Use Caution Buying Medical Products Online

Get prescription drugs fast--no doctor needed! Cure cancer with herbs! Zap your pain away with an amazing device! Absolutely safe--pull out your credit card NOW, and get rock-bottom prices.

It's not hard to find statements like these floating around in cyberspace. "And if they sound too good to be true, it's because they usually are," says Rich Cleland, assistant director of the Division of Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Many legitimate Web sites bring customers health products with the benefits of convenience, privacy, and, sometimes, cheaper prices. "But consumers need to be aware that the Internet has also created a marketplace for unapproved medical products, illegal prescribing, and products marketed with fraudulent health claims," says William Hubbard, associate commissioner for policy and planning at the Food and Drug Administration.

"And the unique qualities of the Internet, including its broad reach, relative anonymity, and the ease of creating and removing Web sites, pose challenges for enforcing federal and state laws," Hubbard says. "Many sites are connected to other sites and have multiple links, which makes investigations more complex. And there are jurisdictional challenges because the regulatory and enforcement issues cross state, federal, and international lines."

Government agencies work together to shut down illegal Web sites and prosecute criminals, but enforcement resources are limited. "Consumers need to take some responsibility for recognizing suspicious sites and turning the other way," Hubbard says. So how can you spot the red flags? Here's a guide to help you protect your health and your wallet.

By Michelle Meadows

Cinnamon questionable as diabetes therapy

Though some studies have hinted that cinnamon may aid blood sugar control, it's too soon to recommend the spice for people with diabetes, according to researchers.

Their study of 43 adults with type 2 diabetes found that cinnamon supplements did nothing to change blood sugar, insulin or cholesterol levels over three months.

The findings, published in the journal Diabetes Care, stand in contrast to some past studies that have suggested cinnamon may help with diabetes control. In one study of people with type 2 diabetes, for example, researchers found that those who added some cinnamon to their daily diets had a dip in their blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Lab research suggests that cinnamon may make body cells more sensitive to insulin, a hormone that shuttles sugar from the blood into cells to be used for energy. Type 2 diabetes develops when cells lose their sensitivity to insulin.

There's also evidence that cinnamon slows digestion, which can temper the blood sugar rise that follows a meal.

In the new study, researchers at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City randomly assigned type 2 diabetics to take either cinnamon capsules or a placebo every day for three months. The cinnamon group took two capsules a day, each of which contained 500 milligrams of the spice. The placebo group took capsules containing wheat flour.

In the end, there were no differences in the groups' average levels of blood sugar, insulin or cholesterol, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Steve M. Blevins.

The reason for the conflicting findings from this and earlier studies may have to do with differences in the study groups, Blevins and his colleagues explain.

Most patients in the current study, for example, were on various diabetes drugs; in an earlier study that found cinnamon to lower blood sugar, no patients were on any of these drugs.

The researchers conclude that more studies are needed to see how various factors -- like overall diet and medication use -- affect any benefits of cinnamon in managing diabetes.

"Until then," they write, "cinnamon cannot be generally recommended for treatment of type 2 diabetes in an American population."

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, September 2007.

Dietary supplement use widespread among U.S. youth

A study published Monday suggests that more than 30 percent of American children take dietary supplements daily -- most often multivitamins and multiminerals.

"Dietary supplements provide a consistent daily source of nutrients for nearly one-third of U.S. children, yet individual and national-level estimates of nutrient intake rarely account for them," researchers note in a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

"Given such extensive use, nutrient intakes from dietary supplements must be included to obtain accurate estimates of overall nutrient intake in children," Dr. Mary Frances Picciano, of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues conclude.

In an analysis of data on 10,136 children aged 18 or younger participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002), they discovered that 31.8 percent had used dietary supplements in the past month.

This included 11.9 percent of infants younger than 1 year, 38.4 percent of children age 1 to 3 years, 40.6 percent of 4- to 8-year-olds, 28.9 percent of 9- to 13-year-olds, and 25.7 percent of 14- to 18-year olds.

Multivitamin and multimineral supplements were by far the most common dietary supplement used (18.3 percent), followed by single vitamins (4.2 percent), single minerals (2.4 percent) and botanicals (0.8 percent).

Picciano and colleagues also found that children who reported having taken supplements in the previous month took them regularly, with more than half having taken a supplement 30 times in the past month and more than 60 percent having taken supplements for at least 1 year.

Children who were on the thin side were more apt to take dietary supplements regularly than were children who were heavier. Children from "higher" income families were also more apt to pop a multivitamin or multimineral daily.

The researchers also report that more non-Hispanic white and Mexican American children (38.3 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively) used supplements than non-Hispanic black children (18.8 percent).

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, October 2007.