Are You Getting What You Pay For?
Dietary supplements are extremely popular these days. If you want to lose weight, gain weight, build muscle, alleviate menopausal symptoms... you name it, there is a supplement designed to help. Are all of these safe and effective? Sadly, no.
Are you one of the 19 billion Americans who have taken a dietary supplement? You know what I mean by dietary supplement...those pills which promise a quick and painless way to lose weight.. the "get skinny without exercising" variety?
If so, read on for some things you might not have realized about the safety of these diet pills!
The term dietary supplement was legally defined in 1994 as part of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
In order to be considered as a dietary supplement, a product must be identified as such on the label. Additionally, the product must be intended to add to the diet, it must be taken orally as a capsule, tablet, pill or liquid, and it also must contain at least one of the following: vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals or amino acids and other substances.
What makes a dietary supplement different than a food or drug? Under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), dietary supplements are more or less regulated as a food.
This means a manufacturer can market a product without having to go through the rigorous safety testing that drugs do prior to being put on the market. Drug companies must prove a drug is safe before it is marketed. With dietary supplements, the FDA has to prove it is unsafe before the supplement is removed from public sale.
This is a huge difference!
Of course if the system worked as it was designed, the FDA should have adequate control over all supplements marketed, being able to prevent the unsafe ones from being sold.
Unfortunately this is not the case, as you well can imagine. There are just too many supplements currently available for the FDA to keep close tabs on. This means not every supplement on the shelf is safe to take!
Quality control is another potential problem with dietary supplements. In other words, what the label says the product contains and what it actually does may be two different things. Standardization is not required by law. It is up to the manufacturer to give accurate information about the supplement ingredients on the label.
Hopefully this information has given you pause to consider your supplement-buying practices. Not that all supplements are bad or harmful, that’s far from the truth, but the take home message is this:
weigh the pros and cons carefully before you decide to buy!
You may not be getting what you think you are.
If so, read on for some things you might not have realized about the safety of these diet pills!
The term dietary supplement was legally defined in 1994 as part of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
In order to be considered as a dietary supplement, a product must be identified as such on the label. Additionally, the product must be intended to add to the diet, it must be taken orally as a capsule, tablet, pill or liquid, and it also must contain at least one of the following: vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals or amino acids and other substances.
What makes a dietary supplement different than a food or drug? Under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), dietary supplements are more or less regulated as a food.
This means a manufacturer can market a product without having to go through the rigorous safety testing that drugs do prior to being put on the market. Drug companies must prove a drug is safe before it is marketed. With dietary supplements, the FDA has to prove it is unsafe before the supplement is removed from public sale.
This is a huge difference!
Of course if the system worked as it was designed, the FDA should have adequate control over all supplements marketed, being able to prevent the unsafe ones from being sold.
Unfortunately this is not the case, as you well can imagine. There are just too many supplements currently available for the FDA to keep close tabs on. This means not every supplement on the shelf is safe to take!
Quality control is another potential problem with dietary supplements. In other words, what the label says the product contains and what it actually does may be two different things. Standardization is not required by law. It is up to the manufacturer to give accurate information about the supplement ingredients on the label.
Hopefully this information has given you pause to consider your supplement-buying practices. Not that all supplements are bad or harmful, that’s far from the truth, but the take home message is this:
weigh the pros and cons carefully before you decide to buy!
You may not be getting what you think you are.
|
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
- Bitter orange: Does this weight loss supplement really work?
- Healthy Weight Loss Supplements
- Is Yerba Matte A Safe and Effective Weight Loss Supplement?
- How Do You Get The Best Weight Loss Supplements?
- Green Tea Extract And Successful Weight Loss
- Healthy Weight Loss Supplements: Hoodia Gordonii Tops Them All
- The Truth About Cortisol Blockers!
- What Type of Weight Loss Supplements Suits you
- Weight Loss Products : How To Avoid The Crap
- Lose Weight With a Green Tea Weight Loss Supplement
- The Vital Importance Of Taking Supplements After Weight Loss Surgery
- Best Weight Loss Supplements
- Atkins Supplements And Low Carb Vitamins
- How Can Fat Burning Supplements Be Improved To Attack Obesity More Effectively?
- Using Supplements For Your Weight Loss
- Natural Male Enhancement Instead Of Prescription Drugs For Male Impotence
- Chromium Picolinate for Weight Loss