Posted by nomdeprune on July 6, 2009, at 5:49:16
In reply to GABATROL, posted by manic666 on July 5, 2009, at 11:25:26
SCAM!
"A dynamic and innovative company in the health and fitness industry, Pure Life has an experienced and credentialed advisory board"
Oh, really? Seems to me like this guy probably mixes the ingredients in his kitchen... the listed business address on the website is 23 Geneva Rd, Norwalk CT 06850. This is a *house* in a residential area:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/23-Geneva-Rd-Norwalk-CT-06850/58814551_zpid/
"All Natural Gabatrol Gives Anxiety Relief within Minutes!"; "The naturally occurring ingredients in Gabatrol are healthy for your brain."
Uh, well, I suppose the amino acids and Kanna in the product may be natural, but 'Phenyl-GABA' is otherwise known in the U.S. as Phenibut, which is quite synthetic and is a regulated drug in Russia. (Many reports on Phenibut in this forum.)
There's a large icon on the bottom of their site that claims "Gabatrol is made in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certified facilities. This assures we are meeting the highest standards of manufacturing and quality."
...Generally, supplements are not regulated by the FDA. However, GMP-certified facilities are most certainly under the sole purvue of the FDA in the U.S., and 3-bedroom houses generally tend not to make the cut.
The FDA also requires all marketing claims to be noted with the statement, "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." I only see this disclaimer on the ingredients page. Claims such as "Reduce your stress & anxiety" and "Increase your focus and performance" are featured in giant capital letters on the top of all pages on the site, and there is NO following FDA-required disclaimer, nor is there an asterisk leading to one. Other outrageous, non-disclaimered statements on the site include "All Natural Gabatrol Gives Anxiety Relief within Minutes!"
Ooh, here's another gem: "our newly discovered proprietary extraction process allows the full potency of the herb to work effectively in smaller amounts".
Uh-huh. I'll bet the "proprietary extraction process" involves buying a lot of stuff in bulk and mixing 'em REAL GOOD.
This "company" is making me so angry that I'm really considering contacting the FDA and BBB.
MY disclaimers: I've never tried this product, but I've tried most of the individual ingredients separately, as have many people on this board (do a search for Phenibut, Kanna, L-Theanine, etc...) Some have been helpful, some haven't, but I don't think this is a source I'd ever, EVER get them from. Also, I believe Phenibut (and probably Kanna) are drugs in their own right (albeit nonscheduled in the states). I'm not sure they should be haphazardly mixed together, and Phenibut (for me, and many others) has significant withdrawal effects, ESPECIALLY when dosing every day, contrary to the website's claims: ("Gabatrol can be safely discontinued with no risk"; "you can use Gabatrol everyday for uninterrupted relief").
I'm not saying don't give any of the ingredients a shot, but do yourself a favor: research them first (plenty of info on here) and buy them from reputable supplement companies, not from some sketchy dude operating out of his personal home.
So, with all that in mind (I'm bracketing angry warning statements in case someone finds this link from a web search): (BUYER BEWARE!)www.gabatrol.com(BUYER BEWARE!)
(Bonus: also see their "PTSD Relief" sub-site marketed to VETERANS, using even more unsubstantiated and disclaimer-free statements! This is honestly making me a bit ill.)
Also, might I suggest this thread be moved to 'alternative'? ;)
poster:nomdeprune
thread:905069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090630/msgs/905212.html