Snake Oil in Your Snacks - Wacky Food Masquerades

It's "Wacky Wednesday" and boy is
this WACKED!! Foods masquerading
as drugs have become a $160 billion business.

From Forbes

ProBugs, a yogurtlike beverage for kids, is tasty, fun and good for your child's digestive system, if claims from its maker, Lifeway Foods, near Chicago, are to be believed. Sold at high-end stores like Whole Foods, it comes in flavors like Sublime Slime Lime and contains a hefty dose of 7 billion to 10 billion good bacteria that "inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria" in the gut, according to Lifeway's website. The label promises ProBugs will give bad germs "a time-out" and adds: "You can never have too many good bugs."

You'd never guess from the breathless marketing that when Lifeway tested ProBugs in a clinical trial, it failed spectacularly. In the study a daily dose of ProBugs did nothing to reduce the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in 125 young kids. Nor did it impact measures like stomach pain or missed days of school, according to the results published by Georgetown University researchers in a medical journal last August. Only the sickest kids showed a hint of a benefit.

When a drug flops doctors prescribe it less and insurers stop paying. But Lifeway continues to tout ProBugs' digestive benefits as if nothing has happened. It put out a press release about the failed study, claiming ProBugs "may have a positive effect on reducing antibiotic-associated diarrhea."

"Probiotics can help so many children," swears Lifeway Chief Executive Julie Smolyanski, referring to products containing protective bacteria. Her company, with $58 million in annual sales, doesn't have enough money to do another trial, she says. She accuses Georgetown of botching the study by confusing which patients got ProBugs and which got a placebo. Lifeway has refused to pay any more bills for the study. Georgetown stands by the findings and says Lifeway had no complaints until the results came in.

Foods masquerading as drugs are the hot spot in the packaged-food business. The world's biggest food companies are stuffing ostensibly beneficial bacteria, omega-3 fatty acids and other additives into packaged foods. They are funding clinical research in order to justify health claims--often deliberately vague--that blur the line between nutrition and medicine. The foods promise to boost immunity, protect your heart and digestive system or help you sleep. In some cases, like the ProBugs kefir, manufacturers aren't adding new ingredients but merely repackaging old foods with bold new health claims.

More than 2,000 so-called functional food brands generated $31 billion in U.S. sales in 2008, up 14% from 2006, according to the market researcher Packaged Facts. Globally, it is a $160 billion business. Sales are growing at a 7% annual clip. This includes $4 billion spent on yogurt with high doses of "probiotic" bacteria; $1.8 billion on breads and other foods with added omega-3 fatty acids; $1.5 billion on fortified cereals and snack bars; $900 million on "energy" (i.e., stimulant-containing) drinks with additives like the amino acid taurine or the herb guarana.

"We're going through a revolution in food," says Thomas Pirko, president of Bevmark consulting, whose clients include Coke, Kraft and Nestlé. "It's a whole new consciousness--every product has to be adding to your health or preventing you from getting sick." If you find the perfect additive, he adds, "you get rich."

But most of the claims "are completely unsubstantiated," says Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. "Medical attention does not come from a Cheerios box." Designer foods can be a way for clever marketers to lure people away from real health foods--fresh fruits and vegetables. "It plays on our psychology," says Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. "We want to consume sugar; we want to consume fat; we want to consume salt. These products give us an excuse to binge."

Added omega-3 fatty acids don't make Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth Plus white bread into a health food. Extra bacteria don't cancel out the sugar in the yogurt. "People should be getting nutrition from real foods, not from foods that are artificially modified to give supposed health benefits," says University of Wisconsin cardiologist James Stein. Read the rest at Forbes.