Another MLM GLP-1 supplement, another day.
Lifevantage Mindbody GLP-1 System
Lifevantage is just another multi level marketing company that has come out with a GLP-1 ‘system’ aka supplement, to try to ride on the coattails of the highly popular and successful GLP-1 agonist medications.
The problem with all of these GLP-1 supplements, is that they do NOT work like the actual GLP-1 medications. Not even close in both function and efficacy.
Lifevantage makes some very bold claims about its Mindbody GLP-1 system:
The fact that they would say that people lost weight but no muscle is a huge red flag. It’s virtually impossible to achieve weight loss of solely fat without muscle, except if you’re having liposuction.
Not the little asterisks at each point, which lead to the ever-present FDA disclaimer that gets Lifevantage out of being sued for making these claims. Remember that the FDA only looks into supplements if someone is harmed from them. Companies can make pretty much whatever claims they want, as long as they have the disclaimer:
While GLP-1 agonist medications are very powerful in slowing digestion and curbing appetite, there are no supplements or foods that have an effect that even approaches them.
Lifevantage Mindbody GLP-1 System claims to have research behind it, and to an untrained eye, that research appears compelling. Unfortunately for Lifevantage, my eye is trained, and I’m not impressed. Here’s why:
The 12-week study was done on 60 people, divided into three groups. One group was provided with no supplement or education. They were the control group.
One group had the GLP-1 system, plus a commercial protein powder.
The last group had the GLP-1 system, a commercial protein powder, plus diet and exercise counselling.
In the results, we see that both the intervention groups lost weight. But wait…Lifevantage didn’t report on the control group at all. How can we see how effective the system is without comparing it to the group who didn’t receive any intervention?
We can’t!
Another huge flaw was that this study wasn’t blinded. Intervention groups knew they were receiving the supplements, which puts the study at a huge risk for bias. Chances are, those people also made changes to their diet and activity patterns (and one of the groups was even counselled to do that) which could skew the results. It can also induce the placebo effect, with participants in those two groups saying that the supplement ‘reduced cravings’ and ‘less emotional eating.’
Lifevantage also did an in-vitro study on their Mindbody GLP-1 system, which showed a 150% increase in GLP-1 production. Are you a cell? In-vitro studies do not show efficacy of a product in actual human beings, and just because a cell study showed more GLP-1 production doesn’t mean that this will happen in a person and have the desired results in terms of weight.
The Lifevantage Mindbody GLP-1 blend has a mixture (of course, much of it is proprietary) of plant ingredients that are the usual suspects in many of these types of GLP-1 supplements.
Literally none of these ingredients have been proven to be as effective as GLP-1 agonists.
If they were, we wouldn’t have had to invent Ozempic.
Fibre and protein increase GLP-1 production in our gut. Your best bet is to forgo the expensive supplements from MLM companies, all of whom have predatory sales models that take advantage of vulnerable people (mostly women). Please don’t feed the monster.
Read: here are my issues with MLMs and their coaches.
What is Lifevantage Protandim NRF2?
Protandim is a plant-based nutraceutical that contains milk thistle, bacopa, turmeric, ashwangandha, and green tea, and this combination is supposed to increase the body’s antioxidant activity.
This sounds great, but I’m skeptical. How do these readily-available, basic plants do all the fantabulous things that Protandim says they can?
Namely:
Gene ‘detoxification’
Reducing oxidative and cellular stress
Regulating ‘survival genes’
Supporting the body’s ability to ‘repair and rejuvenate its own cells’
These are some hefty claims. We know that oxidative stress may lead to accelerated aging, and may lead to diseases such as cancer. But remember that these things are complicated, and multifactorial.
Protandim NRF2 Synergizer is “clinically proven to reduce oxidative stress in humans by 40% in 30 days…it has been shown to increase superoxide dismutase levels by 30%, and catalase by 54%. When individuals were supplemented with Protandim Nrf2 Synergizer for 30 days, the age-dependent increase in lipid peroxidation was reduced to the level of a 20-year-old.”
Sounds sciencey! DISMUTASE THO.
Essentially what the company is saying this supplement does, is reduce damage to cells from, well, living life. Lipid peroxidation is simply the process where free radicals (which we don’t want a lot of) are created from fatty acids in the body. Superoxide dismutase is an enzyme that neutralizes free radicals. Catalase is yet another enzyme found in the body, that neutralizes free radicals.
So yes, those things are good to have.
Lifevantage Protandim Research.
I went looking for the research on Protandim, since it sounded so amazing.
What I found was not so amazing. SHOCKER.
One thing to remember about ALL MLM products: if something spectacularly innovative and life-changing existed, the FDA would be selling it, not an MLM.
I promise you that.
So about that research:
The vast majority of the studies done on Protandim have been done on rats and on cells in lab dishes. And while I don’t think animal studies are worthless, they’re preliminary. We aren’t rodents, genetically, socially, and physically, and we can’t just extrapolate the results of animal studies to humans doing actual human research to back it up.
In other words, a company like Lifevantage can and does claim that its products have been researched at Harvard and other great institutions, but if that research has only been on animals or in a lab, well, I’m unimpressed. Sorry. It’s a huge leap – not to mention disingenuous and misleading – to use those studies to market a product, but so many companies do this.
The 2006 human study that Protandim quoted above is only a half-truth: yes, there was a 40% decrease in oxidative stress in study subjects – using the TBARS test (which is not considered to be a reliable marker.) The methodology was also a mess.
Another human study done in 2016 on Protandim supplementation in athletes found that the supplement had no effect on TBARS or performance. The trial was also not randomized or controlled, two serious marks against it.
And as far as anti-aging, while Protandim may have increased lifespan in male rats by 7%, why haven’t they reproduced these results in humans?
Maybe because they can’t.
I can tell you though that looking through all the studies that have been done on Protandim, there aren’t a lot of results that show the supplements being beneficial to the aging process, disease prevention, mental acuity, or oxidative stress and issues resulting from it. It’s fine to say that your supplement increases X or Y in the body, but what effect does that increase have?
Probably nothing, since we’re all still getting older, and Protandim hasn’t released any compelling evidence to the contrary. And believe me, they’ve had plenty of time.
Protandim’s other products aren’t any better.
Lifevantage Protandim NRF1.
The NRF1 Synergizer is the same old thing – they combine L-carnitine, quercitin, alpha lipolic acid, and Q10, and claim that NRF1 gives you energy (‘Boost ATP!’) and more mitochondria.
None of these claims have been proven in any research at all.
In fact, L-carnitine is readily available in food, and our bodies make it themselves. It has a reputation among weightlifters for increasing endurance, but those aren’t supported by science.
Lifevantage Protandim NAD Synthesizer.
Their NAD Synthesizer capitalizes on the recent popularity of the Sirtfood Diet – the one that Adele used to lose a ton of weight (I reviewed it here).
Protandim claims that the combination of theacrine – a compound found in tea, plus niacin, copper, wasabi, and olive leaf improve cell signalling pathways and increases sirtuin activity by 94%.
According to Protandim, NAD Synthesizer:
Improves mood and motivation
Improves focus and concentration
Boosts mental and physical energy
Supports healthy longevity and autophagy
Supports the body’s inflammatory response
Maintains cholesterol levels that are ALREADY in the healthy range
But as you’ve probably guessed, there is absolutely no research to prove the efficacy of this supplement for any of the above claims.
Wasabi? Pass the spicy tuna rolls!
In other words, Protandim seems like a total dumpster fire.
In 2017, Lifevantage was served with a warning letter by the FDA for claiming that Protandim can treat certain diseases. They were supposed to remove all of those claims, and they did. But the livelihood of the product depends on its supposed efficacy in improving health and decreasing risk for disease, and therefore, the company’s marketing still implies that Protandim can have an effect on those things.
Because MLM.
Bottom Line:
Lifevantage and Protandim seem to make a lot of claims that they can’t support. They uses scientific jargon supposedly to convince potential customers that the company knows its stuff, but it seems like a total scam…they’re selling supplements that human research doesn’t back up.