I love listening to my Old Time Radio shows while I am in the car, but I don’t love that in between these programs, the station plays the worst infomercials.  Usually, these are my signal to change the channel, but every once in a while, I will be distracted just long enough to catch the first phrase or two of the commercial.

One of the latest commercials they are playing is particularly annoying to me because it states things that are flat-out FALSE in order to try to sell a “health-related” product.  Not only do companies like these give an industry that takes safety seriously a bad name, they also further diminish the trust people can have in the legitimate health products manufacturers.

Here’s the commercial that has me so “riled up,” as my grandpa would say: it is for a product they are calling nitric oxide which they are trying to sell for a popular category in these kinds of commercials, which is in the area of performance.  They say several misleading things to convince unaware buyers to plunk down their money.

For one, the announcer claims, among other things, that “the Nobel Prize was awarded in 1998 for the discovery of nitric oxide. . . .”  Actually, the prize was awarded for discovering the role that nitric oxide plays in our cardiovascular systems.  Nitric oxide is a naturally occurring element whose existence was already known about.

Secondly, the commercial makes it sound as if you have to take nitric oxide in order to have it in your body.  The truth is that our body naturally makes nitric oxide through at least a couple of different channels.  It needs elements like certain amino acids, oxygen and a specific enzyme in order to be produced.

None of this isn’t to say that there are not nutritional supplements that can help the body find balance for nitric oxide levels.  In fact, our industry magazines have been discussing the important role nitric oxide levels play in several areas of health over the past several years.  But, do you want to trust a product that can’t even get the simple facts straight when it comes to your health?

We at Betsy’s take product safety very seriously.  Our goal is to make sure the companies we carry follow the highest possible standards.  We have even been on actual tours of the facilities of almost all the major brands that are in our store.  We are also very aware of the main law that governs our industry, DSHEA, so that we don’t make claims about our products that are not legal and accurate.

Buyer beware  is not just a phrase that your parents always told you.  In a world where internet sales and infomercials can tell you just about anything, being aware that what sounds too good to be true probably is may just be the only way to keep yourself safe.

In health,
Ramona

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_oxide#Production
http://models.cellml.org/exposure/f10068773d83bdb630ffd51101d05317/chen_popel_2007_c.cellml/view