In Texas, a United States Representative named Ron Paul introduced a bill that would potentially curb restrictions imposed by the Food and Drug Administration and the FTC regarding health claims for diet supplements. Why would he do that in this instance? Aren’t these restrictions good for the consumer to make sure they don’t get ripped off by snake oil salesmen making false claims to the public?
Maybe they are. But maybe they are not. Check this story out and decide for yourself. The Cherry Grower’s Story dates back to 1999. At that time, a peer-reviewed report came out in the Journal of Natural Products. It was published by the American Chemical Society. This is the world’s largest scientific society at that time.
The study concluded that “tart cherries may relieve pain better than aspirin and many other anti-inflammatory drugs.” It turns out that consumption of about 20 cherries reduces inflammation in a similar manner as aspirin or Cox-2 inhibiting drugs without the lethal side effects of gastric bleeding or vitamin depletion associated with these drugs. The molecules in cherries, called anthocyanins, work to reduce inflammation at ten times less dosage than aspirin. [Journal Natural Products 1999 Feb; 62(2): 294-6] Pills that provide concentrated anthocyanins would make it even easier to consumers to achieve these health benefits.
When cherry growers began to cite this scientific study, the food and drug administration followed by sending a warning letter to twenty nine companies that market cherries threatening regulatory action if they did not remove the scientific information regarding the anti-inflammatory properties of cherries from their websites. The food and drug administration declared cherries to be “drugs” once health claims for a disease were associated with the product.
Bob Underwood, who sells capsules containing concentrated cherry paste, was quoted in an Associated Press story in 2006. He said we have the government telling people to eat more fruits and vegetables, and we have the U.S. Department of Agriculture funding some of these fruit studies. He stated that now we have another arm of the federal government that says you can’t use the research.”
According to the website LewRockwell, “The Health Freedom Protection Act would stop the FDA from censoring truthful claims about the curative, mitigative, or preventative effects of dietary supplements,” says Scott Tips of the National Health Federation, a Monrovia, California-based organization that is leading the charge behind this legislation.” Sad to see that legislation is needed to stop the censorship of truthful claims… isn’t it? You can get more information at New Century Spine Centers in San Diego.
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