Herbalife - a drug addiction?

[Type941]

Help me out guys. What's the deal with Herbalife? I know it's a network marketing scheme to sucker people out of money, but from a medical stand point - how dangerous is the stuff they sell? Does anyone have any experience with it? A friend of mine recently got into it, drinking the stuff every day, and now 'converting' others. she's a doctor too, which is the part that's troubling. The stories about this Herbalife range from it's all crazy talk and it's safe to 'it contains powerful drugs that initiate immune system, have adverse effects on kidneys and causes risk of cancer and heart attack'. What to believe? I know there was a campaign against it on internet, etc, but that mainly is to to with the financial scheme of the operation. I don't care about that. What I'm wrorried about is can this stuff actually be harmful to your healtH? I know in Russia, the local 'FDA' equivalent doesn't allow it for sale. i heard it's the same in Sweden, and that there are restrictions on it in the US.

I've planning to give the 'stuff' to a government lab for testing, to see if it's harmful, but that's a bit desperate as I don't know what i should be looking for.

can someone share some insight on it - i know we have some very intelligent people here...

[jumpy]

never heard of it... linky?
is it anything like that yakult stuff? (the same noise you make when drinking the stuff)
My other half had to drink that **** snd similar stuff for about a year after she had a really bad bought of food poisoning, which turned into infective collietus- camylabacta (sp?) which landed her in hospital with a 'blistered gut' as the consultant put it. The antibiotics they gave her killed off all the bacteria in her stomach/gut, including the ones that are supposed to be there... not a happy bunny ;)
Back on topic, never heard of what you're talking about here in the UK... dunno.

[The Avon Lady]

Don't touch the stuff!

Go on Atkins or South Beach or similar diets. But exercise, too. You'll eat better, save money and feel well. :yep:

[Rockstar]

Dude eat well and exercise. By eating well I mean greens a little meat and high fiber to keep things moving ;) All of which can be found at the local grocery store plus you save a bundle. Eat things that are enjoyable to the pallet, suffering through bland chalky shakes and powders are not worth it. Get plenty of exercise, exercise and exercise just eating well while blogging or watching the boob tube all day doesn't help.

Myself I get out to swim a mile atleast 3 times a week. Talk about a rush of endorphines, they are naturally produced by the body, endorphins are possibly the best (and most legal way) to achieve a natural high. But you have to be in some shape to get to that point, if you start out fat and lazy with no energy it's difficult to attain it but once you do your like the energizer bunny you just keep going and going. They are one reason why soldiers wounded in battle can continue to fight or have the strength to save someone else; it also accounts for the so called runner's high, or why some people are drawn to dangerous activities like car racing, sky diving and bungee jumping.

[XabbaRus]

Ah yes someone tried to get me and my wife to do Herbalife selling.

Basically a very clever pyramid scheme.

The people we know got suckered in, not just buying stuff to sell but paying out mroe to become "area manager" type setup where they supply to other herbalife sellers and get a cut of their sales.

I think they have let it drop as they didn't get much money out of it.

It is bollocks really.

[Type941]

Oh, It's not for me. Our relative got into it, and we want to convince her to get out of it!!! but she's a doctor, and she says it looks ok and she needs more proof than internet stories.

Personally I don't believe in miracles, and I know from personal experience that if you want to have good abs - you need to do crunshes for hours, not use an easy-slick machine for 2minutes in 3 days. So believe me, i think it's bollocks. But my concern is about the product itself. One of the rumours we heard is it contains some sort of addictive drug that makes you want to use the stuff and that it actually ruins your health. We know a family who had 2 members get cancer diagnosis pretty much after they were using this Herbalife - coincidende or not, but it's scary for sure. Another friends of ours used it and had to quit as the husband started having heart problems. So quite a number of people i know on friends level who tried the stuff and had problems. But now it's a family member who we just can't convince and of course it's a little more closer to home now, and I'm worried. I've no idea how to argue this case...

I don't have link on it directly, but HERBALIFE in google will get you all the info, surely.


some extra links:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/1020/6009043a_print.html
http://www.freewebs.com/herbalifereport/historyb.html


Apparently the founder of it died at age of 44 from drug misuse.. go figure.

[Damo1977]

That Type 941, sold that when I was playing cricket for future............= Nil. Save your money excercise. Like someone said, is pyramid scheme..................... But please don't buy it. The future is your mind, nothing else, work hard, play hard. Lose weight get toned that way. Unless your a lawyer ;)

[Kresge]

Also something to think about: 'drugs' like Herbalife are not regulated by the government which means there is no guarantee of purity or contents and furthermore extensive testing has not been done to make sure there are no side effects. My wife is a pharmacist and gets a lot of people asking about Herbalife and silimar miracle weight loss drugs.

What they say about it helping you lose weight may be true, but a good dose of heroine every morning would probably help just as well. Like others have said, stick with eating healthy and exercise.
:up:

[Etienne]

Check out www.randi.org - They have numerous articles about naturopathy and homeopathy.

Basically, it's a crock.

[Dowly]

Goddamn spammer, I was thinking if Avon Lady had come back, but then checked the date. :haha:

[Jimbuna]

Goddamn spammer, I was thinking if Avon Lady had come back, but then checked the date. :haha:

Ditto :o

[Onkel Neal]

Spammer removed, gmail banned again. :shifty:

[Safe-Keeper]

Oh, It's not for me. Our relative got into it, and we want to convince her to get out of it!!! but she's a doctor, and she says it looks ok and she needs more proof than internet stories.So let me get this straight: the way I'm reading this, she found a pyramid scheme, signed up, and then asked you to prove it was not a good idea? Why is the burden of proof so hard to get for so many people?

Also something to think about: 'drugs' like Herbalife are not regulated by the government which means there is no guarantee of purity or contents and furthermore extensive testing has not been done to make sure there are no side effects. My wife is a pharmacist and gets a lot of people asking about Herbalife and silimar miracle weight loss drugs.Lots of people, for some odd reason, are so deep in scare mongering and conspiracy theories about "Big Pharma" and "synthetic medicine" that they forget that just because a remedy is "natural" (which many "Big Pharma" remedies are, too, of course), that doesn't mean it's automatically safe or without side-effect.

My local paper ran an article (my summary/translation here (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=4777711&postcount=9)) on herbal remedies used by pregnant women, and their various side-effects, which included cancer and miscarriage. Of course this produced an outrage in the comments field from supporters of this kind of remedies, because obviously these people didn't like to be pulled out of their fantasy world in which herbs for some unknown, magical reasons had no side-effects whatsoever.

Check out www.randi.org (http://www.randi.org/) You gain 1000 points and level up.

[Letum]

Safe-Keeper....your replying to a post made in 2005.
Let the thread rest in peace.

[Safe-Keeper]

Sorry. Saw the thread way up on the top of page one, didn't occur to me to check the dates and years.