Regulation in the Vitamin & Supplement World
Our health is extremely important, especially the older you get. In the world we live in today, sometimes we cannot consume all the nutrients we need by food alone. Food is highly processed in America and in this country, it is filled with tons of fast food and genetically modified food options everywhere you look. The need to stay healthy is important and it is becoming harder to tell what classifies as food or a supplement because some products are candy, whey protein, or tea we consume daily. An average American may use supplements to maintain healthiness or better their health. This issue effects people who are vegetarian, who want to be healthy, lose weight, or take vitamins. What is really in our supplements or herbals and are we protected from these products? Some ingredients are listed, but all of these items are not regulated by the government like food is. The FDA should regulate all vitamins and herbal supplements by labeling ingredients for all individuals who may consume them. This position includes three supportive arguments and three opposing arguments about the dietary supplement industry and regulation.
Background
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Food and Drug Administration is an important government agency under the Department of Human and Health Services. The FDA is provided for people to protect them in a lot of health related care such as: food safety and supply, regulation of human veterinary drugs, national and global foods and tobacco, cosmetics, and other medical products. This government agency has a long history and is one of the oldest protection agencies in the government because its origins go as far back as the late 1800s. The FDA organization helps people of the population get the most effective, correct, science-based information that they need to safe products and
This eventually led to the creation of the federal department of Food and Drug Administration which lays out laws for what is safe for inclusion in the food and medicine consumed by the
In Michael Pollan’s essay “Escape from the Western Diet,” he directly to Americans about the western diet and why he believes they need to escape from it. The reason Americans should escape the western diet is to avoid the harmful effects associated with it such as “western diseases” (Pollan, 420). To support his view on the issue, Pollan describes factors of the western diet that dictate what Americans believe they should eat. These factors include scientists with their theories of nutritionist, the food industry supporting the theories by making products, and the health industry making medication to support those same theories. Overall, Pollan feels that in order to escape this diet, people need to get the idea of it out of their heads.
In the prologue of his book Salt, Sugar, and Fat, Moss recounts a time when CEOs of processed food giants, including General Mills, Pillsbury, and others, gathered to address the issue that many medical experts were slamming processed food as very unhealthy. Moss uses his word choice to paint former General Mills CEO Stephen Sanger in a very bad light when he writes, “But most often, he said, people bought what they liked, and they liked what tasted good. ‘Don’t talk to me about nutrition,’ [Sanger] reportedly said, taking on the voice of the typical consumer. ‘Talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, don’t run around trying to sell stuff that doesn’t taste good.’ To react to the critics, Sanger said, would jeopardize the sanctity of the recipes that had made his products so successful.
Throughout American history, propaganda pieces have been used to sway the public opinion on one matter or another. The famous Federalist Papers were used to sway the early American public to ratify the Constitution. The Civil War also heavily relied on propaganda to recruit soldiers and boost morale. At the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was written as a propaganda piece on socialism, however, it was remembered for its cometary on the ethics of the meat packing industry.
In recent decade, the United States has seen supermarkets continuously get filled with packages labeled with things like “Low sodium” or “No Trans Fats.” Companies stick these labels on their food to match the current fads of what is good for you and what is not. In his essay Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan advocates a return to natural and basic foods, and deplores nutritionism. Pollan argues that nutritionism does not actually tell people what is healthy or not, and that the only way to be sure you are eating healthy is to eat natural, fresh food.
A group that was knowledgeable of the effects certain chemicals have on food was appointed to regulating the standards of the meat-packing industry. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry was charged with enforcing the Food and Drugs Act, which prohibited interstate commerce in foods, drinks, and drugs that were mislabeled or adulterated” (Badertscher). A chemistry affiliated group was put in charge of monitoring of the produced meat. The meatpacking industry was regulated and supervised constantly to ensure that any and all produce is acceptable for consumption. The meat-packing industry took a massive blow from the popularization of “The Jungle” and its revealing
After this act was passed, the government was locking down on products that were exposed to the public, preventing producers from contaminating our products, but contamination was not the only problem the government faced. In 1910, the American government seized a fairly large quantity of a product called Johnson’s Mild Combination Treatment for Cancer, this case brought up one major issue of the act. The medication that the government took was not polluted with any poisonous chemicals, but the producers labeled the product with false advertisement. The medication label stated that it was a suppresser of cancer progression, which it was not. The Supreme Court ruled against them “finding that the product 's false claims of effectiveness were not within the scope of the Pure Food and Drugs Act, Congress enacted the Shirley Amendment in 1912 to overcome the ruling in U.S. v. Johnson” (FDA Consumer Magazine, 2009).
Through this food diary assignment, I have learned that I have a somewhat healthy diet, but it would be good for me to add some more nutritious foods to my diet. Through this analysis, I will discuss the ranges and limits of specific nutrients, and what my average levels were for the two days that I recorded for this assignment. According to my nutrient intake reports, my intake of calories, fiber, and cholesterol were all under or at the target value. The target value of calories is 2000 while my average value was only 1271 calories.
Like all other kinds of supplementation or even medicine, directions and serving sizes play a crucial role on the patients’
“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” (Hardy, 2006). The Greeks followed this idea by the philosopher Hippocrates, but today’s society does not take the message seriously. A majority of people eat harmful foods and do not receive the nutrition they need to stay healthy. There are a number of reasons why nutrition is lacking. A lot of teens and college students eat snacks that are not healthy such as chips, pop, candy, etc.
Don’t even get me started on the American food industry! The american food industry is one of the only food industries in the whole wide world that favors money over the health of its citizens. The food that most Americans eat is processed crap, if you can even call it food! How many of you have eaten popcorn, chips, candy, or crackers in the last week? The amount of chemicals in the food we eat as a country on a daily basis is freaking ridiculous.
Nutrition Topic: Nutrition Organization: Topically Specific Purpose: To inform my audience the importance of proper nutrition I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention getter: Did you know that more than two thirds of adults are considered to be overweight or obese in the United States? If obesity rates stay consistent, about 51% of the population by the year 2030 will be obese.
Marijuana, formerly known as Cannabis, has been looked at in a medical sense for centuries. Marijuana was seen as a household drug throughout the seventeenth to the early twentieth century as a remedy to reduce nausea or vomiting, headaches, an anti-inflammatory, and the choice of pain reliever. In the 1920s, the Eighteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol, also known as Prohibition. As a result, marijuana flourished as a psychoactive drug.
The Danish Ban on Fortified Breakfast Cereals Case 192/01 Commission of the European Communities versus Kingdom of Denmark Introduction In 2004, the Danish Authorities banned the sale of over 18 fortified breakfast cereals and cereal bars manufactured by Kellogg’s on the basis that higher levels of vitamins and minerals could cause Danish consumers to exceed upper tolerable levels of nutrients in their diet. This could potentially have a detrimental effect on kidneys and the lives of children and pregnant women. The Danish Diet It is proposed that about 28% of children and 26% of adults in Denmark consume a supplemental vitamin pill on a daily basis annually, while another 28% and 12% respectively take supplements in the winter season according to most recent dietary survey data 2000-2002.
The food industry is expected to grow rapidly in the future due to improving lifestyle and rapid urbanization (“Global Fast Food Market”, 2017). With this potential demand created, KHC can easily capitalize the growing foodservice industry and tailor their products to the specific demographic (Bhasin, 2018). Another strong resource KHC can utilize is focusing on nutritious products. As the foodservice industry continues to grow, KHC should further explore on expanding its product portfolio to include healthier options. Natural and organic brands, as well, as small labels buying from local farms, have become an essential part of the consumer lifestyle (Tarkan, 2015).