How to
Research the Safety and Effectiveness of Brand Name
Products
by Barbara D. Allan
Author of Conquering Arthritis
I recently got the following question from a reader:
“Do you have any information about a product
called ‘Juice Plus’ which is supposed
to be capsules that consist of only veggies and fruits.
Although it is not touted as being for arthritis -
is there any indication that it is harmful in anyway?”
This is the answer I gave the reader:
“I just did a quick internet search and found
the Juice Plus site. The basic product is a concentrate
made from 17 different fruits and vegetables. As long
as you have no food sensitivity reactions to any of
those 17 foods, it is probably a quite healthy product.”
Six Steps to a Highly Informed
Answer
- Find out exactly what is in the product. If the
product is being offered by a reputable dealer this
is easy. If you type the name brand into a search
engine, you can usually find a merchant’s or
manufacturer’s website that provides an exact
ingredient listing. Otherwise you will have to call
the merchant or manufacturer.
- Apply everything you already know about the underlying
causes of arthritis to see if this product is likely
to help. In the case above, I used my knowledge of
food sensitivities being an underlying cause of many
cases of arthritis to warn the reader that she would
need to test for food sensitivities before she could
know if this particular product would be likely to
help her arthritis.
If she reacts poorly to any of the ingredients, it
will likely make her arthritis worse. If she has no
problem with any of the ingredients, it may improve
her general health and might even help her arthritis.
- Look at the research on arthritis treatments. More
research is being done all the time on arthritis.
It is worth keeping updated on what actually has been
proven to work, how well it works, and if there are
any known drawbacks.
The Arthritis Foundation is a conservative, well respected
organization. There has to be a fair amount of scientific
evidence that a treatment offer long term improvements
for people with arthritis before they are willing
to say anything positive about it. With this in mind,
their supplement
guide is a good place to visit for this type of
fact finding.
My old favorite, PubMed,
is another excellent resource. It will give you a
direct look at the scientific research.
- Check if the FDA
has issued warnings about the dietary supplement you
are considering.
- Check whether the FDA
or the FTC
have taken action against the promoter of a product
you are considering.
- Finally, if you want to learn even more about product
safety, visit NIH’s
Medline Plus site which has a special health
fraud page with many useful links.
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