Dr Sarah Myhill and Food Supplement Regulations
The webpages here and here marketed supplements and contained statements implying that a balanced and varied diet cannot provide appropriate quantities of nutrients in general. For example: “I believe that if you wish to stay healthy, or recover from almost any illness, then taking nutritional supplements is essential. My reasons are given in Nutritional supplements – why we all need them.” Read the rest of this entry »
Vitamin B For Depression
You can find lots of websites recommending B vitamins for depression, some offering high strength vitamin B supplements for lifting “mood naturally” – like this website, which sells vitamin B6 along with a claim that it can help to relieve premenstrual symptoms and depression. Read the rest of this entry »
Conventional And Alternative Journals
While there are conventional journals that will publish research on alternative medicine, some researchers into alternative medicine seem to prefer to publish their research in alternative journals. Some time ago, I spotted something rather interesting when reading up on food supplement research. It involved two reviews – one published in a conventional journal, and one in an alternative journal. Here are the PDFs: Annals Internal Med EPO review and AltMed EPO review. Read the rest of this entry »
Pills and Publicity
[BPSDB] Food supplement manufacturers need to advertise their wares. Sometimes they do this by advertising directly, sometimes by using something that has been referred to as “advertising equivalent exposure” – planting PR puff pieces in the press, for example. There are downsides, though. Occasionally, their advertisements will fall foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (sometimes because they are untruthful and unsubstantiated) and some of their PR puff pieces have come under the scrutiny of bloggers. Read the rest of this entry »
Rough Guide To Supplements
The vitamins & minerals sector of the food supplements industry was estimated to be worth $827 million in the UK in 2006 (link). The same source states that “The global nutraceuticals industry sales are forecast to touch $187 billion by 2010, owing to increasing sales in the U.S. and the European Union (EU), as also within the emerging markets like China and India.” Read the rest of this entry »
Principle Healthcare and the Nutrition And Health Claims Regulations
This PDF link is to the EU Regulations 1924/2006 and these regulations state that they should apply to “all nutrition and health claims made in commercial communications”. Read the rest of this entry »
Principle Healthcare and the Unfair Trading Regulations
Following on from my previous post about vitamin pill entrepreneurs Principle Healthcare, I bring you details of a letter I wrote to the authorities regarding the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Some of the claims made on the website I have been investigating are staggering.# Read the rest of this entry »
Principle Healthcare And The MHRA
An amended version of my first blog post about Principle Healthcare. Read the rest of this entry »
Another Report on the Dangers of Vitamins
A submission to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has warned that Folic Acid supplementation is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. Read the rest of this entry »
Stuff And Nonsense 