Protandim: Anti-Aging Miracle or a Scam?A doctor from Colorado has produced a pill he claims will reduce oxidative stress levels and help people live longer, healthier lives. You can buy into this dream for just $50 a month -- odds are that will make the good Doctor live a longer, healthier life, but will it do anything for you? So what is in this miracle pill? Anti-oxidants? Apparently not. According to the promotional material it consists of botanical extracts that work by "triggering your body's ability to generate more of its natural antioxidant enzymes." The site selling the product lists two 'scientific studies' to support their claims, but they are poorly designed and not well documented. One is based on mice. The other used humans, but only 13 and for 30 days -- hardly enough to warrent long-term use of the supplement. Most worrying is that the short human study showed "Uric acid increased by 7.3 ± 3%" -- the author characterizes uric acid as an antioxidant, but it is also the prime culprit in gout -- a classic case of detrimental effect from 'too much of a good thing.' According to the news article, Dr. Joe McCord who formulated the Protandim supplement: McCord said oxidative stress often accompanies many diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. So now that he says his supplement helps healthy people, he plans on studying how it will affect those already suffering with diseases and how healthy people may be able to avoid getting sick in the future. I hope he finds someone else to conduct an unbiased study of this supplement, and they conduct a good long-term, placebo controlled, blind study. Until then, I'll just keep that $50 a month in my pocket, thank you very much. |
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