Essentials of Nutrition for Sports

-^

No regulatory approval is required.

-^

Optimism reigns, advertisi

ng copy often implies 100%

effectiveness for everyone.

-^

Advertising copy neglects to mention drawbacks or difficulties.

-^

Advertising copy neglects to mention other alternatives. For more on this subject see

Product Promotion

on page

142

.

FDA Approval

Lack of approval means research results have not been evaluated

by the FDA, and that there has been no testing for safety or effectiveness by FDA.

Even if worthless, effectiveness is only relevant for drugs, not

food products. Product must be pr

oved unsafe to be removed from

market.

Doses may vary and there may be a lack of quality control. For

example, studies have shown that

even though the product labeling is

the same, ginseng content in supplements may vary by factor of 10, from same manufacturer.

Quackery Flags Examples

The following advertisements demonstrate how FANSA’s

warnings might be heeded.

The author, in highlighting these products, does not imply that

the product is or is not effective.

The first example,

Figure 15

, is for a Chinese diet tea. It is so

outrageous that few athletes are likely to accept the advertisement at face value.

Red flags for the Chinese tea product include:

-^

Claim that sounds too good to be true: Losing more than six pounds per week.

-^

Promise of a quick fix.

-^

Secret ingredients.

-^

Use of key words: for example, “natural.”

-^

No independent review.

-^

Wants money.

Figure 15. Nutritional quackery flags are described in the text.

The second and third examples,

Figure 16

and

Figure 17

, are

more believable, in part, because

of familiarity, because athletes and

coaches have embraced these products. An endorsement, however, means only that the athlete or coach

was paid for their statement.

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