WEBVTT - Ep 139 Supplements: “This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA” 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.640 What is this mysterious force that gives beauty to women 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:08.360 and power to men? Since science wrested from nature those 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:15.440 mysterious life giving health building elements, the vitamins, thousands upon 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.880 thousands can enthusiastically tell you of the amazing and almost 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:25.200 magic like results from their use. Vitamins as mysterious as 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:30.160 electric current, yet as definite in results, are of three classes, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:35.959 all equally important. Eminent authorities declare that all three of 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.960 the vitamins are necessary to health, energy, beauty, and proper 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:45.720 physical development. Yeast is rich in one class of vitamins. 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:51.000 Water soluble b raw unpasteurized milk is rich in another 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.720 one of the vitamins. Fat soluble A certain fruits and 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.600 vegetables are rich in another one of the vitamins, water 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.840 solume will see. But with the discovery of a special 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:09.880 process for successfully concentrating and combining all three of the vitamins, 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:15.920 as in Mastin's vitamin tablets, millions of men and women 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.680 everywhere have turned to this new and better way. Sufferers 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:27.920 from constipation, indigestion, lowered vitality, skin troubles, under development, weakened 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.399 nerve force, and lack of energy. Folks who have been 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.440 ailing for years, the victims of under nourishment brought on 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.920 by a lack of sufficient vitamins find in Maston's vitamin 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.120 tablets just what they had always hoped and longed for 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.960 but never expected to find. So, no matter what your age, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:53.120 nor how scrawny, haggard, care worn and run down you 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:57.040 may be, no matter what tonics or preparations you may 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.000 have tried in the past, or how hopeless you are 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.960 of ever becoming alert, healthy, properly developed, and physically fit, 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.520 with strong nerves, a keen, active mind, a clear skin, 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.680 and generally improved appearance, you will find it well worth 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.880 your while to make this simple test. If it isn't Mastin's, 0:02:18.280 --> 0:03:12.000 it isn't vitam on, Vite them on, Vite them on. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.800 It's always in all caps, so like it's important that 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:16.679 you say it that way. 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.480 That is exactly how I transcribed it from the newspaper 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:26.160 ad in the Washington Times from January eighth, nineteen twenty two. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:28.200 I love it. I love it so much. 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.200 I do too, I do too. And there were I 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.639 found a bunch of different ads too, but that one 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.680 just really it really struck a chord. I don't know 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:46.080 what kind of chord but dis harmonious, wonderful, a little 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.200 bit of both. Yep, yep. Hi. 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.560 I'm Aaron Welsh and I'm erin on an Updike. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.440 And this is this podcast will kill you. 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:55.160 We're gonna have fun today. 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:57.280 I really think that we are. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:57.640 I am. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:02.200 Yeah, I'm thrilled. Such a fun I mean fun it 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.640 maybe not may not be the right adjective to describe it, 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:11.040 but this was a really eye opening and fascinating subject 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.839 to research. I had to stop myself from going down 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.000 a thousand different rabbit holes and just be like, Noah, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:19.000 we're sticking to this. This is what we're. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.719 Doing the same. I was like, keep it tight. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.760 Erric keep it tight, keep it understandable, keep it to 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:25.240 the point. 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:26.520 Yeah. 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.680 But yeah, yeah, today we're talking about supplements, and so 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.400 there are a lot of different areas that we could 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.600 explore with this, and we did toy with the idea 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:37.280 of being like, should this be like a four parter, 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.240 But I think what we wanted to do is that 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.200 so you know, in the past, we have explored different 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:49.360 vitamins in or like vitamin deficiency diseases in our episodes, 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.120 and we're going to keep doing that. In the future. 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.440 And so this is the purpose of this episode is 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.679 not to go into each supplement that's on the market 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.760 and talk about whether it's effective or does what it 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.800 says it promises to all that kind of thing. What 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:06.680 we wanted to talk about is just sort of like 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.880 what is a supplement, what constitutes a supplement, what does not, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.200 and then how are they regulated, which, of course we 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.800 want to explore how they used to be regulated and 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:25.400 how that compares with today's regulation, and then kind of 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.440 go into also like what that regulation means what someone 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.120 can say on a label versus what they can't say 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.840 on a label or in a commercial, and also wrap 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.599 it up with like what does the supplement industry look 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:40.920 like by the numbers? 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.320 Right? Yeah, And we're painting with very broad brushes here, 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.600 Like Karen said, we're talking about a very broad categorization 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.480 like defining supplements. 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:53.320 And so please. 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.520 Everyone keep in mind a couple of things as we 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.400 do this. We're not coming after your favorite supplement individually 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.800 all and it's important I think to know too. Like 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.760 we said, we've covered a lot of vitamin deficiency diseases. 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.599 There are times and places and situations where supplements like 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:15.000 vitamins or minerals are really important for particular people, for 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:20.279 particular situations, and as we'll see, the marketing of these 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:24.880 things is phenomenal, So all of us end up buying 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.920 supplements that probably in fact don't do anything for us 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.719 at the same time, so me too. 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.760 Yeah, well, and I think a big part of it 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:37.400 is just sort of in not knowing, Like I learned 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:43.080 so very much about what supplements like, what they're allowed 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.520 to say these days, and so I think that's that's 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.520 a big part of it, is that, like you, there's 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.960 very careful wording that is designed to make you want 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:56.440 to buy things. 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:58.840 Yes, And that's what we're focusing on kind of the 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.160 supplement industry as a whole, and the ways that the 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.000 FDA and the FTC even has kind of dealt with 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:09.080 regulations surrounding these supplements, which also means that this is 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:13.200 a pretty US centric story. But I have at least 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.040 some data on things in other countries as well too, 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.200 and we have sources. So if you live somewhere else 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.600 and you're interested in, like what's it like in Australia 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.480 versus South Korea versus the US, We've got some info 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.280 on that too. But right right, all of that is 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.280 jumping ahead, because first it's quarantiney time. 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.000 It is what are we drinking this week? 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:38.000 Nothing other than snake oil. Yeah, I mean had to be. 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:43.040 It had to be the snake oil elixir, no strom whatever, 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:49.160 all the different things, and in snake oil, it's actually 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:50.040 quite delicious. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:51.000 It's fantastic. 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.800 It has bourbon, it has blueberries, it has lemon juice, 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.000 it has simple syrup and a little bit of mint. 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.920 We may have made something like this before, you. 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:05.600 Know, one hundred and fifty episodes in or whatever. 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:07.920 Yeah, I think it's okay. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.760 But we'll post the full recipe for that quarantine as 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.640 well as our non alcoholic plusy berita on our website 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.480 This Podcast will Kill You dot com and all of 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.360 our social media channels, and. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.920 On our website This Podcast will Kill You dot Com, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.240 you can find all sorts of cool things, including but 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:28.040 not limited to transcripts. You can find links to bookshop 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:32.600 dot org and our Goodreads list. You can find the 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.240 sources for each and every one of our episodes. You 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.880 can find links to merch You can find links to Patreon. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.760 You can find a first hand account form. And this 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.839 is not really related to our website, but please rate, review, subscribe. 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.400 Couldn't think of a good A good transition there. 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.880 Totally worked, It totally worked. Yeah, it really does help 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.560 us get new listeners and be able to keep making 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.800 the podcast. So thank you for your support. 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.600 Yes, thank you. Let's get started. 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:07.360 Okay yeah, okay, okay. So we're starting out defining what 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.520 the heck of supplement actually is. Easy, easy logical place 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:16.840 to start. And this definition comes straight from Congress really 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:18.760 in an act that I think erin you're gonna end 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.760 up talking a little bit about, and that is the 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:26.319 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, or the DSHA. I've 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.959 also seen in nineteen DHA dha. Can I say. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.760 That that's how I saw in one news article it 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:34.680 was like pronounced dsha. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.240 I love that they say we can pronounce that way. 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.319 I know, I know. So the DSHA which was passed 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.960 in nineteen ninety four. So, according to this definition, and 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:49.000 according to the FDA website, a dietary supplement is a 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.599 product that you ingest, it must be ingested, which contains 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:59.600 a quote dietary ingredient intended to quote supplement your diet. 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.280 They literally just use the term to define the term. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:02.800 That's what they do. 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:08.600 That means nothing, right, I know, Like is that really it? 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:09.000 Aaron? 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:10.959 That is the definition. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.680 So let us like actually dig down into breaking down 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.839 what that really means, shall we? Yeah, because they don't. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.199 That is the actual definition listed. What this means regulatory 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.760 wise is it's anything that you can purchase that you're 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.440 buying to ingest. Specifically, it must be ingested. So this 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.880 means you're eating it, you're drinking it, you're chewing it. Specifically, 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.480 you're not rubbing it on. So it's nothing topical. It's 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.080 nothing meant to be injected, and in fact, previously it 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.679 wasn't even anything that was like just dissolving in your 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.760 mouth like sublingual. Although there's gray area around that. The 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.360 point is it's supposed to be something that you ingest 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:54.359 and it goes into your stomach. Okay. That isn't directly 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.880 a food product, meaning it's not meant to serve as food. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.360 It's not meant to be a meal or a snack 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:06.840 or anything like that. And is also not a medication, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.959 meaning it's not something that's prescribed and it's not an 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:14.840 over the counter drug either. These are supplements. So what 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.280 are the kind of categories of this. These are all 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:22.120 of our vitamins, meaning multivitamins and single vitamins. It's also minerals, 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:29.359 it's prebiotics, probiotics. It's things like liquid ivy supplements, fiber supplements, 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:37.440 collagen supplements, herbs, botanicals, amino acids, protein, powders, enzymes, extracts. 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.400 It's a very long list of things, and they can 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.840 come in a lot of different forms. It can be pills, capsules, gummies, 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.840 but also concentrates, powders, teas, even bars, as long as 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.840 they are not marketed to be a meal replacement bar. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.959 But if they're marketed as a supplement bar, then they 0:11:54.960 --> 0:12:00.600 are a supplement. It's an incredibly broad categorization of items. 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.880 And part of the definition of a supplement is that 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.240 the product itself is intended to do something more than 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.920 what food does. It is not intended to be a 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.960 part of your diet. The intention behind it is to supplement, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:22.160 to add or augment our diet. And we are going 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.040 to get deep in this episode into how these things 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:28.600 are labeled and regulated and how they are intended to 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.240 be used quote unquote versus how they are actually used. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.839 Interesting and I'm going to stop really soon because I 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.200 want to just like get straight into the history of 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.199 these supplements. But I think that that part of it, 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.960 this definition of supplements that they are intended in a 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:52.040 specific way, is an important part of their definition, because specifically, 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:59.240 supplements cannot claim to and can't be intended to treat, cure, 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:03.520 or prevent or even really like alleviate the symptoms of 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.400 any specific disease or condition or groups of diseases. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.160 Their function is really supposed. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.040 To be to augment the nutrients in our diet and 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.280 provide us a potential benefit to our nutritional status and 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:23.040 therefore our health and well being beyond the things that 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:24.120 we eat. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:25.360 That's it. 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.440 That's what a supplement is in the US. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.760 Okay, I mean, I feel like a lot of the 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.160 questions that I have are probably going to be answered 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.520 later once we get more into the nitty gritty of 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.160 DCHE and like all of the what you can put 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.360 on a label, what you can claim, and how much 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.760 you can claim. As long as you have that the 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.640 FDA has not what is it whatever I happen in 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:57.520 here evaluated these claims and this is not intended to cure, treat, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:04.920 or prevent any disease. Right, it is very interesting, Okay, 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.800 but I feel like this is a really good starting point. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.760 Yeah, just like we know kind of what a supplement is. 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:15.480 So like Aaron, and I will say briefly, in Canada, 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.000 the definitions are slightly different in different countries. So in Canada, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.880 herbals and vitamins and things like that are pretty similar 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.240 what we call dietary supplements, but the regulations are different. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.400 In the EU, vitamins and minerals are regulated one way, 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.080 and then herbal remedies are regulated as something different, and 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.440 so each different country does have a different system. So 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.920 this is the definition of dietary supplement as defined by 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.680 the US, and that's kind of what we're focusing on. So, Aarin, 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.800 how did we get here with to this definition? Tell 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:50.360 me about it. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.760 Oh, it's a journey. I love, it's a journey. I 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.560 think we can take a very quick break again and 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:15.480 then and then get into it. Yeah, the history of 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.480 the dietary supplement industry in the US really begins with 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.040 the passage of the nineteen o six Federal Food and 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:28.320 Drugs Act aka Wilie's Law. And you could also say 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.040 that it begins with the discovery of vitamins, because vitamins 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.280 have historically made up the bulk of the supplement industry 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.360 here in the US. Other types of supplements like herbal 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.200 or botanical supplements, they date back themselves like thousands of 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.840 years in their use by humans. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:46.520 But in this. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.240 History, I'm not as focused on how people have used 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.840 supplements over time as much as I am on how 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.160 they've sold them and when their production began to be regulated. 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.840 It's really just this is the history of the regulation 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.520 of the supplement industry in the US, which sounds like 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.080 very specific, but let me tell you this is a 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:09.960 very broad topic. 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.000 Well, and it's it sounds like you would think like, oh, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.920 the regulatory history of supplements, like that sounds boring. 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:17.160 It's not going to be. 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.120 Boring anything but boring it is. It is like, you know, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:26.280 twists and turns, shocks, surprises. I gasped out loud at 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.600 least once or twice doing this research. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.320 The amount of text messages with like question mark exclamation mark, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.040 question exclamation was like. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:38.560 Can you believe this? This is outrageous. That's not how 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:42.200 I speak. I don't that's how my text choice is. Yeah, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.400 it is. But this then brings us past the snake 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.760 oils and tonics and elixirs of the eighteen hundreds that 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.560 you know, sell a prom or that sold a promise 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.760 of health and vitality without any evidence or sometimes evidence 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.040 to the contrary. And it brings us to nineteen o six, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.919 when those elixirs and tonics and snake oils were still sold, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.199 still with this false promise of health and vitality, but 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:14.879 with like the tiniest sprinkle of regulation. So long story short, 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.280 really truly long story short. A growing awareness of the 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.840 problem with mis labeled or tainted food and also drugs. 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.639 Then some food poisoning scandals, a few exposes on the 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.840 food industry, especially the Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and the 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.600 work of food safety warrior Harvey Wiley. All of these 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.159 things led to the passage of this act, the nineteen 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.520 o six Federal Food and Drugs Act, And this Act 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:48.040 was largely intended to protect consumers by requiring that producers 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.159 had to accurately label what they were selling, like you 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.399 couldn't put on a bag brown sugar when really what 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:56.560 was in there was ground up place, which is what 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:02.560 had been the case. Oh wow, okay, or like you know, 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.280 oh we're selling this is ground cinnamon. Actually it's brick dust. 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:12.000 These things happened. And if you listen to our book 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.200 club episode last year on Deborah Blum and the Poison Squad, 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.160 some of this stuff is like you're like, oh yeah, 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.520 Wiley Harvey's Law, brick dust, pond water and milk, like 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.000 all that is very familiar. That is such a great 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.000 book that it explores this particular act and some of 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.400 the earth the events leading up to it in much 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:34.200 more detail. I highly recommend. Anyway, this act required producers 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.600 to accurately label what they were selling. It required them 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:42.760 to list certain ingredients things like alcohol, morphine, opium, cocaine, cannabis, 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.720 et cetera. There was like a list of a certain 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.399 number of ingredients that had to be included on your label, 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:54.639 and that drugs quote, substances used to cure, mitigate, or 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:59.199 prevent disease end quote had to quote abide by the 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:03.600 standards of strength, quality, and purity in either the US 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:10.439 Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary end quote. Essentially, this nineteen 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.359 o six law was intended to give consumers more information 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.840 on what they were consuming so that they could decide 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.560 whether or not they wanted to consume it, buy or beware, 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.280 and because it was mostly about the content of the 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.480 items that were being sold, drugs were still able largely 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:33.040 to advertise as essential to health and preventative for all disease, 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.840 whether that was true or false or somewhere in between. 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.080 And perhaps the biggest growing segment of this newly regulated 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:45.399 drug industry was vitamins. In the last few decades of 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.600 the eighteen hundreds and into the nineteen hundreds, scientists had 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.680 discovered vitamins. They had done a huge amount of research 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.119 on like actually finding that there was more to food 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:01.399 than just protein carbohydrates fats, and they were also making 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:06.320 the links between vitamins and deficiency diseases Vitamin C and scurvy, 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.960 thiamine and barry, barry, vitamin D and rickets and so on. 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.400 And this was a huge breakthrough, this discovery of vitamins, 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:18.520 as was the isolation and production of these vitamins, which 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:25.440 by the nineteen twenties had become widely available and widely advertised. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.120 As we heard in the first hand account, there were 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:33.760 ads for vitamins everywhere, and a lot of these vitamin 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:38.800 ads also tended to target parents for their kids, so 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.600 you could find ads for vitamins and Good Housekeeping Parents magazine, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.960 you know, sort of warning parents, warning readers that if 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.840 your kid doesn't have this particular proprietary concoction of vitamins, 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.720 their teeth and bones may never develop and they'll be 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:54.719 sick all the time. And they can say that, like 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.000 these ads could say that, and so it's certainly the case. 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.680 Like as we've established on this podcast through some of 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:06.080 the episodes that we've covered, there are deficiency diseases that 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.480 if you are deficient in certain vitamins, you could have 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:15.320 very substantial health impacts. But what was much less clear today, 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.840 but also especially back in the nineteen twenties nineteen thirties, 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.959 was whether an excess of vitamins whether there was a 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.240 point at which more is not going to do anything 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.280 or could potentially be toxic. Right, So, was an excess 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.000 of vitamins helpful or not? A lot of researchers working 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.040 on the subject were suspicious that no, it was actually 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:38.760 did nothing at all, and we need to do something 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:41.760 about this. And so in the nineteen thirties, the FDA, 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:45.879 which became official around nineteen thirty as the first consumer 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:51.560 protection agency, they established a lab specifically to study these vitamins, 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.640 like the health claims made about them, whether their labels 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:58.479 were accurate, and especially whether they contained the amount that 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:03.600 they were supposed to. And that was sort of underregulation, right, 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:08.360 it was what did I say here? It was strength, quality, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.520 and purity, Okay, And guess what they found. 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:14.120 That things were a total mess. 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:20.560 I'm guessing multivitamins that had no vitamins at all, garlic 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:28.320 pills that didn't prevent diphtheria as advertised, shockingly, shock shock shock, 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.119 cod liver oil with just pitiful amounts of vitamin D, 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.320 and so so many other things. So there's no surprise there. 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.119 But the key thing is that these evaluations were made 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:47.240 on drugs, on vitamins that were already on the market. Yeah, yeah, 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:49.359 not And it wasn't before they made it to the market. 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.400 This wasn't like the final step in their production and 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.800 you know, mass advertising to consumers. It was once they 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:00.280 were already on the market. Under the nineteen oh six Act, 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:05.199 there was no real procedure for ensuring the safety and 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.439 quality of drugs before they made it to the market. 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.520 Enforcement of the law itself was difficult due to a 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.320 lack of organization and funding for enforcement like no one 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:18.199 knew how to go about this in any sort of 0:23:18.640 --> 0:23:23.480 straightforward way, and drug companies could take a lot of 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.080 shortcuts to start selling their product as soon as possible. 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.880 I can see you nodding your head, like, yes, things 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:32.480 haven't changed at all. Having are you talking. 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:33.240 About nineteen thirties. 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:35.280 Are you're thinking about twenty twenties? 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:41.600 Yep, yep, yep. Oh gosh, wow, Okay, I can't wait 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:44.520 for the ups and downs and how we I'm telling 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:48.840 you what it is. It's made me feel a little despair. 0:23:48.920 --> 0:23:52.800 But anyway, we'll just we'll leave the despair in the future, 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.680 going back now to the nineteen thirties, and so yeah, 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.439 this is sort of the way things stood with this 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:04.040 nineteen six Act, just really no great regulatory control before 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:08.000 these products went to market, and in nineteen thirty seven, 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.920 this oversight would have very tragic consequences. When a chemist 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:16.399 at a Tennessee pharmaceutical company, if you're interested, it's se 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:18.960 Massingill Company. I may have talked about this on the 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:24.360 podcast before this chemist put together made a concoction of sulfonellamide, 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:28.879 which was an early antibiotic, combined it with raspberry extract 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:34.280 and diethylene glycol to add some sweetness. Diethylene glycol has 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:40.080 a sweet taste, it's cheap, colorless, odorless, and it's essentially 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:44.840 commercial anti freeze. No studies. I think there had been 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:50.000 like two toxicology studies done on DEG before this concoction 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:52.439 was made, but I don't know if they if this 0:24:52.520 --> 0:24:55.560 chemist had access to them, I doubt it. And no 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:59.440 studies were done animal studies, human studies, anything on this 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:05.080 elix or sulfonilamide before it was produced and released and 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:09.080 sold to multiple different states. Within a few months, reports 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:12.400 of illness and death began to trickle in, and when 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:15.520 the dust finally settled, at least three hundred and sixty 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:19.080 five people were sickened, including many small children, and one 0:25:19.119 --> 0:25:25.399 hundred and five people died from taking this Yes bad 0:25:26.320 --> 0:25:29.359 and the owner of the pharmaceutical company pled guilty to 0:25:29.560 --> 0:25:33.719 adulteration and misbranding because DEEG was not on the label, 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:37.280 and he was slapped with a hefty fine. But that's it. 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:39.600 There was nothing in like, there was nothing else that 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:42.440 the government could be like, oh, you know, you violated 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:44.800 this act. Those were the ways that he that he 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:47.640 violated this act. That the company violated. 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:49.159 This Act just by not putting it on the label. 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:54.280 There was no requirements for safety testing and so nothing. 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:57.240 And this is what there was, like an evaluation by 0:25:57.280 --> 0:25:59.359 a task force and what they came to the conclusion 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:03.120