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FDA declares walnuts a drug
Published: 26 July, 2011, 22:29
Are walnuts a drug? The FDA thinks so.
TAGS: Health, Politics, Drugs, Law, USA
Hey man, you know where I can score a quarter ounce of walnuts?
The Food and Drug Administration is telling California-based Diamond Foods that they need to remove wording from their walnut packages that advertises the health benefits of the tasty nut.
Unless, that is, they want to apply for an application that would consider their product a drug.
The FDA is cracking down hard on Diamond and says that the distributors can’t advertise the health benefits of the nut’s omega-3 fatty acids, even if they are verified by doctors. Three dozen published medical papers currently attest that eating walnuts improves vascular health and can combat heart attack risk. Even if doctors stand by those statements, the FDA does not and says that Diamond needs to nix the nut note that goes on their packages.
According to the FDA, Diamond is “misbranding” their nuts because they “are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners.”
“Therefore,” continues the Administration, “adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes.”
The intended purpose, of course, is to satisfy never-ending cravings for tasty nuts. It just so happens that some docs say that walnuts aren’t so bad for the ol’ ticker, too.
According to PotatoPro.com (which provides services for the vast and competitive potato industry), Diamond is “the premier processor and marketer of culinary, inshell snack and ingredient nuts,” and provides products to more than three-quarters of the supermarkets in the US.
Even if they are king of the nut world, the FDA says they can’t be all advertising the magical healing powers of the walnut all willy-nilly. William Faloon from Life Extension Magazine tells the Daily Mail that this is just typical of the tyrannical “police-state” that is the Food and Drug Administration.
“This kind of bureaucratic tyranny sends a strong signal to the food industry not to innovate in a way that informs the public about foods that protect against disease,” says Faloon. “While consumers increasingly reach for healthier dietary choices, the federal government wants to deny food companies the ability to convey findings from scientific studies about their products.”
In the meantime, you can check out Diamond Foods’ official website to get your fix of all things nutty. Did you know that King Solomon spoke of the walnut in the Old Testament? And that walnut grove existed at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and in Mesopotamia?
Fascinating stuff, really. Just don’t think for a second you can boast about the benefits of vitamin B6, folacin and thiamin without getting a scolding from those FDA fellas. They are the real nuts right there.
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@totallycritical: Apparently you don't get out much because the FDA, who basically work FOR Big Pharma (when they're supposed to regulate them) ARE being jerks here. They've turned into the pitbulls for Big Pharma, squelching any claims purveyors of foods or herbs can make about the benefits of their wares. It's bullshit and for you to defend the FDA here means you probably work for them.
Protecting Americans? You gotta be joking. Ever listened to a drug commercial on TV, or read the contraindications on those package inserts? These are APPROVED by the FDA, yet they freely inform you, the unsuspecting consumer or patient, that these drugs can cause you irreparable harm. And they decide to not go after Big Pharma, who consistently kill people with their bad drugs, but instead to forbid a company like Diamond from making claims about the health benefits of walnuts? Gimme a break.
The FDA lost all its credibility as a regulatory agency when they went after the vitamin and herb industry. They lost even more when We, the American People, learned of the revolving door between the FDA and Big Pharma.
Shame on them AND on you for defending them. When they decide that they TRULY work to "protect" the American People, perhaps then we will take them seriously.
Talk about a fail of an interpretation. This has nothing to do with "YOUR nuts", or walnuts in general, or health foods being banned or anything like that. How could you get this so wrong? The only thing that the FDA have a problem with here is MARKETING companies who MAKE HEALTH CLAIMS on the packaging of the products they are trying to SELL! It's got NOTHING to do with the fact these are walnuts. It doesn't mean you can't learn about those claims for yourself on the internet and then go buy some walnuts, but it means that the company MARKETING and SELLING the walnuts can not use their interpretation of health claims in the MARKETING of their PRODUCT! Shit people, this is the FDA protecting consumers, it's got NOTHING to do with liberty or limiting choice, or ANYTHING like that, it's completely about CLAIMS on product PACKAGING.. It doesn't matter if it's walnuts or SPAM, a marketing company is NOT a valid reliable objective source for health claims about the products it is TRYING TO SELL YOU. Don't kid yourself, this is the REAL issue here, it's not walnuts or health or rights, it's MARKETING STRATEGY! That's why we have very specific rules about listing ingredients and RDI%. Sure the marketing company say "its supported by evidence", of course they'd say that, they're trying to SELL you a product, but it is NOT up to THEM to interpret medical literature and put health claims ON THEIR PACKAGING to help sell their product. This is the FDA PROTECTING consumers from MARKETING, nothing to do with walnuts.
So people are allowed to sell herbal penis enlargement pills with no real herbs or scientific basis behind it but a company that sells nuts is being targeted with actual research suppoting how nuts are beneficial. I guess pink slime must be really healthy according to the FDA.