Food supplements, a thriving business<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A poor diet, not enough exercise, too much alcohol and cigarettes
\nand overexposure to unrelenting heat and pollution are just a few
\nof the complaints commonly heard from middle-class professionals
\nabout how unhealthy their lifestyle is.<\/p>\n
But changing one's lifestyle may not fit in with the demands
\nof most daily schedules and, of course, is not that easy, even
\nthough the fear of developing cancer or another fatal disease
\nassociated with an unhealthy lifestyle continues to nag at most
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Craving an instant fix for their health concerns, the middle-
\nclass segment of society has become the most lucrative marketing
\ntarget for various food supplements, dietary pills, vitamins and
\nminerals.<\/p>\n
The more expensive a product is, the better it sells. And most
\nof the bestsellers are imported.<\/p>\n
A massive influx of these products on the local market and a
\ngrowing trend of food supplement consumption has given Ida
\nMarlinda, who heads food supplement monitoring at the Indonesian
\nConsumers Foundation (YLKI), enough reason to be highly
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
\"What worries me most is the lack of control and monitoring by
\nthe government on the distribution and consumption of food
\nsupplements,\" she told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
Food supplements contain a \"dietary ingredient\" that is
\nintended to add to diets, and which may include: vitamins,
\nminerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids and substances
\nsuch as enzymes, organ tissues, glandulars and metabolites.<\/p>\n
These products can either be extracts or concentrates, and can
\ncome in a variety of forms, such as tablets, capsules, soft gels,
\ngel caps, liquids or powders.<\/p>\n
Ida said, however, that all of these supplements, unless they
\nare just herbs that have been dried and put into a capsule, have
\nbeen chemically manipulated in some way. But that does not have
\nto be a problem if consumers know what they are really taking,
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health places food supplements in a special
\ncategory under the general umbrella of \"food\" instead of drugs,
\nand places the tasks of registration and monitoring -- including
\nthe promotion -- with the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).<\/p>\n
It was BPOM who ordered the withdrawal of 100 nutritional
\nsupplements produced by Pan Pharmaceuticals of Australia earlier
\nthis month after that country's health authorities suspended the
\ncompany's license over allegations it used raw materials that had
\nnot been tested for safety and that it manipulated laboratory
\ntest results.<\/p>\n
Many consumers of Pan's products had reportedly fallen ill,
\nand in a number of cases seriously, with some saying they
\nsuffered from hallucinations and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n
Ida praised the decision made by BPOM head Sampurno, but she
\nbelieves greater concerns revolving around food supplement issues
\nhave yet to be addressed.<\/p>\n
Dr. Marius Widjajarto, the chairman of the Indonesia Health
\nConsumers Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI), pointed out the loose
\nregulation on food supplements in the country for being the
\nculprit behind unchecked distribution of these products.<\/p>\n
The only requirement for passing registration at BPOM is that
\nthe distributors produce a certificate stating the quality and
\nsafety of these products, which is issued by the manufacturers'
\ncountry of origin, he said.<\/p>\n
As in any other country, there is no regulation for verifying
\nthe ingredients or the quality of the supplement.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Post, Marius said that from all the
\nfood supplements stocked on store shelves, only 10 percent of
\nthem have been accredited with going through a safe production
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
\"Wouldn't you be curious about buying some supplements whose
\nregistration code was printed on a label stuck on the box instead
\nof being printed directly on the package as it should be? Has it
\nreally passed the registration process?\" Marius asked.<\/p>\n
Ida underlined the overuse -- or abuse -- of the word
\n\"natural\" in the marketing of supplements, which she suspected
\nwas aimed at putting consumers' minds at ease by giving them the
\nimpression that if something is natural, then it must also be
\nsafe.<\/p>\n
Most advertisements also give the impression that some
\nsupplement pills have the ability to cure any health problem
\ninstead of simply helping to speed up the metabolism's recovery.<\/p>\n
Ida said that most food supplements had similar ingredients to
\nmedicine, but in a lower quantity. Unlike medicine, however, the
\nconsumption of supplements is done only on suggestion.<\/p>\n
\"The exaggerated ads that promote supplements as having the
\nsame curative effects as medicine appeals to consumers, and no
\nwarning is ever issued by BPOM,\" she explained.<\/p>\n
\"The supplements are sold as medicine, as there are guidelines
\nadvising a regular intake of a particular dosage with the promise
\nof higher effectiveness after taking the product for a certain
\nperiod of time. The difference is, unlike those people who take
\nmedicine, supplement users are not covered by manufacturers'
\ninsurance.\"<\/p>\n
Although no one has ever complained about supplements to YLKI,
\nIda urged for better consumer protection as many studies abroad
\nwere finding out that some vitamin and mineral supplements could
\nbe harmful to people's health with long-term use.<\/p>\n
In a study done in the U.S., researchers found that out of a
\nwide variety of randomly chosen herbal supplements, most of them
\ncontained only small amounts of potent herbs. Some even contained
\ngrass and weeds and none of the ingredients listed on the label.<\/p>\n
So do we really need to take food supplements?<\/p>\n
\"Yes, if you are recovering from a disease, are over the age
\nof 60, or you work hard and long hours. However, you should never
\nuse supplements as a replacement for food, because food actually
\ncontains hundreds of different substances that interact in ways
\nthat a supplement cannot duplicate. So make time to eat decent
\nmeals and just go back to eating natural food,\" Ida suggested.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/food-supplements-a-thriving-business-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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