Walnuts Classified As A New Drug, Subject To FDA Regulation

3 pounds of drugs in my fridge right now,
not counting the pecans.

I wish this was satire, an attempt by me to be funny. But it isn't.

Diamond Foods received a severe warning from the FDA that says, in part:

“… we have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease.”

Remember, now, we’re talking about walnuts. What prompted the rebuke from the FDA was a statement on the Diamond Foods web site that says, referring to the plant-based Omega-3 content natural to walnuts, “Every time you munch a few walnuts, you’re doing your body a big favor.”

Few scientists would disagree that Omega-3s in walnuts are good for you, and it is pretty well established that Omega-3s can “help reduce cholesterol, protect against heart disease and stroke, ease inflammatory diseases and fight depression,” research that Diamond Foods alludes to on their web site.

Yet the FDA warns Diamond Foods that walnuts “are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced conditions” and “they may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application,” which, as any drug company knows, costs millions and millions of dollars.

Walnuts are unsafe, according to the FDA? Isn’t this the same FDA that allows Lays potato chips to be labeled “heart healthy?”

Does anyone else wonder what’s going on here?

Read the complete article here, especially the citations at the end. It's not satire; it's spooky.