Government Regulation and Supplement Industry

[Romeo78]

Does anyone know if the government actually checks to see if supplement manufactures put what they say is in their products? Didn't Weider get busted on this a few years ago?

I am thinnking of doing a paper on the sup. industry, and this would help. I appreciate the feedback!

 

[George Spellwin]

No, there is no regulation at all. This is upsetting, because you can claim anything and it is never checked. This is often why athletes claim steroid precursors are ineffective. So many manufacturers are not true to their label claims.

 

[George Spellwin]

By the way, who is the paper for? I would be happy to help and would perhaps publish it here.

 

[Romeo78]

Thanks for the information George.

The paper is really going to be a free lance article. And I would appreciate any help, or advice you could give me.

 

[Par Deus]

Unfortunately, they generally don't. Pretty much the only time they step in is if a supplement is effective and cuts into the profits of pharmaceutical companies.

 

[George Spellwin]

True,

Read about what happened to my T3 Metabolite here:

http://www.elitefitness.com/articles/mqraid1.html

 

[jules5658]

Supplements are regulated under DSHEA, but products are not checked for ingredient amts or quality...there are some companies and universities doing this, however. www.consumerlabs.com is one and www.supplementwatch.com uses a different approach - ranking products based on claims, efficacy, safety and value..

Both good sites for uniased info!

 

[Romeo78]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I am in my data gathering stage, and don't have a deadline to make. So wish me luck, and once again, thanks to all who have helped!

 

[Kryp2o]

There was a story on the news (local Charlotte news) last month about protein and carb bars in it they said that the FDA did supposed studies claiming that the amount of protein and carbs stated on the labels were false. They claimed that 80% of the bars tested for carbs had higher amounts than what was labeled and 20% had lower protein than what was labeled. The only problem with that is there are no regulations at this time for what is proper carb and protein amounts. I could understand regulation for falsifying data, but how do you determine what the proper amount of carbs and protein are?

 

[rippedup]

Bump,

Any more info on this issue?

 

[chillin408]

This following is just my opinion, and it may be utterly false and inaccurate reasoning. The information may also be false and inaccurate, and everything in this post is for only for entertainment purposes.

Well, I think that the problem with giving the FDA anymore power is a high probability of supplements being banned all together.

It may sound appealing to ban bogus supplements claims, but the biggest fear I have is that along with banning such claims accompanies a total banning of what are now legal supplements. I would rather have it the way it is now than to be a criminal for purchasing a bottle that says creatine on the label without bogus claims made by the company.

If the government's main objective was to insure that food and drugs are pure, then why did the early 1900's pure food and drug act turn in to the unreasonable dictation of drugs that exists today.

I assume the FDA already does have many powers to regulate supplements since they have issued warning to supplement companies who make bars with glycerine without labeling them in accordance to FDA.

It could be that this who notion to "regulate supplements" is just a way to give the FDA whatever total power that they do not already posses.

 

[Handsome Pete]

caveat emptor.

I think this is a fascinating issue, and I have mixed feelings about it.

Personally, I think that my personal health has benefitted greatly as a result of deregulation of the supplement industry and the products I've had access to. However, I've also spent a great deal of time doing research to determine what supps are legit. Average Joe doesn't have time to do the research and thus can easily fall prey to slick marketing.

I think that the threat of litigation is enough to prevent companies from marketing truly dangerous supplements. If I were a manufacturer, I'd be much more fearful of a class-action lawsuit than government regulation.

In that sense, then, the supplement industry isn't totally "unregulated".