Health News (Week 39 – 2013)
By Robert Redfern
Every day I get ‘bad news’ emails from readers asking my opinion on something they have read on the internet regarding the bad-mouthing of supplements, or, warning of their side effects. Even though every report I have ever checked has proven to be false, I still need to go and check these reports…just to be sure. It is not just for my reader’s health, but for my family’s as well, and since we all take many more supplements than the average family, we need to be doubly sure.
There are over 54,000 supplements or ingredients on the market. The FDA (USA Food and Drug Administration) would love to ban supplements and they would do so if they had any evidence.
Since the USA is the only country in the world with a written constitution, the government there cannot simply pass a law to ban anything without good cause. In Australia and Canada (and now in in the UK since it joined the European Union) the government will not allow a bill of rights for its citizens (or subjects as they are called). They can ban any supplement at will. Thousands have simply been ‘banned’ in the past few years.
In the USA the FDA makes lots of noises, but the only thing it has done against supplements is to pull them off the market if they have found to be contaminated (and we all agree that is sensible). The problem comes when the FDA then try to keep it off the market without good cause.
This happened with L-Tryptophan, an amazing amino acid that was pulled off the market when a contaminated batch from Japan was found, causing some problems. L-Tryptophan has been showed in studies to be equal or better than depression drugs and so pulling it off the market was the perfect opportunity to support their pharmaceutical friends and their drugs.
The FDA tried to claim it was L-Tryptophan that caused the problems and it took quite a few years of court cases by consumer rights groups to force the FDA to allow it back onto the market. I put L-Tryptophan into my RelaxWell formulation immediately (for sleep & relaxation) and it is one of the reasons I get so many grateful thank you emails (and yes, I take it every day).
L-Tryptophan is a good example of what a bill of rights can do to empower citizens. However, it does not stop the smear reports and campaigns by those who want supplements off the market. Some of these are not smears but simply bad science. An example of this bad science was made against Serrapeptase around 20 years ago.
Two hospitals in Japan both reported that Serrapeptase causes lung disease in two separate cases. They claimed that two elderly men who had been taking a daily dose of 30,000iu (the maximum doctor dose) of Serrapeptase, were taken to hospital with lung disease. They also claimed that when they took these men off the Serrapeptase and gave them steroids, the lung problems went away. This is a prime example of bad science.
- It is common practice for doctors without any real evidence to blame supplements on an illness (even though the illness was there before they took the supplements)
- They did no tests nor did they monitor others taking Serrapeptase to see if their guess could be corroborated
- It could have been contamination
- Since then, millions around the world are taking it (literally) and it is common for those taking serrapeptase to be taking, not 30,000iu’s, but on my recommendation, 300,000iu’s and even double that per day
If these doctors had been correct to blame Serrapeptase, there would have been an epidemic of lung disease, but the opposite is true. Helping to clear lung disease is one of the major contributions that Serrapeptase has made in changing the lives of those with lung problems (and yes, I take it every day!). This is a great example of just how wrong a doctor can be, regardless of intention.
The latest story doing the rounds is that a batch of animal feed enzymes contaminated with an antibiotic have been allowed into Europe, to be used in food processing (and they say by mistake). I am holding my breath and hope that this isn’t being used as another smear campaign.
Either way, I cannot vouch for all enzymes (different brands) but all of the enzymes that I recommend are made specifically for humans and no animal enzymes are produced by the manufacturer(s).
As I mention above, my whole family take pretty much everything I suggest and no matter what others do, I can always assure you that each and any product is manufactured under the strict Good Manfacturing Processes GMP.
All of the serrapeptase enzyme formulations are phthalate free and come as either enteric-coated tablets, or Delayed Release DR Capsules.
When you choose one of these formulations, purity is 100% guaranteed.
