FDA Labeling Rules are a Straitjacket

Food and Medicine are NOT opposites

FDA rules dictate that every product must be labeled as either a FOOD or a SUPPLEMENT but NOT both.   The FDA position is that it is impossible for any one product to both heal and feed you.

Every Naturopathic physician knows this is simply not true. We have been using carefully selected foods as effective medicines for  over 100 years.  There is no quackery here;  it’s backed up by the 2002 Human Genome project.   This provided scientific evidence that certain co-factors (which influence chemical reactions in your body) match up to certain “nutrient genes”.  If we “plug in” these nutrient co-factors and foods into these chemical reactions – which occur every second of every minute of every day –  we might positively impact the expression of your DNA and prevent disease.

It is time for a paradigm change.  In fact, it’s long overdue. 

This is shown clearly by my experience with the  Amazon Sacha inchi nut.  This organic tree nut is so high in Omega 3 oil content that 12 sacha nuts are equivalent to the 400 mg RDA Omega 3 stated as sufficient by the FDA.  That’s no empty claim;  it was calculated by Food Quality Labs in Portland, Oregon which tested Sacha inchi nuts in a fatty acid profile.  But the FDA insists it must be labeled and sold as either a food or a supplement when it is obviously both.

And take chocolate, which was once thought to be nothing more than a decadent indulgence. The latest scientific research shows that it may be the top antioxidant, higher than even than blueberries.

Twenty years ago when I was in the Amazon, our shaman/guide sliced open a cacao bean and a dazzling purple juice flowed forth. I realized what I was seeing were those purple anthocyanins, similar to what is in blueberries. So chocolate by its very nature was an antioxidant. A few years later at a worldwide Flavonoid conference in Malta conducted by French agricultural scientists, I met the Hershey’s European division who were introducing a healthy antioxidant chocolate called Coco Via. This was not successful, but only because the world wasn’t ready yet.

The world is ready now: Nestle Health Sciences, a newly created division of the food giant for researching and developing medical and functional foods this week stated they believe there is an “opportunity between food and pharma.”  and have opened a war chest of funding to study phytochemicals and plant extracts in foods 

I strongly believe in chocolate as medicine.   Unfortunately, most chocolate companies process chocolate at over 110°F, which doesn’t affect taste but severely diminishes the antioxidant potential.   You won’t find a flavonol content category on any FDA label.  Antioxidant values are extrapolated by running an expensive battery of lab tests (TROLOX, TEAC, FOLIN ASSAY, ORAC) and averaging the results.  But flavonol content may be the single most important thing when choosing chocolate.

Now chocolate is opening her secrets.  Research is demonstrating what Naturopathic physicians, practicing science-based nutrition, have always known; food IS medicine.  Food has a superior effectiveness and relative freedom from side effects.

Food is not just A medicine – It is your BEST medicine. 

Visit our Healthy Chocolates Page !

GUEST BLOGGER

The Dispensary Online is proud to be an authorized retailer of Dr. Nita's healing foods and medicines. From her signature VerryBerry antioxidant supplement to her high omega chocolate clusters, Dr. Nita brings new life to the idea of nutrition.