The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued two men behind a series of infomercials that helped to sell the calcium supplements and has sent out warning letters to dozens of people who sold the supplements over the Internet. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also sent out warning letters.
The infomercials made claims that Coral Calcium Supreme pills could cure cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. The FTC is asking that the infomercials be taken off the air.
The men behind the infomercial, which was one of the five most widely aired since it was first broadcast, said that published research in medical journals could support their claims, however experts say that there is no such evidence.
Top infomercials often generate tens of millions of dollars in sales, though there is not yet an estimate of how much money the calcium sales generated.
Dozens of others selling the calcium have also been warned by the FTC and the FDA to remove false or misleading information about calcium’s health benefits from their Web sites. False claims could violate laws against deceptive business practices and laws that regulate medical advertising.
Washington Times June 11, 2003
One of the most common questions I hear regarding supplements is about calcium. Recently, many people are under the impression that coral calcium is the new wonder supplement. I had wondered how this was gaining a reputation, as there was absolutely nothing about it in the medical literature.
Since I don’t watch TV I wasn’t aware that there were massive, deceptive infomercials about it that were prompting people’s interest in the product. I am not a big fan of government intervention, but one of government’s few legitimate functions is to protect the public from misinformation.
It is encouraging to see action being taken against the deceptive marketing that is being done for coral calcium. However, it would also be helpful if the FTC could initiate similar actions against the far more massive deceptions being pulled off by the drug companies with all of their TV commercials.
However, with respect to calcium supplements, coral calcium is in no way, shape or form the ultimate calcium supplement. That honor belongs to the calcium present in milk. However, it is important to recognize that we are not just talking about any old milk, for once you pasteurize milk you transform it from an incredible health food to a food that actually causes problems.
So the ultimate calcium is from raw milk. Raw milk is not commercially available in most states, but anyone can legally obtain it by becoming part of a cow share program. This allows you to pay $10 or $20 to purchase part of a cow and thus be able to actually obtain the raw milk legally from the cow.
For more information about raw milk please see the link below.
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