Vitamins and herbal drugs should be regulated by the FDA
Abigail Nyarko
George Mason University
Introduction
Vitamins and herbal drugs are also known as dietary supplements. Dietary supplements can include ingredients such as: vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and enzymes (Center for food safety, n.d). Vitamins and herbal drugs are the main supplements that make up the supplement market. Many people use these supplements frequently, either daily or, at least, several times in a year. Since vitamins are even considered food supplements. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Center for food safety, n.d) does not currently have the authority to review these supplement …show more content…
Many companies can produce dietary supplements and anytime there is a new vitamin company, there is job creation. This may not be directly beneficial to the body but beneficial enough to prevent people from wandering around aimlessly.
Also, dietary supplements are used a lot because it is affordable; particularly, herbal drugs. Herbal drugs have been in existence before chemical (synthetic) drugs became available. This supplement does not go through major researches to examine how effective the drug is. Also, they do not try these supplements on human or animal to see the effectiveness and reaction of it. Previous use and testimonies from generations to generations has served as evidence for effective use of herbal drugs helping to save money on research. Many people from most developing countries still rely on herbal drugs for primary care, “In Africa as a continent, up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs. In China, traditional medicine accounts for around 40%.” (Watchel-Galor, 2011). Both herbal drugs and vitamins are considered to be natural and are used in every part of the world accounting for at least “12%” (Watchel-Galor, 2011). People have confidence in these supplements than the chemical drugs in terms of healing. The cost-effective way of these …show more content…
“They are known to promote good health, having little or no side effects therefore arise.” (Afolayan, 2014) Since these supplements are gained from mostly trees and from their different parts, they serve different purpose on what they can treat and how they are used. There are little to no side effects because they are not exposed to harmful chemicals in laboratories; they are not chemically processed. As natural as it can be based on how they are kept and used, they cannot last longer compared to Western medicine. The natural way some of these supplements can be preserved is through natural processes. One of these processes can be drying the supplement in the sun to take the moist away. This keep the supplement dry to make it last a little longer. Since not all supplements are meant to be preserved in such way or be preserved at all, when they are cultivated and left untouched, they may lose their nutrients and lack in serving their purposes. But the benefits of these supplements surpass how it can be