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Essays on the effects of dietary supplements
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“About 150 million people in the US use dietary supplements; about 79% use it on a daily bases, and 10% taking 5 or more per day” (Ranjani 478). Dietary supplements range from sports performance products, weight loss products, to a variety of herbal remedies. These supplements are used widely to help maintain or improve the health of the human body. While buying these products many assume that they are regulated and are safe for human consumption, however it may not be the case. “Supplements face no FDA requirements for premarket testing. Supplements can be placed on the market at the will of the makers and then remain legal for sale” (Quinones 32). Dietary supplements should be regulated like prescription drugs because it’s a safety hazard, can become addictive, and may lead to dangerous health problems. In …show more content…
Dr. Mercola, an osteopathic physician exclaims that the only reason the government wants regulations on supplements is to have power over consumers (par. 3). Mercola explains that if dietary supplements are bad for public health then why the government is not taking action for other substances that are considered dangerous, “You don't see Durbin beating down the door of Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, even though coffee is the primary source where most people get their caffeine fix” (Mercola, par. 5). Furthermore the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) is doing enough to regulate the dietary supplements. As stated on the DSHEA mission, “DSHEA grants the FDA the authority to regulate dietary supplements in to important respects” (“Dietary Supplements…par. 3). DSHEA does give the FDA the right to regulate many different types of dietary supplements, so there are some regulations to keep Americans healthy and happy without taking away the freedom to purchase these products at a
Consuming energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster and the 5- Hour Energy Shot, which contains caffeine and other additives, is dangerous to an individual’s health and in some cases fatal. Manufacturers of energy drinks claim consumption of their products will improve athletic performance, concentration and reaction time, as well increase basal metabolism. However, manufacturers’ of energy drinks add additional energy-enhancing ingredients such as glucose, taurine, guarana and ginseng. Each of those ingredients has numerous adverse side effects, see table 1 on page 8. Yet, energy drink manufacturers are not required to list the amount or type of additive used in their products. According to the Food and Drug administration (FDA), approval of the FDA is required in order to use additives in conventional foods. Dietary supplements, is considered by the FDA as generally recognizes safe by qualified experts therefore not considered a food additive. Unfortunately, the FDA need not approve adding them to conventional foods such as drinks. Consequently, manufacturers of energy drinks are taking advantages of this by labeling their products as “dietary supplements. “ Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be in a position to regulate the ingredients added to energy drinks. In addition, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), which regulates both dietary supplements and conventional foods does not require manufacturers of conventional foods to report serious adverse events (FDA, 2012).
No one wants to be or feel like they are overweight, unhealthy, or unattractive. When someone in the general public looks in the mirror or steps on the scale, and they are not satisfied with what is being shown, one of the first ideas to bubble to the surface is dieting. There are so many dieting solutions out there and one of the most popular are the fad diets. Dieting should be about getting healthy and losing weight in a healthy way. Fad diets however, are about losing a lot of weight in a disproportionally short amount of time. Due to the loss of weight that the dieter wanted, when they reach their goal weight, they stop doing the fad diet and go back to their regular diet. This causes the weight that they shed to be put back on again in a disproportionally short amount of time, which is also just as unhealthy. This cycle of losing and gaining weight is only one of the many dangers of fad diets.
The school health club is thinking if they should ask people to take multivitamins for their health, the problem is that the health club doesn't know if multi vitamins will help or not. I'm here so I can persuade the health club to saying yes to multivitamins.
Supplements when it comes to working out are considered performance enhancing drugs. Creatine is one of the most widely used supplements on the market today. Other major supplements are protein, amino acids, and fish oil pills. Essentially, when someone is lifting weights they will take supplements to help build up muscle and to add weight. Ultimately, creatine ends up as water weight. On the back of a creatine label, it clearly states to drink an ample amount of water when consuming. Creatine can be good and bad for the human body, but is taking creatine for the purpose of working out worth the risk?
With all the unregulated dietary supplements being sold and recommended, our health insurance costs will continue to rise. If the product causes severe side effects, it should no longer be permitted to be sold in stores. The only way to touch the minds of many people is to inform them of the dangers of consuming dietary supplements. Disposing of all incorrect information in product labeling and ingredient lists is important. People need to recognize the faults that plague many advertisements. In addition businesses should promote safe products instead of the harmful ones that they advocate for. The United States Congress should consider regulating dietary supplements to maintain safety. If people are aware of the many lies companies present, then dietary supplements will be one less problem to worry about.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Purpose: The purpose of this report is to describe the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) administrative process, describe how FDA powers are limited, and to provide an overview of the FDA’s premarket review process for drugs, biologics, and medical devices. I. Brief Introduction of Administrative Agencies and the FDA The FDA and other federal administrative agencies are created from and derive their powers from laws passed by Congress, and Congress derives the power to create administrative agencies from Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution. Passed in 1906 by Congress, the Pure Food and Drug Act prohibited interstate commerce of adulterated and misbranded food and drugs, and established the Bureau of Chemistry which later became
One of the reasons that there is so much confusion is the lack of involvement by Federal Food and Drug Administrations in herbal remedies. The Dietary Supplement Health Education Act of 1994 put herbal remedies into the category of dietary supplements. This means that these herbal remedies are not subjected to the same sort of testing that over-the-counter or prescription medications are (USFDA). Michael Mc Guffin, the president of the American Herbal Producers Association has said that testing of these products is unnecessary because, “ these products are tested by years and years of use”.
The ethics in business for the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 is not regulated enough in products and services. The information on the laws are required by law to tell consumers the truth about the product. For instance, the labeling should include all the ingredients of the product, calories from fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, fiber, and other vitamins and nutrients. For example, the healthy foods are advertised to consumers stating they will lose weight in a certain length of time, however, everyone’s results are not the same. The safety of foods, tobacco, vaccines, cosmetics, tobacco, medical devices are controlled by the Food and Drug Administration. It has the authority to ban or allow the product
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the dangers of prescription drugs when not taken as prescribed by your physician or pharmacist.
Would you drink something that is associated with health problems and even death? Well energy drinks are highly caffeinated beverages that many people have become depended on to get through certain things that need done. They are used to give individuals a quick energy boost to get things done. Today many people question how safe energy drinks really are for the quick energy they supply. In fact, a sixteen year old girl died of cardiac arrest just after ingesting an energy drink, while on vacation with friends. Almost everyone who enjoys drinking energy drinks, knows that high levels of caffeine are in these beverages, and they continue to drink the ignoring the risks. But some people are fine with the high levels of caffeine and just drink them because it makes them feel energized. They seem to accept the shocking circumstances because it helps them gets things done when they need the most energy. On the other hand, some people disagree and think that it is not only bad for individuals
Eating Responsibly To eat responsibly means to know what you are eating and knowing what you are putting into your body, whether it is healthy for you or not. It’s a sad fact that the typical American diet (high in meat and processed foods) is not healthy. There are a lot of different ways to stay healthy, but it can also be very difficult to follow a good diet plan all the time. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I have tried to eat well before all of my classes. I include the necessary protein of eggs and sausage, and include a fruit of some kind.
There are plenty of people that do not pay close attention to the nutrition labels on food or do not understand what’s in the food that we eat. If we are expecting the parents, adults, or some of the children to be healthy and are not able to read the nutrition label, how can we expect them to have healthy lifestyles? In order for this new generation be healthy and active. We need to provide them with the support and resources they need. In order, to have a healthy routine. We should be able to offer the support that needs to be able to receive a better outcome for our future generations and as well as the current one.
A healthy lifestyle is usually picked up as we get older. However, think of how much more beneficial it would be for our bodies when we get older, if we would have learned and adapted to a healthier lifestyle when we were younger? Teaching your kids how important a healthy diet is, will help them maintain that lifestyle in their older years. Not to mention have lower health risks, higher self-esteem and it will give them the energy they need to keep up with their eating habits and maintain their body weight.
“Healthy eating” means eating a variety of foods that gives you the nutrients you need to maintain your health, feeling good with your health conditions, and having enough energy throughout the day (Nordqvist). A poor diet can cause harm a person’s daily life activities. Research from Eating Healthy Might Prove Too Expensive for Poor ABC News shows, that the price of eating healthy foods may be expensive to a family who earns a low-income. So, eating fast foods may be more convenient for them knowing that the prices are way less. However, everyone should make the effort to stop eating foods that will later on harm your health. As mentioned in the article “Healthy Eating”, “Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically