Fall sports, including football and boys’ soccer (and girls’ soccer in Maryland), are underway, and the US Food and Drug Administration is sending out an alert that dietary supplements claiming to prevent or cure concussions have been neither tested nor approved. They may be dangerous, HealthDay reports.
The companies peddling these supplements are taking advantage of parents, who are concerned about the increasing presence of reports about concussions circulating on the Internet, especially through social media.
“We’re very concerned that false assurances of faster recovery will convince athletes of all ages, coaches, and even parents that someone suffering from a concussion is ready to resume activities before they are really ready,” Gary Coody, National Health Fraud Coordinator at the FDA, said in an Aug 25 news release.
“There is simply no scientific evidence to support the use of any dietary supplement for the prevention of concussions or the reduction of post-concussion symptoms that would allow athletes to return to play sooner,” Charlotte Christin, acting director of the FDA’s division of dietary supplement programs, said in that same news release.
The FDA said it first heard about supplements that falsely promise to cure traumatic brain injury from the US Department of Defense.
“We first learned from the military about a product being marketed to treat TBI, obviously a concern with wounded veterans. We were taken aback that anyone would make a claim that a supplement could treat TBI, which is a hot-button issue,” says Jason Humbert, a senior regulatory manager with FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs. “That triggered our surveillance.”
Of course, the FDA monitors the marketplace as a matter of routine. But “with more than 85,000 dietary supplements on the market and no product registration, products making false claims can slip through, at least for a time,” the administration admitted.
What to look for
The FDA said the most common supplements that companies promise will cure TBI are turmeric, an Indian spice in the ginger family, and high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which are derived from fish oil.
“As we continue to work on this problem, we can’t guarantee you won’t see a claim about TBIs. But we can promise you this: There is no dietary supplement that has been shown to prevent or treat them,” said Mr Coody. “If someone tells you otherwise, walk away.”
