Category Archives: Food Supplements

Everyone is against doping, but those at the heart of sports and athletics can do more, argues Luca Bucchini.

Everyone is against doping. Present and retired sportsmen and women often speak up against doping; all professional athletes are constantly reminded of their responsibility.

For their part, the media continue to raise the issue, and more importantly, NADO:s (National Anti-Doping Organizations) continue to fight their battles with conviction, often joined by the police, by prosecutors or by regulators.

Even the European Commission has been acting as decisively as it can, trying to put together a coherent strategy against doping.

And, most of the European sports nutrition industry is working hard (and well) to be responsible, by shunning banned substances and subscribing to ever more sophisticated certification programs to avoid the inadvertent presence of doping agents.

Sports Nutrition: Game On!

Catch LucaBucchini discussing the key issues in doping and sport alongsideanti-doping expert Professor John Brewer ofSt Mary's University, UK, as part of the NutraIngredients free-to-attend online event: Sports Nutrition: Game On!

The web conference willlook at the way elite sports nutrition is developing, offer market insights on the EU sports nutrition market, and top insights on the role of polyphenols, omega-3, collagen, and protein in sports and lifestylenutrition.

The event is live NOW, and can be played back 'on demand' for the next three months.

REGISTER NOW

So, is it all well? Unfotunately not

Two recent big disappointments are worth considering.

The first relates to the respected French risk assessment body, ANSES. In a recent assessment made available in both French and English , ANSES stated that DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and PEA (phenylethylamine) are permitted in food supplements in the EU even if the two are banned substances according to the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).

Experts were surely quick to notice that the report listed as permitted other substances which, in reality, are banned under EU law (vanadium, evodiamine or raspberry ketones) and were quick to conclude that the report was very weak from a regulatory perspective.

However, the public is sure to have been confused DHEA and PEA are banned substances for doping, but they are permitted in food supplements? And if they are not prohibited in supplements, are they ok to consume?

In reality, DHEA and PEA are not permitted in the EU; both have a pharmacological action, and products with the either substance are almost sure to be considered unauthorised medicines (and if not, novel food legislation would take care of them).

Obviously, ANSES did not consult regulators or experts, and did not consider implications for consumers and the less informed food business operators of inaccurate statements.

The ANSES report should have been withdrawn and re-written, but it is still online telling potential consumers - including careless athletes that DHEA and PEA may be unsafe, but are legally ok.

The second:A bigger disappointment is that major clubs, including well known football (soccer) clubs, and even sports leagues accept sponsorship from careless manufacturers or retailers.

E-commerce retailers may be huge, but continue to sell products with banned substances. Presumably because they dont care, dont check, or dont understand the laws and the ethics.

It has been claimed that this is the case for F.C. Internazionale .

Unfortunately, even browsing major generalist e-commerce platforms, you are surprised to see - despite what The Economist says is going to occur products with banned substances.

This is striking. Identifying products with doping substances with automated searches would seem a no-brainer, which suggests no checks to implement the WADA list have been put in place.

If you check responsible e-commerce operators, on the other hand, you will soon find that eliminating products with added banned substances is possible.

Why is this important?

Consumers assume a sponsor of their favorite team or league is both legal and safe.

Reactions of consumers are telling. First, people react with disbelief: a sponsor of a major sports club is assumed to be compliant with the law. Secondly, and more significantly, even if they accept the sponsor selling banned substances, they state that the substances cant really be harmful, even if banned, and the ban is relevant for athletes only.

This is a key perception challenge for the industry.

Food versus OTC

Why do people jump when a pharmaceutical substance is found in a food, when medicines containing the identical substance are perhaps available over the counter (OTC)?

The simple reason is that foods, including sports nutrition products, need to be safe without second thoughts. There is a good reason for being proud of the fact that adverse effects of food supplements are dwarfed (or, better, mega-dwarfed) by the adverse effects of OTC drugs.

There is a regulatory and a public health reason for keeping drugs and foods separate, but there is also a strong business logic: consumers need to have absolute confidence in the harmless nature of food products.

If food supplements have the same safety issues of drugs, this paradigm falls apart.

Another effect of careless sponsorships is a creeping legitimisation of doping for the occasional sportsman.

Why not DHEA for the weekend warrior? Why not 7-keto? Why not DMAA? The magnitude of the change that legitimizing doping for those who are not pro could bring about is huge.

Serious health consequences from doping as a police officer recently put it to me used to be mostly a question for a small minority who would subject themselves to any degree of self-harm for achieving certain performance or aesthetic results.

That minority needed, and still needs, to be protected from themselves.

But if the problem comes to concern huge numbers of especially younger people who are primed to consider banned substances an issue for professional athletes only, or to stay away from steroids only, then things start to look more complex.

So what should responsible clubs and federations do?

It is easy to imagine a few minimum requirements for accepting sponsorships from retailers of foods for sports people:

Millions of fans trust the clubs they support, and those clubs rely on the leagues they belong to.

It is only fair that those clubs and leagues, when accepting sponsorships, ensure that they do not inadvertently promote doping to their fan base. And, if they have made a mistake, they should correct it.

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Sports, doping and supplements: Where do authorities, clubs and leagues stand? - NutraIngredients.com

EAST TEXAS (KLTV) -

A&H Focal is recalling 29 of its dietary products due to the possible presence of undeclared erectile dysfunction ingredients.

According to an announcement by the company, the products have historically been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration, but they were found to have PDE-5 inhibitors, an active ingredient in an FDA-approved drug for erectile dysfunction, which made these products tainted, unapproved drugs.

A&H added that these products are a threat because the PDE-5 inhibitors could interact with nitrates found in prescription drugs to lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. People dealing with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease sometimes use these nitrates.

The products listed below were marketed as supplements for male sexual enhancement. Any of these products made since January 2014 to now are included in this recall. If you have any of these products, you should stop using them immediately:

Black Ant (4600 mg)

Indian God Lotion

Evil Root (1200 mg)

Germany Black Gold (2800 mg)

Germany Niubian (3000 mg)

Hard Ten Days (4500 mg)

Lang Yi Hao (Chaonogsuopian) (500 mg)

Gold Vigra

Clalis

Ye Lang Shen (5000 mg)

Zhansheng Weige Chaoyue Xilishi (2000 mg)

Zhonghua Niubian (2000 mg)

Stree Overlord (3800 mg)

Max Man (3000 mg)

Hu Hu Sheng Wei

Tiger King

Viagra 100 (2000 mg)

Power V8 Viagra (200 mg)

Dadiyongshi Xiangganglongshengwu

Lien Chan for Seven Days

Maca Gold (6800 mg)

If anyone has any questions about this recall, they can Henry Choo by calling 646-327-8522, Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m., eastern standard time. Users should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any issues.

The FDA is aware of the recall and market action.

Read the rest here:

A&H recalls several dietary supplements - KLTV.com - Tyler ... - KLTV

The young athlete can only drink amino acid-based shakes that an insurance company won't cover.

Kendra Conlon, WTSP 11:29 PM. EST March 08, 2017

Food is a basic part of our daily lives. We plan holidays and social gatherings around meals. But imagine not being able to eat any food without it making you violently sick. That's the reality for a Pasco County teen.

And now, the familys insurance company is refusing to cover the only thing thats keeping him alive.

Life has thrown 17-year-old Remington Walls a lot of curveballs. The Land O Lakes High baseball player is allergic to food. All food.

Eosinophilic Esophagitis, said Walls of his condition, which doctors diagnosed when he was 4 years old. There's no cure.

When I eat, my white blood cells attack the food, which can cause scarring and ridging in my esophagus, which could eventually cause it to close, Remington explained.

A Neocate EO28 Splash shake, a hypoallergenic amino acid-based liquid formula, is his only source of nutrition. Thats all he has for every meal and every snack, around 18 orange-pineapple shakes a day for the rest of his life.

We are around $2,000 for what he needs per month. Its insane, said his father, Mike Walls.

Insurance has covered that for 13 years, but now the cost is falling on the family.

I was told that we were denied (by insurance), and I was absolutely shocked. I'm like 'What do you mean we've been denied?' They said 'There's been a change in your coverage. The elemental formula is no longer covered,' and I said 'There's got to be some mistake, said Remingtons mother, Stephanie Walls.

Frontier Communications bought out his dad's company last year. The family has been told that the medical costs which Frontier covers through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield changed in January.

The reason for denial says our plan now excludes the following: vitamins, food and food supplements used as dietary supplements. They're saying it's used as a food supplement! I have nothing else to supplement his food source with, said Stephanie Walls.

"Its his sustenance for life, and if you can't understand that, then let's take food away from you for a week, said Mike Walls.

The familys continuing appeals have been denied. Now they're taking the fight to lawmakers and calling for mandated coverage for anyone who needs this formula to survive.

These companies need to be held accountable, and they can't be allowed to choose the dollar over someone's life. With my sons life, it's his only source of nutrition, and they don't seem to get it, Stephanie Walls says through tears.

10News spoke with representatives from Frontier Communications and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Both companies say theyll look into the familys denied claims.10News will continue pressing for answers.

The family has had an amazing show of support from the community. Since friend Janeen Salzgeber started a GoFundMe page on Friday, they've raised enough to cover Remington's shakes for four months.

You can help: https://www.gofundme.com/remington-walls

2017 WTSP-TV

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Insurer denying Pasco teen with life-threatening food allergy - WTSP.com

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Pat White is fighting breast cancer and wonders if supplements should be part of her daily routine. Her doctor asks her if they make her feel better.

Oh yeah, says Pat, Ive been taking them for years.

Some supplements are known to make certain chemotherapy drugs less effective, or might increase the side effects.

Experts say that's not the only scenario where supplements and vitamins, along with prescription drugs, may result in health problems you never counted on.

I think that is probably a pretty common misperception, is that if something is natural or plant-based, that it doesn't have many side effects or risks associated with it. But in reality, a lot of our most potent or commonly used prescription medications come from natural or plant-based sources, says Amy Pullen, a pharmacist with VA Sierra Health Care.

Pullen says there hasn't been extensive research on many vitamins and supplements and prescription drugs, so many of the warnings can be theoretical. But there are knowns--like the fact that Omega 5 fatty acids, including fish oil, combined with anti-clotting medicine, could increase your bleeding risk.

Pullen says garlic or other food supplements contain concentrated amounts and could increase side effects of other medications, as opposed to eating the food alone.

The best advice is to make a list of the supplements you take, how many, how often, and when you are taking them. Take that list to your doctor or pharmacist to see if you are headed for any dangerous interactions.

Read more:

Supplements and prescriptions: a risky combination - KOLO

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Shop for FOOD SUPPLEMENTS supplements - National Nutrition

Recalls In the Age of the Internet

When the FDA discovers a supplement with an illegal ingredient (usually during one of those random searches), the agency warns the public on its website and asks manufacturers and sellers to pull their inventory in a voluntary action. Often, they cooperate; sometimes, they don't. In 2010, Cohen, who is also an internist, started treating women who'd become sick after taking a weight-loss product called Pai You Gou. It was supposed to be off the market, but his patients didn't know and kept buying it, he says. A study he conducted later revealed that at least two thirds of the weight-loss supplements that were recalled between 2009 and 2012 for containing drugs were still for sale by their manufacturers, and most of them hadn't changed their formulas.

Even if manufacturers do cooperate, consumers can't always count on stores to pull products from the shelves. "Getting the information to retailers quickly can be a challenge," says Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Natural Products Association, a trade organization that alerts members (including retailers) to tainted supplements. After all, a lot of shops may not have the manpower to cull the FDA's recall announcements.

Then there's the problem of the Web. Doctors in Hawaii were still finding places to buy OxyELITE Pro online nine months after the recall. Attorney Peter Hutt, who represents the manufacturer USPlabs, says company leaders wanted to comply with the recall even though, he says, the people who became ill "had been sick for years," not suddenly after taking OxyELITE Pro. "But you can't send somebody around to visit every health food store and gas station in the country," Hutt says, much less trace every Internet retailer. Even if you could, attorney Blood adds, they may simply list the product as "out of stock" instead of "off the market." A determined shopper will keep Googling until they find it somewhere else.

Getty

In written responses (officials declined our request for interviews), the FDA seemed to share those frustrations: "The network of distributors, wholesalers, and retailers of tainted products is diffuse and fragmented and they can be difficult to locate," they wrote us. "These individuals and businesses are often not registered with the FDA, operate out of residences, and distribute via the Internet, social media, small stores, and mail."

In fact, the FDA doesn't have accurate information for 20 percent of supplement companies, including manufacturers, according to an investigation by the Inspector General. Products are also created all over the world, out of sight of the FDA a lesson Sainah Theodore of Queens, NY, learned the hard way.

In 2012, the then 26-year-old Army Reservist bought a supplement called Natural Lipo X from a locally owned health food store. It was supposed to be no more than an herbal blend that would help burn fat, but within days of taking the green capsules, Sainah began suffering from insomnia, eventually falling into a psychosis that, among other things, caused her to cut up her mattress and pillows. "My family was so frightened," she remembers. Sainah was admitted to a psychiatric ward, where she slept for almost 24 hours before waking up confused and embarrassed. A lawsuit she filed against the store says the product contained two illegal stimulants. Going after the shop was her only recourse she found it nearly impossible to determine who had manufactured the pills themselves. Eventually, her lawyers traced them to a company in China.

Link:

The Shocking Secrets Everyone Should Know About Diet Pills - Redbookmag.com (blog)

Seattle, WA Amazon.com, the largest internet-based retailer in the world by total sales and market capitalization, which started as an online bookstore, and later diversified to sell everything from video and MP3 downloads and streaming to electronics, furniture, food, and jewelry, recently launched their own dietary supplements under the Amazon Elements brand.

Amazon first announced the launch of the Amazon Elements brand over two years ago. Its 2014 press release describes the brand as a line of premium, everyday essentials with transparent origins. At the time, Amazon Elements offered diapers and baby wipes, but the brand was not very well known and the diaper line was discontinued in 2015.

Now, Amazon Elements has expanded from diapers to dietary supplements. While still maintaining its commitment to transparency, Amazon Elements has shifted its focus to the supplements industry with its initial launch of four products: turmeric root extract, calcium complex, vitamin D, and vitamin K. The products are currently available exclusively by invitation to Prime members.

Amazons initiative in the supplement space is well-placed according to Dr. Kurt Jetta, founder of TABS analytics. Jetta noted that private level supplements carry extremely high margins, and Amazon needs to find ways to improve their margins in e-commerce. With its approximately 300 million users, more than half of which are Amazon Prime members, Amazon has a large user base. And what Amazon can do better than a GNC or any other of these niche products is expand on their already-user base, and they can knock down the margins of the industry.

In addition to its large user base, the Amazon name is trusted among consumers. Amazon has built on this trust with its new QR code reader. In accordance with its original press release from 2014, the Amazon Elements brand offers consumers an unprecedented level of information. Each Amazon Elements product includes a unique code on its packaging that consumers can access through the Amazon app to learn when and where items were made, why each ingredient was included, where the ingredients were sourced and much more all at their fingertips from the time they start their shopping experience until the items arrive at their door.

Although the effects of Amazons entry into the supplement industry can be critical in the online space, Jetta doubts negative impacts on actual dietary supplement stores. We would project the impact to brick-and-mortar to be minimal, based on the fact that history has shown both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar can both grow concurrently in vitamins, he predicts.

Read more from the original source:

Amazon Launches Amazon Elements Supplements | Whole Foods ... - WholeFoods Magazine

Dive Brief: Dive Insight:

Amazon has long had private label goods, including Pinzon linens, Elements baby wipes, and its AmazonBasics line of tech accessories, and it recently launched several private-label apparel and accessories brands. Amazons new in-house brands include a line of food basics like Happy Belly nuts, trail mix, tea and cooking oil, Wickedly Prime snack foods and now supplements.

The supplements effort comes just as the giant in the space, GNC, is going through a major rebrand in an effort to fight off struggles due to confusing pricing and merchandising. Amazons emphasis on premium quality and transparency in supplements is also an indication that it recognizes the controversy over the ingredients found in many supplements. Supplements in general are under scrutiny from public health officials and state attorneys general, over safety and effectiveness; retailers including Walmart, Walgreens, Target, and GNC have been warned to ensure their safety or remove products found to contain toxic or allergenic ingredients.

Furthermore, keeping some lines of products available just to Amazon Prime members helps make the $99 annual Prime membership fee worthwhile, and the exclusivity of those efforts will help Amazon as rival Wal-Mart steps up its everyday low price promise. Some observers have noted could launch a price war among retailers that sell consumer goods.

Rivals should be worried any time Amazon enters a consumer space: Amazon's private label initiatives are experiencing runaway growth across a range of key product categories, even emerging as the online leader in some categories, according to consumer spending research from 1010data Market Insights unveiled last year.

Amazon Elements in particular is cleaning up market share, increasing 266% year over year according to 1010data. Based on total dollars sold among the top 10 brands, Amazon now controls 16% of the baby wipes market, just behind Huggies(33%) and Pampers (26%).Amazon is dominating when the product categories include commodities, where price stands out as a differentiator, as well as in categories where differentiation is found in the quality and features of a product, e.g. speakers.

No matter the market, the challenge for brands in an increasing number of categories is that Amazon is the top online channel, 1010data senior vice president of marketing Jed Alpert said in a statement emailed to Retail Dive. [T]he bottom line for brands is they can no longer view Amazon as solely a channel and need to acknowledge Amazon as a competitor.

The rest is here:

Amazon's Elements brand adds vitamins, supplements - Retail Dive

Rumor turns business to reality More Headlines

PRAIRIE DU SAC, Wis. - A business that had been steadily growing over the years has seen a spike in sales after a recent dog show.

The Doctors Choice Supplements is the provider of a dog food supplement for Rumor, the winner of this years Westminster Dog Show.

Probably 20 to 25 percent busier, and I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, says Karen Duhr, warehouse and office manager for Doctors Choice Supplements.

The company has been providing Fido-Vite supplements to Kenlyn Kennels for several years. Kenlyn, an Edgerton kennel, is the owner of Rumor, a female German shepherd.

When it got down to the finals, I was thinking she cant lose, she cant lose. Then, all of a sudden when she won, Im like, I cant believe she won, says Jon Sawle, a part owner of Doctors Choice Supplements.

While the employees of the Prairie du Sac company celebrated Rumors win, they realize they are just one part of what went into the success.

You know, were just one brick in the wall, but you know youve got to have all those bricks to make the wall, says Sawle.

The Fido-VIte supplements provide a probiotic and enzyme that improves the health and appearance of a dog.

It helps the food work better, helps the overall digestion and then they absorb more nutrients from their dog food, says Sawle.

While the increase in sales is welcomed at Doctors Choice Supplements, they joke it has made for more work for the UPS drivers.

Yeah, especially on Mondays, I feel a little sorry for the UPS man, says Sawle.

See the rest here:

Dog show win for Rumor is a win for food supplement company - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3

There's no better time than the present to donate to the food shelf, because in the month of March, those donations stretch further.

The All Seasons Food Shelf in Kenyon participates in the Minnesota FoodShare program. Donations made in the month of March are used as a guideline when MFS plans its distribution of funds to around 300 food shelves across the state for the coming year.

That's good news for small towns because it supplements the locally donated resources. All Seasons Food Shelf Administrator Beverly Jacobsen said it receives the majority of funding from contributions within and some outside of its service area. She supplements that with grants, some of which, like March FoodShare, match according to the outcomes of a major fundraising campaign.

The food shelf also gets a percentage of sales from the Kenyon Thrift Store to cover overhead expenses such as utilities and salaries.

The ASFS will receive a portion of Minnesota FoodShare food fund dollars based on the pounds of food collected and dollars raised right here in the community. It's not a direct dollar-to-dollar correlation, but it gives the food shelf flexibility when it comes to purchasing and stocking harder-to-get items.

The Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign is an annual program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. It is the largest grass-roots fund and food drive for local food shelves in the state.

Statewide, the March Campaign raised $7.9 million and 5.2 million pounds of food in 2016, the most successful campaign in its 34-year history, according to mnfoodshare.org.

The need is there. By 2015 statistics, 11 percent of Minnesotans and nearly 15 percent of children in the state lived below the poverty line.

All of it, 100 percent, goes toward hunger relief. In fact, every dollar and every pound of food donated to the ASFS stays with and is used by ASFS to serve people locally in the Kenyon, Wanamingo, Nerstrand, Dennison and West Concord area.

The Kenyon service hours are staggered throughout the week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday to provide different access times and therefore reach more people in need. If a family qualifies for other assistance programs, such as the school's free and reduced meal program, they likely qualify for food shelf assistance, said Jacobsen.

In addition to efforts carried out during the rest of the year, local businesses, organizations and churches have plans to do their part this month. The Kenyon Lions donate the proceeds from their soup supper fundraiser to the food shelf. Many churches collect items during Lenten services and earmark those offering donations for the ASFS. The World Day of Prayer service at Dale Church dedicated one-fourth of its offering to the food shelf's food backpack program and collected non-food items (paper products and toiletries) for the food shelf.

The Foldcraft company in Kenyon is in its fourth year of sponsoring a food drive in March in conjunction with the Minnesota FoodShare, according to Julie McGrath, manager of marketing.

Donations may be sent to: All Seasons Community Services, 530 Second St., Kenyon, Minnesota. 55946.

Reach Publisher and Editor Terri Lenz at 333-3148, or follow her on Twitter.com @KenyonLeader

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March is the month: Minnesota FoodShare Campaign makes food shelf donations go further - Southernminn.com