FDB Warns�Food Supplements Can Kill

The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has cautioned the general public to be wary of rumours claiming that some food supplements can be used for the treatment of certain disease conditions. According to the FDB, food supplements are not medicines and therefore have no therapeutic indications which can cure diseases as purported by some quark sellers. The Board in turn warned that the wrongful use of food supplements to �treat� disease conditions can result in worsening of the disease condition which can even lead to death in some cases. The warning was given in a release issued and signed by acting Deputy Chief Executive of the FDB in charge of Food, Mr. John Kofi Odame-Darkwah, and copied to Today in Accra. The alert was necessitated by the Board�s post-market surveillance activities, which detected that some unscrupulous people were operating illegal treatment schemes in some parts of country, particularly the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions, using food supplements for the treatment of disease conditions. The FDB officer mentioned that these so-called health facilities/clinics are engaged in fraudulent diagnosis using unapproved/uncertified medical devices and �treating� their patients with food supplements imported and distributed by Dynapharm Company Ghana Limited. Mr. Odame-Darkwah further noted that some of the diseases that they claim to treat with their food supplements include: Cancers, Heart Diseases, Diabetes, Parkinson Diseases, Epilepsy, Reproductive Disorders, Allergies, Asthma, Hepatitis, Kidney Problems, etc. The food supplements being fraudulently used include but not limited to Red Coffee with Ginseng, Ganoderma, Dyna Serenoa, Spirulina Tablets, Nonicare Instant Cereal, Noni Plus Tea, Dyna RH Capsules, Pro Young, Dyna Tonic, Yee Yang Yen and Wheat Grass Extract Powder. To this end, the FDB cautioned the general public to desist from patronising �these fake treatment schemes involving the use of food supplements as medicines to treat diseases;� and not to allow themselves to be subjected to such treatment scams. The statement urged Ghanaians to report anyone or health facility involved in such fraudulent treatment schemes to any FDB office countrywide or any of the following numbers; 0208204968, 0544338829, 0244337235 or 0246809509.