Herman Nation,
I wanted to post my thoughts about supplements and the FDA. A recent post by FuelYourFitness got me thinking. This is a highly charged discussion within the fitness world and there are many arguments for and against FDA involvement/control of sports supplements. This is just my viewpoint:
The FDA's job is to protect the general public from substances and chemicals used in our food and potentially as medicine. THey set strict guidelines on manufactuing processes, the condition and cleanliness of manufacturing facilities, and what are considered the safe and proper use of substances as well as any warnings that must appear on the labeling. Pharmaceutical and food producing companies have strict guidelines they must follow. The FDA isn't perfect but we have see it leap in action like in the case of Vioxx a few years back and now the case for banning trans fats in foods.
Here is where the supplement industry is different. Supplements do not follow under the rules and guidelines of the FDA. It is totally a voluntary and self-policing industry for everything from quality of product and ingredients used to how clean their manufacturing facilities are, the purity and accuracy of the chemicals used, and the labeling for proper dose, usage, and warnings. Don't get me wrong. There are many reputable companies out there like BSN, Optimum Nutrition, etc. Even some vitamin and supplement manufacturers tout that they are an FDA regulated company or they follow USP (U.S. Pharmacopia) standards for manufacturing and quality. The sad fact is that these companies are the minority. Case in point - if you Google famous natural athlete and fitness model Rob Riches and read about what heppened to him, you will get a sense of this. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt whether he is truly natural or not but the gist of the event was he used a "natural" over-the-counter pre-workout supplement called "Craze". He then competed in a UK fitness show which he won. He was disqualified when his submitted urine sample showed metabolites of methamphetamines. The long and the short, he traced and blamed this on Craze. The company that makes Craze and it's owner and founder has been in trouble with the law in the US many times for using known harmful and banned substances. He would alter their chemical structure slightly so as to give them a new chemical name thus skirting the banned substance list. He even was caught and acused of selling weight loss pills containing a substance from the 1930's used for the same purpose that was found to be extremely dangerous. This was all done for money - not your health and well-being.
My point is we need the supplement industry regulated in some fashion. Without it, you can't be sure that what you are getting and the dosage that is recommended is real or safe. You can't depend on the label or researching the compounds online because the manufacturer is the one who makes the label. They can put anything they want and fill the supplement with anything they want and you have no real way to verify that the label is true. Again, most major supplement vendors are very respectable and honest organizations that don't do this but unfortunately there are plenty of people who take advantage of the law and the fact that people believe "natural" means "safe and good" and buy their products. Ask yourself this, there are many legally manufactured and regulated drugs here in the U.S. that need a doctor's prescription to get that you can by cheaper and at any local store in Mexico. Would you do it?
John