NO APPROVED Therapeutic Claim

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In the Philippines, manufacturers of supplements do not need to seek

approval

from

the

Food

and

Drug

Administration

in

marketing

a dietary

supplements. In addition, companies can also claim that their product addresses a
nutrient deficiency in the body. The use of the disclaimer No Approved Therapeutic
Claim is also being abused by various owners, advertisers and agents of
food/dietary supplements. Thus, there is a growing public concern due to the
inaccurate, misleading and false claims on the efficacy of some of the supplements
that care in the market today.
In March, the Department of Health issued Administrative Order (AO) 20100008 to provide directives specific to the change in the use of the message or
phrase NO APPROVED THERAPEUTIC CLAIM in all advertisement, promotion and/or
sponsorship activities or materials concerning Food/Dietary Supplements with the
end view of promoting and protecting the consumers health and welfare and
fostering their right to proper information and education to facilitate sound choice.
According to then Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, the DOH is duty bound
to protect the general public from any false information. She said that the use of the
message or phrase No Approved Therapeutic Claim shall no longer be allowed;
instead all food/dietary supplement owners, manufacturers, distributors, importers,
exporters, advertisers and/or their agents are obligated to strictly enforce the
standard message in Filipino which will be MAHALAGANG PAALALA: ANG (name of
product) AY HINDI GAMOT AT HINDI DAPAT GAMITING PANGGAMOT SA ANUMANG

URI NG SAKIT. This is an essential step in protecting our people who may
erroneously mistake these products as medicines, she added.
Because of its strong and forceful translation in Filipino language, herbal
companies, particularly the Chamber of Herbal Industries of the Philippines, Inc.
(CHPI), protested the implementation of the AO. They claimed that no consultation
was made and that due process was not upheld in the implementation of the AO.
They brought the case to court.
On May 28, Judge Lilia Purugganan of the Manila Regional Trial Court (MTC)
Branch 30, issued a preliminary injunction granting the request of the CHPI.
According to Purungganan, the new mandatory label will condition the minds of the
people that CHPIs products are of no value at all. The court also stated that there
is the danger of erosion of confidence of the public towards food/dietary
supplements on the account of the misconception or the misperception that the AO
will produce. Is this another case of the wealth of the multinationals prevailing over
the health of the people?

Nutritional Supplements

Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia.

Nutritional Supplements

Definition
Nutritional supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, meal supplements, sports
nutrition products, natural food supplements, andother related products used to boost
the nutritional content of the diet.

Purpose
Nutritional supplements are used for many purposes. They can be added to the diet to
boost overall health and energy; to provide immunesystem support and reduce the ri
sks of illness and age-related conditions; to improve performance in athletic and ment
al activities; and tosupport the healing process during illness and disease. However,
most of these products are treated as food and not regulated as drugsare.

Description
The Natural Nutritional Foods Association estimated that in 2003 nutritional supplem
ents amounted to a $19.8 billion market in the UnitedStates. By category, vitamins pr
ovided $6.6 billion in sales, herbs $4.2 billion, meal supplements $2.5 billion, sports n
utrition products$2.0 billion, minerals $1.8 billion, and specialty and other products t
otaling $2.7 billion. The nutritional supplement industry provides a hugearray of prod
ucts for consumer needs.
Vitamins
Vitamins are micronutrients, or substances that the body uses in small amounts, as co
mpared to macronutrients, which are the proteins,fats, and carbohydrates that make
up all food. Vitamins are present in food, but adequate quantities of vitamins may be r

educed whenfood is overcooked, processed, or improperly stored. For instance, proce

ssing whole wheat grain into white flour reduces the contents ofvitamins B and E, fibe
r, and minerals, including zinc and iron. The body requires vitamins to support its basi
c biochemical functions, anddeficiencies over time can lead to illness and disease.
Vitamins are either water-soluble or fat-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in wa
ter and pass through the body quickly, meaning thatthe body needs them on a regula
r basis. Water-soluble vitamins include the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. Fatsoluble vitamins arestored in the body's fatty tissue, meaning that they remain in the
body longer. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, and K.
The amount of vitamins needed by the body has been the subject of much research. T
he U.S. government has published recommendeddietary allowances (RDAs) for each
vitamin for the general population. These figures can be used as guidelines, but indivi
duals may havedifferent needs depending on gender, age, and health conditions.
Vitamins can be natural or synthetic. Natural vitamins are extracted from food source
s, while synthetic vitamins are formulated inlaboratory processes. The only vitamin fo
r which there is a noted difference between the natural and synthetic forms is vitamin
E. Thenatural form is labeled d-alpha-tocopherol while the synthetic form is named dl
-alpha-tocopherol, with the extra "l" signifying laboratoryproduction. Natural vitamin
E has been shown to be slightly more absorbable by the body than the synthetic versi
on, although for othervitamins no significant differences in absorption have been note
d.

Side-effects[edit]

In large doses, some vitamins have documented side-effects that tend to be more severe with a
larger dosage. The likelihood of consuming too much of any vitamin from food is remote, but
overdosing (vitamin poisoning) from vitamin supplementation does occur. At high enough
dosages, some vitamins cause side-effects such as nausea, diarrhea, andvomiting.[8][33] When
side-effects emerge, recovery is often accomplished by reducing the dosage. The doses of
vitamins differ because individual tolerances can vary widely and appear to be related to age
and state of health.[34]

In 2008, overdose exposure to all formulations of vitamins and multivitamin-mineral formulations

was reported by 68,911 individuals to the American Association of Poison Control
Centers (nearly 80% of these exposures were in children under the age of 6), leading to 8
"major" life-threatening outcomes, but no deaths