Label Review
November 1999; Volume 1: 96
Happy Camper® |
|
| Package Information | |
| "It’s attitude food!®" | |
| "Be a Happy Camper and Throw a Party! Don’t let a bum day get the best of you. Try Happy Camper and throw a party, fall in love, go bungee jumping or stand in the rain and sing a song. See? Things are looking up already. Happy Camper contains special ingredients from all over the world, the herbs you think of first to help turn even your worst day around. Happy camper can help you cope with the stress and frustrations of modern life.* So do something nice for yourself. Try Happy Camper, the feel good formula from Natural Balance.*" | |
| "Hey! Snap out of it! Everybody’s had one of those days. You’re so stressed your teeth hurt, so irritable you feel like crawling in a hole. Well, snap out of it! It’s time for Happy Camper® the herbal formula that can really helped put a smile back on your face! No kidding. Happy Camper contains an unique blend of herbs known to help calm your nerves, help reduce stress and help you feel good about yourself.* Is that the sun peeking through the clouds? Try happy camper today!" | |
| *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." | |
| Supplement Facts | |
| Serving size two capsules | |
| Servings per container 30 | |
| Amount per serving | % Daily Value |
| Proprietary blend 840 mg | * |
| Passion flower (aerial portion extract) | * |
| Kava kava (root, rhizome) | * |
| Siberian ginseng (root) | * |
| Gotu Kola (aerial portion extract) | * |
| Kola nut (seed extract contains caffeine) | * |
| Schizandra (fruit) | * |
| Wood betony (aerial portion) | * |
| Lavender (flower) | * |
| Other ingredients: Gelatin. | |
| *daily value not established | |
Caution: not for use by persons under the age of 18. If pregnant, nursing, and taking a prescription drug or have a medical condition, consult a health care practitioner prior to use. Do not exceed recommended dose. Excessive consumption may impair ability to drive or operate heavy equipment. Not recommended for consumption with alcoholic beverages. Keep out of the reach of children. Store at room temperature.
Natural Balance® Inc., P.O. Box 8002, Castle Rock, CO 80104-8002
Price: $9.99, 60 capsules
Comments by Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD:
This misleading package contains a peculiar combination of herbs, most of which have no clinical evidence of benefit. The bottle contains powdered herbs in clear gelatin capsules. With the name "Happy Camper" and a cartoon picture of a child’s head in a green hat on the box and bottle, it would appear to be a product for children. It is only on reading the small print that one finds it should not be used by persons under the age of 18. It is impossible to tell how much of each herb is in this product, but at a total dose of 1,680 mg/d, there is probably not an adequate dose of any of the herbs. Manufacturers should be prohibited from selling products with ingredient lists that do not identify plants by botanical name. For example, passionflower can refer to Passiflora incarnata or Passiflora caerulea; the former is safe for medicinal use, but Passiflora caerulea, the ornamental blue passionflower, contains a significant amount of toxic cyanogenic glycosides.1
This herbal mixture is a very strange blend of sedative herbs, a stimulant herb, two Chinese adaptogens, and one Ayurvedic adaptogen. Passion flower (Passiflora incarnata), kava kava (Piper methysticum), wood betony (Stachys officinalis), and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) have sedative properties. Passion flower and lavender are fairly benign; long-term use of kava can cause yellowing of the skin and an ichthyosiform eruption known as kava dermopathy, often accompanied by eye irritation (see Alternative Therapies in Women’s Health, Premiere Issue, pp. 4-6). Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) and Schizandra (Schisandra chinensis) are adaptogens commonly used in Chinese medicine. Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) is an adaptogen commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine. None of these adaptogens have been associated with serious side effects. Kola nut (Cola acuminata) contains caffeine and, as it is a stimulant herb, is easily the oddest addition to this mixture.
References
1. Foster S, Tyler VE. Tyler’s Honest Herbal. 4th ed. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Herbal Press; 1999:284.
November 1999; Volume 1: 96
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