if your tea helps make you healthy, it's now a drug?

[bibliophile birds]

FDA To Lipton: Tea Can't Do That

the Food and Drug Administration... just told consumer products giant Unilever to knock it off already with some health claims for Lipton Green Tea 100% Natural, Naturally Decaffeinated.

The company's Lipton unit splashes the trademarked phrase "Tea Can Do That" liberally on the health sections of its websites. But the agency says in a warning letter that the way Lipton is talking up health benefits from tea on the Web is over the line for a product that's a food and not a drug.

ok... so i'd agree that Lipton is probably going a bit overboard to claim that their tea can lower cholesterol and reduce you risk of heart attack and fill you up with antioxidants. and i'm impressed that the FDA would actually take notice and say that a company can't misrepresent their products to consumers. (wonder when they'll start sending those letters out to soy-based "health food" companies?)

but it seems completely INSANE for the FDA to tell them to knock it off because the claims, if true, would make tea a DRUG instead of food... um, since when? just because a food is naturally capable of making you healthy doesn't mean that it's a drug- by which they are inferring a controlled substance. it's just ludicrous. what about all the herbals people have been taking for millennia that the FDA and health sector have refused to recognize? if those aren't "drugs" then tea certainly isn't.

man, these people are loosing touch with reality faster than i thought possible.

 

[Emerald]

Crap! If things keep going this way my favorite hot teas will probably triple in price!
I love Sweet Dreams by bigalow teas--great for that late night unwinding before bed!
I gotta start growing more of my good mints and harvesting so that I can reproduce that tea myself!
Next thing ya know they are gonna find out that fresh air is good for ya and start charging ya to breath!
(on that note-our local Meijer had "flavored" oxygen for sale in a can)

 

[freemotion]

That is why I am frantically learning how to do more and more myself! Mint and other good tea herbs are easy to grow...mint will actually take over! And you can easily make extracts from it...mint chocolate chip ice creammmmmmmmmmm.......

 

[~gd]

If you make drug-like claims for just about anything it becomes a drug according to the FDA. The original Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) was basically a labeling law. All kinds of Drugs that are outlawed now were allowed by that original law as long as they were PROPERLY LABELED. times change and now advertising claims are considered to be part of the labeling. They will usually tell you to moderate your claims OR be regulated as a drug. The stuff in the health food stores all claim to be food or diet supplements and they had enough political power to get and keep this exception to the rule.~gd

 

[Shiloh Acres]

What gd said.

Tea is basically an herb, just as all the herbal remedies. None of them can be labeled on the package as to what they are "good for" either, because of the FDA. They are all dietary supplements.

Funny thing is, IMO food has a LOT to do with health. Drugs arejust band-aids to "fix" problems caused mostly by diet. But as far as I am concerned, you can call herbs, etc "food". But I don't have a lot of use for the FDA.

 

[bibliophile birds]

times change and now advertising claims are considered to be part of the labeling. They will usually tell you to moderate your claims OR be regulated as a drug. The stuff in the health food stores all claim to be food or diet supplements and they had enough political power to get and keep this exception to the rule.~gd

what about all the "heart-smart" foods they sell now? what about Cheerios and Kellogg's claiming to lower cholesterol? all they can really say is something like "eating a diet high in fiber and whole grains will help lower your cholesterol" but they DO advertise as heart healthy and get away with it.

i mean, it's just common nutritional sense. i wouldn't say that they are claiming that their foods have the same qualities as a drug specifically made for lowering cholesterol, but Lipton's wasn't making that claim either. they are really just saying that their products fit into a diet that promotes health.

i'm not necessarily inclined to believe ANY of those claims from food companies, but i don't think they are being inappropriate to say those things. i certainly don't think it makes anyone think they are miracle foods that work like medications... i guess i just feel like the FDA should be busy doing other things.

 

[FarmerChick]

didn't Cheerios actually do a controlled study on replacing a usual egg, bacon, etc. diet with Cheerios and it DID lower people's cholesterol????

I believe they can back up their statements (???)

just wondering lol

 

[Wifezilla]

" Based largely on studies of oatmeal, in 1997 the Food and Drug Administration approved a health claim that the soluble fiber in oats can help lower cholesterol. (That's the claim you'll see on Cheerios boxes.) Are there any studies on the cereal itself?

In a General-Mills-sponsored study published in 1998, people with high cholesterol levels were told to follow an American Heart Association diet (which is low in saturated fat) for six weeks. Those who were assigned to eat three cups of Cheerios a day lowered their cholesterol more than those who ate three cups of cornflakes.

But the average LDL ("bad") cholesterol of the Cheerios eaters fell by only 7 points (from 160 to 153). To look at the ecstatic people in the Cheerios ad, you'd think their LDL had tumbled all the way down to the recommended level (100 or below).

In fact, a 7-point fall would be a decent drop from just one food, but it was actually three servings of one food. On average, participants ate 450 calories' worth of cereal a day (3 cups of Cheerios plus 1 1/2 cups of fat-free milk). That's a big chunk of the average American's 2,200-calorie diet, especially for such a modest payoff."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_8_32/ai_n15691320/

 

[FarmerChick]

I hate all cereals lol
I sure won't be eating 3 cups of Cheerios over a lifetime let alone per day lol

 

[Wifezilla]

I used to eat cereal all the time. I also used to be really fat. And no...that wasn't a coincidence.