Advanced Minds

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this article criticising Zyflamend... CURE ARTHRITIS AND PROSTATE CANCER ONLY $21.95 By Roger Mason Remember when PC-SPES was touted the world over as a scientifically proven cure for prostate cancer? Dr. Jesse Stoff even wrote a book called The Prostate Miracle telling everyone this was the Magic Supplement for prostate cancer. The president of Kensington Publishing, who printed the book, died soon after following Stoff's advice. Your author was the only person in the world who kept preaching that this whole thing was a scam for money and anyone involved the promotion was either a criminal or, at best, a damned fool. Wasn't it Mark Twain who said, there are fools and then there are damned fools ? It was discovered that not only was PC-SPES worthless, but was adulterated with rat poison (warfarin) and pre_script_ion drugs and was pulled off the market. I told you so, I told you so, I told you so…….. Now we have Zyflamend which is a mixture of ten different herbs. First it was promoted as a natural COX-2 inhibitor for arthritis. Now it is being promoted as well for prostate cancer. Life Extension sells this, which should tell you right there everything you need to know about it. They have a sale price of $21.99- which is the regular retail price! Other net stores have it for half that if you want to buy some. Somehow people think there is some real magic in putting together a lot of herbs in a single product. The more is better theory. There is not. In fact, the best way of all to practice herbology is with single herbs and no mixtures at all, much less ones with ten different plants. In my files are the last 30 years of published research on both arthritis and prostate disease from Chemical Abstracts (the scientist's bible). If it ain't in Chem Abs it ain't worth knowing basically. This reference is the alpha and omega of science. Every six months I go thru the new volumes on 30 subjects including arthritis and prostate disease. At least the people at New Charter are honest enough to tell you how much of each herb is in the product. Give them credit for that much. Let's take a look at just what's in here. This is _base_d on two capsules and each bottle has 60 capsules or a one month supply. Holy basil 100 mg with 2% ursolic acid. This gives you 2 mg of ursolic acid which is biologically insignificant. Can anyone show me one single clinical published study on the benefits of holy basil or ursolic acid for either arthritis or prostate cancer? Tumeric 100 mg of 7% curcumin. This gives you 7 mg of curcumin. Yes, curcumin is a fine supplement for both arthritis and prostate conditions. You need about 500 mg to do you any good, so you'd need to take almost three bottles a day of Zyflamend. Green Tea 100 mg of 45% polyphenols. This gives you 45 mg of polyphenols. First of all ,it is not de-caffeinated. Secondly, you should be taking a lot more than 45 mg. Ginger 100 mg with 20% various ingredients and 4% zingiberere. This gives you 4 mg of zingiberine. Ginger has no benefit for either arthritis or prostate. Ginger is a relatively week herb and you have to eat several grams of it if used to prevent seasickness or calm your stomach. Rosemary leaf 100 mg with 23% active ingredients. You get 23 mg. Rosemary is a fine herb but has no benefit for either arthritis or prostate. You would have to take a lot more than this to get any benefit. More rosemary 5:1 extract 50 mg is also added. Polygunum cuspidatum root 80 mg of 8% resveratrol. This gives you 6.4 mg of resveratrol. This is a well known Chinese herb but has no benefit for arthritis or prostate and you would have to take a lot more than 80 mg to get any benefits. Goldthread 40 mg (strength not given). Goldthread is a fine herb, but has no benefit for arthritis or prostate, and you would have to take a lot more than 40 mg to get any benefits. Barberry root 40 mg with 6% berberine. You get 2.4 mg of berberine. Barberry is a classic herb with many benefits for some conditions, but it has no value in arthritis or prostate and you would have to take a lot more than 40 mg. Oregano 40 mg with 0.8% TPA. You get all of 0.32 mg (that is one third of one milligram) of TPA. Oregano has been promoted recently, but there are no published studies that show benefits for arthritis or prostate. And you would need a lot more than one third of one milligram of active ingredient to get any value from this. Scutellaria baicalensis ( scute ) 20 mg of 5:1 extract. Scute is a classic Chinese herb known for centuries, but not for arthritis or prostate. Taking 20 mg is biologically useless as it only equals 100 mg of whole herb. Folks, if you feel any of these ten ingredients have any value for you, just go out and buy them individually and take the amounts you need. You can get sixty capsules of 500 mg curcumin, for example, for less than $25. Other than curcumin and green tea it doesn't seem any of the other ingredients have any value for these conditions. What about this study that has been so prominently promoted? It isn't published, it used the brand name and not a generic mix of herbs, it was merely done in test tubes and it was obviously funded by the manufacturer. Why even discuss it further? If you have a serious condition like arthritis or prostate disease there are no Magic Supplements to help you. Changing your LIFE_style_ is going to cure you. Making better food choices, taking at least 20 proven natural supplements, balancing your basic hormones, fasting one day a week, not taking pre_script_ion drugs, getting some kind of exercise, and keeping bad habits to a minimum. This is what natural health is all about and not Magic Supplements you see on TV, hear on radio and read about on the internet.

My reaction is that it is spam for roger mason.  Putting his name in google gets the first hits as paid hits.  The article makes him look real good and knowing what he is talking about in health by blasting a fraud , which means he is an expert and against fraud; all in one swoop. Not very clever, but cute very cute. But aren't you shooting the messenger rather than examining his message? The point that the ingredients are provided in such small portions as to be of little effectiveness could very well be true, after all. I've noticed that to be the case with the vast majority of such products (mixes of many different herbs, etc.) on the market. People think, Look, it's got all these good ingredients, without considering the dosage.