fda

In a clinical study that has left researchers baffled, the new weight loss drug Contrave exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s requirements to prove a weight loss drug’s efficacy. Contrave is actually a combination of two different drugs: bupropion and naltrexone, which are used to fight depression and smoking addiction respectively. This combination of pharmaceuticals is often prescribed in the treatment of alcohol and opiate addiction.

Its method for working its power impacts the brain’s craving and reward system. It is here that it unleashes its ability to block the craving drive that leads to overeating and binge-eating.

Vice President Joe Biden is known for his verbal gaffes. But this time, he’s spot on – it’s tough enough to afford food in these uncertain economic times, people should not have to worry about the safety of that food.

Biden co-chairs the Food Safety Working Group along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The theme will be contamination prevention.

“The focus is to have a completely different emphasis than we’ve had in the past,” Biden said. “We’re going to make our new priority preventing (food contamination) from happening in the first place.”

Food Inc. is the just-released movie, by director Robert Kenner, unveiling the dark and dirty underbelly of our food industry. As the movie’s byline suggests, “you’ll never look at dinner the same way.”

The documentary-style feature shows how the majority of the food we consume is controlled in the hands of just a few giant food manufacturers whose sometimes deplorable and shocking processing practices have not only been hidden from the American consumer but have had the consent of the government’s two food regulatory bodies, the FDA and USDA.

The movie, which features interviews with In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation, is more than just a jaw-dropping expose that graphically shows our food travels from farm (or machine) to fork, but it also motivates all of us to think twice before we order a hot dog at the baseball stadium, grab a box of sugar corn popped cereal or select a few tomatoes from our mass grocer for a summer salad.

Packaged foods can present misleading health claims, cleverly tip-toeing around the laws that govern them. But sometimes, the FDA will say enough is enough.

Cheerios, the long-time favorite breakfast cereal, is making a claim that the FDA just can’t let fall through the cracks. The agency sent a warning letter to General Mills, telling them that they can’t label Cheerios as a treatment for high cholesterol and heart disease.

The FDA points to language on the Cheerios label:

At the beginning of the month, our senior editor Brandi Koskie blogged about the Hydroxycut recall. Here’s a quick recap, and where it may (or should) lead with regards to future health legislation:

Is the Food & Drug Administration protecting consumers from dangerous and fraudulent claims by supplement makers, or are they simply reacting after the fact when it’s too late? That’s what the advocacy group called the Reality Coalition thinks. And there’s some merit to that claim. The group argues that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), does little to protect consumers from unsafe supplements like Hydroxycut until it’s too late.