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Study looks at tainted dietary supplements

Posted 06 July 2022

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Tainted Supplements Database, created in 2007, lists products adulterated with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Between 2007 and 2021, 1,068 unique dietary-supplement products were added to the database. A recent study has found that the products likely to include APIs were for sexual enhancement and weight loss.

The author noted:

  • Since 2016, the percentage of products containing more than one API has increased.
  • Since 2016, the percentage of adulterated products for sexual enhancement was higher, the percentage of weight-loss products was lower, and no muscle-building products were reported.
  • Some products with APIs were removed from the market by the FDA because the risks were too great, some were never reviewed by the FDA, and some combined multiple APIs in ways that make it impossible to determine how benefits compare to harms.

Reference:
Continued Risk of Dietary Supplements Adulterated With Approved and … Read the rest

July 6th, 2022 | Tags: | Category: General | Leave a comment

Banned stimulants found in weight loss and sports supplements

Posted 07 May 2021

Banned stimulants found in weight loss and sports supplements Deterenol is a pharmaceutical bronchodilator that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never approved as a drug for humans. The FDA determined in 2004 that deterenol is not permitted as an ingredient in dietary supplements. Although since 2018, deterenol has been detected in several brands of dietary supplements sold in the U.S., the FDA has not advised manufacturers to remove it from products or warned consumers to avoid supplements labeled as containing the drug. In April 2018, researchers made online purchases of 35 samples of 17 brands of supplements labeled as containing deterenol (or a synonym) to determine the presence and quantity of active pharmaceutical stimulants that have not been approved by the FDA for oral use.

The researchers found:

  • Eight of the brands were marketed for weight loss, six as sports/energy supplements, and three with
… Read the rest
May 7th, 2021 | Tags: , | Category: General | Leave a comment

When Teen Boys Use Supplements

Posted 23 May 2020

New York Times By Lisa L. Lewis May 21, 2020

“I’ve started cutting,” my son, a college freshman, recently told me. He meant he was temporarily restricting calories to lose body fat as part of his new focus on bodybuilding. He planned to alternate cutting with “bulking,” or building up muscle mass, aided by over-the-counter supplements like protein powder and creatine.

Everything he was doing was legal, but was it safe? I also have a teenage daughter, and I was attuned to body-image-related issues affecting girls. But I realized the risks for teenage boys were equally worrisome and decided to check with several experts.

“Almost a third of boys are trying to gain weight or bulk up,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Many turn to protein supplements in an attempt to

… Read the rest
May 23rd, 2020 | Tags: , , | Category: General | Leave a comment

Study finds diverse diet as effective as sports supplements for female athletes

Posted 19 April 2020

by University of Montana

The edge. Every athlete, from the professional to the weekend warrior, strives to obtain that ever-elusive element that leads to victory—sometimes sparing no expense to get there.

A lighter bike, a better training regimen, the newest shoes.

A recently released study from the University of Montana, however, has discovered that common “edge,” sports nutrition products, are no more effective at promoting  in female athletes as regular, carbohydrate-rich, often less-expensive potato-based foods.

“Athletes are vulnerable to strategic marketing. We are easily swayed,” said UM Research Professor Brent Ruby, a veteran endurance  who knows all too well the allure of sports powders and gels.

As director of UM’s Montana Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism, Ruby and his team have done extensive work in the field of athletic performance and examining the role that post-exercise carbohydrate nutrition plays in the replenishing … Read the rest

April 19th, 2020 | Tags: | Category: General | Leave a comment

Regulating the South African sport supplement industry: ‘Whey’ overdue

Posted 19 March 2018

This article by K Naidoo, R Naidoo, and V Bangalee from the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Westville Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, and Discipline of Biokinetics, Exercise and Leisure Sciences, published in the South African Medical Journal, addresses the sorely needed regulation of the sports supplements industry.

[quote]Many sport supplements currently on the market are likely to be little more than placebos, containing either grossly under-dosed products or ingredients with no proven benefit. In a largely unregulated industry, consumers who complement their diet with supposedly safe and effective supplements, may be doing so to their own detriment, particularly when these are used in high doses or without medical supervision.[/quote]

… Read the rest
March 19th, 2018 | Tags: | Category: General, MCC (Medicines Control Council) | Leave a comment