Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG

One more 'fad' heard on the weekend radio talk shows sells scams to the public in the name of health. Infomercials and Web sites urge us to eliminate the buildup of toxins that supposedly results from imprudent habits or exposure to hazardous substances.
If you’re healthy, concentrate on giving your body what it needs to maintain its self-cleaning system—a healthful diet, adequate fluids, exercise, sleep, and all recommended medical check-ups, instead of relying on so-called detox procedures, says the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

Posted by at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Health claims are statements about the beneficial effect on the body of a food, or its ingredients. When you see statements on food labels such as, 'helps maintain a healthy heart', or 'helps aid digestion', these are examples of health claims. General claims about benefits to overall good health, such as 'healthy' or 'good for you', will in future only be allowed to be used if accompanied by an appropriate and approved claim. This means that more general claims will be backed up by an explanation as to why the food is 'healthy' or what makes it a 'superfood'.
Finally labels are not allowed to claim that food can treat, prevent or cure any disease or medical condition. l

Posted by at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Web MD today is an expose of the use of 'colon cleaners' which are sold in $billions usually to those with poor education, as a substitute for expensive medical care (particularly on the radio on Sunday mornings) or those sucked in to the vitamin/additive field. As P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said "A sucker is born every minute." The more research done in the field on complementary medicine, the more we see people throwing their money, and possibly their health, away on worthless products. As practitioners interested in prevention we should pay more attention to helping people avoid these products.

Posted by at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)