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In Canada it is against the law for doctors to provide testimonials for any products.
So, dozens of U.S. and Canadian based companies enter the Canadian market monthly with
questionable products that they advertise in the media with absolute immunity from
prosecution.
- We wonder if the products being sold on the many web sites have been tested and
approved by the FDA or if they have proper labeling for Health Canada?
- Is the product a juice product, is it food, or does the magic ingredient that they
say is patented come under the Canadian Food and Drug Directorate branch of Health Canada?
- Just because an ingredient or method or machine is patented does not make it safe,
or therapeutic. In fact many patents are nothing more than nonsense. If their secret
ingredient ADVANTRA Z is an herb, or herbal mixture, it may be not unique. A trademark
for acetylsalicylic acid known as ASPIRIN is still acetylsalicylic acid. It relieves
headaches or the pain of arthritis no better because it is trademarked.
BTW - There was no mention anywhere on elookgreat.com web site or the
Toronto Sun advertisement as to the contents of
the drink, and no warnings or other information for consumers. That is out
and out fraudulent advertising in anyone's book. We hope to see the
advertisements stop and we hope to draw the attention of the regulators
before someone is defrauded or injured by the improper use of this product.
Things are so screwed up at the web sites that hawk this stuff that they can't
even spell the name of their secret patented ingredient. On the
www.elookgreat.com
site they call it AVANTRA. So, I did a U.S. patent search for
AVANTRA and the found one from Agfa, but it's used in the printing/scanning industry,
and has nothing to do with diet.
However there is a patent on an ingredient called ADVANTRA Z
that is registered to a Zhi-Shin LLC doing business out of Burlington, Vermont. It says that:
HERBAL DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FOR USE IN WEIGHT LOSS, THERMOGENESIS, ENERGY STIMULATION,
OR ADDITION OF MUSCLE MASS; DATE OF FIRST USE: 1997.10.00; DATE OF FIRST USE
IN COMMERCE: 1997.10.00
Why not try the juiceless versions of this wonderful stuff - why pay someone
else to add fruit and water and minerals and hype!
Here is a page that talks about it
For thousand of years the Chinese herb zhi shi, commonly known as
Citrus Aurantium or "bitter orange", has been used by to
stimulate healing. This 1998 trade paper article says that the ingredient are marketed
by Twin Labs and Pinnacle.
AVA Health version
They say that ADVANTRA Z is the trademark of Nutratech, Inc. (Who owns the trademark?)
BTW - their web site places the FDA disclaimer and all the ingredients so you can read them.
Stimulean
Try this one that's described as: -10 Grams Soluble Fiber from a unique proprietary formula containing:
Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium) extract (Advantra Z) 700 mg, which
contains the indirect-acting adrenergic alkaloids Synephrine and Octopamine.
And then this big statement that I saw on no other web pages - "nutritionally
support the natural release and burning of stored body fat." Get this folks, they
mention a Canadian connection, a doctor Dennis Jones, M.A, PhD. Does anyone know what those
degrees are in and where he is from? (So, how come no one else mentions this on the other sites?)
It's also a MLM company don't for sure
They sell tons of stuff and they claim that they started by servicing doctors.
This Natural Products Rag Extoles the Value of the Jones Patent Pending
without giving us a single reference. This blurb claims that someone at McGill University
in Montreal is doing a double blind study on 60 patients. So, when and where is it? The
article is dated May 1998. And who is Mark Brucker at Nutratech?
One of the Active Chemicals in the Bitter Orange
Strange, they call it Synephrine. Does that ring a bell?
The Nuances of this Bitter Orange Plant
In China it's used for dozens of reasons, but then again, so is everything else.
Abdomen, Ache, Antidote, Anodyne, Antiseptic, Bactericide, Bubo, Cancer, Cancer(Breast),
Cancer(Stomach), Carminative, Chest, Congestion, Deobstruent, Diarrhea, Dysmenorrhea, Dyspepsia,
Dyspnea, Emmenagogue, Freckle, Fungicide, Gas, Prolapse, Nausea, Marasmus, Panacea, Pectoral, Pimple,
Rectocele, Refrigerant, Rib, Sedative, Sore, Spasm, Splenitis, Stomach, Stomachic, Thirst, Urogenital, Uterus,
Vermifuge, Wine-Nose.
I think I've got it, if you live in a rain forest it works like a laxative. Or perhaps you need it to
raise your fallen womb, or to move your stagnant chi? But whatever you do, use cautiously in patients
with Cold Deficient Stomach. And never give any to your pregnant rabbit. If you dare to shoot it up
intravenously, it might permanently cause irreversible hypertension and your dog's legs might have to
be removed because of gangrene. Overall, I'd give it a 2 out of 10 just because it has so many cute
names and comes from a tree that smells nice.
Now, there are two things, possibly three that irk me when I see things like this, first that
it is HERBAL, secondly that it STIMULATES something, and finally that it increases MUSCLE MASS.
I wonder how ADVANTRA is used in the Malibu cocktail? Is it being used to add muscle mass, and
if so, how did the marketing manager of one of their distributors lose 30 lbs. in 30 days? What
muscle did he increase, if he took 30 lbs. of fat or cerebral cortex from somewhere else?
We appeal to the government of Canada to apply immediate pressure to withdraw the sale or
importation of this product and for them to launch an investigation of weight loss products
like the Malibu Beach 2 Day Diet.
One doctor who appeared on a web site is Irving Schaffner from Thousand Oaks, California.
According to the AMA, he graduated medical school in 1956 and is a general practitioner.
His phone is (805)497-4545.
We at the Dietfraud.com web site maintain a web site for consumers to
complain directly to the regulators about any diet product.
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