New FDA Rule Proposal Will Ban Methylfolate from Supplements.

[whodathunkit]

I'm reposting this since this thread got merged with another one started earlier, I think from another forum. I didn't see the original thread.

I'm not sure how Merck could make *more* money off of metafolin by putting up gatekeepers (i.e., pharmacies and doctors) between consumers and folate supplements. It's more likely they'd *lose* a bunch of money, if for no other reason than most doctors don't understand when or how to prescribe folate. Sales volume of metafolin would likely go so far down that they wouldn't be able to make up the profit even with an insane price hike on the prescription form. So *if* Merck is smart (big "if", I know), they'll help keep metafolin on the free market where the real money is to be made.

But if it's about control by agencies other than the actual ingredients manufacturers, the profit motive doesn't even enter into it.

Also, dunno if anyone else remembers this, but some years ago (over a decade but don't know exactly how long, maybe as long as 20 years), Solgar got bought out by a big pharmaceutical company. I remember when this happened because I am an avid label reader, and Solgar used to be a very good (if pricey) brand with a reputation for using quality ingredients. Then suddenly "dicalcium phosphate" and all kinds of crap started popping up in their ingredients list. I quit buying them. Then one day I was moaning to a worker in a health food store about the inexplicable loss of Solgar quality, and that's when I learned that Solgar had been bought out. Didn't know by who, however.

Then a few months ago I was talking to someone in a store about Solgar again, and they said it was Merck that had originally bought them out. They also said Solgar was "okay to buy" again because Merck had recently sold the company back to the original owner and the quality was back. They said Merck sold Solgar back because it started losing money after Merck took it over. Way to go, geniuses, start putting crap into formerly good quality products and of course sales will go down!

Anyway, now I'm wondering if this has anything to do with that. Like, since Merck is no longer into supplements they're trying to get their ingredients pulled.

Anybody know anything about this?

 

[liverock]

Hidden away at the end of this article on the dangers of too much folic acid, is the news that the FDA wants to abolish the term 'Folate' which at present covers both folic Acid and 5-MTHF supplements. The plan is to have just one classification for dietary supplements called 'Folic acid' and the ANH-I speculates they may be planning to reclassify 5-MTHF as a drug.

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Ind...n=Newsletter+Daily&c=4dPY0VrwidJ+NltYcQtjXw==

 

[leela]

The dangers of too much folic acid? From the people who approved universally "enriching" all flour and other foods so that no one can control or monitor intake frequency or amounts based on need, body weight, age, or medical condition?

Yeah, thanks alot.

Oh, and you could then still buy the synthetic "folic acid"as a supplement, which is the problematic and dangerous one, but need an Rx for the one that is helpful?

Thanks again. Yeah, thanks alot FDA.

 

[Aileen]

Forget Bubonic Plague and the 1918 flu that wiped out millions. The greatest worldwide threat these days seems to be the actions of the US Food and Drug Administration. Unfortunately the effects are felt well beyond the United States. I think I liked it better when we were battling bugs -- at least they didn't have ulterior motives.

 

[liverock]

I dont know the reason for this change in folate classification, or whether Merck have pressured the FDA for it or not, but the FDA appear to be now accepting patents on dietary supplements from drug companies petitioning them to reclassify these supplements as drugs

Pyridoxamine was a natural form of B6 which is found in chicken and fish and was classified as a dietary supplement for Diabetic Neuropathy up until 2009, when a company petitioned the FDA to ban sales of it because they were using it in a drug for the same disease. The company has still not marketed the drug and the supplements are banned. Brilliant !!

http://www.naturalnews.com/025606_vitamin_B6_pyridoxamine.html

 

[whodathunkit]

This practice seems ripe for litigation. You can't really patent something that occurs naturally...this is why, for instance, that bio-identical progesterone is not and never was patented. I don't see how they can possibly do it with vitamins. Let's hope some independently wealthy, enterprising, consumer-minded lawyer with lots of time on his/her hands happens along to start dogging the companies and the government about this.

 

[dannybex]

I'll sign it too, but I don't think they'll ban it. Too many supplement companies (which merck licenses the methylfolate to) are making millions on these forms of b-vits, and that money talks. Maybe not quite as strong as the drug lobby, but it does.

Note in the original link how they talk about P5P being banned. That was almost five years ago, and it never happened. It's still around being sold under many different labels, this being just one of dozens:

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/p-5-p-pyridoxal-5-phosphate-50-mg-100-tablets/vs-1266#.UzDYE1zDd0A

 

[WillowJ]

It makes no sense in the world to take a vitamin off the counter.

You can get Vitamin D OTC or with prescription, depends whether you are taking it because it seems sensible to you based on whatever information you have, or whether your doc prescribed because of some blood tests they were smart enough to run.

 

[leela]

I believe this is all part of the Codex Alimentarius, a fancy name for an already-underway nefarious scheme to monetize even further anything that anyone might ever need anywhere. The CA was rolled out first in Europe, with some countries (I think Norway or Denmark) taking it on in toto, others not so much.

 

[leela]

I'll sign it too, but I don't think they'll ban it. Too many supplement companies (which merck licenses the methylfolate to) are making millions on these forms of b-vits, and that money talks. Maybe not quite as strong as the drug lobby, but it does.

Note in the original link how they talk about P5P being banned. That was almost five years ago, and it never happened. It's still around being sold under many different labels, this being just one of dozens:

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/p-5-p-pyridoxal-5-phosphate-50-mg-100-tablets/vs-1266#.UzDYE1zDd0A

Actually this has been talked about for decades, but as I mentioned in my last post, they've been doing a trial run in Europe for some time to make supps Rx only.
We do need to stay on this, because in 2010 or so, when I was doing IV chelation here in the US, they started trying to roll it out here too--starting with the vitamins that help cancer patients. (!) For a while there was no Vitamin C or Folic acid IV available from the ususal supplier, then to switch suppliers the price took a significant hike. Again, I think this was a trial run, because the powers that be are noticing--all the while denying--that these therapies work and they insanely need to corner the market.