Fuze and skinny water newsletter

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I just got this newletter today............Big Hugs, Caryl

=======================================================Dr Irene's Nutrition Tidbitshttp://www.healthandage.comTuesday, August 16, 2005=======================================================Nutrition Tidbit of the week: ConFUZED by FuzeVolume VI Issue No 17In this issue--------------------------------------------------------------- ConFUZED by Fuze- What's for dinner?- Answers to your food and nutrition questions- Information for Readers--------------------------------------------------------------*** ConFUZED by Fuze ***I am really confused by the claims on Fuze®. Either theyare getting away with abusing health claim regulations or theyhave a brilliant marketing department or they have a trulymiracle ingredient. I am compelled to share my impressions,acknowledging that I have more research to do and only wishthere were individuals who were supported full-time toresearch potentially misleading consumer claims! In otherwords, I don't feel FDA's budget is adequate to cover this andmost volunteers like myself, don't have time to do the jobjustice. Knowing I am going to ruffle some feathers, I amgoing to take share my initial impressions on Fuze. Then youwill understand why I am "confused by Fuze".Two 15 year olds in my house and a friend's daughter allapproached me within the last week asking if all the claims ona beverage called "Fuze" were true. If the claims were true,it was obvious that all 3 teens were ready to guzzle thisbeverage until the end of the earth. I quickly obtained abottle and now I know why they are so enthralled. Here areall the claims and insinuations that are found on just onebottle of Tropical Punch Fuze:These are large terms found all around the bottle cap, neckand through the label:- Healthy Infusions- Slenderize- Lose Weight - Gain energyAround the neck of the label, 3 times in capital letters waswritten: LOW CARB LOW CARB LOW CARBTropical Punch with L-Carnitine, Citrimax®, Chromium andvitamin CAll those fancy words make it sound like it has to be good.So let's look at what else the label said:5 calories per serving2 servings (amount per bottle) of the following ingredients:Chromium - 40 mcgFor an intense boost of energyVitamin C - 120 mg (200% Daily Value)An anti-oxidant essential for vision, growth and healthy skin.Known to promote healingCitrimax® - 400 mgKnown to suppress appetite, reduce conversion of carbohydratesinto fat and promote weight lossL-Carnitine - 40 mgAn amino acid which boosts energyTropical Punch Ingredients: Filtered water, pineapple juiceconcentrate, malic acid, natural flavor, purple carrot juiceconcentrate (color), Garcinia cambogia rind Extract, mangojuice concentrate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), acesulfamepotassium, dragonfruit extract, sucralose, L-carnitine,chromium polynicotinateIn small print was the following statement:"These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and DrugAdministration. This product is not intended to diagnose,treat, cure or prevent any disease."What upset me most is that none of the teens noticed thisstatement but they all wanted to know if the claims were true andif they drank more would they lose more weight. This gets atany parent's gut ..... And their pocketbook, especially atover $1.50 a bottle. I had to look into it. This newsletteris only an initial investigation since it is due tomorrow andI still don't have many answers to questions. As I get moreanswers, I will share them. It will, however, allow you toshare my approach when I want to investigate label claims.I am not going to spend a lot of time on their basicstatements about nutrient function like vitamin C because inmy opinion it is a misleading but permitted marketingtechnique used by many companies. They are just stating thefunction of a nutrient like vitamin C. They know the consumerwill then jump to the conclusion that drinking that beveragewill provide that function (when, if the person already had anadequate amount of that nutrient, more is not better).Instead, I decided to focus on the more "unfamiliar"ingredients of "Citrimax®" and Garcinia cambogia (which isthe botanical name for a plant found in Southeast Asia). Theingredient within this plant that is of interest is calledhydroxycitric acid (HCA). The only thing I can surmise so farabout the magic of "Citrimax®" is that it is a calcium-potassium salt that has been trademarked, by the company.Since it is not separately listed on the ingredient label, Iwould like to ask the company if the form in which Garciniacambogia is placed in the beverage is what they callCitrimax®. Otherwise I don't know how they can claim thebeverage contains 400 mg of Citrimax without listing it as aningredient in the juice.My first step is to do a search in the medical databases forGarcinia cambogia. Using a medical database (Medline), Iidentified only twelve articles, most referring to animalstudies. And those animal studies indicated some scaryresults. For example, here is one title:"High dose of Garcinia cambogia is effective in suppressingfat accumulation in developing male Zucker obese rats, buthighly toxic to the testis". In other words, the rats did notget fat when taking Garcinia cambogia but they were destroyingtheir testicles.The few articles related to humans were not promising. Forexample, here was the title of an article related to asupplement that contains Garcinia cambogia. "Two patientswith acute liver injury associated with use of the herbalweight-loss supplement hydroxycut."I was alarmed at these headlines so attempted to contact theFuze company for their comments. I asked to speak to theperson that was the suggested contact on their website, Goldblatt. I left a message and will provide you with herresponse. I will also request their definition of scientificdocumentation for the label claims.I also tried to obtain one article that was a review of thesafety findings. It was entitled "Safety assessment of -hydroxycitric acid and Super CitriMax, a novelcalcium/potassium salt. [Review]". (Food & ChemicalToxicology. 42(9):1513-29, 2004 Sep.). Unable to get a copyof the entire article, I reviewed the abstract and to make along story short, this was their final conclusion: "There issufficient qualitative and quantitative scientific evidence,including animal and human data suggesting that intake of HCAat levels up to 2800 mg/day is safe for human consumption".Then the abstract says 82 references are cited. This makes itappear that there is a lot of research but I was suspiciousbecause my Medline search revealed very little data. My nextstep was to determine if it was possible that the writing wasrelated to a monetary arrangement between the company and theauthors. The article was written by the Burdock group.I went to their website (www.burdockgroup.com) and determinedthey are a private company that is hired by other companies toassist in bringing food products to market. Here is a quotefrom their website which describes their function. You candecide if you think this is an unbiased method of determiningthe safety of new food ingredients."Burdock Group's team of consultants, comprised of recognizedexperts, will work with you to deliver real-time support andpractical solutions for safety assessment and regulatorycompliance - on time and on budget.We offer diverse scientific experience, the latest informationtechnology, and regulatory know-how. You can rely on BurdockGroup to understand the science - and the regulatorycomplexities - which influence decisions on food andingredient safety, claims, and labeling."Not entirely confident that the one safety review wasn'tcontracted by the Fuze company, I continued to review theresults of my literature search. I could not find anyindependent research on long term safety. In fact, in onestudy published in 2004 (Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry.260(1-2):171-86, 2004) the abstract states that the reasonthey were doing this study was that "no detailed long-termsafety of HCA-SX or any other HCA extract has been previouslyassessed." Then the study proceeded to determine the impactof HCA-SX on RATS for only 90 days!! And this is supposed tobe a detailed long term safety study?????And how can a study published in May state that there is nodetailed long-term safety of HCA-SX or any other HCA extract,except their 90 day study on rats and yet the Burdock grouppublished in September a summary that concludes "There issufficient qualitative and quantitative scientific evidence,including animal and human data suggesting that intake of HCAat levels up to 2800 mg/day is safe for human consumption".This is REALLY scary!!! If I uncovered such inconsistenciesdoing a little surface research, who has the time or money toreally investigate this!!!! Give me a break!!! Where is Stossel when you need him??? Someone find a grant that wouldpay independent people to truly look at these claims withoutany industry bias!!! It is our health!! These are productsmarketed at our greatest wish - to drink and get slender!!!If anyone has the time and knowledge to read the research,start investigating! In the meantime, if I am able to obtainmore information from return phone calls or original researcharticles, I will share them in the newsletter. I justuncovered a press release on "Skinny Water"(http://www.creativepi.com/news_pressrelease11.htm) which usesthe same ingredients and similar claims. The website forSkinny Water quotes one pilot study (Nutrition Research, 24:45-58, 2004) which I have not had a chance to review.Regardless, it shows these slenderizing claims are contagious!In the meantime, go for a walk with a bottle of fresh water.It is the best and safest way to slenderize.--------------------------------------------------------------*** What's for dinner? ***Cantaloupe with vanilla yogurtIt's summer and hot! Take a break from cooking. Cut acantaloupe in half, scoop out the seeds and fill with any ofthe following ingredients for a delightful lunch:- vanilla yogurt (or the flavor of your choice) sprinkled withgranola- cottage cheese- grapes and walnuts- fresh strawberries and a scoop of frozen yogurt--------------------------------------------------------------*** Answers to your food and nutrition questions ***Question: A reader asks:Why is chromium often listed as an ingredient on weight-losssupplements?Answer: Because chromium is a trace mineral that is low in thediets of Americans who eat highly processed foods. A fewresearch studies have documented that individuals who developdiabetes and have diets low in chromium can metabolize sugarmore efficiently when chromium is added to the diet.This does not mean that adding chromium to the diet of a well-nourished individual helps them lose weight. But since thefunction of chromium is related to helping the body break fooddown for energy, marketers take the leap and add it tosupplements. In reality, adding extra chromium to a personwho does not need chromium will not facilitate weight loss.Dr. Irene=======================================================This newsletter is supported by the Web-based Health Education Foundation.See at http://www.healthandage.com=======================================================*** Information for Readers ***- Questions & FeedbacksI want this newsletter to meet YOUR needs, so if you have nutrition topics or questions that you would like discussed, please provide input at Dr. Irene's Nutrition Tidbits Homepage: http://drirene.healthandage.com- Recommend this newsletter to a friendPlease recommend Dr. Irene's Nutrition Tidbits to your family and friends. 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