clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\nPersonally, I’m somewhat conflicted by this petition.\u00a0 On the one hand, it’s one more step down the slippery slope of regulation that could ultimately\u00a0interfere with\u00a0my right to choose – and yes, experiment – with some pretty interesting compounds currently being researched (and by “researched,” I am referring to legit, peer-reviewed studies vs. uncontrolled, in-house “clinical studies” touted on many product sites).\u00a0 I loathe the “nanny state” mentality that assumes we’re idiots who need to be protected from ourselves.<\/p>\n
In addition, statements such as this one:<\/p>\n
“Moreover, FDA is only authorized to allow certain types of qualified health claims for a supplement where there is some credible scientific evidence that supports the claim. Yet, there is no credible scientific evidence that would support any type of a claim accompanying a weight loss supplement. Indeed, during the past decade, several independent scientific teams have uniformly concluded that there is little, if any, evidence to support the efficacy of supplements marketed for weight loss. And, there is no evidence that the use of such supplements would reduce the risk of a particular disease. As a result, by taking the actions requested in this petition, FDA would protect millions of Americans who are currently relying on unproven and ineffective dietary supplements to lose weight.”<\/em><\/p>\n…are pure sophistry.\u00a0 While it is largely true that most branded formulas have not been “proven” to be effective, it is also true that specific ingredients do have some scientific support.\u00a0 In my opinion, evidence-based claims for a supplement, based on its ingredients, are entirely justified, provided that the amounts\u00a0included in\u00a0the formula\u00a0are in line with the evidence<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd finally,\u00a0it’s easy to suspect there’s a\u00a0“hidden agenda.”\u00a0\u00a0On the surface, it\u00a0seems “fair” to have greater scrutiny of weight loss supplements to ensure that they do – in fact – work.\u00a0 But\u00a0it seems to me the intent is\u00a0to\u00a0guarantee that NO dietary supplement ever clears that hurdle.\u00a0 Right now, the FDA can’t even ensure that our food supply meets basic standards for safety…the agency\u00a0does not have the capacity to\u00a0administer the proposed\u00a0action\u00a0efficiently or fairly.\u00a0 It’s not about “protecting” consumers…it’s about creating a bottleneck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the supplement industry has been its own worst enemy.\u00a0 Even responsible companies and industry groups have looked the other way\u00a0and allowed unscrupulous companies (and individuals)\u00a0to mislead, misinform, and defraud people.\u00a0 There has been little effort on the part of the industry to help consumers cope with the BS, nor\u00a0provide\u00a0them with\u00a0info they\u00a0can use\u00a0to get the best value for their supplement $$$.\u00a0 Thus,\u00a0it’s not surprising to see petitions such as this one.\u00a0 Their characterization of the irresponsible claims made in supplement ads is dead-on accurate.\u00a0 The industry\u00a0seems intent on giving\u00a0the FDA\u00a0the rope\u00a0it’ll\u00a0use to hang them with.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I’ll be watching the progress of this petition carefully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A “citizens” petition\u00a0has\u00a0just been\u00a0filed with the FDA to regulate weight loss claims made for dietary supplements as “disease claims.”\u00a0\u00a0If the petition is granted,\u00a0manufacturers of weight loss supps would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,28],"tags":[647,751,1269,1573,1591,1867],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10204,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/10204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}