You’ve likely seen the ads for brownies and drinks that are supposed to help you kick back, but the claims made for such herbal relaxation products are not backed by evidence, and federal regulators don’t require manufacturers to prove what they say.
So health experts are warning consumers to be wary of what they hear and think twice before trying Lazy Cakes brownies, iChill drinks, and other products that pitch themselves against the current energy drink craze.
Research on most of the herbal supplements used in these products is inconclusive and the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t mandate that manufacturers prove their claims or standardize their ingredients, Brent Bauer, of the Mayo Clinic's Complementary and Integrative Medicine program, tells NPR.
And even if there is science to support what the herbs can do, that’s not always the case when they’ve been processed as an ingredient in a food product, Bauer notes. What’s more, there are questions about how a particular herbal ingredient can affect an individual, depending on his or her medical conditions.
"When you look at it very simplistically and think we can just dump things in a drink and then give it to many, many different people without respect to their personal condition, their own health issues, what medications they are taking, I think we've made a dangerous jump," says Bauer.
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