| Supplement Fraud
This story is just not going to go away.
Recently, Life Extension Foundation, the non-profit we
buy some of our products from, was asked to analyze seven brands of SAMe.
What they found was, I believe, representative of the nutritional
industry.
Only their own brand, and that of Natures Way, came up
with 100% potency. Two had NO SAMe in them at all, one had the
wrong form of SAMe, and the other two had less than 80% potency.
What makes this sorry tale of deception worse, is that
the purchasers of SAMe are largely those unfortunate people going through
stress and depression, and who have perhaps been hooked on Prozac (with
all the baggage that goes with the drug). They turn to SAMe as an safe and
effective alternative, either to be disappointed or to experience less
than full benefits from the product - not exactly what they need for
relief or recovery.
Do the makers of these fraudulent products care?
Apparently not. As long as the dollars are rolling in, they couldn't care
less about their customers, or what they are doing to the Industry's
reputation.
There is no easy answer to this. The worst case scenario
would be for the FDA to intervene, and take over the testing of
nutritional products. They, or their henchmen friends, (the Pharmaceutical
Industry giants) have been waiting for just such an excuse to
"control" the supplement industry.
The best case scenario would be an independent industry
based testing facility similar to the appliance industry's UL lab. This
will not happen any time soon as too much money is being made by the
industry crooks to have them fund a facility which will document just how
they are ripping you off, and force them to produce real products, and not
shams.
What to do? Buyer beware! Buy carefully from reputable
sources with reputable brands. Ask questions and insist on quality. Since
the passing of the 1994 act which opened up the Supplement industry, far
more good products have come on to the market than bad, and we are fast
approaching the time when effective natural products are available to
treat most ailments.
This is, of course, part of the problem. As the drug
industry starts to loose its monopoly, and Physicians find their basic
training forgot to mention "health" and concentrated instead on
"sickness", drug therapy and surgery, we can be sure the
pressure to suppress these natural products will increase.
The Golden Goose has been just too productive for the so
called "Health "Industry for too long for the Pharmaceutical
Companies and the Physicians just to accept that their supply of Golden
eggs will dwindle. Their highly paid lobbyists are not going to go away
either. So we can expect our politicians to start meddling again one a new
Congress is installed.
There is just too much dirty money at stake here.
Brian Rees Editor
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