Is the FDA really concerns about our health?

Question

If so why not give a go signal to those who sell food supplements that can really help an individual? Why not make the testings of this so called supplements in public? Are they afraid that there drugs are no match with food supplements? And that food supplements are no side effect at all? Besides both drugs and food supplements are all no cure. Some get help some dont so whats the problem with food supplements?

Or why not make a comparison between how long you been taking this drug or food supplement and how fast you got healed? If you got healed from food supplement are you going to lie about it?

How many who got help from this food supplement? Is it not important? What can the FDA says to those people who got help from food supplement?

Answer 1

u r right...fda seems to be avoiding to deal with this growing and huge market. it totally needs some control...but i think they're not taking action because these food supplements have not obviously caused harm/death.
recall that fda was created and started to monitor drugs because of such incidences like death from ethylene glycol (basically antifreeze) that was added to some pediatiatric elixir (kids died!) and death from diptheria vaccines.
i think that the fda just made sure that no one really dies from these food supplements and did not take the initiative to see if it really works (like it does for medicines).
the questions about food supplements that u ask r too general and one answer will not be correct for all of them...at least not now with the lack of fda regulations.
what could go wrong with food supplements/herbal products?
i wouldn't worry too much about the vitamins/minerals/protein supplements, but the herbal products is highly variable.
because...: 1) variable manufacturing practices- different quantities of the active ingredient between different lot numbers and even within the same lot number
2) possible high levels of toxins like pesticides...(example- herbs could have been grown with a lot pesticides sprayed on them, or poor manufacturing processes that leave some chemicals behind in the finished product.)
3) used the wrong part of the plant (example: gingko biloba's active ingredient is only in the leaves...some company could use the stems/roots and claim it has gingko biloba in it (which is true), but the active compound won't be there...or it will be there in very, very low amounts.)
4) quantity needed for effectiveness- unsure exactly how much of it is necessary, and how much is too much/toxic...and how different types of individuals could need different amounts.
5) poor studies- many herbal products have not actually proven clearly that they really work...they have studies that suggest they may work, but usually the studies are flawed plus poor manufacturing of the pills contribute to lack of evidence.
6) high prices do not necessarily mean better products

so we just take a chance whenever we buy herbal products.
vitamins/minerals r little more established...and there r better studies showing their effects.

Answer 2

The FDA doesn't perform testing. Testing is done by scientists in either private business or universities. When some one feels they have reliable reproducible test results they go before the FDA and the material is reviewed by other scientists to see if the results are credible.

Supplements haven't had "FDA approval" because the supplement companies themselves have never gone before the FDA. Why would they bother, the can already legally sell their products.

A separate issue is producing a reliable product. Drug companies met rigourous standards of each pill being exectly the same as the one before and after. You get the same dose every time. Most supplements can't or don't bother to met that standard.

Remember how the FDA got started in the first place. There was public outcry about outrageous claims being made by snake oil salesman and the public got tired of getting ripped off. The fact that so many years later most of these herbal products still haven't bothered to pursue FDA approval means their probably the same rip off crap we were trying to get rid of in the first place.

Answer 3

The FDA is concerned about your health. I work in Drug Safety for the pharmaceutical industry, and I am a nurse. Drugs go through a very rigorous testing and safety process before they are marketed. The FDA requires that if you make any claims to treat or cure a disease, you must conduct studies to prove this. The supplement and vitamin manufacturers get around this by saying something 'promotes a healthy .....(insert organ/system name here)'. They get around having to prove their claims.
It would be difficult to do a study comparing a natural supplement, versus a drug for a known disease, like diabetes, say. Because most diseases, if left untreated, can be deadly or cause permanent harm to someone. It would not be ethical to test someone by denying them something that works and randomly assigning them to an unprovent supplement or herbal treatment.
The natural and allopathic treatment lobbies have also blocked legistlation which requires testing of their products, because they know that this would be an expensive and time consuming process.
I could go on much longer, but this generally answers your question and assertions.

Answer 4

It sounds like you have already done the testing and found that there are no problems with these products