Herbal Warning

You don't have to look far to find folks who are freaked out by genetically modified foods, who won't drink cow's milk laced with growth hormones or touch diet colas sweetened with aspartame. Since we have so many hang-ups about the purity of what we eat and drink, you'd think that any company foolish enough to add substances whose quantity and quality are notoriously difficult to control to their snacks or beverages would quickly founder. Instead the exact opposite is true. In the U.S. last year, according to the market-research firm Frost and Sullivan, consumers bought $700 million of drinks spiked with echinacea, ginseng and other herbs. That's up from $20 million just four years ago.

This is crazy. Most of these so-called natural foods aren't found anywhere in nature. Food manufacturers are just trying to piggyback on the earlier successes of the dietary-supplements industry. After all, that was the industry that convinced us--with a little help from the U.S. Congress--that purple coneflowers might ward off colds and that roots from an Asian shrub could boost energy levels.

There is a world of difference, however, between an herbal supplement that you might take for a few weeks at a stretch and something you could easily eat or drink every day for the rest of your life. Ginkgo biloba, for example, has been linked to bleeding problems. It would be a whole lot easier for you to ingest too much of it accidentally if it is found in your iced tea, your corn chips and your soup than if you take it only sporadically as a supplement.

After spending almost a year reviewing the issues, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week put three different manufacturers on notice that their products--which include Hansen's Healthy Start Immune Juice and Fresh Samantha's Super Juice with Echinacea--violate federal regulations governing what can and cannot be added to food. As far as the FDA is concerned, it doesn't matter that the same herbs may be legally purchased in drugstores across the country. "The standards for food are different from those for supplements," says spokeswoman Christine Lewis. The food manufacturers insist their products are safe. The FDA says companies must prove that scientifically before placing those products on the shelves.

The FDA is not alone in sounding the alarm. Like many other physicians, Dr. Robert Russell of the schools of medicine and nutrition at Tufts University in Boston advises patients who want to try botanical medicines to stick with the pill forms. "I think some of these herbals are effective," he says. "But I don't think we know enough about their long-term safety to put them in the food supply."

It's ironic that many herbally enhanced foods contain such small amounts of their active ingredients that they probably don't have any biological effect at all. What they do have plenty of, however, is excess calories, which hardly seems healthy or worth the added cost. So while the FDA and the food manufacturers duke it out over herbal additives, do yourself a favor and stock up on the true, original health foods: tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, apples, pears and other fruits and vegetables.

From the FDA:
Letter to Manufacturers Regarding Botanicals and Other Novel Ingredients in Conventional Foods

Background Information on Dietary Supplements

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
Complaints to the FDA

Physicians Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines

You can send Christine e-mail at gorman@time.com