Mark explains how supplement companies exploit regulatory gaps in the U.S., where the FDA uses an "innocent until proven guilty" approach unlike Australia's stricter system. DHEA is banned in Australia but sold over-the-counter in America, and U.S. companies dodge label restrictions by using nutritional-support statements instead of health claims.
Hi supplement user, physical culturist, or person who just likes to look good naked. It's Mark, author of The Truth About Supplements, with your fourth and final class. Today I have information that supplement companies don't want you to know: how they can get away with saying virtually anything on labels. This actually has a lot to do with supplement law, so let's go straight in. When talking about supplement laws, it's hard not to talk about the US, as many big company headquarters are centralized all all in the one country. U.S. supplement law is governed by the FDA, which stands for the Food and Drug Administration. Australian supplements are governed by the TGA, which stands for the Therapeutic Goods Administration. So let's have a look at Australian law versus the U.S., or the TGA versus the FDA, and how each interacts with one another. The way the FDA kind of works is that everything is innocent until proven guilty. The way the TGA works is that everything is guilty until proven innocent. These are general analogies, but you get the point. To demonstrate just how this works, Let me give you an example of how each treats DHEA. And if you've never heard of DHEA, don't worry, it's just an example of how the law works. DHEA in Australia is on the banned list. Actually, in Australia, it's classified as a banned steroid. In the US, you can get DHEA over the counter in a number of different dosages ranging from 10 milligrams to 100 milligrams. So why is there such a disparity between the two countries? Well, there isn't any clinical or long-term studies that have been produced to deem what is a safe dose. And in Australia, because research can't agree agree or disagree what a safe dose is, it's banned, or as I put before, it's going to be guilty until proven innocent. On the other hand, in the U.S., because science can't agree on dosage, it hasn't been proven harmful, or at least not on a mass scale like something like Ephedrine, it's legal. Or as I've put before, it's going to be innocent until it's proven guilty. By the way, for the full rundown on DHEA and my own personal experiment with Australian customs, look to page 91 in The Truth About Sports Supplements, which is the black book. The point here is this: until something is proven harmful or considered harmful, the FDA won't ban it. It's actually not a bad system, but shame they don't do the same for the pharmaceuticals, which they also control, in which they allow harmful drugs to be sold. But I'll save that topic for another day, or should I say another book. The TGA basically has two lists: the banned list and the not banned list. The problem with this system is that not everything is on each list. For example, some forms of zinc are not on the list. Last time I checked, GABA was not on the list. All this means is that these products are harder to get in Australian shops, but most of the time you'll have no problem with ordering them online. This is due to the grey area of not being on either list. You may have noticed that supplement companies in America are virtually getting away with saying anything on labels. Then if you go into your favourite ASN store in Australia, you'll probably notice that the label claims have been blacked out. Have you ever wondered What's the deal with that? Well, I certainly have. Well, US companies generally don't print different labels for different countries. So what happens if you're an Aussie distributor ordering US supplements, then selling those supplements in your Aussie store? The shopkeep must comply with Aussie law, as they have the TGA to answer to, not the FDA, which has a different ruling on what can and can't be put on labels. Supplement companies get around the issue of making claims on labels by making nutritional support statements. Not health claims. So what's the difference? For example, a health claim would be "cures cancer" or "treats arthritis." Instead, they'll make nutritional claims such as "may reduce the risk of osteoporosis" or "aids in a healthy testosterone level." The other way of getting around it is by saying, "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." So in a nutshell, The TGA is much more stricter than the FDA. In the book, The Truth About Sports Supplements: What They Don't Want You to Know, pages 24 to 34 in the book are dedicated to explaining what you need to know about supplement law. And of course, remember, with every purchase of The Truth About Supplements package, you also get a copy of The Man Behind the Transformations, which is valued at $97, completely free. And of course, if you have more questions, Grab yourself a copy of the books and get reading. I hope you've enjoyed this 4-day crash course with me to supplements. So grab yourself a copy today. Just go to www.truthaboutsupplements.com and hit the order button. Go today, go now. That's it for me. I hope you've enjoyed this. This is Maximus Mark signing off. Supplement smart and train hard.
