5/22/2008

"Weight Loss Aids Bought On Internet Might Harm Your Heart."

I am sure some of you have read the article on weight loss supplement ingredients being dangerous. Most herbs enjoy a remarkably good safety record but on rare occasion, contraindications and interactions with drugs and/or foods do occur. News outlets and pharmaceutical companies are using this fact to arrive at a totally misleading conclusion, creating fear and uncertainty in the minds of consumers.

The accusation that some of the ingredients in weight loss supplements present a safety risk is based on searching engine queries (such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) looking for one single reported “association between the ingredients and cardiac problems.” Conveniently, no further research or testing is done on the validity of the reported issue. Most of these reports are singular occurrences and have not, and most likely will not, occur in any of the millions of customers that use supplements. Another point is that the article was published in conjunction with a pharmaceutical company that is in direct competition with the weight loss supplement industry.

As you all know our supplements list possible contraindications directly on the label as well as urge you to consult your physician before use.

Upon discussion of this weight loss ingredient issue with Dr. Mark Lange, he brought up a very good point…Maybe the cardiologists doing this study should exert some effort in their field of expertise, where this month’s Lancet reports 800,000 people died unnecessarily and half a million major strokes were caused by taking beta blockers, the cornerstone treatment for heart disease since the 1970s. In comparison to pharmaceutical drugs, dietary supplements are remarkably safe. Read on for more:

UK Telegraph

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the INFO. Did you see Dr. Lamm on the TODAY SHOW, mentioning about a good weight loss program should address body composition... although he did not mention TRANSITIONS, this was enough information for me to share it with my customers, which gives me more credibility because a medical Doctor supports what I tell them about TRANSITIONS. I love seeing him on the TODAY show!

Anonymous said...

Great information, Kristie!