Marketing for Diet Supplements Often Deceptive
Walk into a GNC or Vitamin Shoppe and you'll see row after row of super pills in brightly colored bottles claiming to eradicate all the world's ills, from blindness to athlete's foot!
So then, why are we spending billions on medical cures for cancer and obesity? We already have all the magic pills we need. Yeah right.
That's why the U.S. government is looking to crackdown on deceptive marketing practices for herbal and dietary supplements.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says an undercover investigation found some supplements run afoul when it comes to advertising their benefits, such as claiming to prevent heart disease or diabetes.
One investigator was told it is perfectly harmless to take aspirin and ginkgo biloba together - fail! The FDA warns that combo can cause internal bleeding.
Remember, a lot of people working at those vitamin stores are just high school kids. And, I'm not sure I would take any health advice from someone who splits time between Myspace and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Also, in many cases the supplements were uncovered to be unsafe, containing pesticide levels higher then allowed by FDA.
So, some lawmakers and politicians, like Senator John McCain, are proposing legislation to bolster the FDA's oversight of magic pills.
It's about time. I have first hand experience here. Teeny-tiny makers of supplements and pills do need strict monitoring. They all think their products are "cutting edge" or "revolutionary." Shenanigans!
In the end, you could just be buying overpriced snake oil.
13 Comments
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Created / Updated: June 2, 2010
Good story Gerry. Many diet supplements have been debunked, but people still want to believe in the magic bullet. You don't have to look much further than this very site to find people who go to great lengths to defend their belief in these types of products. Perception is very powerful. Being realistic is not.
ReplyWhile you're bashing misleading advertising claims, why am I seeing an ad on your page with a headline that promises "Huge Fat Loss Breakthrough"?
ReplyActually, that does seem rather hypocritical.
ReplyBecause the site is free for us to read and comment on. Somebody has got to pay for it. It looks like "Ads by Google" does.
ReplyI honestly try my best to keep credibility with advertising. But at times it's not easy. Ads go up automatically (either via Google or Blogads), and sometimes I will get them taken down.
As Lana has said -- every writer on here is paid. So is the hosting. So is the development. So for free content, advertising is the best model to use for getting that revenue. Some advertising is helpful and offers great complementary products and services.
At times the advertising is not so great.
If there is ever something that you are not happy with, please contact us and I will take a look at it.
Thanks for your thoughts
-- Jim
ReplyI know not all supplements do what they say, and some may even be dangerous....
But I do want praise one supplement that helped me curb my emotional eating.
It is called L-Theanine ( the brand name version which seems to work best and is used by several companies is Suntheanine)
It isn't a diet supplement. It relieves anxiety and stress and produces a calming effect. It isn't habit forming and it comes from the green tea plant.
So I would say don't be sceptical of all supplements. Do research, ask questions, read labels, go to a reputable store.
ReplyThis is all true and you're not even starting on the fact that many supplements are contaminated as well, since most are made in China.
ReplyI don't buy supplements, mostly because I feel like for the most part they are a giant ripoff. Since they aren't FDA regulated, you could be getting anything...you don't know how pure anything is or if it's really proven effective or not. I tried some of those green tea pills once because I thought it would be easier than drinking the tea. Turns out, the pills made me really nauseous. So I went back to drinking the tea--at least you know what you're getting that way.
ReplyI wouldn't say drinking tea assures us that we know what we're getting. Lots of tea is imported. Many factors affect its purity including the soil in which it's grown, the processing and the packaging.
I do hope that, for the most part, it's not harmful though.
ReplyThe problems with nutritional supplements are miniscule compared to the fraudulent marketing practices used for prescription drugs.
The last time I checked, prescription drugs were killing 106,000 users every year from properly-prescribed and administered prescription drugs. That doesn't even count overdoses and other mistakes!
To my knowledge, no one has EVER died from nutritional supplements.
Reply1. Don't trust the FDA to monitor ANYTHING for safety. They are "owned" by the pharmaceutical industry. We're seeing now how BP manipulated the energy regulatory boards; well, they're not the only ones who use those tactics!
2. The McCain bill is a horrible piece of legislation... a covert attempt orchestrated by the pharmaceutical industry to put their competition out of business.
ReplyDido on the FDA, Stan. We can't trust regulatory bodies to do what they say. We end up having to trust the manufacturers. You might think that's not reassuring. It's not. But don't we have to trust our grocers, "farmers", and meat packers too?
Even if we grow our own produce we have to trust the people who package the fertilizer and soil--unless you can create soil yourself and it's untouched by contaminated water and other toxins from earth, sea and sky. Bottom line, we need to do our best but not over-stress ourselves.
ReplyDiets typically don’t work unless you rid the body of harmful toxins, which are held onto by fat cells for protection. Get rid of the toxins and the fat cells go away, and stay away. No yo-yo effect! :-)
Nutritional Cleansing works better than just dieting. Check it out… Cleansing For Health . com
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