Public warned food supplements can be harmful

CEBU, Philippines - An officer of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is discouraging the public from buying and taking food supplements.

There are various food supplements currently flooding the market, with several supposed testimonies on their healing effect. True enough, some people have become dependent on food supplements, thinking that they can be cured even without medical advice.

But in a forum yesterday morning at the Department of Health Building, Dr.Alvin Roxas, head of the renal center of VSMMC, said that food supplements are just giving added nutrition and has no healing powers.

Worse, Dr. Roxas added, taking food supplements can cause diseases and complications. He expressed apprehensions against some people’s perception that food supplements can cure them.

Food and Drug Officer Sarah Oriol also calls on the public to be careful against these supplements. People should make sure that the ones they are taking have been checked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA ensures the safety and quality of food products, drugs and cosmetics in the country.

The FDA is expressing its “full and unequivocal support” for the health department’s issuance of Order No.2010-0008 which requires the translation into Filipino the warning, “No Approved Therapeutic Claims.”

FDA, in a statement, said that the regulation of claims attributed to all health products in general is “imbued with public interest, as such claims can influence a person’s belief regarding a particular health product.”

“Reliance on false and misleading claims regarding health products may have harmful consequences to a person’s health,” the FDA warns.   (FREEMAN NEWS)