoms Explained
  • The Truth About Herbal Supplements for Stress
Maria-Cakehealth
Maria Bauer

Maria is our expert for medicine, fitness and general health. Her contributions are particularly convincing through completeness, accuracy and her own personal experience. Maria also writes for other health magazines, which has enabled her to build up her expert status.

Leave Comment

or cancel reply

Suche
Beliebte Beiträge
  • 7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Women, Sex May Be Improved by ‘Mindfulness Meditation’
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • Autistic Brain Excels at Recognizing Patterns
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Swine Flu May Cause Baldness
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Dogs’ Contagious Cancer Cells May Survive By Theft
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Are You Sitting Down? If You’re a College Senior, Probably
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Test May Screen Donated Blood for Fatal Disease-Causing Proteins
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise Can’t Undo the Damage of Too Much Screen Time
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Melanoma Drug Shrinks Tumors, Study Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Co-Conspirator Cells Contribute to Skin Cancer
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • YouTube May Help Elderly Dementia Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Functioning Decline Higher in Southern ‘Stroke Belt’
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 8 Tips for Healthy Aging
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Vs. Normal Aging: How to Tell the Difference
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Soy Compounds May Cut Risk of Some Breast Cancers
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Estrogen May Curb Breast Cancer As Well As Promote It
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Flu Season Worse Than Usual
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most Young Flu Victims Had Not Been Vaccinated, Fatality Report Says
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Indoor Tanners Use Beds Despite Boosting Skin Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Gene Therapy May Ease Tremors in Parkinson’s Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Often Misdiagnosed Until Later On
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • In Trauma Patients, Steroids May Reduce Pneumonia Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Will USDA’s New ‘Plate’ Icon Make a Difference in American Diets?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Can Changing Your Diet Decrease Your Risk of Alzheimer’s?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Preventive Measures Against Alzheimer’s Still Uncertain, Report Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise During Pregnancy Benefits Baby’s Heart
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Hypertension Death Rate Drops, But Fatalities Still High
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Years of Schooling Have Healthful Effect on Blood Pressure
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Heavy Beer Drinkers Increase Their Gastric Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight Gain: How Food Actually Puts on Pounds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Want a Smaller Waist? Take More Breaks From Sitting
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Rules on Vitamin D and Calcium: Most People Get Enough
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Melanoma Patients, Arthritis Drug Could Treat Disease
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Overgrowth in Tots Is Linked to Autism
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Airborne Mad Cow Disease Possible, But Unlikely
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most High School Kids Don’t Get Enough Exercise, CDC Reports
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Is the 17 Day Diet Just Another Weight-Loss Gimmick?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Lead Exposure May Delay Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • The Healthy Geezer: Does Mercury Cause Cancer?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 11% of Infants Born Preterm Worldwide
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Severe Morning Sickness Linked to Preterm Births
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Money and No Dad Could Mean Early Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Too Little or Too Much Sleep May Raise Heart, Stroke Risks
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Relapse Common for Teens Who Overcome Depression
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Repeated Miscarriages May Increase Women’s Heart Attack Risk
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Earlier Detection of Dangerous Ectopic Pregnancies Possible with New Marker
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • It’s in the Blood: New Hope for Detecting Schizophrenia
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alcohol Abuse May Lead to Marriage Postponement, Separation
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Marriage Trouble Could Mean Poor Sleep for Baby
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight-Loss Surgery May Improve Memory
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0

Copyright © 2020 by cakehealth.com

Impressum|Data Protection | Sitemap EN|Sitemap DE