Anti-aging pill fail: RezV
Today I got some new spam in my inbox: this time, it's for RezV, a supplement pill containing resveratrol, a substance largely touted as being found in red wine.
The body of the e-mails says, in big letters: "discover how YOU can live to be 150"
When you go to their website, you're greeted with a video of an Oprah (Pseudoscience Queen) segment, where a very hyperactive dude with creepy eyebrows hawks a bunch of green horse pills that apparently contains a concentration of resveratrol. You'll also find the logos of USA Today, NBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, Fox News, CBS, People, NBC (again?), Reader's Digest, Cosmopolitan, and PBS.
Their moneyback guarantee:
Oh come on Ziztur, you say, they can't really mean that the 14 day trial period begins from the moment you order it, can they? Yep, it says as much under "Terms & Conditions":
Studies on humans have shown that even in doses much higher than the pull form offered (5 grams vs 20-200mg, depending on who is hawking it) did... nothing. The headline-grabbing Harvard study, published in 2006, showed that obese, middle aged mice who had resveratrol added to their high-calorie, high-fat diet became healthier and lived longer. A similar study, published later by the same researchers, showed that middle-aged healthy mice fed regular diets did not live longer or have increased health when given resveratrol vs. a placebo. [1] There are no studies showing that resveratrol has any positive affect on humans, though there are studies showing that it increased the lifespan of some fish, a fruit fly, and a type of worm. Yet before appropriate studies can be conducted on humans, countless pill-peddling companies are selling their supplements for unforgivably expensive prices.
It's funny that all of the websites and videos show people drinking red wine, or show pictures of red wine, and talk about how the compound is found in red wine, but most (all?) resveratrol supplements are not made from wine or grapes (or peanuts, which also contains resveratrol) but japanese knotweed. I guess it doesn't sound quite as enticing and sophisticated to say your supplement is derived from Japanese knotweed as it does to say it's from red wine.
All of this red-wine-makes-you-healthier stuff comes from the idea of the French Paradox - wherein the French supposedly consume a diet higher in saturated fats, but have less heart disease than Americans - a 60 Minutes show in 1991 suggested that this was due to the French's consumption or red wine. Even the Wikipedia article on the subject suggests that the French Paradox is an overblown case of misplaced causation. The idea has been debunked with research by ... ironically ... some researchers in France. The French Paradox has also been debunked by statisticians - but this doesn't stop weight-loss companies from continuing to use it to their advantage.
1. Schard, D. Nutrition Action Health Letter; Mar2009, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p9-9, 3/5p, 1 color
The body of the e-mails says, in big letters: "discover how YOU can live to be 150"
When you go to their website, you're greeted with a video of an Oprah (Pseudoscience Queen) segment, where a very hyperactive dude with creepy eyebrows hawks a bunch of green horse pills that apparently contains a concentration of resveratrol. You'll also find the logos of USA Today, NBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, Fox News, CBS, People, NBC (again?), Reader's Digest, Cosmopolitan, and PBS.
Their moneyback guarantee:
MONEY BACK GUARANTEESince when does "RISK FREE" mean that if you don't cancel within 14 days of placing your order (which means that if it takes a week to get from their warehouse to your doorstep, you have 7 days to try it) you'll be automatically billed $90+ per month. It seems to me that purchasing your "free trial" comes with the risk of your credit card being charged if you don't hop up and call the customer service line - and you know that they are going to try to convince you to keep using their product.
We are so confident that you will love RezV that we are not only going to give you a free trial period for the full month supply, but a RISK FREE 14 day money back guarantee. You will have 14 days from the date of your order to evaluate the product. If you decide you are unhappy with the product, cancel at any time during that 14 day period and pay nothing except shipping and handling. If you do not cancel, you will receive every 30 days a fresh one-month supply of RezV as part of our delivery program, for which you will be automatically billed $87.97 per month (a 21% savings off the regular price!) There are no obligations, and you can
cancel at anytime via our customer support line.
Oh come on Ziztur, you say, they can't really mean that the 14 day trial period begins from the moment you order it, can they? Yep, it says as much under "Terms & Conditions":
14 DAY TRIAL PERIOD INCLUDES SHIPPING AND TRANSIT TIMESome of the "testimonials" on the website are just frightening. Take "Kelly Ann's" Testimonial:
My muscle tone is so much more firm, especially around my waist area, without actually having to work out.Oh shit! She's had a brain injury! Abnormal muscle tone is a sign of serious central nervous system dysfunction. I have to recommended that she stop taking her placebopills and see a real doctor.
Studies on humans have shown that even in doses much higher than the pull form offered (5 grams vs 20-200mg, depending on who is hawking it) did... nothing. The headline-grabbing Harvard study, published in 2006, showed that obese, middle aged mice who had resveratrol added to their high-calorie, high-fat diet became healthier and lived longer. A similar study, published later by the same researchers, showed that middle-aged healthy mice fed regular diets did not live longer or have increased health when given resveratrol vs. a placebo. [1] There are no studies showing that resveratrol has any positive affect on humans, though there are studies showing that it increased the lifespan of some fish, a fruit fly, and a type of worm. Yet before appropriate studies can be conducted on humans, countless pill-peddling companies are selling their supplements for unforgivably expensive prices.
It's funny that all of the websites and videos show people drinking red wine, or show pictures of red wine, and talk about how the compound is found in red wine, but most (all?) resveratrol supplements are not made from wine or grapes (or peanuts, which also contains resveratrol) but japanese knotweed. I guess it doesn't sound quite as enticing and sophisticated to say your supplement is derived from Japanese knotweed as it does to say it's from red wine.
All of this red-wine-makes-you-healthier stuff comes from the idea of the French Paradox - wherein the French supposedly consume a diet higher in saturated fats, but have less heart disease than Americans - a 60 Minutes show in 1991 suggested that this was due to the French's consumption or red wine. Even the Wikipedia article on the subject suggests that the French Paradox is an overblown case of misplaced causation. The idea has been debunked with research by ... ironically ... some researchers in France. The French Paradox has also been debunked by statisticians - but this doesn't stop weight-loss companies from continuing to use it to their advantage.
1. Schard, D. Nutrition Action Health Letter; Mar2009, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p9-9, 3/5p, 1 color
Labels: alternative medicine, biases, culture, fallacies, healthcare, medicine, research, statistics
posted by Ziztur
at
3:00 PM
9 Comments:
Statement on their order page:
"These statements have not been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. Miracle is not affiliated in any way with ABCNews, Barbara Walters, Fortune, WebMD, or Mayo Clinic. ABC, Fortune, WebMD and Mayo Clinic are registered trademarks of their respective owners. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
Another snake oil peddler, and sadly people believe what they say. It's really messed up when they have to put that the statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Companies that sell things like this seem to use that as an escape all, loophole, that way they can claim almost whatever they want.
Too bad more people don't use their brains when dealing with "miracle" cures.
The wonder ingredient in wine is indeed resveratrol. The current studies performed by researchers have shown great promise for resveratrol treating the diseases of aging. There are numerous articles that I have linked to at my website - http://resveratrol.webiage.com - that document the findings for the potential health benefits in treating heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, and other diseases.
Dr. Joseph Maroon, a neurosurgeon, has written a book entitled "The Longevity Factor, How Resveratrol and Red Wine Activate Genes for a Longer and Healthier Life" that offers a definitive look at recent scientific breakthroughs in the study of resveratrol and how research has shown its ability to stave off a wide variety of age-related diseases.
Concerning supplements containing a high quality and potency of resveratrol that is necessary to achieve the dosage levels utilized in the lab tests, there is a new product called Vivix. Shaklee Corporation, the number one natural nutrition company in the U.S. (http://www.shaklee.com/index.shtml), has produced a liquid resveratrol supplement that is 10 times stronger than resveratrol alone due to its patented formulation of polyphenols.
Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz are both users and promoters of Shaklee products and Oprah has featured Roger Barnett, Chairman and CEO of Shaklee (http://www.shaklee.com/company_lead_ceo.shtml), on her show.
So for a highly researched resveratrol supplement of exceptional quality, please visit - http://www.shaklee.net/davidhynes/vivix - to discover more about Vivix.
Cool, my first Spam comment! you obviously didn't read what I have written when you leave a comment:
"I will delete comments only if I determine that they are spam. So please, do not promote your book or website here. I will never delete a comment because I disagree with you."
I am considering deleting your comment, but I think I can use it to illustrate a point. You talk about "great promise" but there are NO human studies on Res' that show it has any benefit.
In fact, I looked at the headlines of ALL of the articles your website promotes, and none of them show any human studies. They are all test-tube and mice studies, not studies of actual people ingesting actual res'. People have no business selling these supplements. It's not been shown to be a wonder ingredient yet.
There are some environmental studies like the one that apparently showed that "Alzheimer's is rarer in populations that consume moderate amounts of red wine." but people have tried to tease out the environmental component of Alzheimer's for years and have had many studies like this showing an environmental link that means nothing. Correlation does not equal causation - this is clear in my explanation of the "french paradox".
One of your studies specifically says that Res' does NOT extend lifespan (in mice, of course), one actually cites the discredited "French Paradox" in it's intro (that's very bad mojo)
It's interesting that all of these studies show Res' being exposed to cancer cells, but what happens to res' once it is ingested? Does it break down in the stomach? My guess is that it is rapidly metabolized and eliminated. One of your articles summarized pretty much EXACTLY what my post did:
* Resveratrol is a polyphenolic compound found in grapes, red wine, purple grape juice, peanuts, and some berries. (More Information)
* When taken orally, resveratrol appears to be well-absorbed by humans, but its bioavailability is relatively low because it is rapidly metabolized and eliminated. (More Information)
* Scientists became interested in exploring potential health benefits of resveratrol when its presence was reported in red wine, leading to speculation that resveratrol might help explain the “French Paradox.” (More Information)
* Moderate alcohol consumption has been consistently associated with 20-30% reductions in coronary heart disease risk, but it is not yet clear whether red wine polyphenols, such as resveratrol, confer any additional risk reduction. (More Information)
* Although resveratrol can inhibit the growth of cancer cells in culture and in some animal models, it is not known whether high intakes of resveratrol can prevent cancer in humans. (More Information)
* Resveratrol administration has increased the lifespans of yeast, worms, fruit flies, fish, and mice fed a high-calorie diet, but it is not known whether resveratrol will have similar effects in humans. (More Information)
* At present, relatively little is known about the effects of resveratrol in humans.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/resveratrol/
As to the calorie restriction thing - no studies on humans have shown that calorie restriction works to extend live, though there have been plenty on other animals.
Plus why is it that people keep touting the fact that it is in red wine? It is also in grapes (and raisins, duh), peanuts,
Yes, I've decided to keep your comment. There are a lot of good, full articles off your site that are very useful in documenting that while Res is potentially promising, studies have yet to confirm, because decent studies have not been done on humans. I meas sure, you might be able to soak some cancer cells in the stuff and see.
It also makes me wonder which studies WEREN'T published. People don't often publish studies if the findings were inconclusive or negative to what their desired outcome was, even of the study is robust, which is unfortunate. My own research didn't have the outcome I wanted, but I absolutely am going to publish it.
so the claim heading on the site you provided me "DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH WITH OUR ALL NATURAL RESVERATROL SUPPLEMENT" are jumping the gun by, oh, probably 20 years of research.
Hee hee hee. Skepticgirl attack.
*Hearts*
Lol, strike 1 for Barbara Walters! She apparently now promotes ResV, according to this video:
and who the bejeezus is Doctor Oz anyhow?
Scratch one for me too, this time I'll post a working link...
Endorsment video
Thank you for saving me money and aggravation! I appreciate your research and posts. I just heard on NPR that actually, women who consume a glass of red wine a day are NOT doing anything positive for their health at all, and could be harming themselves. Oi vay. Keep up the great work!
Liz
Thank you for dispelling the hype! I am always suspicious when they have a "free offer" and you find a charge on your card later on!
Jon
Post a Comment
I will never delete a comment because I disagree with you, but if you're posting anonymously, at least give us a name so that if you make multiple comments we can tell you apart from the other anonymous people.
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home