[Fwd: The FDA's new stance]

January 7, 2000

Here's another forward from the arthritis newsgroup, that some here may

be interested in. At the bottom, there's an address where you can sign

up for a free nutrition newsletter, too.

~Georgina

Newsgroups: alt.support.arthritis

To the Arthritis Community:

On January 6, 2000, the Food and Drug Administration announced that

the makers of vitamins, herbs and dietary supplements may market

products for natural conditions like arthritis, morning sickness, hot

flashes and memory loss in aging without proving they are safe or

effective.

They're basically telling the consumer " You're on your own. "

Well, you're not on your own. Nutrition News Focus, the free daily

email newsletter can help you learn how to decide whether a particular

supplement is snake oil or the real thing.

Three pieces of advice:

- Question whether the claims that are made for the supplement are

backed by peer-reviewed research that has been published in the

biomedical literature. If they can't or won't produce the research

for you, you should be very concerned.

- Anecdotal evidence and testimonials by themselves are never a good

reason to use a supplement.

- If a supplement is said to cure many different, unrelated symptoms

and diseases, be very skeptical.

There are many other ways to decide whether a supplement does what it

claims, and you can learn about them in the archive at the Nutrition

and click on the " Archive " button.

Nutrition News Focus is written by Dr. Klurfeld, Chairman and

Professor of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne

State University. (The newsletter is not connected with the

University.) The articles are short and to-the-point, and they will

help you learn how to take control of your own nutrition.

The best way to get your free subscription by sending a blank email to

Subscribe@.... (Unsubscribing is easy, but we'll

bet you won't want to.)

Here's to a healthy New Year.

Ken Deifik, Publisher

Nutrition News Focus

ken at nutrtionnewsfocus dot com

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