Beverages may have antioxidants added, such as vitamin C or E, beta-carotene or herbal additives such as echinacea, kava or gingko. You can even find soups with St. John's wort and gum with phosphatidyl serine. The enactment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 exempts dietary supplements from the stringent approval process required for food additives. As long as the labeling does not claim the food to be linked to a specific disease, the marketers of these products have taken great liberty touting benefits for which the consumer has no guarantee of safety or efficacy. The FDA does not require that the foods be tested, nor does the food maker have to back the claim with any evidence.
Questions hide beneath the slick marketing hype and high-tech food processing.
A beverage with a couple of drops of gingko biloba can tout its special memory-enhancing attributes. However, consumers don't know how much gingko they are consuming or if it is enough to get a memory boost. And consumers may not be aware of the dangers of interactions between the herbs and medications they are taking. The labels are not required to contain any warnings, even if the added herb is unsafe for children or pregnant women. Food manufacturers do not knowingly produce dangerous food products, and many functional foods provide the consumer with appropriate enhancements.