don's report archive
Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Monday June 4, 2001
Dave Barry would preface a news item like the one I’m about to summarize with these words: “I’m not making this up!” I suppose I should do likewise, so brace yourself—it seems there really is no end to human folly.
It appears that some American soda pop and other soft drink (and tea) companies are succeeding at persuading consumers to pay more for their non-nutritious sweet drinks by adding herbs and/or dietary substances—and making health claims for the new products! Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Celestial Seasonings, among others, are now selling medical fixes in soda pop and teas! Really.
Specifically, they are offering ingredients normally found in dietary supplements and herbal medicines in sugary drinks (or teas) with the idea that consuming such concoctions will "enlighten your senses" (whatever that means), lower your stress, enhance your immune system and enable other health and medical benefits.
Has the American public really fallen for such nonsense? Are people buying this sugary snake oil? Yes, for while there is zero evidence that anything along these lines does an iota of good health-wise, there is lots of evidence that consumers are willing to pay for such promises. According to Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm, sales for new beverages called nutraceuticals totaled $4.7 billion in 2000. Last year, consumers spent $23.4 billion on all products in the larger category of functional foods. By the end of this year, according to Frost and Sullivan, income from both categories will show at least a 20 percent increase! Is that not astonishing?
These figures suggest that one reason Dave Barry is so funny is that no matter how much he exaggerates, the reality of human folly is evident in the scenarios he creates. For example, Barry explained vitamins as “little pills named A, B, C, D, E and K that the government recommends you have certain amounts of. These recommendations are based on the requirements of the Minimum Daily Adult, a truly pathetic individual that the government keeps in this special facility in Washington, D.C. where he is fed things like ‘riboflavin.’" (From "Stay Fit & Healthy Until You Are Dead.")
What, exactly, are these companies putting into pop bottles to enabling them to suggest that drinking the stuff has health benefits? The list includes:
- Ginkgo biloba (herb) in bottles of iced tea.
- Guarana (an herbal stimulant) in softdrinks.
- Kava (a sedative root) in a cocktail “fruit” drink called “Tension Tamer.”
- Glucosamine (a building block of cartilage), in fruit-flavored tonics “to ease knee pain.”
- St. John's wort (herb) to a beverage line called “SoBe” for “wisdom and karma.”
Garcinia cambogia (a pumpkinlike fruit) added to the sugar-water in a softdrink marketed as “SoBe Lean” with a promise on the label that it "acts like liquid liposuction” (thanks Pepsi, for in effect calling the American consumer an idiot who might believe such a preposterous promise.)
How could Pepsi escape public ridicule for marketing a product like “SoBe Lean?” How can they avoid being featured on a Saturday Night Live skit for marketing a soft drink that is supposed to “suppress the appetite and inhibit the body's synthesis of fat?” In short, how can the company defend such bizarre health and medical claims? You’re going to love this: A spokesman suggested they’re only kidding! Honestly. In the same New York Times story noted above, John Bello, SoBe's founder, replied "We don't claim that, it's just a playful theme” to a question about whether the drink was really a liquid liposuction!
What’s next? Well, Coke is teaming with Procter & Gamble to push a new drink called “Elations” (cute, no?) which will ease the aches and pains of older folks, that is, baby boomers! How might the mighty titans of industry convince the boomers to take this claim seriously -- by adding to the sugary stew no less than 1,500 milligrams of glucosamine. “What good will that do, you might wonder?” None, in my view! Glucosamine is a dietary supplement that health food pill pushers have sold to arthritis sufferers for many years. The evidence for the efficacy of such a claim is scanty. (One study published this year in the British journal Lancet did suggest that it "might" slow cartilage erosion.) At present, Elations is being test-marketed in Florida with this catchy slogan--"Joy for Joints." The head of Coke has depicted Elations as “the equivalent of youth in a bottle.” I'll bet that's just a playful theme, too, but will consumers know that?
There is already a lot of reason to question the value of some, if not most (all?), of the potions sold in pill form in health food stores across the land. Now the supermarket and convenience stores are loading up on the same junk, packaged in more appealing and tastier delivery mechanisms. If these ingredients and products were useless as pills, are they not still a waste of money as soft drinks and teas? The difference now, it seems, is that they are more pleasant to consume, if you are into sugar drinks—and sales figures and the obese nature of our population suggest we are.
Where is the government when you need it? Has the FDA given approval to these claims and certified in any manner the safety of such products? Have studies been done that provide evidence that supports the claims made? Do the buyers of these drinks even ask themselves such questions?
Well, the FDA has not consented or otherwise approved of most herb additives, or other substances dumped into the brew to give credibility (however miniscule) to these products. The ability of companies to add such substances is largely related to the fact that the FDA has not actually banned them! Not the highest recommendation, it seems to me. (“Hey, consumer, buy this—it has not yet been shown to cause cancer!”)
According to an article in the New York Times (5/27/01), a federal General Accounting Office report last July contained strong criticism of the FDA for providing "limited assurances" of the safety of functional foods. The companies do not provide label information about the concentration of herbal extract and other such information. Very little is known about the efficacy and long-term side effects of such product enhancements designed to increase sales to consumers looking for a no-sweat, quick fix for good health.
Personally, I suspect that the risk is very small, as the doses of alleged health-enhancing ingredients are so low. My criticism is that these products are totally useless and represent yet another, rather dramatic, demonstration of the fact that consumers need encouragement and education to beat the system that rips them off and contributes to poor health. They need doctors and health educators who are willing to advise them on how to beat the system, in part by explaining why not to buy this absolute junk and in much larger part by motivating and assisting people to learn how to pursue self-managing, responsible and informed lifestyles.
Oh well, despite the chicanery all around you, try to look on the bright side, maintain and enhance your sense of humor and enjoy yourself—while living (and spending) wisely. All the best.
(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of nutrition. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)
(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)
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