smart choices
The
Times has a write-up of the
Smart Choices campaign, an industry-supported
healthy foods labeling program that generously designates foods like Fruit Roll-Ups, mayonnaise, and Cocoa Puffs as good for you. "These are horrible choices," says the head of the nutrition department at Harvard School of Public Health.
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pill popping
In the wake of
FDA warnings about
steroids in nutritional supplements, federal officials are studying ways to improve safety in dietary supplements. Mean time, we've got a few consumer tips for those of you who take supplements, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:
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packaged food
John
read our post yesterday about
Naked Juice's decision to remove vitamins and herbal stuff from some of their product line, and forwarded us a response he got from the company a month ago. His question: if Strawberry Kiwi Kick contains 14 strawberries, why does the nutritional label say it contains 0% vitamin C? The answer is a good reminder of the difference between fresh food and food that's been processed, conveniently packaged, and wrapped up in some healthy-looking branding.
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Diet Coke Plus
Last month, the FDA sent Coca-Cola a
letter warning that their Diet Coke Plus ("it's what plants crave") violates FDA standards for products fortified with
vitamins.
side effects
Kevin writes, "I have been experiencing stomach pains after buying the new formula of
Centrum Multivitamins. A co-worker had the same pain." It turns out, Kevin and his co-worker aren't alone—the Amazon product page for the reformulated ("now with lycopene!") vitamins are overwhelmingly negative, with
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news from the swamp
The
FDA has announced new manufacturing standards for vitamins, herbs and other dietary supplements in order to help ensure quality throughout the manufacturing, packaging, labeling and storing process.
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evil
What's the fastest way to throw away customers' good will? Try
equating the wearing of turbans with terrorism. It seems that vitamin makers
Nature's Plus felt threatened enough by Illinois senator Dick Durbin's proposed bill that would require vitamin makers to disclose any harmful side effects of their products. As part of the 'Nutritional Health Alliance' (NHA), Nature's Plus sent the fliers labelled with 'GET A TURBAN FOR DURBIN!' to customers in a hateful mail campaign, complete with
scary monster font.
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Consumerist
Hey, kids! Get up off the couch, go outside, and maybe drink a glass of milk once in a while. A study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics shows that 70% of children studied had "insufficient" Vitamin D levels, or an outright deficiency. [Consumer Reports Health] [Pediatrics]
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rite aid
recalls
