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Walk into the vitamin aisle of any pharmacy, chain discount store or even
your local grocery store, and you'll find them - herbal remedies, such as
St. John's wort, echinacea, ginkgo and garlic. Each claims to help one ailment
or another using the so-called gentle, natural action of herbs. Herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements are all considered dietary
supplements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their forms and packaging
resemble one another. You typically use them to enhance your health. However,
the difference is that you may use herbs to address symptoms of specific ailments.
You typically take vitamins and mineral supplements to make up for nutrients
your diet may lack. Clinical studies have proved some herbal supplements safe and effective.
Research also has weeded out several dangerous herbs. But the effectiveness of
many others still hasn't been established. Doctors won't endorse or embrace every herbal remedy available - because
some are actually dangerous. However, a growing number of doctors are working to
better understand herbal therapies so that they can help you make informed
decisions about your health care. A recent study found that many people who choose herbal therapy rely
predominantly on their family and friends for information. But if you do choose
herbal therapy, be sure to talk to your doctor first. Also, remember there's
no substitute for a healthy lifestyle.
| A word of caution - Limited FDA regulation |
Since Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994
(DSHEA), there's been an overall lack of quality control for dietary
supplements, including herbs. In 1993, the FDA proposed regulation that would require companies to prove
their products actually did what they claimed. However, to prove efficacy and
safety, companies would have to conduct expensive studies on each and every
herbal compound they wanted to put on the market. Companies wouldn't make the
investment unless they thought they could recover the cost and make a profit.
And because herbs - particularly those that have been used for centuries -
would be difficult to patent, that profit would be hard to come by. So, the industry fought back with a grassroots letter-writing campaign. Users
of herbal products contacted their representatives to tell them that they wanted
continued access to herbal remedies. In the end, Congress passed the DSHEA, which limited the FDA's control over
products labeled "dietary supplement." The DSHEA stated that
manufacturers don't have to prove safety or efficacy of a product before they
put it on the market. With the DSHEA, Congress acknowledged that consumers believe supplements
provide health benefits and that they want greater latitude in deciding if the
herbs will help them. So herbal products and supplements aren't subject to the same rigorous
standards as are drugs. They can be marketed with limited proof of effectiveness
or safety. Vendors can make health claims about products based on their own
review and interpretation of studies without FDA authorization. However, the FDA
can pull a product off the market if it's proved dangerous. U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) - a non-government medical research group -
announced in November 2001 a new dietary supplement verification program. As
part of the program, the USP will allow its certification mark to appear on
supplement labels that - after batch testing and periodic rechecks - contain
accurate doses, are manufactured appropriately and truly contain the ingredients
they claim. Be wary, however, the USP mark does not guarantee that the
supplement works as it's purported to or that it's safe to take.
| Label requirements |
As part of the DSHEA, dietary supplements must have an information panel that
includes: Manufacturers typically refer to herbal products by their common name and the
part of the plant used to make the supplement, such as root, stem or leaf. If
the common name isn't listed in the American Herbal Products Association's Herbs
of Commerce, the Latin name is used. The DSHEA also created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine - part of the National Institutes of Health - which coordinates
research on dietary supplements. An independent commission on dietary
supplements also monitors the claims on dietary supplement labels.
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