The FDA urges consumers to discontinue use of Hydroxycut products in order to avoid any undue risk. Adverse events are rare, but exist.
Consumers should consult a physician or other health care professional if they are experiencing symptoms possibly associated with these products.
Linda Katz, M.D.
Interim Chief Medical Officer
FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
I saw an ad for Hydroxycut in a magazine this morning and was wondering about the safety and claims made by the product. Another one of those…”looks too good to be true” and “buyer be ware.” I guess it was only been a matter of time that something would come up.
Today the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued an official release warning consumers to immediately stop using Hydroxycut products. To date the FDA has received 23 reports of serious health problems ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes, an indicator of potential liver injury, to liver damage requiring liver transplant. In addition one death due to liver failure has been reported to the FDA.
About Hydroxycut Products
Hydroxycut products are dietary supplements that are marketed for weight-loss, as fat burners, as energy-enhancers, as low carb diet aids, and for water loss under the Iovate and MuscleTech brand names. The products are prodiced by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., of Oakville, Ontario and distributed by Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. of Blasdell, N.Y.
Return Products to Place of Purchase
Consumers who have any of the products involved in the recall are advised to stop using them and to return them to the place of purchase. The agency has not yet determined which ingredients, dosages, or other health-related factors may be associated with risks related to these Hydroxycut products. The products contain a variety of ingredients and herbal extracts.
List of Hydroxycut Products being Recalled:
The list of products being recalled by Iovate currently includes:
We’ve been doing a garden at our house with the girls for the past 4 years. As they have grown they are able to do more. Needless to say, I was very happy to hear that the Obamas were starting a garden at the White House for the first time since the first time since first lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted her “Victory Garden” during World War II.
Michelle Obama shared her thoughts on the garden:
We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet.
Michelle Obama
This video shows twenty-six elementary schoolchildren wielded shovels, rakes, pitchforks and wheelbarrows to help first lady Michelle Obama break ground on a produce and herb garden on the White House grounds.
Michael Pollen, author of Omnivores Dilemma and advocate for agricultural reform had this to say about the garden.
A garden like this is one of those small gestures that is powerfully symbolic…it teaches important habits of mind — helping people to reconnect with their food, eat more healthily on a budget and recognize that we’re less dependent on the industrial food chain, and cheap fossil fuel, than we assume.
The Environment Working Groups Guide is now in its 5th edition. It features the 12 fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides so you’ll know which ones to buy organic, and which conventionally-grown ones are okay when organic isn’t available.
Note: The Environmental Working Group ranked a total of 44 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because they looked at both domestic and imported samples.
Another example of the truth being stretched, or misrepresented in advertising and where the buyer must beware.
Federal health regulators reprimanded Coca-Cola for placing inappropriate nutritional claims on its Diet Coke Plus soft drink. The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to the company, objecting to the product’s labeling, which describes the drink as “Diet Coke with Vitamins and Minerals.”
The FDA has pointed out that the Diet Coke Plus is misbranded. Federal regulators said the beverage does not have enough nutrients to justify the use of the word “plus” in its name.
According to the regulations, foods labeled “plus” must have at least 10 percent more nutrients than comparable products.
Additionally, the FDA said it is inappropriate to add extra nutrients to “snack foods such as carbonated beverages.”
Estimates figure that about 60 percent of people ages 65 and older take an aspirin at least once a week, some on the recommendation of their doctor (to prevent heart disease) some now.
This common, over-the-counter medication can cause some serious side effects. Regular use should be discussed with a doctor.
Aspirin is routinely recommended by the American Heart Association for people who’ve had a heart attack, stroke caused by blood clot, unstable angina, or “ministrokes.” Further more the American Heart Association recommends that people who have yet to experience an event but who are at increased risk because of family history, say, may also stand to gain from aspirin therapy.
Here are some things you may not know about Aspirin.
1. Aspirin would have a hard time getting approved by the FDA if it were to come on the market today.
2. Aspirin may be less effective in women. Research published in BMC Medicine reported that earlier studies showing a large benefit in men taking aspirin to reduce the rates of fatal heart attack, did not hold for women.
3. Aspirin use more or less doubles the risk of a severe gastrointestinal event putting users at risk for ulcers and bleeds with prolonged use.
4. Aspirin use may not protect against heart disease and stroke in nearly 30 percent of people who are resistant to Aspirin’s effects.
5. Aspirin can throw off test results for prostate cancer. Men who regularly used aspirin and other NSAIDs had about 10 percent lower levels of the prostate marker prostate-specific antigen which may hinder the detection of prostate cancer.
Some Positive Effects of Taking Aspirin
Cuts the risk of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.
Reduces the risk of developing colorectal cancers.
Lowers a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
Offers some protection against Alzheimer’s disease.
Protects against Parkinson’s disease.
Helps prevent strokes—unless you also take ibuprofen.
While Aspirin has many benefits, it may also have some negative side effects. Whether or not use use Aspirin should be discussed with a doctor or your health care provider.
According to Federal regulators from the Food and Drug Administration, Bayer has been illegally marketing two aspirin products that make unsubstantiated health claims about fighting heart disease and osteoporosis.
In both cases, the aspirin has been combined with a dietary supplement into a single pill.
Aspirin is often recommended by doctors to treat general aches and pains and in small doses (baby aspirin) as a blood thinner for patients with heart disease.
The two products in question:
Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage (Bayer Heart Advantage)–aspirin combined with phytosterols (a plant-based supplement also known as plant sterols)
These product formulations are not approved by FDA. The FDA has issued a warning letter to the Bayer Corporation.
Why the Warning?
Bayer has been marketing these products as pain relievers and as treatments for heart disease and osteoporosis. They claim that Bayer Heart Advantage helps in “reducing the risks of heart disease.”
The labeling for Bayer Women’s also claims that the product helps “fight” osteoporosis.
Treatments for heart disease and osteoporosis must be reviewed by government scientists and cannot be sold over the counter.
In addition the FDA has determined that these products have inadequate and misleading directions and warnings. Both products lack adequate directions and warnings for their safe use by consumers.
According to ABC News these results were discovered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has been investigating drug advertising and the FDA’s oversight of pharmaceutical manufacturers for over a year.
For a quarter, you can keep a child from going blind due to Vitamin A deficiency.
Over the course of four years, when children are most vulnerable, the total expense for Vitamin Angels is $1.00, whichs covers the cost of two high dose vitamin A and anti-parasitic supplements given each year to a child from the ages of 2 to 5.
Operation 20/20
Vitamin Angels is committed to eradicating childhood blindness due to Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) on the planet by the year 2020. Operation 20/20 is the first major step in this global campaign, which launched in 2007 18 countries.
Vitamin Angels
Vitamin Angels is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing vital nutrition in the form of supplements, to developing countries, communities and individuals in need. Vitamin Angels has set its sights on the issue of childhood blindness, with plans to eliminate childhood blindness by the year 2020 through the systematic distribution of vitamin A to at-risk children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently revised recommendations for Vitamin D based in new information indicating that children need twice as much Vitamin D as originally thought.
In the new clinical report, “Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents,” published in the November issue of Pediatrics, it is recommended that all children receive 400 IU a day of vitamin D, beginning in the first few days of life. The previous recommendation, issued in 2003, called for 200 IU per day beginning in the first two months of life.
The New Recommendations include:
Breastfed and partially breastfed infants should be supplemented with 400 IU a day of vitamin D beginning in the first few days of life.
All non-breastfed infants, as well as older children, who are consuming less than one quart per day of vitamin D-fortified formula or milk, should receive a vitamin D supplement of 400 IU a day.
Adolescents who do not obtain 400 IU of vitamin D per day through foods should receive a supplement containing that amount.
Children with increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, such as those taking certain medications, may need higher doses of vitamin D.
Preventing Rickets and Osteomalacia
Sufficient amounts of Vitamin D helps prevent rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
In children, vitamin D deficiency causes rickets, a disease characterized by a failure of bone tissue to properly mineralize, resulting in soft bones and skeletal deformities. Rickets continues to be reported in the United States in infants and adolescents. The greatest risk for rickets is in exclusively breastfed infants, particularly among African American infants, who are not supplemented with 400 IU of vitamin D a day.
In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia, resulting in weak muscles and bones.
Vitamin D from the Sun
For many people, eating vitamin D-fortified foods and being exposed to sunlight are needed to maintaining a healthy vitamin D status.
Given enough sun exposure the body is able to make Vitamin D. However, the AAP advises keeping infants out of direct sunlight and having them wear protective clothing and sunscreen to protect against skin cancer.
This extensive use of sunscreens and placement of children in daycare programs, where they often have less outdoor activity and sun exposure has also contributed to less Vitamin D.
The general recommendations for sun exposure are three 15 minute intervals a week. It is difficult to determine a safe amount of sunlight exposure to synthesize vitamin D in a given individual.
Good Food Sources for Vitamin D
Very few foods in nature contain vitamin D. The fish (such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel) and fish liver oils are among the best sources. Small amounts of vitamin D are found in beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks. Vitamin D is also being added to Orange Juice.
Vitamin D Fortified Milk – Four cups daily to meet the requirement.
Cereals (fortified)
Oily fish – tuna, mackerel and sardines
Beef Liver
Cheese
Egg Yolks
Sources:
American Medical Association. October 14, 2008. New guidelines suggest children should get twice the daily dosage of vitamin D previously recommended. AMA Morning Rounds.
On September 29, 2008 the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine released results from a study that had been conducted finding that “Dietary Supplements Glucosamine and/or Chondroitin Fare No Better than Placebo in Slowing Structural Damage of Knee Osteoarthritis.”
I thought that these findings are pretty interesting and timely considering that just last week my husband had been in to see the doctor, who recommended that he take Glucosamine for an old knee injury.
I had been advising him not to waste money on buying the supplements until we looked at what the research had to say about using the supplements.
In this new study rsearchers from the Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) team reported that the dietary supplements glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, together or alone, appeared to fare no better than placebo in slowing loss of cartilage in osteoarthritis of the knee. Nine GAIT centers recruited patients for the study. Their results were published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
The study which was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health confirms other findings showing the supplements have few or no effects.
My husband’s injury has been primary a ligament injury/ligament strain, rather than a joint problem, so wouldn’t have been a candidate for using the supplements to start with.
The FDA urges consumers to discontinue use of Hydroxycut products in order to avoid any undue risk. Adverse events are rare, but exist.Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
Another example of the truth being stretched, or misrepresented in advertising and where the buyer must beware.
According to Federal regulators from the Food and Drug Administration, Bayer has been illegally marketing two aspirin products that make unsubstantiated health claims about fighting heart disease and osteoporosis.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently revised recommendations for Vitamin D based in new information indicating that children need twice as much Vitamin D as originally thought.
For many people, eating vitamin D-fortified foods and being exposed to sunlight are needed to maintaining a healthy vitamin D status.
On September 29, 2008 the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine released results from 
