A friend of mine once asked me whether he should take a supplement. So, being the good friend that I was, I emailed the company. I totally forgot about this exchange of emails until I was cleaning out my inbox, but I figured I'd open the discussion on supplement use and the perceived 'necessity' of supplement use as well as scientific evidence supporting supplement use. (rowerbry is my spam account, don't email me there)
P.S. Note the dates of response. Sorry for the formatting.
-------------------
From: Rower Bry [mailto:rowerbry@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 10:34 AM
To: sales@gennapharm.com
Subject: Impact 250
Dear Genapharm,
I am interested in buying your product, Impact 250.
However, I would like to know if you have any other information on it than the information presented on your web site. Do you have scientific articles regarding Impact 250's effectiveness or the effectiveness of its ingredients available? Any assistance you could provide would be greatly
appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bryan Chung
----------------------------
From: "GennaPharm, Inc."
To: "Rower Bry"
Subject: RE: Impact 250
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 11:19:44 -0600
Hello,
I'm not sure what kind of scienfice articles
you are requesting. Just by reading the
ingredients on the bottle should tell you
that the product will work. If you place
and order and are not satified within 7-10 days of your purchase, simply return the remaining 3 week
supply and we well refund your money back.
Please let me know if I can help you with anything
else.
GP
--------------------------
From: Rower Bry [mailto:rowerbry@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 11:26 AM
To: GennaPharm, Inc.
Subject: RE: Impact 250
I'm looking for journal articles to substantiate the claims your product is trying to make. Just reading the ingredients on the bottle doesn't mean those ingredients work. According to your own web site, "At GennaPharm, our advanced research and development engineers were able to formulate a blend of testosterone precursors that are recognized by the steroid receptors of the muscle cells at different time intervals. Then, our engineers packed this powerful prohormone blend into an advanced and effective delivery system to get these prohormones into the blood, where they can be converted into Testosterone and absorbed by the working muscles. "
What I'm looking for is evidence that this was done and evaluated, because quite frankly, I think it's physiologically impossible.
---------------------------
From: "GennaPharm, Inc."
To: "Rower Bry"
Subject: RE: Impact 250
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 11:41:13 -0600
Hello,
I went ahead and forwarded this email to the
person who formulated this product.
He is out of the country, but will answer any
and all of your questions within 24-48 hours.
Thanks again.
GP
------------------------
From: Rower Bry [mailto:rowerbry@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2003 1:33 PM
To: GennaPharm, Inc.
Subject: RE: Impact 250
Dear GennaPharm,
I still have not received a reply to this email, and it has been well over 2 days, I think.
Sincerely,
Bryan Chung
-------------------
From: "GennaPharm, Inc."
To: "Rower Bry"
Subject: RE: Impact 250
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 11:11:14 -0600
Bryan,
I read your question again and I'd like to ask you
this, Which part do you not find physiologically
impossible (ingredients, formula, deliver)?
Are you interested in the product or are you
just trying to find out whether or not something
works? Bare in mind that the ingredients on
the label must work, because people who are
buying it have told me so (testimonies). And
if it didn't work, FDA would have pulled it
from the market as a bogus product. And
yes, they do know that I am selling it.
Another question for you, have you emailed
all the other companies out there who are
selling similar products, making the same
statements?
---------------------
From: Rower Bry [mailto:rowerbry@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 12:12 PM
To: GennaPharm, Inc.
Subject: RE: Impact 250
The part I find difficult to understand is how Impact 250 delivers hormone precursors to muscle cells at different time intervals. Are you depending on using a "cascade" of upstream precursors to modify the 'time to testosterone synthesis'?
I'm looking for published peer-reviewed research to support the claims of Impact 250, and yes, I am also looking for published research to support the claims of other similar products.
Testimonials mean nothing. Impact 250 does not fall under FDA regulations, because it is a food
supplement. If it did, I would be able to get a copy of the multi-centre randomized control trial
GennaPharm would have had to perform to prove its
effectiveness.
I'm not looking for a list of its ingredients or any proprietary lists. I'm simply looking for concrete research to support its use.
Sincerely,
Bryan Chung
---------------------------
From: "GennaPharm, Inc."
To: "Rower Bry"
Subject: RE: Impact 250
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 14:04:16 -0600
Bryan,
You said it!
We cannot send medical evidence to back up our claims.
By doing so, that would render it a drug. Just like I cannot advise a person about the mix and matches of medications they are on when taking our products.
I'm not a doctor.
I never said Impact 250 fell under FDA regulations, I merely said FDA was aware
that we were selling it. Again, I'll ask my
question, Are you interested in the product
for yourself to use or are you just writing
to different people to gain information?
I mean are you yourself FDA? another company
wanting to make a similar product and want
our research for your own benefit?
Or is it for your own personal use?
All you have to do is research the ingredients.
There are a lot of people who do not believe in
prohormones or prosteroids. You must be one of them.
If so, why are you interested in something you
don't believe in?
I take it in your letters, that your somehow
telling us our product doesn't work.
If that's what you believe, then why bother with us?
We have done our best to be evasive and misleading throughout this communication, yet you persist in attempting to acquire our “secret” research done by our advanced research and development engineers (okay, actually it’s a guy named Bob that fools around with amino acid powders in his basement). Bob and I really got a kick out of your comment on the “peer-reviewed journal” thingy. Like we could ever get anything past peer-review. Hell, we made up most of the shit anyway.
In all honesty, we didn’t really understand what you meant by “using a "cascade" of upstream precursors to modify the 'time to testosterone synthesis'?”, but it sounds really neat and if it’s okay with you, we’d like to include that in our next batch of marketing literature.
Look, we’re in the business of making money. We could give a rats ass whether a product actually works or not. Besides most guys that buy the stuff will think it works as long as they’re eating enough food and training hard, so both sides benefit. They train harder to make the product work and we make money. Everybody wins.
By the way, we don’t really care if you’re FDA. That was just an attempt to get you stop emailing us with questions that we don’t have the capacity to answer. We figure that if we make you feel stupid enough, you’ll just go buy the product anyway to try it yourself. That’s what most of the 14-22 year old guys who read muscle mags do. Why would you be any different.
Truth is our product doesn’t really do anything as dramatic as we imply. Just like I said. If it actually would work, someone might care and there goes our big bucks. Of course, that’s nothing new in the supplement industry now is it. Do you know how much money we made on those myostatin inhibitors? Geez, you show a muscular cow in your adds and the money just rolls in. I can’t wait until the next wave hits because of that kid with the gene defect. We’re already working on a batch of “Inhibitor II!!”
Thanks for making us look like asses.
Yours in supplementation,
GennaPharm, Inc.
P.S. Do you like how our company name makes it seems like a drug company. It makes those stupid teenagers think that our stuff actually works. Suckers!!
The ONLY company that I've ever contacted for research that actually had a tech dept was Apex Fitness (apexfitness.com). They were actually able to answer most of my questions on a scientific level.
They also sent me a bunch of fairly decent research as regards the ingredients in their products. Everyone else just sent me fliers and adverts.
It's funny.....I have been dealing with Universal Nutrition and they have been very cooperative with my requests for research etc. Actually, their products work SO well that I just believe everything they say now. I have been using their specially formulated soy protein formula enriched with a special blend of phytonutrients familiar to the plants in the diets of the strongest vegan mammal on the planet, the Silverback Gorilla. It's called Universal Soy SBG Formula. While remaining a vegan, I have put on a tremendous amount of muscle mass, I have posted a picture of myself below training in my backyard...
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
Sorry guys.....I couldn't resist. Bet some of you guys couldn't wait to get some of this stuff just based on my testimonial huh?! I think that's the point I was trying to make.....Peace!
DOS
__________________
Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS,
HCC (Hartman-Cosgrove Certified)
Director of Speed, Strength & Conditioning
College of the Canyons, CA http://www.canyons.edu/departments/pe/strength
"NO CHAMPION HAS EVER ACHIEVED HIS OR HER GOAL WITHOUT SHOWING MORE DEDICATION THAN THE NEXT PERSON; MAKING MORE SACRIFICES THAN THE NEXT PERSON; WORKING HARDER, TRAINING, AND CONDITIONING HIM / HERSELF MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON; ENJOYING HIS / HER FINAL GOAL MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON"
Linear Mode
