Researchers announced Tuesday that they had discovered a stimulant banned by a sports doping agency in a weight-loss supplement, giving fresh ammunition to state politicians who want Congress to increase regulation of supplement safety.
The amphetamine-like stimulant was found in weight-loss supplements labeled as containing acacia rigidula. Researchers found that 11 out of 21 supplements tested positive for the substance.
While the stimulant has been around since the 1930s, it has never been found to be safe in humans, according to the study published Tuesday in the medical journal Drug Testing and Analysis.
It is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency because it is a performance enhancer.
The study’s authors called for the Food and Drug Administration to immediately warn consumers about the substance called β-methylphenylethylamine and take “aggressive enforcement action” to eliminate it in supplements.
While the FDA can take enforcement actions against a supplement manufacturer, keeping these products from reaching the market in the first place is tougher.
The FDA only partially regulates supplements. Supplement makers have to abide by agency manufacturing and labeling standards but don’t have to get FDA approval before distributing a product.
Therefore, the agency doesn’t review a supplement’s contents or ingredients prior to marketing, it does with regular drugs.
The study’s lead author, Pieter Cohen, criticized the agency for not doing enough to enforce the requirements on the books.
“Two years ago the FDA found a new synthetic stimulant in multiple supplements,” said Cohen, a professor at Harvard Medical School. “They should have moved two years ago to remove this amphetamine-like stimulant from all supplements.”
Some retailers are taking the hint. Vitamin Shoppe said Wednesday it will remove all acacia rigidula products due to the concern.
The supplement trade group Council for Responsible Nutrition also called for the FDA to step in and recall any products containing the substance. The group said that acacia rigidula products represent a “small portion of the dietary supplement industry.”
The recent study is sure to increase pressure on Congress to take up supplement oversight.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee is aware of the issues raised by the study but is so far monitoring the situation to determine its next move, a source told the Washington Examiner.
Congress is getting pressure from several states to step in and do something on supplements. A group of 14 state attorneys general wrote lawmakers last month asking for an inquiry into the ingredients for supplements.
The letter expressed concern with unlabeled ingredients in supplements and whether they are safe.
The concern was ignited by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigation earlier this year into supplements. Schneiderman tested herbal supplements at Walgreens, WalMart, Target and GNC and found they contained unlisted ingredients.
The four retailers pulled their products from New York shelves in response to a subpoena from Scheniderman.
However, GNC reached an agreement with Schneiderman’s office to return supplements to stores in the Empire State.
GNC unveiled in a letter from its CEO Wednesday how it reached the agreement with the attorney general. The nutrition and vitamin retailer said that it implemented new standards that use DNA barcoding to confirm the authenticity of its supplement ingredients.
The retailer also noted that the rest of the supplement industry should embrace novel testing methods that “provide additional opportunities to build consumer trust.”
