Regulation Madness

The NY Times has a disturbing article about the dangerous implications of the fact that the FDA has no control over dietary supplements (everything from vitamins to herbal remedies to weight-loss "drugs").  Not, of course, that FDA regulation means a product is completely safe (peanut butter, anyone?), and the FDA actually does have some oversight: it controls these products as "ingestible nonfood substances," but has much less authority and control over them than "real food" items.  I don't really see the difference, if you ingest it, it goes into your body, the same way real food does.  Seems just plain criminal.  

Part of the problem, too, is that our culture seems to have concluded that any problem can be cured with pills.* You don't have to worry about eating a variety of fresh foods, just chew a Flintstones tablet** once a day and you've got all your nutrients.  Why change your dietary habits when you can buy a drug that prevents you from absorbing fat and other nutrients (yes, fat is a nutrient, your brain is made out of it!).  For more on the issue of the de-foodification of nutrition, see Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, I'm a big fan of all of his books. 

This is relevant to EDs, obviously, because of the unbelievable industry that has developed around marketing bogus or, worse, dangerous products to people seeking quick fixes for their waistlines. Snip from the NY Times article: 

 The F.D.A. recently published a report citing 69 brands of weight-loss supplements that illegally contained active drug ingredients that could be harmful to consumers. So far, only three of the brands have been voluntarily recalled. Such limited authority over supplements, along with inadequate allocation of F.D.A. resources, leaves consumers vulnerable, the report said.

While this seems shocking, it's not really "new news." It's not limited to weight loss drugs, either.  I have a friend that is on our university's swimming team, and she can't take daily vitamins because they are so unregulated that some hidden ingredients can produce positive results on drug the drug tests that athletes must take before competitions.  

 Even if the FDA did regulate these products, they would certainly be abused by some people, but the fact that as of now they are allowed to lure people in by making unproven or outright untruthful claims, and including potentially dangerous substances that is not listed on the label or explained to the consumer is unconscionable.  I'm glad that more attention is being paid to this issue, hopefully changes are on the horizon for the regulation of supplements and OTC remedies.

*Note, I am not criticizing people who take prescription meds for psychological diseases, I'm referring to the nutritional supplement madness that seems to have swept our society, as if people have forgotten that our ancestors apparently did quite well without ever swallowing a single tablet.

**Not bashing the Flintstones, I personally love these things, and having a purple BamBam with my breakfast always seems like a good omen for the day.  BUT I also try to get as much as possible of  my full nutritional requirements from actual food.