From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Wed Nov 13 2002 - 16:57:45 MST
On Wednesday, November 13, 2002 5:57 PM Lee Daniel Crocker
lee@piclab.com wrote:
>> I disagree about the "entire dietary supplement
>> industry" here. What is your data for this?
>
> That's more of a rant or a personal observation than
> a full evalutation of data; I go into so-called "health
> food" stores occasionally, and it simply amazes
> and depresses me to see the number of lies per
> square inch in those places.
I admit a lot of the products in such places are, to put it charitably,
exagerrate their abilities. However, you seemed to be making a blanket
statement.
I would argue that everyone should be using some level of
supplementation -- regardless of how many veggies they eat. Of course,
this is predicated on a desire to increase health... I note you ignored
my rejoinder on the nutrition content of current produce.
> Sure, maybe one or two of the products on the
> shelf are useful (that's why I'm there, after all), but
> the overwhelming majority of products and literature
> in the place exist for no reason but to incite fear and
> profit from it.
I'm not so sure it would be so small. For instance, vitamin C -- to
pick on supplement -- is on the shelf in every health food store I've
been in. There are often half a dozen or more brands of it. Granting
that they contain vitamin C -- and aren't just baldly lying -- these are
quite helpful for most people. Ditto for many other vitamin products.
In fact, in my local health food store -- which I mainly frequent
because it has lots of tasty vegetarian foods NOT for supplements --
they have a large section of TwinLab supplements and almost all of those
are reputable products that don't make outlandish claims.
Yes, there is a homeopathic section too, but that doesn't make up 90% of
the products. In fact, in the supplements section, most of the products
are vitamins, minerals, animo acids, and stuff like melatonin and
glucosamine sulfate. Unless the makers of these are lying about the
contents, none of these products are proverbial snake oil. Also, the
FDA still requires a disclaimer. (I'm against the FDA (period), but I
note that the FDA does not label stuff you like -- such as "this lettuce
sprayed with pesticide.")
I also know a few health food store owners who won't carry certain
products because either they do not believe the claims or think they
should only be taken under supervision, such as with DHEA.
> One cannot entirely separate products from the
> ethical behavior of those who produce and sell
> them.
You impugned the ethical behavior of all in the supplement industry --
not just a few snake oil salesmen. I don't think all supplements are
fraudulent. Also, if you're worried about this, you should be reading
the scientific literature on the subject and maybe getting assays of any
brands -- e.g., TwinLab or Life Extension -- you want to take and making
a decision based on that rather than merely getting on an anti-Green
hobby horse and riding it off into the sunset.:)
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
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