[quote]Cy Willson wrote:
Secondly, no offense, but you seem pretty naive to how much time, money and red tape is involved with conducting study after study. As someone else mentioned, getting a study together evaluating the efficacy of unapproved androgens isn’t going to be very easy unless it’s conducted in-house.
Last, but not least, from a financial standpoint, performing studies in a given population, in the supplement industry at least, doesn’t always translate to much in terms of increasing revenue. Why does this matter? Well, it wouldn’t if it were a particular pharmaceutical company making billions but the fact is they are not. In that case, it’s essentially throwing money and time away.
It’s important to be careful with the use of the word “proof” in science. All too often, people tend to interpret that as being a fact when there aren’t “facts” in science. There is merely evidence to support or discredit a hypothesis and if it stands the test of time, it may become a law or a commonly accepted principle, but even those can be challenged.
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You make two really excellent points here, which I think hit the nail right on the head. Studies are not easy or cheap so why would a supplement company do them at all when they can sell just as much of the supplement without having to bother to check if it is safe, or even somewhat effective. I guess the only reason they would is a little thing called ethics. You just made to best case I have ever heard for the FDA to come in and regulate supplements. It is exactly this unethical behaviour that has caused the FDA to start coming down on supplement companies in recent times.
It is has been the practice in the supplement industry in the past, and I suspect it is still the practice today, to simply market the hell out of products that have questionable benefits and no proof whatsoever. The big old happy buck is what dictates. I realise this is a business, and the market forces being what they are pretty much force companies to act this way.
You would think that consumers would even be willing to pay way more for stuff that is actually studied, and published in peer review journals.
Let?s not forget that MANY supplement companies made similar outrageous claims about Andro and Tribulis, before this study was done, and even after it was published.
There also were legions of uncompensated, eager people willing to line up and swear that Andro and tribbulis were the key to their success, and it worked for them so it will work for you too.
Lastly I agree we need to be careful about using the word “proof”. Everybody at one time hypothesised that Andro and tribulis were great until studies like this were done and the hypothesis was discredited.
