Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Extreme Cases do not call for extreeme regulation , August 18, 2008
Sensationalism sells books. It sold "Natural Cures" on TV direct media campaigns, and it sold this book - at least to me. Both are at extreme opposite end of the subject and both are misleading. Take your supplements. Do your research, don't over do it, just as you should not over do OTC meds and prescription meds.
I've been taking supplements for most of my life and exercising. At age 51 I look younger, feel better, work longer, and enjoy life so much more than those that have not followed this path. I would suggest that you continue to take basic supplements, avoid any Muscle and Body Building magazine recommendations (if you are stupid enough not to know that the results are from Steroids and not fat burners and whey, then uh, well you should read more). Be careful with herbs, but know that there are herbs that predate the pharmacy industry and are proven safe, effective and we know how they work. Look at Lunesta vs. Valerian for example. Do your research be smart, buy vitamins from a reputable store and a reputable company.
BMX Extreme sports are dangerous, but I still ride a bike. I have lifted for 35 years, but have never touched steroids. A few people died from taking ephedrine based supplements, it's speed people! Don't exceed the dose and don't take it if you think it's going to melt your beer gut away by itself! Pick up a "Pill Book" or another medical book and become informed about everything before you put anything in your body. Look up the top 10 prescribed pills and be amazed at comments like "not sure how they work", "they may increase X production, but also they may limit Y production" We just know they work.
Vitamins are safe, many herbs are safe. If you are trying to regulate a mood with herbs, be careful. Sensationalism sells books, be it Barack Husein Barry Obama or Vitamins.
It's true it's a business. There is a profit motive duh! So buyer always beware and don't take everything on the aisle, just as you wouldn't take everything on the cold formula aisle.
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41 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rife with errors, poorly researched, January 16, 2007
Whatever Mr. Hurley's agenda might be, he is free to have is own point of view and to write about it. The essential problem with this book is that its central thesis is undercut by the incredibly poor job of fact checking by Mr. Hurley and his editors. Let's take two very fundamental mistakes that could have been corrected with even the most basic fact checking.
For one, the author couldn't even get the name of the CEO of Natrol, who he claims to have interviewed, correct. The name of Natrol's founder and Chairman of the Board is Elliott Balbert. Mr. Hurley repeatedly refers to him as Mitchell Balbert. Did anyone bother to do any fact checking? This mistake could have been "discovered" if anyone associated with the publication of this book had simply gone to Natrol's web page and verified the name of the company's Chairman of the Board. [...]
Let's take another, even more fundamental error given the subject matter of this publication. Mr. Hurley discusses the plight of a woman who claims that her nose fell off because of a product she put on it to treat what she thought was skin cancer. Suspend reality and set aside whatever questions you have about someone who claims to be a nurse self-treating her skin cancer in the manner described by Mr. Hurley. The real problem is that any topical product such as the one described in this section of Mr. Hurley's book is not a dietary supplement, and cannot be legally sold as one in the United States. By law such products are drugs. If either Mr. Hurley or his editors had bothered to look at the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, they could have avoided this fundamental mistake.
If the author could make these kinds of basic mistakes and his editors could not bother to undertake the effort to fact check such basic assertions like these, what level of confidence should anyone have in Mr. Hurley's "facts"?
In the interests of full disclosure, I am an attorney specializing in food in drug law. Many of my clients are in the dietary supplement/natural products industry.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Biased and Innacurate, November 27, 2008
Hurley writes well but his book is misleading and full of innacuracies. In the book and an essay authored by Hurley in the January 16th, 2007 edition of the New York Times, the author claims that:
The database of The American Association of Poison Control Centers has recorded 1.6 million reports of `adverse reactions' to supplement products (vitamins, minerals, essential oils, herbal products, homeopathic products, etc.) from 1983 to 2005.
Homeopathic products are NOT dietary supplements and are not covered by DSHEA. It was soon realized that Hurley had counted all "exposure calls" as adverse reaction calls. Exposure calls are non-administrative, non-information calls; the caller was concerned about an exposure to a substance. Typically only about 10 percent of these result in adverse reactions (requiring medical attention). He was inflating the number of adverse reaction calls BY A FACTOR OF TEN. When confronted with the truth the NYT had to print a retraction on Feb. 6, 2007. Unfortunately the inflated number remains in the book, and people like to quote it as proof how "dangerous" supplements are.
Hurley devotes an entire chapter to the supposed dangers of Tryptophan. When the FDA banned Tryptophan in 1989 it was because of problems caused by a single tainted batch made by one Japanese company. Up to that point Tryptophan had been one of the most popular supplements sold in the US. It is very useful for treatment of insomnia, depression, and obesity. It is also inexpensive since it occurs naturally and can't be patented. For decades Tryptophan has been included in baby formula--If there were any problems with Tryptophan itself we would have known about them many years ago. Hurley makes a weak attempt to convince us that Tryptophan is intrinsically harmful. He hints vaguely at a conspiracy to suppress research proving the inherent dangers of this amino acid. The result: Recently, in the face of overwhelming evidence of Tryptophan's safety, the FDA finally allowed it back on the US market!
In pursuing his agenda of trashing dietary supplements, Hurley includes in his book many exaggerations and some outright lies. Reader Beware!
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