LifeVantage Lies About Protandim’s Safety

[The following post is from Vogel. Here he shines a spotlight on LifeVantage's attempt to mislead and lie to consumers once again.]

Just came across a corporate press release from LFVN in which they made the following claim:

“Protandim Is Certified by Banned Substances Control Group (BSCG) as Safe for Consumers and Athletes”

BSCG is a so-called certifying "organization" – but one that seems to serve the MLM industry exclusively (red flag #1).

What's really deceptive about the press release is that the BSCG does not conduct "safety" tests; they only test for the presence of substances banned for competitive athletes. It’s one thing for the company to say that Protandim is certified to be free of substances banned by the IOC, for example, which is relevant only if one is a competitive athlete who doesn’t want to fail a doping test after ingesting a dietary supplement. However, it’s a straight up lie to claim that Protandim "has been certified... as safe for consumers”. The BSCG provided no such certification about safety or anything relevant to non-athletes (i.e. general consumers).

Under US law, supplement manufacturers are not allowed to make unqualified safety claims about their products unless they submit reliable safety data from high-quality studies to the FDA for assessment and approval. LFVN has not done so. In fact, they have no published human safety data at all. When supplement manufacturers use GRAS ("generally recognized as safe") ingredients, there is an inherent assumption that they are “generally” safe, but there are many examples of supplements with GRAS ingredients that can have serious side effects. That’s why the FDA does not allow manufacturers to make unqualified safety claims. Furthermore, if a company uses ingredients in novel combinations, then it can’t be assumed that the safety profile is the same as when the ingredients are taken individually. This is particularly relevant to Protandim, since LFVN claims that the ingredients display unique “synergistic” properties. In that light, the safety of Protandim is even more uncertain. The FDA states:

"Where there is reason to suspect that the combination of multiple ingredients might result in interactions that would alter the effect or safety of the individual ingredients, studies showing the effect of the individual ingredients may be insufficient to substantiate the safety of the multiple ingredient product. A better approach would be to investigate the safety of the specific combination of ingredients contained in the product."

To make matters worse, LFVN even acknowledges in their FAQs that Protandim can cause side effects (allergic responses, stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, and rash of the hands and feet). Obviously, it’s not entirely safe and they shouldn't be deceiving consumers to the contrary.

Originally posted 2011-09-02 16:38:47.

This post involves:

LiveVantage Lies

... and focuses on:

Protandim safety