48 replies to this topic

[VP.]

I don't have access the ConsumerLabs. Does anyone know what they said?

From HealthNewsDigest.com

Supplements
ConsumerLab.com Finds Some "Red Wine" Supplements Deliver Less Resveratrol Than Expected
By
Nov 13, 2007 - 11:04:27 AM



First Major Product Review of Potential “Life-Extending” Ingredient


(HealthNewsDigest.com) - WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK — ConsumerLab.com reported today that its tests of supplements containing resveratrol – a compound promoted as “life-extending” -- revealed two products providing only 27% and 58% of their listed amounts of resveratrol. A third product, which boasted several hundred milligrams of a “red wine grape complex,” contained only two milligrams of resveratrol. Several other products contained their listed amounts of resveratrol, although daily doses ranged from just 1 milligram to as much as 1,000 milligrams. None of the products were contaminated with lead or cadmium, which can occur in plant-based supplements.

Resveratrol products have proliferated following reports late last year of life-extending and athletic endurance-enhancing activity in animals. Laboratory research has also shown antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and other effects. Human studies of its effectiveness have not been reported, but at least one researcher in the field, Dr. David Sinclair at Harvard Medical School, is noted as taking resveratrol personally at a dose of approximately 350 mg per day.

Along with widely ranging dosage suggestions on products, ConsumerLab.com found similar variation in the cost of resveratrol. To obtain 100 mg of resveratrol from any product, the cost ranged from as little as $0.20 to as much as $45.57 – more than a 22,000% difference. Using the lowest cost product that passed ConsumerLab.com’s testing, the daily cost for a dose of 300 to 400 mg would be $0.60 to $0.80 per day. To get that dose from any of the products with single digit milligram amounts of resveratrol would be impractical – requiring hundreds of pills per day and costing as much as $159. For some products, the price difference may reflect the cost of additional ingredients.

“I am not surprised that some resveratrol supplements failed to meet their ingredient claims,” said Tod Cooperman, MD, President of ConsumerLab.com which has tested more than two thousand supplements since 1999. “When an ingredient quickly becomes popular as a supplement, we often see products rush to market that range widely in quality, dose, and price. There is still much to learn about resveratrol. At least now those who choose to use it can find out which products contain what they claim and which do not.”

The ConsumerLab.com report is available at http://www.consumerl...ol_red_wine.asp. It includes findings for nine products selected by ConsumerLab.com as well as four that passed ConsumerLab.com's Voluntary Certification Program. Brands included are French Parad’ox (Arkopharma), Purevinol (Pure Prescriptions), Resvert (Young Again), Resvera-Gold (Douglas Laboratories), Revatrol (Renaissance Health), Transmax (Biotivia), Vinotrol (NeXtten), and Zyflamend (New Chapter), as well as products from Country Life, Jarrow Formulas, Life Extension, Longevinex, and Swanson. The report also provides information regarding the dosage and possible side-effects.

ConsumerLab.com is a leading provider of consumer information and independent evaluations of products that affect health and nutrition. Reviews of popular types of vitamins, supplements, and generic drugs are available at www.consumerlab.com. Soon to be released are new Product Reviews of omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, potassium, and turmeric. Subscription to ConsumerLab.com is available online. The company is privately held and based in Westchester, New York. It has no ownership from, or interest in, companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell consumer products. www@consumerlab.com.

www.HealthNewsDigest.com

http://www.healthnew..._Expected.shtml

[tintinet]

Ya.

They tested 13 brands (not including NOW, RevGenetics, among others).

Found most complied with stated resveratrol content (and most of this ~98%, was
trans-resveratrol, apparently), including Jarrow, Biotiva Transmax, Swanson.

Life Extension Foundation 20 mg tabs and Young Again tabs failed- much less than stated amount of resveratrol.

[health_nutty]

Ya.

They tested 13 brands (not including NOW, RevGenetics, among others).

Found most complied with stated resveratrol content (and most of this ~98%, was
trans-resveratrol, apparently), including Jarrow, Biotiva Transmax, Swanson.

Life Extension Foundation 20 mg tabs and Young Again tabs failed- much less than stated amount of resveratrol.

LEF is a huge disappointment. Great idea to do actual supplement research and consumer education, but the actual supplements formulations
are not good.

[VP.]

and most of this ~98%, was
trans-resveratrol, apparently

Well that puts the last nail in the coffin for Sardi's Resveratrol instability claims.

[browser]

Ya.

They tested 13 brands (not including NOW, RevGenetics, among others).

Found most complied with stated resveratrol content (and most of this ~98%, was
trans-resveratrol, apparently), including Jarrow, Biotiva Transmax, Swanson.

Life Extension Foundation 20 mg tabs and Young Again tabs failed- much less than stated amount of resveratrol.

LEF is a huge disappointment. Great idea to do actual supplement research and consumer education, but the actual supplements formulations
are not good.

This is very disappointing to me in that I hate LEF because of its pandering, actually having sent a telegram to the FDA thanking them for jailing Faloon and Kent because I don't think supplements should be sold like non-prescription drugs (though LEF used it's money to get the law changed) but I always took their, and the self-taught expert's in Canada (who used to work at LEF) assurances of quality as truthful.

Here is an exchange between myself and LEF about LEF's resveratrol product, with minor editing to leaving out some rather personal details. I responded back to LEF yesterday telling them that their resveratrol offering failed Consuer Lab assay. I'm interested to see how they respond. I am not plugging not dissing LEF, but now frankly I'm lost. I've been taking their supplements since LEF's very beginning in complete confidence that though they increasingly were operating in ways I didn't agree with, at least I was assured that their products were good and pharmaceutical grade.

From: "Dayna Dye" ddye@lifeextension.com
To: Me
Subject: RE: About your RESVERATROL
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 15:57:02 -0500
Hi Me,

Nice to hear from you.

Yes, Life Extension has conducted assays over time on the resveratrol product and shown that the amount per capsule meets the label claim.

Concerning the amount given to the mice, it is not always wise to assume that the same proportional amount is good for humans. Future clinical studies will determine the best human dosage.

For longer life,

Dayna Dye
Editor, Life Extension Update
ddye@lifeextension.com
LifeExtension.com
1100 West Commercial Blv
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
954 202 7716
www.lef.org
Sign up for Life Extension Update at http://mycart.lef.org/subscribe.asp

It is the purpose of the Foundation to provide relevant information from our research and review of scientific and clinical studies to individuals and their health care providers. It is our intention to serve as a resource upon which individuals and their health care providers can draw beneficial and relevant information. There has been no patient-physician relationship established between anyone and the Foundation and Foundation employees. No one is physically examined by employees of our company and the Foundation does not intend to supplant the judgment of an individual's treating physician or substitute Foundation information for a physician's diagnosis and treatment. It is further recommended that the reader of this correspondence review the actual text of any above cited research and any other information provided and exercise their own personal and/or medical judgment. Any statements or materials have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. We do not recommend that anyone stop taking their medication without first consulting their physician.

THIS INFORMATION (AND ANY ACCOMPANYING PRINTED MATERIAL) IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE THE ATTENTION OR ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN OR OTHER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL. ANYONE WHO WISHES TO EMBARK ON ANY DIETARY, DRUG, EXERCISE, OR OTHER LIFESTYLE CHANGE INTENDED TO PREVENT OR TREAT A SPECIFIC DISEASE OR CONDITION SHOULD FIRST CONSULT WITH AND SEEK CLEARANCE FROM A QUALIFIED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.


From: Me
To:
Subject: About your RESVERATROL
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 13:32:26 -0600
Dayna,

You and I go back a long time. We used to talk, you used to take my orders when LEF was much smaller and everything was done in house. You'd often just go into the store to get some of the things you need to fulfill my order.

The mouse study quoted in the LEF email I just received actually showed excellent results on a good, not Macdonald's diet, but for a man my size, it would require 500 mg a day. There's also the question of stability. The researchers received their resveratrol packed in dry ice and kept it away from light and between -80 C and -4 C. Longevinex manufactures the product under inert gas and not exposed to light. They encapsulate their product in lightproof, inert nitrogen capsules. They assert this is the only way to do it, other's assert this isn't even good enough and others assert the stuff's as stable as Titanium. There are conflicting studies on the stability and bioavailability of resveratrol. Where does LEF stand on this? Has LEF done any assays to verify that there still is 20 mg of resveratrol in those 20 mg capsules? Does LEF have any consensus on how stable this compound is, whether if it's not kept below freezing, in the dark and under nitrogen, what believed to have been placed in the capsule was already degraded and further degrades to something useless by the time a customer like me receives the capsules?

Kindest regards,
Me

Edited by browser, 14 November 2007 - 04:47 PM.

[Anthony_Loera]

and most of this ~98%, was
trans-resveratrol, apparently

Well that puts the last nail in the coffin for Sardi's Resveratrol instability claims.

Agreed,
Sardi's marketing has apparently changed from (and I summarize the points):

We are the only company to have rsv that activates the SIRT1 gene

to

Beware, other companies don't give you the resveratrol amount that is in their label.

This is quite dramatic change in their last press release if you ask me. They also mentioned that BIOMOL tested the resveratrol in their product against research resveratrol that activates the SIRT1 gene, not that BIOMOL actually tested the product to see if it activates the gene. I believe this is another very interesting point to note. They maybe in the process of changing marketing strategy as they see more competitors with better pricing catching up to them.

A

[browser]

Sardi's marketing has apparently changed from (and I summarize the points):

We are the only company to have rsv that activates the SIRT1 gene

to

Beware, other companies don't give you the resveratrol amount that is in their label.

Unless Sardi's company has changed, they don't mention how much resveratrol is in the capsule on the label because of FDA worries. This is amusing, because they tell us directly how much t-res is in each capsule.

Also amusing is this little tidbit. Looks like Longevinex is on the defensive. And things are getting hostile. Good for all of us. We need enough interest in the molecule to either dismiss its use or to have it produced at a scale that's as affordable as the previously unattainable melatonin and DHEA:
Link

Edited by Michael, 23 July 2009 - 11:30 AM.
Trim quotes

[Mind]

OK, nice discussion and consumer education...just don't go bashing or heralding one particular supplier too much. I am not pointing a finger at any particular poster, just a general comment to keep the discussion productive.

[browser]

OK, nice discussion and consumer education...just don't go bashing or heralding one particular supplier too much. I am not pointing a finger at any particular poster, just a general comment to keep the discussion productive.

OK, so know we know that resveratrol is a relatively stable substance despite the scare here and on Usenet about the molecule's fragility. But for every claim that the stuff can be delivered to the human blood stream there's a claim that digestion or liver metabolism prevents this, mostly. So in 2 years we've accomplished, IMO, one thing. I wonder how many more years will pass before we get resolution to the debate of human dosage, delivery and bioavailability? Don't take stuff that's been brewed. How do you know what's truly in knotweed? This is a tough nut to crack, this resveratrol.

[katzenjammer]

But for every claim that the stuff can be delivered to the human blood stream there's a claim that digestion or liver metabolism prevents this, mostly.  So in 2 years we've accomplished, IMO, one thing.

What about all these studies that laymen like myself hear about? Aren't some of them performed with humans taking oral trans-resveratrol?

[DukeNukem]

Browser, the best we can do is stay open-minded and adjust to new data. Several years ago, right when Longevinex appeared, I was fully on-board with it and took two capsules a day. I didn't know if trans-resv would decay fast or now, so I played-it-safe by using Longevinex. Last year we came to learn that this was an over-blown concern, and certainly I was one to quickly adjust -- now I use pure powder I got from a joint purchase handled by Paul Wakfer. I've also increased by intake to about 500mg daily, based on several reports over the last year, like many others have also done.

What other supps help make resv more bio-available? This is another area we're all still trying to figure out. As well as the optimal dose. Many of these questions may takes years to resolve. Few of us want to piss away years waiting on the sideline, when the odds appear to be in our favor to benefit now, even if not optimally.

This forum has proven to be a great place to stay up-to-date with the latest news and dosing tactics. I bet there are less than 1000 lay-people in the USA as well educated on this than those who frequent here.

[browser]

Browser, the best we can do is stay open-minded and adjust to new data.  Several years ago, right when Longevinex appeared, I was fully on-board with it and took two capsules a day.  I didn't know if trans-resv would decay fast or now, so I played-it-safe by using Longevinex.  Last year we came to learn that this was an over-blown concern, and certainly I was one to quickly adjust -- now I use pure powder I got from a joint purchase handled by Paul Wakfer.  I've also increased by intake to about 500mg daily, based on several reports over the last year, like many others have also done.

What other supps help make resv more bio-available?  This is another area we're all still trying to figure out.  As well as the optimal dose.  Many of these questions may takes years to resolve.  Few of us want to piss away years waiting on the sideline, when the odds appear to be in our favor to benefit now, even if not optimally. 

This forum has proven to be a great place to stay up-to-date with the latest news and dosing tactics.  I bet there are less than 1000 lay-people in the USA as well educated on this than those who frequent here.

I have an open mind on this, but I'm not in the same rush others appear to be, perhaps because I've spent so many years chasing after every LE rainbow, because every new thing I read disputes what I've just finished reading prior on resveratrol. The 500 mg. you've upped your dose to is disputed as being 1/3 of what's needed for a 160 pound person. So I'll blow off the scares about D3 and up my dose on that but man, I've spent a fortune during such lovely things as injecting lamb fetus RNA into my buttocks. Bill Faloon of LEF had a new panacea every couple of weeks for years. How long we sought to lower our body temperatures as we slept I can't even recall now. I know the dream lasted for at least 4-5 years. Life is nice, death, even a painful one, comes to people and can not now be avoided, as the Patron Saint of CRON found out. Feel free to carry on the LE chase. I'll stay here and watch to see how successful you are. I suspect that eventually the American Psychological Association will come up with something in DSM VI characterizing this frenetic quest for LE to be some sort of mental disorder. No insult intended to my fellow subscribers, as I suffer from the same malady but seem to be temporaily in remission.

Edited by browser, 15 November 2007 - 12:10 AM.

[VP.]

I suspect that eventually the American Psychological Association will come up with something in DSM VI characterizing this frenetic quest for LE to be some sort of mental disorder. No insult intended to my fellow subscribers, as I suffer from the same malady but seem to be temporaily in remission.

LOL! You've got that right. For me perhaps LE is a substitute for religion or as Woody Allen said, " I don't want to achieve immortality through my works, I want to achieve it by not dieing".

[maxwatt]

QUOTE
I suspect that eventually the American Psychological Association will come up with something in DSM VI characterizing this frenetic quest for LE to be some sort of mental disorder. No insult intended to my fellow subscribers, as I suffer from the same malady but seem to be temporaily in remission.
END QUOTE

LOL! You've got that right. For me perhaps LE is a substitute for religion or as Woody Allen said, " I don't want to achieve immortality through my works, I want to achieve it by not dieing".

Speaking of Woody Allen, remember "Sleeper"? Transported into the future, Woody finds scientists have discovered that brown rice, tofu and such will kill you, but hamburgers and fries are good for you!

My grandmother used to say, about each new health food fad, "Hurry up and eat it while it's still good for you."

[Shepard]

And chocolate and cigarettes, if I remember correctly.

First chocolate, now the "What if Bad Fat is Good for You?" article Men's Health ran will spread to the masses.

Coming soon: Green tea cigarettes.

[wydell]

. . .but man, I've spent a fortune during such lovely things as injecting lamb fetus RNA into my buttocks. .

Did it work? I eat lamb curry sometimes, but have not noticed anything special

Okay, I am just being silly for those that take things too seriously.

[david ellis]

FIRST-link
This is very disappointing to me in that I hate LEF because of its pandering, actually having sent a telegram to the FDA thanking them for jailing Faloon and Kent because I don't think supplements should be sold like non-prescription drugs (though LEF used it's money to get the law changed) but I always took their, and the self-taught expert's in Canada (who used to work at LEF) assurances of quality as truthful.


THEN-link
We need enough interest in the molecule to either dismiss its use or to have it produced at a scale that's as affordable as the previously unattainable melatonin and DHEA;

Browser
I am having trouble understanding why it was good for Faloon and Kent to go to jail "because I don't think supplements should be sold like non-prescription drugs" I read their story and melatonin was one of the supplements that they were jailed for. Then you say "scale that's as affordable as the previously unattainable melatonin". It seems funny that some of the time it is good for melatonin to be illegal and some of the time it is good that melatonin is legal. Would you please explain? Am I reading this stuff right?


It seems to me that we all owe Saul and Kent a big "Thank You" for getting the FDA out of our business. I am grateful to them for that victory, and I am grateful to them for their current sponsorship of cancer research. They probably have some angles to make money here, but they are paying for research on using a combination of competing cancer drugs. It seems to me they are doing a lot to improve the commons. So I wont say anything worse about them than I don't understand what Carole Alt has to do with life extension.

[markymark]

Browser,
you aren't a member of the church of euthanasia, are you? ;-).

[drmz]

I have an open mind on this, but I'm not in the same rush others appear to be, perhaps because I've spent so many years chasing after every LE rainbow [...] Life is nice, death, even a painful one, comes to people and can not now be avoided, as the Patron Saint of CRON found out. [...] I suspect that eventually the American Psychological Association will come up with something in DSM VI characterizing this frenetic quest for LE to be some sort of mental disorder. [...] I suffer from the same malady but seem to be temporaily in remission.

After following the conversations around several supplements (for about 3 years) and the marketing/buy hype that seems to follows it , i must admit that i'm starting to feel the same way as browser about the subject.As for the DSM VI, i think it's a matter of selectively searching for information that backs your believes about different stuff.No matter what a company will bring on the market in the future we'll eat it as long as there is the slightest hope that it will bring us good ( depends strongly on the marketing << bringing something on the market, bring the enhanced version on the market, after that bring the enhanced enhanced version and so on ).
Most sups seem to lack human trials in a way that would justify spending alot of $$$ on it, only subjective faith seems to justify this, and i don't know if that is the best source to depend on. Faith is influenced by the self, and the self is extremely influenced by the world around us ( Sinclair takes res rumours ,forums, marketing .......) so it can be very manipulative in alot of ways. It seems that the lack of data is even responsible for better sales of different products. Although that is my wild guess.
There seems to be more then one truth when searching for information on the internet.Probably just a bad feature of the net.

Edited by Michael, 23 July 2009 - 11:33 AM.
Trim quotes

[tintinet]

Agree. Hope springs eternal, but the reality that there ain't no free lunch (even no free no lunch, a la CR), seems to eventually supersede the initial hype accorded most supplements and other methods aimed towards life extension.

[browser]

. . .but man, I've spent a fortune during such lovely things as injecting lamb fetus RNA into my buttocks. .

Did it work? I eat lamb curry sometimes, but have not noticed anything special

Okay, I am just being silly for those that take things too seriously.

This was not eating lamb. This was injecting Regeneressen, organ specific RNA and RN13, a mixure of RNA from 13 major sets of tissues from fetal sheep. It worked to make me feel and look much younger, to this very day. There's some interesting reads about injecting tissue extracts, including a surgeon injecting mascerated beef thyroid into a patient (before we had thyroid extracts). The patient got strong enough for surgury (which was the goal) and strangely enough, her thyroid was kick started into producing what she needed all on her own. My skin because very taught, wrinkles disappeared. So yes, for me it worked. Is it a life extender? That depends. If you can kick start organs, you can enhance life and perhaps live a healthier life longer than were in the cards for you. This therapy is still practiced in Germany and Switzerland. But then again those people are very much into spas, taking the waters and other things that make no sense to me. It was pretty trippy to watch my sun wrinkled skin become smooth and flawless over a couple of weeks.

Now is this all hocus pocus? Perhaps. But as the debate on how to take resveratrol, how much to take and lack of many human trials makes its use just as chancy.

Edited by browser, 15 November 2007 - 08:50 PM.

[browser]

Browser,
you aren't a member of the church of euthanasia, are you? ;-).

No, but I've been meditating for long enough time to know that Hamlet was right when he said "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." I've also been burned so many times by chasing after so many things, especially things Bill Faloon who's never recanted anything he's raved about, one of the reasons I cheered when he was arrested. As far as being against Faloon and Kent, I am absolutely against mentioning a study or two and then following the study up with marketing of, say, shark cartilage. I find it as reprehensible as all the people who made money during a certain time in real estate history then went around the country teaching people how to do the same. The Wall Street Journey went after those people, actually showing that their techniques no longer worked. Eventually the FTC filed charges and they were jailed. Call up LEF and ask to be put on hold. You'll hear Faloon reading study after study. If you had as much money as Bill Gates you probably could not take enough supplements as Faloon has pushed. But it probably wouldn't matter, you'd die of organ shutdown if you tried. This confusing mess we have now with each resveratrol vendor throwing barbs at the other is the proximate result of LEF's campaign to get the law on advertising of supplements changed.

If anyone would like to cure themselves of any viral infection, I'll be happy to send you the formula Faloon put out. Imagine. We cured HIV 2 decades ago and never knew it.

I think we'd be better served here if we chipped in money and got the vendors out of the sponsoring of fora biz.

Melatonon is an excellent example. If you wanted to avoid cancer, according to LEF, you'd take 60-200mg. a night. Of course you'd wake up either two days later or 4 hours later unable to fall asleep, because high doses can work in two distinctly unhappy ways.

A friend of mine called up a few years ago, asking what she could do, beyond what her doctor was doing for her for her breast cancer. I had her call up Faloon and get the run down. She died a year later. So much for LEF's "cures". Have you looked at LEF's emails or the magazines? I think LEF's infomercial type of journalism should be outlawed. And I'm still hoping Faloon and Kent will go back to jail.

No, I do not belong to the Church of Euthanasia. But I'm less cautious on spending bucks on what's not enough resevatrol, what's too much resveatrol, what might be throwing money down the toilet for something we don't have much clues about in humans.

[VP.]

Resveratrol may turn out to be nothing for humans but unlike any other "miracle" supplement we will have dozens of studies in next few years to see what the facts are. Sirtris alone has over a $100 million to get some clarity.

[wydell]

I appreciate your perspective and I am glad that you are questioning many of the practices pushed by LEF and others. I do get info from LEFs website and do take many supplements including resveratol though.

No, but I've been meditating for long enough time to know that Hamlet was right when he said "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."  I've also been burned so many times by chasing after so many things, especially things Bill Faloon who's never recanted anything he's raved about, one of the reasons I cheered when he was arrested.  As far as being against Faloon and Kent, I am absolutely against mentioning a study or two and then following the study up with marketing of, say, shark cartilage.  I find it as reprehensible as all the people who made money during a certain time in real estate history then went around the country teaching people how to do the same.  The Wall Street Journey went after those people, actually showing that their techniques no longer worked.  Eventually the FTC filed charges and they were jailed.  Call up LEF and ask to be put on hold.  You'll hear Faloon reading study after study.  If you had as much money as Bill Gates you probably could not take enough supplements as Faloon has pushed.  But it probably wouldn't matter, you'd die of organ shutdown if you tried.  This confusing mess we have now with each resveratrol vendor throwing barbs at the other is the proximate result of LEF's campaign to get the law on advertising of supplements changed. 

If anyone would like to cure themselves of any viral infection, I'll be happy to send you the formula Faloon put out.  Imagine.  We cured HIV 2 decades ago and never knew it.

I think we'd be better served here if we chipped in money and got the vendors out of the sponsoring of fora biz. 

Melatonon is an excellent example.  If you wanted to avoid cancer, according to LEF, you'd take 60-200mg. a night.  Of course you'd wake up either two days later or 4 hours later unable to fall asleep, because high doses can work in two distinctly unhappy ways. 

A friend of mine called up a few years ago, asking what she could do, beyond what her doctor was doing for her for her breast cancer.  I had her call up Faloon and get the run down.  She died a year later.  So much for LEF's "cures".  Have you looked at LEF's emails or the magazines?  I think LEF's infomercial type of journalism should be outlawed.  And I'm still hoping Faloon and Kent will go back to jail.

No, I do not belong to the Church of Euthanasia.  But I'm less cautious on spending bucks on what's not enough resevatrol, what's too much resveatrol, what might be throwing money down the toilet for something we don't have much clues about in humans.

[browser]

Resveratrol may turn out to be nothing for humans but unlike any other "miracle" supplement we will have dozens of studies in next few years to see what the facts are. Sirtris alone has over a $100 million to get some clarity.

That's true. If they reveal. They might want to keep what they're doing trade secrets and just announce the results of product A, B and C. It seems to me that there is intentional obfuscation. I remember the many studies on how researchers reset people's circadian rhythm using certain amounts of Melatonin at a certain time of day. Somehow if anyone announced what those doses and timings were, I wasn't paying attention. I have Melatonin, I travel timezones, I don't know how to take the stuff for jetlag.

[cesium]

Life Extension Foundation 20 mg tabs and Young Again tabs failed- much less than stated amount of resveratrol.

Considering that most people pay lef's inflated prices for their assumed superior quality control, this is a pretty cynical development. Was a long time member there myself until I had my own experience causing me to question their integrity. Back when they were touting Chrysin in a big way for its suspected ability to increase free testosterone, they were concurrently conducting their own tests. Tried but wasn't selected to be a part of their trial, and waited for them to publish their findings. When those (less than promising) findings appeared to have been held back long enough for lef to dump whatever overstock of Chrysin they still had on hand instead of informing its members in a reasonable time period of their disappointing clinical trials of it, it became quite clear to me what their priorities were. Now that we find their vaunted quality control to be suspect as well, I can't think of any reason to waste any more money on their overpriced products.

[browser]

LEF has not responded to my email about their resveratrol failing. They do mention here that they've prepared responses. Just send an email expressing your concern about a specific supplement. I've sent off an email asking for their response on 20 mg resveratrol. This is going to be difficult for them to talk their way out of, IMO.

[browser]

Just received a phone call from a Dr. Fogle, M.D. (I asked to make sure it was M.D.) about my resveratrol query. He said that LEF is very concerned about this problem with ConsumerLabs and will be coming out with a full statement soon. He said that LEF is very thorough and careful about quality.

This is not a plug for or against LEF, just reporting the events as they unfold.

[maxhealthback]

Any manufacturer who was willing to have his product subjected to independent testing could have done so through consumer lab's voluntary submission program whereby one advises Consumer Lab of their desire to submit their product for testing and CL purchases samples anonymously and conducts the tests. If a product does not appear in the test results one can reasonably and, I believe, fairly presume that the manufacturer did not have confidence in the ability of their product to pass the relatively comprehensive testing standards applied by CL to the products tested.

Another possibility is that the product was submitted for voluntary testing and it failed. When this happens CL will give the manufacturer the option of not mentioning that their product was tested. This option is not available to products chosen by CL for testing outside of the voluntary program.

[wayside]

If a product does not appear in the test results one can reasonably and, I believe, fairly presume that the manufacturer did not have confidence in the ability of their product to pass the relatively comprehensive testing standards applied by CL to the products tested.

At one time ConsumerLabs listed their testing fees for their voluntary testing on their web site, although I can't seem to find it any more. It's not cheap though - IIRC it's in the $3000-4000 range *per product*. If you are a small company with several products, getting them all tested just gets ridiculously expensive, for a dubious return on your investment.

Plus, by squelching results from companies that fail, they have created a huge conflict of interest, not to mention ethical issues. Who are they serving - the companies that buy the tests, or the consumers that buy the results? I don't think you can trustfully serve both.