Booty Enhancing Pills

Booty Enhancing Pills
A good rule of thumb is to not always trust those reviews on shopping sites like Amazon. Some products will pay to have people write positive/fake reviews. These people will often never even get a sample to test. Case in point is a product called Brazil Boost. A google search for Brazil Boost showed mostly just the Amazon page (3rd image below) and a blog with one post and a purchase link that goes to...wait for it...the Amazon page.
This ad was placed on craigslist:

A message was sent saying interested in knowing more about doing a review. This was the reply:

You'll note that no mention of testing/trying the product is even mentioned or suggested. This seller obviously got a few people to sign on as can be seen by the overwhelming positive reviews and all around the same time (a huge red flag!!!!)

OK, so the reviews are fake. But does the product actually do what it claims to be able to do? In short, NO. Well let's go through the ingredient list. The list is a hodgepodge of a quack's wet dream, a collection of seemingly random exotic sounding herbs and extracts that form some sort of miracle J-Lo booty shaping elixir.

Maca (root): Cultivated in Peru and Bolivia. Claims include increase in sexual performance and enhanced semen production (unsupported by evidence https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20691074). While a big booty might give RISE to more sexual desire from a partner, I fail to see how a supposed male enhancement claim is supposed to work in a female body. Maca also contains possible mutagens https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4082836/

Chaste Berry: Does have medical uses for PMS and breast pain. It is used to also promote lactation, although lacks significant evidence and is discouraged https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16156340 What this has to do with the buttocks, I do not know.

Fenugreek: Claims including aiding in digestion, reducing blood sugar, promote lactation and inducing labour. Little evidence supports the claims but definitely has safety concerns due to estrogen-mimicking properties https://nccih.nih.gov/health/fenugreek

Dong Quai: I had to laugh when they spelled it wrong on the ingredient label. This is female ginseng. It has many claims including aiding female sexuality, cardiovascular problems, osteoarthritis, inflammation, headaches, and fatigue. Of course evidence is weak or lacking. It is interesting to note though that it seems to promote hair growth (http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0192415X14500645) although I'm not sure how a hairy booty is enhancing. Adverse effects from prolonged usage cause skin sensitivity to sun leading to a greater risk of skin cancer, and compounds within the plant that are carcinogenic.

Saw Palmetto: Claims include aiding in a variety of urinary and reproductive problems. These claims though lack any evidence (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18423748) and is no better than a placebo. There are also some prostate cancer claims but the American Cancer Society states that studies do not support those claims of prevention or treatment of prostate cancer. Again, what this has to do with the buttocks, I have no idea.

Blessed Thistle: There isn't much info on this but claims include promotion of lactation.

Damiana: Little information on this, but used as an aphrodisiac. Little to no evidence is available for these claims.

There are seven more ingredients, but suffice to say there is a trend here that these items often have little to no evidence to support claims and there is even less to support the idea of it helping boost one's booty. I assume that some of the estrogen mimicking items may promote some fatty deposits around the waist, but controlling those deposits to the rear would be a helluva trick. The Amazon page of course shows the legal disclaimer that this product has not been tested by the FDA (thanks to supplements being classified as different than medication).

As an interesting aside, I did find this article showing some illegal butt enhancing surgery in Brazil. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4509936/Inside-illegal-Brazilian-butt-boosting-clinics.html

Buyer Beware

Science Bits and Bits and Bits

(written 2013)
Here are a collection of a few quick items you may find interesting.

Ear Candling

Ear candling is procedure often used by alternative medicine practitioners for reasons they claim including:  removing toxins, relieving sinus pressure, curing ear infections, helping with vertigo, improving hearing, purifying blood and much more.  There is no scientific evidence to support any of those claims.  Proponents often show some nasty discoloured gook in the candle after a session as proof.   This stuff actually is the residue from the candle itself.   Just burning one without use on an ear has the same exact effect as with use on an ear.  Tests have shown that there is not enough suction created from ear candling to cause ear wax to be pulled from the ear.

Health Canada considers ear candles to be Medical Devices and as such require licenses for the sale of them.  Since they are considered dangerous, Health Canada has not issued any licenses and therefore, the sale, and import of any ear candle is illegal.   They recommend if you do have compacted wax to seek a health care professional who will use proper equipment to remedy the problem.  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/med/ear-oreille-eng.php


Foot Detox Baths

Another item often used by the alt-med industry.   You place your feet into a shapely water-filled bucket.  A special cleansing formula is added and the unit is turned on.  Soon an orangey-brown colour is visible in the water.  The practitioner providing this service has told you that this is toxins from your body exiting through your feet.

Here’s the reality.  Toxins in the body (and the practitioners always seem to forget to mention exactly what toxins) do not exit through the feet, or the skin for that matter, in any significant amount.  We already have a body system that does that (visit any bathroom to see it at work).   Also, the rusty colour you see in the water is just that…rust!   It is actually the oxidation of the metal components (electrodes) through a process called electrolysis.   This happens even without your feet in the unit (see this video http://youtu.be/hbqYOw9I38w ).  This is just like the ear candling in that the claimed “proof” of it working, occurs without any body parts being utilized.



Hologram Bracelets

These are bracelets (usually made out of rubber) with a hologram sticker embedded into them.   Proponents claim that these help increase energy, strength and balance among other things.  They often do a couple of demonstrations to show you how well they work.

There is no scientific evidence that they work as claimed, but I am more interested in the demonstrations you can often find some of the sales people utilizing.  These particular “provings” are a collection of old sideshow strength stunts and old snake-oil salesmen techniques recycled for modern audiences.  They use little known principles of leverage and a lack of knowledge of the body to make it seem like the bracelets are working.  By watching this video of magician Brian Brushwood (http://youtu.be/XpLt0oUWfOk),
you can see how subtle the changes in the demos are from not wearing a bracelet to wearing one.  Save your money and just keep practicing.

Honey I Suppressed the Kids

(written 2013)

You may have been hearing a lot the past few years about the wonderful effects honey can have on coughs.   Media, nutritionists, social networking and various other sources have been very effective in spreading the news that was issued in a 2007 press release by Penn State University (PSU) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  This study was funded by an unrestricted grant from the National Honey Board, an industry-funded agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. Unfortunately, as the Hip Hop group Public Enemy has said, “Don’t Believe the Hype.”

The press release from PSU (http://news.psu.edu/story/192001/2007/12/03/honey-proves-better-option-childhood-cough-otcs ) states that:
“The study found that a small dose of buckwheat honey given before bedtime provided better relief of nighttime cough and sleep difficulty in children than no treatment or dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cold medications.”

While this statement is not untrue, it is a little misleading once one reads the published study. (http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=571638).  In the study it states:
“Notably, however, direct comparison between honey and DM yielded no statistically significant differences.” and “much of the improvement can also be attributed to the natural history of URIs (Upper Respiratory Infection), which generally improve with time and supportive care.”

Well this is getting a little confusing.  Where did the PSU get the idea about honey being better?   Well, it also states in the study:
“Significant differences in symptom improvement were detected between treatment groups, with honey consistently scoring the best and no treatment scoring the worst. In paired comparisons, honey was significantly superior to no treatment for cough frequency and the combined score, but DM was not better than no treatment for any outcome. “

OK, so now we know where the supportive information came from.   But wait a minute!   Do you see it?  If honey is significantly better than no treatment, and DM is no better than no treatment, then how can the comparison between honey and DM show no significant differences?  So what’s going on here?

Looking at the First Night and Second Night comparison scores (figure 2 in the JAMA study), you can see honey does fare better overall compared to DM and no treatment.  Upon closer examination, you will notice though, that the advantage it has is less than 1 point.  Most seem to show just a .5 difference between No Treatment and Honey with DM in between those two.   So really, it shows no significance and is suggesting that a child having no treatment will experience pretty much the same relief as those taking a cough suppressant with DM or honey.

The authors suggest that the cause for the slight increase in effectiveness of honey may be due to some of its antimicrobial and antioxidant effects.  They also suggest that sweetened liquids may cause salivation and airway mucus to be secreted and thus provide a soothing demulcent effect.   Although, taken with a grain of sugar, when you again compare the relatively unimpressive results of honey over DM and no treatment with these explanations, it’s not really saying much.

Ideally, I would say that this study really shows that attentive and supportive care and time is the most important medicine in helping a child with a cough, which the authors also support by saying:
“much of the improvement can also be attributed to the natural history of URIs, which generally improve with time and supportive care. “

So just make sure that you show your child love and care for them.  If your child’s cough persists, see your doctor immediately.

Supple Risk

(written 2013)

“Use at your own risk” has become a common cliché, used as a layperson’s quick and easy legal disclaimer.   It’s been used to great comedic effect in many comic and late night TV host’s monologues.  It seems that our governments may be taking a similar weak approach in matters of our health, and that is no laughing matter.

I would think that consumers want safe and accurately labelled products.  They should consult medical health professionals and be able to make their own decisions on the effectiveness of a product.  Product safety is paramount, as well as quality, and efficacy statements should be based on good science.

Health Canada and the FDA (USA Food and Drug Administration) are very similar and share information with each other readily.  Their purpose is to protect the public health by regulating drugs, vaccines, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics and dietary supplements.   The last one is where I have some concern.  Dietary supplements can include vitamins, homeopathy and natural herbs.

A recent (October 2012) Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report (https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-01-11-00210.pdf) on FDA’s ability to regulate said:
“Overall, substantiation documents for the sampled supplements were inconsistent with FDA guidance on competent and reliable scientific evidence. FDA could not readily determine whether manufacturers had submitted the required notification for their claims.  Seven percent of the supplements lacked the required disclaimer, and 20 percent included prohibited disease claims on their labels. These results raise questions about the extent to which structure/function claims are truthful and not misleading.”

This obviously suggests that there are a lot of products on the market that may be misused due to improper labelling.  It goes on further to state:
“DSHEA [Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act] does not require manufacturers to submit dietary supplements to FDA for safety or approval prior to sale. As a result, FDA has no comprehensive list of dietary supplements on the market. Dietary supplement manufacturers must ensure that their products are safe, they have evidence to substantiate structure/function claims, and that product labels are truthful and not misleading.”

This is troubling as the FDA does not conduct surveillance of supplements sold in retails stores.   It does conduct limited surveillance on the internet and monitors adverse event reports, consumer complaints and visiting manufacturing facilities.   I find that this leaves a big loophole for products to slip into the market that are unsafe.  A lot of what the FDA is doing seems to be reacting to the issues instead of solving the issues beforehand.  It’s not totally their fault though as legislature in the US and in Canada has opened those holes in the past decade or two.

Since the FDA no longer has exclusivity in determining the efficacy of products.  Therefore, certain statements not evaluated by the FDA contain a disclaimer on the label such as “not been evaluated by the FDA, and that the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or mitigate any disease”.  You may or may not have seen these statements as they are usually very small thus leading to consumer confusion on whether the product works as stated.  A paper from CIRST (Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherché sur la Science et la Technologie)
( http://www.cirst.uqam.ca/Portals/0/docs/note_rech/2006_05.pdf) in Quebec has stated
 “Opponents of such regulation have argued that the disclaimer policy strips the FDA of the authority is needs to adequately protect consumers dupery and unsafe products,”
 referring to Bruce H. Schindler’s  1998 publication “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire: The Dangers of the Unregulated Dietary Supplement Industry.”

With Health Canada, items under NHP regulations can, if randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are not conducted,  make efficacy claims based on “traditional uses”, i.e., anecdotal evidence of use and efficacy.  This is an unsettling thought since anecdotes are clearly not considered strong evidence in science.

Also, since Health Canada has allowed exemptions (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/legislation/acts-lois/exemption/index-eng.php ), there is a backlog of thousands of product on the market still remaining registered.  Health Canada and the Competition Bureau have done very little except giving notices to the manufacturers of these products.  The weak enforcement of protective policy, I feel, does little to help create a status quo that should be maintained.

So what to do?

If one is to consider taking a dietary supplement or natural health product, consult a medical health professional (like a family/general practitioner) to discuss the risk/benefits.  Also, Health Canada does provide an easy to remember way to see if a product has been evaluated by them (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/faq/question_consum-consom-eng.php) .   A product that has a Natural Product Number (NPN  123456 for example) is a safer bet.  Ones that have been on the Exempted list have a number start with EN (EN-123456 for example).  These have not been fully evaluated.   A product with no NPN number, has not been evaluated or approved by Health Canada.

Stay Safe and informed.

Sun-gazing or Sun-thing Else?

(written in 2013)
You may have seen a number of memes and articles floating around the internet and social media these last few weeks, all talking about sun-gazing.  You may have also seen the terms sun-eater and Breatharian.  Besides the obvious looking at the sun action, what exactly is this you ask?

Sun-gazing, as postulated by its followers, is the act of looking at the sun and being able to live off of it.   They say you can rid yourself of diseases, become clear in the mind, sustain life with no food (like a plant) and also acquire super-human abilities.  It supposedly takes a lot of discipline and gradual dosage increases over months and years to obtain the highest levels.

Although its meditative aspects might be quite calming, what I’m really interested in is the safety of the practice.   The first concern is the most obvious.   It requires looking at the sun.  Doctors, opticians and optometrists regularly recommend not looking directly into the sun
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11419039 , http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15575813 ).  The practice of sun-gazing suggests 10 seconds the first day, while slowly increasing after that to over 40 minutes after 90 days.  Even though they suggest doing the gazing during dusk and dawn, damage is still possible and increases with prolonged gazing.  Developing cataract problems is of great concern (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14569187 ).

The second and most important concern is the reduction or complete avoidance of food.  I think the idea of living only off the solar energy of the sun to be unattainable.   Sun-gazers claim that it is like plants, but just like plants, our bodies also need nutrients and water.  These nutrients provide much more than energy that our bodies use.  Nutrients also help in the multitude of bodily processes and also as part of the building blocks of our bodies themselves.  Without calcium, for example, we wouldn’t have bones.

There have been a few cases of persons having severe complications because of this and also death.  Recently, a Swiss woman succumbed to the perils of this practice (http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/25/woman-living-only-on-sunlight-dies ).  A woman named Jasmuheen, who is a self-proclaimed expert on the practice, fell ill to the effects of dehydration, stress and high blood pressure within 48 hours during an episode of Australia’s 60 Minutes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmuheen).  After 4 days, the doctor cancelled the test due to weight loss, dilated pupils, slowed speech, and the risk of kidney failure.  It is because of these two concerns, that this practice is something that I would say is not worth the risk.

Science and the Beast

Un-Cola

Saw this video. I had some problems with it
Misleading video: While fruit juice is probably more ideal, there are facts one needs to consider. Pomegranate juice has more sugar (13g/100g) content than coca-cola (11g/100g). Lemon juice does not detoxify the blood. The detox/cleanse myth has been debunked a million times before: “It’s criminal exploitation of the gullible man on the street and it sort of keys into something that we all would love to have – a simple remedy that frees us of our sins, so to speak. It’s nice to think that it could exist but unfortunately it doesn’t.” from my friend Edzard Ernst. Cranberry juice also has more sugar than coca-cola. Coke also has antioxidant and chemopreventive properties http://www.ceia3.es/en/news/news/667-evidence-of-the-antioxidant-and-chemopreventive-effects-of-coca-cola . So the better thing to do is eat the solid fruit as you get more nutrients. Reduce both soda and fruit juices as they can add a lot of excess sugar, but don't go overboard on the fruit as well. 3 servings a day is the ideal. 
A handy list of fruits and fruit juices high in glucose: http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-009010000000000000000.html?maxCount=78 . You'll note that pomegranate juice is 4th highest. 

Original vid: https://www.facebook.com/HeartyHeartOfficial/videos/1656523894650991/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Science Literacy update

Such a sad state of the science literacy (or rather lack thereof). This graph shows the difference between the general public and scientists of various topics.

Cupping Trudeau

If there wasn't already enough proof of Justin Trudeau being idiotic, this comes along. Yep, cupping quackery. We need a better level of politicians that don't believe in complete bullshit. These are people making important decisions. It's scary AF how gullible these anti-science, anti-gmo, anti-fluoride, anti-vaccine these folks are. smh

Salt of the Earth

Well now. Someone is a little confused.

Remedy of Smoke (or Intelligence)

I came across this questionable product today. It makes a lot of claims. Let's look at some of those shall we? 

*No Nicotine
Yes that is true. 
But what about the actual ingredients? You may be really surprised at what they say in it.
Nux Vomica--It is a plant. The seed is used for medicine. While it does have some legit medical uses in treating some heart disorders and lung disease, it is carefully controlled and supervised because it contains strychnine and brucine which are used in rat poison because of their deadly properties.

Staphysargia--Is a plant. According to wikipedia "All parts of this plant are highly toxic and should not be ingested in any quantity."

Avena sativa--Wild Oats. oooooookkkkk. I think I'll just eat some cereal ;)

Ignatia amara--Another plant containing strychnine brucine

Potassium Phosphate--Real medical uses include controlling the amount of calcium in the body and urine (making urine more acidic). Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, or headache may occur. Taking of this medicine should be under a medical doctor's guidance.

*No Side Effects
Yep true. Well how can it have some of the dangerous ingredients above and not have side effects? Well it is a homeopathic solution. These types of solutions are diluted in water. Many to the point where there is not even a single molecule of the original ingredient is present. So yes it is just water. So it is not surprising that just water has no side effects (unless of course you drink way too much and you die. Yes you can die from drinking water at high doses). $80-$100 for 118 mL of water. Think about that for a second lol

*Stops Cigarette Cravings
It's just water so how? I would suggest it is a combination of willpower and placebo.

*FDA Regulated
yet they have the disclaimer on their website "These statements are based on traditional homeopathic practice. They have not been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration."

My advice, if you are still considering this nonsense, is to go to a dollar store and purchase a small spray bottle. Fill it with water. Add a fancy, colourful label if you want. Save 99% off the original price

Potassium and Rats

This is a perfect example why people need to stop following anti-science (anti-gmo, anti-fluoride, anti-vaccine...) blogs. It just makes you dumb and jump to really really wrong conclusions.

That being said, I would prefer not to drink this. Give me real juice, not a fruit-flavoured drink

Skeeter Chemkills

Another example how anti-science blogs can make you dumb. This one spreads the idea that their DIY project is "free of chemicals." This is completely ignorant of reality. Everything is made up of chemicals and is chemistry. Water is a chemical (H2O--2 hyrogen and 1 oxygen) just for example. This type of misinformation propagated by this blog/website just ads to the ignorance and fear of a gullible public. 

Check out my blog about mosquito repellent http://scambusting101.blogspot.ca/2016/01/the-mosquito-vampire-diaries_29.html

MLM diet shakes and smoothies

Don't be duped into buying into those mlm shake scams. I just got a post removed from the University of Windsor Students page that was selling this scam. Just look how it doesn't actually tell you what your "cut" of the supposed 2 million dollars is. A previous payout from their own page states "The prize pool was split equally among all 100,273 qualified participants, both Coaches and Customers, equaling $16.31 each" This was for a 1.6 million pot. Doesn't sound so good now, does it?

Here's one example debunking:
http://pharmadaddy.blogspot.ca/2013/07/shakeology-shaking-up-its-foundations.html

and

http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/beachbody-shakeology-scam/comment-page-3/

The sad part is this particular person is an RPN at a nursing home. Who knows what bad information she is giving those seniors.

Zambia huminoid shape in clouds

This pic is spreading around the internet coming from sources just like David Wolfe. Well first off David Wolfe is a nutcase so anything from him is always highly suspect (yeah this dude has literally said that mushrooms come from outerspace and chocolate aligns with the sun). This was reportedly visible for 30 minutes. 30 mins and only 2 photos and no video??? Photos also look photoshopped. If it is not photoshopped, then it is most assuredly a case of Pareidolia (our psychology that sees patterns where there is none...us magicians use this to our advantage all the time in performing ;) ). We see shapes/patterns in clouds all the time of course. Some can be quite striking like this one of a "hand of God" : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3419473/Is-hand-God-Incredible-cloud-formation-Portugal-looks-like-fist-Heaven.html

That Moment When...

The Western use of Karma

Karma only works when it's convenient.

Karma is Bullshit as is the law of attraction. It is not like gravity as that is measurable and Karma is not. . Karma only happens in hindsight. It's like with so-called psychics. You remember the hits and not the misses. It's wishful thinking and infantile. Saying there's no time limit is moot as that doesn't show any proof as you can't prove that such and such bad thing happened because of the behaviour of this past event 20 years ago. Bad things happen and good things happen. That is a part of life. It's not mysterious. There's no mystic intention behind it. Sure if you play the odds and you are a very nice person, you may have people reciprocate good deeds. But to call that mystical is dumb as it ignores the evolutionary benefit of cooperating societies. Also, to easily disprove karma and the law of attraction (as Jennifer LaBonte alluded to) is look at persons, even children if you will in dire circumstances. So if you can look at this pic of this child and think karma and the law of attraction is giving him his due, then you are a special level of delusional.

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-03-07/ "The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them, for then it must sink back into savagery… It may matter little to me, in my cloud-castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive. The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat"

It also begs the question. What if person A causes harm to person B. By rule of Karma, person C comes along and causes harm to person A (aha! Karma!). Does person C get to have a bad thing happen to them for doing a bad thing since it was Karma that initiated it????

Bought: Movie review

Please check out my friend Jeff Holiday's whole series review on the movie "Bought"
In short full of misleading baloney.
Latest
GMO Fears and Conspiracies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YOS--qTCDs part 1
https://youtu.be/fdZ0faf0k-s  Part 2

Again make sure to look up his whole series of reviews!

Programming Crystals

Program crystals???? I think someone should take a geology and computer engineering course. I don't think talking to a crystal counts as "programming" it. ;)

To understand the real use of crystals (quartz for example) in the programming world check out:  https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/208501-what-is-silicon-and-why-are-computer-chips-made-from-it

You don't hit someone because you want pancakes

Over 20 years ago and some people still haven't learned “Nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea." http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-woman-recalls-day-saved-alleged-kkk-member-mob-article-1.1501050

I guess the best way to deal with regressive violence is to say this ;)   :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYecxpE5e9E

Prolife Billboard

Saw this billboard on Highway #3 past Essex. Here's the thing: Even if you are pro-life you should find this problematic. This is a false equivalency comparison. Yes it might be argued there is a value difference between human and dog (that is subjective to some), but that is not what I am talking about here. It's dishonest to make this comparison as one is in utero and the other is not. This billboard is being dishonest in it's use of an emotional ploy. The other thing that is the problem, is it begs the question-- if this is supposed to be a balanced comparison, who is advocating for the killing of little puppies? Is that what they are suggesting? I mean, when you think about it, there is a choice option when it comes to animal euthanasia. This is often a humane thing to do, especially when an animal has a incurable and/or painful condition or disease. So here now we start seeing some of the nuances that can be brought into the conversation that don't make it so black & white. What say you? Do you agree?