Hydroxycut causes liver damage, and why we need to regulate supplements

Weight Loss Medicines should only be taken under a doctor’s supervision, whether Over the counter or not. Unfortunately the humans quest for an easy weight loss solution leads to such unfortunate incidents.

It will cost substantially more if it's regulated by the FDA. The FDA has to hire additional scientists, doctors, etc. to supervise. In addition, the manufacturer will need to conduct animal & people trials. All this will get passed onto the consumer, and then there will no longer be any OTC supplements and everything will be by prescription only.

Mostly likely, the reason supplements are not regulated by the FDA is that there is no incentive (fee) to do so.

The purpose of regulation is not to remove harmful drugs from the market, it is to control access to them depending on risks, and provide information about risks so that consumers can make informed decisions. Those are all good things. It also adds some protection from liability, which hydroxycut will most certainly be facing.

I don’t know how rigorous the effectiveness and risk studies should be for any new product. These things are very expensive to do well. It is always a innovation vs. safety issue. Perhaps there should be mandatory reporting of serious adverse events, like a death, even for herbs/supplements. That would make sense.

I posted about hydroxycut in Iraq on my blog 2 yrs ago, but I’ll say it again, the majority of health food supplements DON’T DO ANYTHING!!! So regulation is not the answer. Its education of a gullible public who buys this garbage!! Its a multi BILLION dollar industry… and who’s dollars are they? The same people who go to chiropractors, purchase colon cleanse, visit the cancer treatment center of america, visit “N.D”‘s, and buy Kevin Trudeau’s “books”.

Ephedra and Hydroxycut were rarely fatal, but the entire industry is just a joke and fleecing America.