Supplements -- herbal, vitamins, minerals, etc. | Photo by Alex Segre from Flickr
The line “No Approved Therapeutic Claims” found at the end of supplement ads is cliche. We see it everywhere — commercials, newspaper ads, magazines, social networks and obviously on the boxes of health supplements themselves. While every Filipino can memorize this 4-line phrase, I doubt that only a few percent really understood the vague yet important message behind it. The Department of Health tried to wipe away the confusion (as therapeutic is not your friendly-type word) by converting the phrase into its Filipino version:
Mahalagang Paalala: Ang (name of product) Ay Hindi Gamot At Hindi Dapat Gamiting Panggamot sa Anumang Uri ng Sakit.
Did that help? Partly, but no. Multi-level marketing models, celebrity-driven commercials and heavy advertising don’t contribute either.
The “No Approved Therapeutic Claims” line can be deemed almost useless. The real issue here is that some Filipinos get themselves confused among the many brands of medicines, herbal food supplements, weight loss products, sexual enhancers, whiteners, immune system boosters, etc. and then mix things up. That is, an herbal food supplement may already be treated as a cure to an ailment compared to the real prescribed medicine. Filipinos spend, according to DOH statistics, P150 billion on health supplements alone, half of which have no proven curative effects. Supplements cannot be judged as dangerous; most are not bad to one’s health, but do they also do any good?
For me, it won’t matter if one would like to spend half of his salary on herbal products, enhancers and supplements. That is your money, you just need to ensure that the supplement you intake can be trusted. However, if people start to ignore the medicines prescribed by doctors and health experts and substitute them with on-the-go supplements, then that is where the problem starts coming in. Supplements don’t cure; they provide our body with the needed vitamins and minerals which we don’t usually get in our normal diet. That is where the line “No Approved Therapeutic Claims” line should butt in and do its job. But it’s not helping. The price difference between medicines and supplements is what’s driving the local fellow to choose the latter. The change to the Filipino version of the line “No Approved Therapeutic Claims” will be and will always be useless unless the Department of Health willfully change the mindset of Filipinos regarding this important matter. Thankfully, the DOH is doing something about it.
Aside from adding another soon-to-be-cliche line,
“Wastong nutrisyon at regular na ehersisyo ang pinakamainam na pagpapanatili ng kalusugan (Proper nutrition and regular exercise are still the best ways to ensure overall health.)”
, the DOH, led by Sec. Cabral, is now frowning upon the many supplements being released into the market. The attack is on efficacy but not on safety. While there won’t be anything to prove that herbal supplements are dangerous, then DOH may have to place its efforts more on making the companies that sell supplements present their disclaimers in bolder, more comprehensible form so that people may understand it well and in turn make better health-related decisions.
To give a good end to this long post is a piece of advice. One would rather spend on fruits and other healthy natural food rather than on processed supplements. DOH is right — you’d rather eat right and exercise than spend long time of wishful thinking on how supplements could make you feel better.
Live right. 
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