FDA calls for ibprofen warning about heart attacks

If you take pain relievers such as Advil, Aleve, Celebrex, and Motrin, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to warn you that you're increasing your risk of a heart attack.

The active ingredients in these products - ibuprofen, naproxin, and celecoxib - are collectively known as NSAIDs (non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). The drugs are available both with a prescription and over-the-counter. The agency is strengthening warnings on prescription NSAIDs to say...

The agency also is requesting similar warnings on over-the-counter versions of the drugs.

The FDA did not say people should stop taking the drugs. They still are considered to be safe in low doses for short durations. But the lowest dose that's effective should be used, and only when they are needed.

Aspirin is not included in this warning, and is considered to be a safe alternative.

The read the FDA's consumer update, click here.

You also can read the FDA's Drug Safety Announcement. Click here.

For more, read the New York Times story.

Will aspirin save you from heart attacks? Maybe.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that a daily low dose of aspirin might prevent a reoccurrence of heart attack for those who already have had one.

There is no data supporting aspirin's effectiveness in preventing a first heart attack or stroke, the agency said.

The read the FDA's consumer update, click here.

FDA plans to regulate e-cigarettes

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it plans to regulate e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes (the "e" is for electronic), are smoked like cigarettes, but do not burn nicotine-laced tobacco to produce the smoke that's inhaled like cigarettes do. Rather, they use a tiny heating element to vaporize a liquid solution (with choosable concentrations of nicotine). Also, unlike the smoke that is exhaled from cigarettes, users of e-cigarettes exhale mostly water vapor (although it is not yet known what else is in the vapor).

The FDA is looking to regulate e-cigarettes as "tobacco product". Although they do not contain tobacco, nicotine is derived from tobacco. The FDA also plans to include other non-tobacco-containing products such as hookahs.

E-cigarettes currently are regulated only if marketed for therapeutic purposes. Several states and cities, however, regulate their sales and where they can be used, just as with cigarettes.

It is likely to be at least a year before official regulations are issued, and longer before manufacturers are required to comply with them. The regulations are likely to address issues such as...

For more, read the New York Times story.

You also can visit the webpage that the FDA has set up to publicize the issue and receive comments from the public.

FDA proposes more informative food nutritional labels

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing changes to the nutrition labels on the food you buy. The new labels would provide information that is more relevant to your health than the current labels. Changes include...

Members of the public have until June to comment on the new policy. After that, the FDA will make its final recommendation. Food manufacturers would then have two years to have the new labels on their products.

You can read more in this FDA news release. This release includes a link to the full FDA report, including instructions on how to comment.

For more, read the WebMD.com story.

To understand how to read current nutrition labels, click here.

FDA to ban trans fats in food

The Food and Drug Administration has taken a major step toward eliminating artificial trans fats from American diets within the next few years.

The agency announced Nov. 7 it would classify partially hydrogenated oils - the main source of trans fats in processed foods - as not "generally recognized as safe" for use in food. The move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths a year, the FDA stated in the announcement.

Partially hydrogenated oils - so named because of added hydrogen which preserves them and makes foods containing them less greasy - are found in all sorts of processed foods, including pancake mix, frozen foods, coffee creamers, margarine, crackers, and microwave popcorn.

Trans fats provide a double whammy to your body - increasing artery-clogging (bad) cholesterol while lowering artery-cleaning (good) cholesterol.

The FDA began requiring food manufacturers to list artificial trans fats on food labels in 2006. But just because a food's label claims no trans fats, does not mean there aren't any. Manufacturers are permitted to round down any amount less than a half gram per serving to zero. That small amount can add up quickly as several foods are eaten or the amount eaten is more than the listed serving size.

A good way to tell if a product contains trans fats is to check the ingredient list for partially hydrogenated oil.

The FDA has begun a 60-day comment period - primarily intended for food manufacturers to say how much time they would need to reformulate their products to remove partially hydrogenated oils.

To read the FDA press release, click here.

For more, read the New York Times story.

To learn more about trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils, read this Mayo Clinic report.

Update 2015-06-16: Final rule approved
The FDA has finalized the rule. Food manufacturers will have 3 years to remove trans fats from their products (or have a waiver approved).

To read the FDA press release, click here.

You also can read the FDA consumer advisory.

Budget stalemate is endangering the food you eat

The 2-week government shutdown was a bad time for ensuring the safety of the food you eat. But the continuing resolution that ended the shutdown isn't much better.

The Food and Drug Administration (or state agencies with similar functions) continued to inspect meat, poultry, and eggs during the shutdown. But other inspection functions were stopped.

What was lost? So far this year the FDA has issued more than 500 warnings to companies for problems such as unsanitary food production conditions to misleading labeling of foods, drugs, and medical equipment.

These functions - stopped during the shutdown - have since returned. However, the shutdown did not end with a new budget. It ended with a continuing resolution - to simply keep money flowing until January.

Even before the shutdown, the FDA was inspecting U.S. food manufacturers just once every 10 years, and inspecting just 1 percent of imported food, according to Politico.com.

The agency says it needs a 50 percent budget increase to enforce the Food Safety Modernization Act signed by President Obama in 2011. Though it was unlikely to get even close to that in the new budget, under a Continuing Resolution it only is getting the same amount as in the previous budget.

For more, read the Politico.com story.

To see how the Food and Drug Administration operated during the shutdown, read this FDA memo.