“Because the FDA doesn't test supplements, companies aren't allowed to claim that their vitamins or herbs can treat or prevent any specific disease, which is why so many products claim to simply ‘promote’ health,” the LA Times wrote.
It then quoted Dr Robert Temple, director of the office of medical policy at the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, stating: "They don't have to come to us to have that claim evaluated. It can usually be assumed that they don't have good evidence for it."
Food industry attorney, Marc Ullman, said the FDA admission was either wrong, or Dr Temple had been misquoted by the publication. “Dr Temple needs to either apologize or to correct this misquote immediately,” Ullman said.
The article quotes Daniel Carpenter, a professor of government affairs at Harvard University and author of, ‘Reputation and Power: Organizational Image and Pharmaceutical Regulation at the FDA’.
"FDA approval is like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, only much more so," Carpenter says. "Sellers try to take advantage of that reputation."
"FDA certification of a product is never a guarantee of safety or effectiveness of anything," Carpenter says, noting drugs and medical devices are the only thing the FDA regulates.
"If a company claims that a supplement is FDA approved, you should doubt that altogether."
He notes, yohimbine, a compound derived from the herb yohimbe, as one compound that is classified as a drug for the treatment of male sexual dysfunction.