Dietary Supplements

[carlfense]

John Oliver bringing the heat!

http://www.vox.com/2014/6/23/5834160/watch-john-oliver-pull-back-the-curtain-on-dr-oz-and-the-fda

[Junior]

Wow. That's awesome and enlightening.

[BigRedBuster]

It's good that Dr. Oz is being exposed as the fraud he is but that guy is annoying to listen to.

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

[carlfense]

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

[BigRedBuster]

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

 

Well, that's kind of what the FDA is supposed to be doing with drugs and the process takes a very long time and it is extremely expensive.

 

Honestly, I support what the FDA is supposed to do but think it has gotten out of hand how long it takes and the expense of it. I wouldn't support that type of process for supplements. But, I would be fine with some type of oversight.

[carlfense]

 

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

 

Well, that's kind of what the FDA is supposed to be doing with drugs and the process takes a very long time and it is extremely expensive.

 

Honestly, I support what the FDA is supposed to do but think it has gotten out of hand how long it takes and the expense of it. I wouldn't support that type of process for supplements. But, I would be fine with some type of oversight.

 

There has to be some middle ground available between being regulated as drugs and just taking the snake oil peddler's word for it . . .

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

 

Well, that's kind of what the FDA is supposed to be doing with drugs and the process takes a very long time and it is extremely expensive.

 

Honestly, I support what the FDA is supposed to do but think it has gotten out of hand how long it takes and the expense of it. I wouldn't support that type of process for supplements. But, I would be fine with some type of oversight.

 

There has to be some middle ground available between being regulated as drugs and just taking the snake oil peddler's word for it . . .

 

I would agree with that.

[Conga3]

 

 

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

 

Well, that's kind of what the FDA is supposed to be doing with drugs and the process takes a very long time and it is extremely expensive.

 

Honestly, I support what the FDA is supposed to do but think it has gotten out of hand how long it takes and the expense of it. I wouldn't support that type of process for supplements. But, I would be fine with some type of oversight.

 

There has to be some middle ground available between being regulated as drugs and just taking the snake oil peddler's word for it . . .

 

 

It used to be called common sense, right?

 

With more and more personal responsibility being absorbed by the state through regulations or by private business/insurance companies via lawsuits, it is in less and less demand.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

 

So, are people wanting dietary supplements to go through the same process of coming to market as a pharmaceutical pill does?

I'm not sure that it needs to go that far . . . but I think that they should probably have to substantiate claims and prove safety before approval.

 

Well, that's kind of what the FDA is supposed to be doing with drugs and the process takes a very long time and it is extremely expensive.

 

Honestly, I support what the FDA is supposed to do but think it has gotten out of hand how long it takes and the expense of it. I wouldn't support that type of process for supplements. But, I would be fine with some type of oversight.

 

There has to be some middle ground available between being regulated as drugs and just taking the snake oil peddler's word for it . . .

 

 

It used to be called common sense, right?

 

With more and more personal responsibility being absorbed by the state through regulations or by private business/insurance companies via lawsuits, it is in less and less demand.

 

I agree with you on a lot of things.

 

 

However, something like medications or supplements, there is absolutely no way for the public to know if something is going to work/harm them until after the fact. It's not like going and buying a car where you can test drive it first.

[HUSKER FREAK]

Funny story for you beings someone brought up taking the peddlers word on it. My Great uncle who lives in another state and I talk to maybe once a year, but anymore it's probably more like every other year. Anyway, he found out I had some bad medical problems, and called me out of the blue to tell me that he has these vitamins to take care of all these problems I am having. I asked him who approved these vitamins and where were they tested and what were the results. Which he had no answer but was insulted because I didn't just believe him. I then said that my doctor had advised me to stay away from a number of different supplements and vitamins because they may counteract with other things I am taking. He then went on to tell me that my Doc who Ai have been going to for a long time was wrong and he is just trying to line his pockets and no good Dr. would ever say not to take these blah blah blah. I finally just gave up and said I wasn't interested and he finally hung up on me. Needless to say he didn't talk to me for the next few visits to our area.

[Conga3]

What is your threshold for defining something as "harmful"?

 

Yes, they hurt the wallet.

 

Yes, they can cause side effects.

 

Yes, they can conflict with other medications.

 

Yes, they may even increase the risk of unknown long term side effects.

 

However, pretty much everything we put into out body also falls into the above categories. Water, bananas, hamburgers, etc.

 

Supplements are considered "supplements" because they are generally benign, considering.

 

---

 

Figuring out whether or not something "works" or not is a noble scientific pursuit for society. It'd be nice to know what everything does. You aren't going to find a better method for figuring it out than to let people/market try it and review it and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

 

Supplement fads come and go and sometimes it takes years for studies to correlate long term unintended consequences, and even then the counter-claims are often over-hyped to the point you can't believe them either.

[BigRedBuster]

 

What is your threshold for defining something as "harmful"?

 

Yes, they hurt the wallet.

 

Yes, they can cause side effects.

 

Yes, they can conflict with other medications.

 

Yes, they may even increase the risk of unknown long term side effects.

 

However, pretty much everything we put into out body also falls into the above categories. Water, bananas, hamburgers, etc.

 

Supplements are considered "supplements" because they are generally benign, considering.

 

---

 

Figuring out whether or not something "works" or not is a noble scientific pursuit for society. It'd be nice to know what everything does. You aren't going to find a better method for figuring it out than to let people/market try it and review it and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

 

Supplement fads come and go and sometimes it takes years for studies to correlate long term unintended consequences, and even then the counter-claims are often over-hyped to the point you can't believe them either.

 

Well, for starters, I found it interesting that in the link that was provided, they mentioned that many times these products don't even contain the ingredients they claim they contain.

 

These people should be subjected to penalties for false advertising.

 

So, at least at first, they should be forced to actually tell you what is in the bottle.

[Conga3]

 

 

What is your threshold for defining something as "harmful"?

 

Yes, they hurt the wallet.

 

Yes, they can cause side effects.

 

Yes, they can conflict with other medications.

 

Yes, they may even increase the risk of unknown long term side effects.

 

However, pretty much everything we put into out body also falls into the above categories. Water, bananas, hamburgers, etc.

 

Supplements are considered "supplements" because they are generally benign, considering.

 

---

 

Figuring out whether or not something "works" or not is a noble scientific pursuit for society. It'd be nice to know what everything does. You aren't going to find a better method for figuring it out than to let people/market try it and review it and suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

 

Supplement fads come and go and sometimes it takes years for studies to correlate long term unintended consequences, and even then the counter-claims are often over-hyped to the point you can't believe them either.

 

Well, for starters, I found it interesting that in the link that was provided, they mentioned that many times these products don't even contain the ingredients they claim they contain.

 

These people should be subjected to penalties for false advertising.

 

So, at least at first, they should be forced to actually tell you what is in the bottle.

 

 

That was a rather shocking claim. I'd like to actually see that dissected by a fact-checker type, because the study sounds "fixed" to generate a result.

 

---

 

Anyway, that is the FTC's job and they already have the power to regulate and punish companies accordingly. Motivation to do so? Ya, probably not...but that's not unique to supplements.

 

How effective the FTC is at performing ANY of their responsibilities is a whole other discussion.

[carlfense]

It used to be called common sense, right?

 

With more and more personal responsibility being absorbed by the state through regulations or by private business/insurance companies via lawsuits, it is in less and less demand.

 

 

Yeah. The good old days . . . back when as long as your side effects didn't show up immediately you could keep raking in the money!

 

Like, oh, I don't know . . . peddling a remedy for morning sickness that causes birth defects. Oops.

 

As a result of the prenatal use of thalidomide, more than 10,000 babies in 46 countries (some estimates put the number as high as 20,000) were born with shortened or missing limbs and other deformities, which were fatal in most cases.

 

The drug was immediately taken off the shelves – the last batch in Canada in early 1962. Thousands of those who survived thalidomide-related birth defects are still alive, and coping with lifelong disablities.

 

For decades, Grünenthal denied any liability, claiming that it had conducted the clinical trials required at the time. The thalidomide scandal prompted an international overhaul in drug-testing systems.

http://rt.com/news/thalidomide-victims-apology-dismissed-165/

[Ulty]

From the movie "Bigger Stronger Faster" about boydbuilding supplements:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vxrTMYXpZo