FDA asked to simplify labeling of food supplements

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker urges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to simplify the labeling of food supplements to prevent people from mistaking health supplement for medicines.     

Youth Against Corruption and Poverty party-list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez said the label “No Approved Therapeutic Claim” is causing some people substitute health supplements for regular medicine.            

Lopez said the husband of a diabetes patient reported to her that his wife went into a coma after they switched from regular medicines to supplements.

The couple is now spending P25,000 monthly to sustain her dialysis needs.

“All these happened because they did not clearly understand the technical and vague ‘No Therapeutic Claim’ tag to realize that they should not stop taking their regular medicines when they take food supplements,” Lopez said. 

She said the labels of food supplements should be in simple English or Filipino.

She noted that last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public advisory, saying that food supplements have no curative effects.          

The advisory said: “Sa madaling salita, ANG MGA ITO AY HINDI NAKAGAGAMOT (In simple terms: THESE DO NOT CURE).”

“Unless that advisory is stamped in food supplement bottles, boxes and sachets, then Filipinos who are not very conversant in medical jargon like ‘therapeutic claims’ will never understand the importance of not replacing actual medicines with supplements,” Lopez said.

The lawmaker plans to introduce amendments to the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1997 (Republic Act 8423) to give the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care and the FDA more power to go after health supplement companies that deliberately try to mislead people.