November 12, 2004

IN THIS ISSUE

Leafy Green in the News
"Arm chair" study on vitamin E
Legislative action - protecting DSHEA, etc.

LEAFY GREENS IN THE NEWS

Recently, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute released a study that fruits and vegetable consumption is important to your health, especially when it comes to cardiovascular health.

In fact, green leafy vegetable consumption, in particular, was shown to lower the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Some of you are grazers and need no encouragement to add fresh veggies to your diets.

However, ahem, some of you are slackers and may want to consider taking Greens Plus, which has a great combo of organic veggies (broccoli, spinach, beets, watercress), organic grasses (barley, alfalfa, wheat), plus chlorella, spirulina, and betaine (for digestion).

For more information on the fruit and veggie study, check out these links:

VITAMIN E STUDY DRAMA

Be provocative. Get noticed. Actors and advertisers know this, and, alas, so do scientific researchers.

The Annals of Internal Medicine has an article on vitamin E purporting higher mortality rates with “high dose” (over 400 I.U. per day) vitamin E.

Although the researchers themselves acknowledged the limitations of their study when applied to most healthy people, they have nevertheless called for a reduction in U.S. dietary guidelines for vitamin E, which currently recommend an upper limit of 1,500 IU.

Here’s what an NNFA (National Nutritional Foods Association) response had to say:

“The research, which analyzed clinical trial data from 19 studies, focused on nine that involved dosages of vitamin E over 400 IU. Most of the patients in the studies were over 60-years of age and had chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and Alzheimer's. The studies reviewed, some of which were more than 10 years old, were of varying quality and contained a wide range of dosages.”

David Seckman, NNFA's executive director and CEO, didn’t hold his tongue on this one, stating: “This is arm chair science at its worst!”

All I can do is hiss, however, you can do more. Read on!

U.S. LEGISLATIVE ACTION – PROTECT DSHEA BY WRITING TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS – NOW!

The Dietary and Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994 celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 25th.

The DSHEA bill ensures access to safe, effective dietary supplements, and, thus, protects millions of consumers who include supplements in their health regimens.

Alas, some U.S. legislators continue to lobby for dramatically increased regulation of dietary supplements. Trust me, this will do nothing to increase safety, but costs could skyrocket.

The Coalition to Preserve DSHEA offers information about bills in Congress as well as simple actions you can take to save your supplements!

It’s been a while since we’ve asked members to write to the rascals in Washington D.C., but we think it’s once again time. Here’s a link to make the process easy: www.saveoursupplements.org

Take a moment to weigh in, so our little Co-op can vote as a block together!

OTHER OMINOUS ACTIONS IN EUROPE

The European Union Directive on Dietary Supplements and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) Guidelines for Vitamins and Mineral Supplements (this is what World Trade Organization abides by) are both very close to changing consumer standards on nutritional supplements.

Both of these directives could result in prohibition and/or reformulation of many supplemental products currently available in Europe. Some of the regulations include:

Allowing only vitamins and minerals to be sold over-the-counter
Permitting only a few specific forms of vitamins and minerals to be sold over-the-counter
Setting a maximum dosage levels for vitamins and minerals (i.e. EU Directive says vitamin B6 will be restricted to 25 mg)

Some worry that the EU Directive and Codex could force the U.S. to follow suit and ultimately limit U.S. consumers’ access to dietary supplements.

Many (most) of our members have been following the cat fight in Europe for a long time. If you haven’t and want to learn more:

It just never ends. The moral to the story is that on ALL fronts – legislative, media, and research – you have to keep your eyes and ears twitching (and your emails and letters flying) to protect access to safe, affordable supplements.

Still purringly yours,

Guido

Guido Housemouser (The Enforcer) ^..^
Chief Kat and Community Manager
Our Health Co-op
931 Village Blvd, Suite 905-480
West Palm Beach FL 33409

Making Health Affordable Together