Advertising functional foods 'explodes' indiscriminately, poor people

The Ministry of Health has just issued a warning to people about the situation of "explosive" and false advertising about functional foods.

Patient fell into severe kidney failure after taking skin whitening pills of unknown origin - Photo: TRAN NHUNG

This is not the first time the Ministry of Health has issued a "hot" warning and recommendation: "Functional foods or health protection foods only have the effect of supporting and supplementing nutrition but do not have the ability to cure diseases."

Explosion of functional foods, chaotic advertising "explosions"

Many people hear advertisements for multivitamins, vitamins A, C, D, iron pills, bone supplements, kidney supplements, liver supplements, eye supplements, brain supplements, hair blackening pills, skin beautifying pills, nail beautifying pills, anti-stroke pills... everything is good so they buy and use them all, taking 6-8 functional food pills every day.

Not to mention, many people mistakenly believe that products advertised by famous people are trustworthy and worth using, so they rush to buy them and drink them, only to be shocked when they "lose money and get sick".

Advertisements often appeal to the psychology of wanting to quickly cure chronic diseases or simply supplement nutrients that are good for health. "A candy is worth a plate of vegetables" or "a type of milk that can cure diabetes, bone and joint diseases"... are "winged" advertisements that make consumers more confident in choosing the product.

The Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health emphasized that currently, advertising is rampant on media and social networks, especially on social networking platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Shopee...

Here, TikTokers, KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) and Influencers advertise functional foods and health protection foods with flowery introductions such as "cure all diseases", "replace medicine", "instant effect".

Advertisements like "complete cure", "quick effect after just a few days", "100% natural family remedy"... are all signs of hype.

Typically, a type of nut milk is advertised on TikTok platforms by many artists: "Bone and joint pain, tried many methods and spent a lot of money but it didn't go away, everyone should use this nut milk to relieve numbness in limbs and aching bones and joints"...

The Ministry of Health has issued many "hot" warnings and recommendations, but social networks still have many excessive advertisements, causing information confusion.

Dak Lak Provincial Police have decided to inspect the vegetable candy factory that has been advertised excessively online by famous TikTokers, causing confusion recently - Photo: MINH PHUONG

Risk of hospitalization due to taking nutritional supplements!

In fact, recently, there have been many cases of hospitalization due to the abuse of functional foods, especially functional foods of unknown origin.

Recently, Thanh Thuy District Medical Center (Phu Tho province) simultaneously admitted two patients, NTPV (43 years old) and TQM (17 years old), in a state of vomiting, headache, difficulty breathing, and convulsions of limbs.

According to the family, after taking the vitamin A supplement that the family bought themselves, about 30 minutes later both of them had headaches and vomited. Then they had difficulty breathing, had cramps in their limbs, continued vomiting and had severe headaches. At the hospital, both were diagnosed with vitamin A poisoning.

Lang Son Provincial General Hospital once admitted a 5-year-old girl (in Vinh Trai ward, Lang Son city) in a state of fatigue, poor appetite, and pain in both knees.

After examination and testing, the patient was diagnosed with acute hepatitis and arthritis due to abuse of dietary supplements.

The child's family said that because she wanted her child to grow taller, the mother bought height growth supplements for her child to use.

According to Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, Vietnam - Russia Hyperbaric Oxygen Center, Ministry of National Defense, the notion that "using functional foods as much as possible" is wrong and poses many health risks.

First is the risk of poisoning or excess substances. Some vitamins and minerals (such as vitamins A, D, iron, zinc) accumulate in the body and can easily cause poisoning if overdosed. Excess vitamin A can cause headaches and liver damage; excess iron causes constipation, nausea, and digestive disorders; vitamin C can also cause kidney stones if taken in high doses for a long time.

Second is the risk of interaction with medication. For example, calcium reduces the absorption of antibiotics, vitamin K reduces the effectiveness of anticoagulants.

The third and most common is that it is expensive and counterproductive. Our body can only absorb a certain amount each day, the excess will be excreted in the urine or accumulate and cause harm. Abusing functional foods makes users subjective, ignoring a balanced diet.

According to Dr. Huynh Tan Vu, lecturer of traditional medicine department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy (HCMC): "Do not arbitrarily use excessive amounts of functional foods.

In particular, these products are not drugs that directly treat health problems and cannot replace treatment drugs.

According to Dr. Vu, if the treatment requires medication, functional foods cannot replace it. If only nutritional supplements are needed, using functional foods is enough, then there is no need to use medication. Therefore, it is necessary to determine when to use medication, when to use functional foods, there are cases where we need to combine both for the best benefit.

Only use functional foods when really necessary

Dr. Hoang recommends that people only use functional foods when absolutely necessary. It is necessary to determine actual needs, for example, people with nutritional deficiencies (due to poor diet, pregnant women, the elderly...), people with medical conditions need to supplement as prescribed. For example, people with little exposure to sunlight should supplement vitamin D; vegetarians should supplement vitamin B12, iron, zinc.

Especially do not arbitrarily use "trends" like collagen because not everyone needs it, omega-3 can be obtained from sea fish, fiber is abundant in nuts, vegetables... need to follow the recommended dosage. Children, pregnant women and people with underlying diseases need to consult a doctor about dosage.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/quang-cao-thuc-pham-chuc-nang-no-vo-toi-va-toi-nghiep-cho-nguoi-dan-20250316232422292.htm