FDA warns against taking illegal dietary supplements

**Prince** · 08-29-2011, 11:57 AM

FDA warns against taking illegal dietary supplements
By Natasha Singer
New York Times
Posted: Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011

Popular products claim to enhance weight loss, bodybuilding and sex.

BOSTON Marketing drugs in the guise of supplements is illegal in the United States. Federal authorities are struggling to identify and intercept these black-market goods, which, they warn, pose grave health risks.

The makers of legal dietary supplements - the kind found at GNC, for example - acknowledge that they are reluctant to raise too many alarms. Even though there is little evidence that many dietary supplements provide real health benefits, legal supplements, from multivitamins to ginkgo biloba, are a big and growing business. Americans spent $28.1 billion on them last year, up from $21.3 billion five years ago, according to estimates from Nutrition Business Journal, a market research firm.

Many millions more are also being spent annually on black-market products, particularly those marketed for weight loss, bodybuilding and sexual enhancement. Officials say such products can cause heart attacks and strokes and can damage the kidneys and liver. A few people in the U.S., they say, have died after taking them.

Industry representatives say the vast majority of supplements are safe, and they fault regulators for failing to stop the influx of illegal products from places such as China.

The problem, says Michael Levy, acting director of the FDA's office of drug security, is that the FDA lacks the resources to stem the influx of illegal raw ingredients and finished products to the U.S. Moreover, he says, the agency cannot easily prevent adulterated products disguised as supplements from reaching the market.

U.S. supplement makers can introduce new products much more easily than pharmaceutical companies. Drug makers are required to prove that their products are safe and effective, and they must obtain federal approval before going to market. But dietary supplements, by definition, contain only dietary ingredients; the federal law on supplements does not require premarket approval.

Trying to get tainted products off the market is expensive and time-consuming. Before federal officials can take action, Levy says, they must first buy suspect items or catch them at the border and then test them in an agency lab.

Pills marketed as male sexual enhancement supplements often contain sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra, or its analogues. But these adulterated pills sometimes contain up to seven times the recommended dose, Levy says. Another danger: Some of the analogues may have never been tested for safety in humans.

"These products may work," he says, but "if you take them, they could kill you."

Read more: FDA warns against taking illegal dietary supplements | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

**Prince** · 08-29-2011, 11:58 AM

pretty interesting when you compare the amount of deaths that come from "prescription drugs" vs. "dietary supplements".

yeah, Rx drugs are "FDA approved and safe', what an f'ing joke.

**OrbitNutrition** · 08-29-2011, 02:52 PM

Strange how so many people have died after the big pharm companies proved there safety yet the deaths from Supps is almost 0.

**240PLUS** · 08-29-2011, 05:03 PM

That article is chucked full of clauses and bullshit. I love the end of the 3rd mini paragraph " people have died they say. " Slick New York Times, very slick.

**packers6211** · 08-29-2011, 06:58 PM

This irratates the piss out of me. I remember taking Xenadrine RFA-1 and althouh there were some reports of negative sides, I never experienced any bad sides. I also read the bottle and took according to the directions, and lost 20lbs in 6 weeks. Yet no prescription drug has help any of my friends or myself with weight loss, and yet the Obesity rate continues to rise. You see pharma reps in your local Dr offices making their sales pitch, or as I like to call Death Pitch. Something has got to give!!!

**theCaptn'** · 08-29-2011, 07:03 PM

it's all about diverting the public's attention from the Big Ticket Items . . debt, taxation, health care, employment . .

**bigdtrain** · 08-29-2011, 07:25 PM

this shit is so rigged. i can go in and get whatever prescription pill i want and as long as they make money they are happy, and the pills are "safe" which is bullshit. i see ads on tv all the time from lawyers saying if you been affected. but these "bodybuilding enhancers" are end of the world dangerous. no they cant make a profit so its dangerous. unfuckinbeleivable

**Curt James** · 08-29-2011, 07:32 PM

#### the FDA.

**ThisIsNotTheDEA** · 08-29-2011, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Curt James

#### the FDA.

Watch your God Damn mouth!!! (or fingers in this case)

**Curt James** · 08-29-2011, 07:50 PM

I know, right? Elementary school teacher dropping the #### bomb. Pretty ####### brutal.

, Mr. DEA.

**Disturbed** · 08-29-2011, 08:07 PM

big pharm pays fda officals to let their shit hit the market,they make their money then pull them off the shelf because they start to kill the public.but only after making a few billion dollars.

**rjd** · 08-29-2011, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Prince

FDA warns against taking illegal dietary supplements
By Natasha Singer
New York Times
Posted: Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011

Popular products claim to enhance weight loss, bodybuilding and sex.

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Blah blah bblub blah blahhh blah blaaahhh blah bu blah blah blablah blahh Blah blah bblub blah blahhh blah blaaahhh blah bu blah blah blablah blahh blah
Blah blah bblub blah blahhh blah blaaahhh blah bu blah blah blablahBlah blah bblub blah

"These products may work," he says, but "if you take them, they could kill you."

Read more: FDA warns against taking illegal dietary supplements | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

"Show me the bodies!" lol

**|Z|** · 08-30-2011, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by Prince

pretty interesting when you compare the amount of deaths that come from "prescription drugs" vs. "dietary supplements".

yeah, Rx drugs are "FDA approved and safe', what an f'ing joke.

Plenty of people die or are injured from Rx drugs and some are hospitalized by misuse of dietary supplements or from falsely labeled ones etc. Always important to know what you are taking and buy from brands you trust

**sscar** · 08-31-2011, 06:13 AM

i love the so called prescription drug commercials on t.v listen to all the possible side effects these are all approved meds by the fda

**nattydisaster** · 09-11-2011, 02:54 PM

I still dont understand why they make a deal out of this when you can walk into any store and get a pack of cigs which are proven to cause lung cancer. People have the right to choose what they consume

**Prince** · 09-11-2011, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by nattydisaster

People have the right to choose what they consume

we should yes, but we don't.

**Dark Geared God** · 10-04-2011, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Prince

pretty interesting when you compare the amount of deaths that come from "prescription drugs" vs. "dietary supplements".

yeah, Rx drugs are "FDA approved and safe', what an f'ing joke.

As long as its FDa approved i'm in

**usafchris** · 10-04-2011, 07:15 PM

I am really at a loss on this, so I will just say that I am sick and tired of "big brother" caulding me. The cigarette point made above. This is just my opinion now, but it seems that as long as we can take things that are known to have serious sides, cause cancer, damage our liver then our "pill happy" culture will just run back to the Doc and pay for the fix. Porbably have their little rat claws in our food too... Stay fat, don't eat this, pay 10x more for the good organic& healthier foods, make it more cost effective to eat junk, lets use our corn for gas not for food when there is ongoing famin worldwide. Maybe I am just turning into a paranoid patty thesedays, but it seems to me that there is a little to much back scratching from some crooked a$$ people. Just my.02 sorry all, got on a soap box.

**Glycomann** · 10-04-2011, 07:37 PM

Here is the main crux of the problem as I see it. Pharmaceuticals are tracked by the FDA through the adverse events system. Doctors and patients report these events whenever there is a problem that they think is associated with a drug treatment. no such adverse event system exists for the supplement industry. The media hypes the rare event so the population thinks that these supplements are causing a lot of health issues. Congress jumps on the issue because it makes them look like they are trying to protect the citizens of this country. It doesn't really matter to the politician whether or not there is a real problem at all. They just want an issue that they can trumpet to get votes. So the bullshit storm continues until either a law gets passed or someone in Washington suddenly realizes tht by regulating the supplements industry they would be killing a 50 billion dollar a year sector. So a sente or House committee calls witnesses to see what's up and at some point asks for a report from an expert panel. Now this is where it gets hairy. Could be tat some fund get dispersed to do a study. Could be that a final report does something like advises to set up an adverse events database to track supplements and revisit the issue again at a later time at which time the data will have been analyzed and the reviewed for action.

So it might be that if there is an adverse events database the dearth of cases as compared to the pharmaceutical database. Then again it could go either way. But the main thing is if the supplement sector can buy congress with enough lobbying effort.

**bjg** · 10-05-2011, 05:12 PM

FDA approved does not mean you can take it as you wish ...i don't recall any fda approved medicine like advil where the FDA tells you go ahead take as many tablets of advil as you want since we approve it. so i think most of your comments are a reaction to something you don't wanna hear.

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