Kibo …

Hi,

Given that regular, plain-old tap water contains zero calories, I wonder if the survey data or research papers to back-up your claims are available?

Regards

Kibo

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Dear Kibo,

Many thanks for your email.

I hope that the attached answers your questions?

Kind regards,

Bio-Synergy

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Bio-Synergy,

Thanks. It makes interesting reading, especially the misleading or misinterpreted references to research papers.

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
December 2007, Volume 86, Pages 1738-1744
L-Carnitine treatment reduces severity of physical and mental fatigue and increases cognitive functions in centenarians: a randomized and controlled clinical trial

The keyword here is “centenarians” - people who are more than 100 years old. Reference to this paper is entirely out of context.

This is also an interesting figure, which I note just says “may” - it doesn’t even hint that it’s good for you.
“Research suggests that 200-1,000 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate may play an important role in carbohydrate metabolism,”

Assuming 1,000mcg is actually good for you (a not just might help metabolism), and the WHO’s maximum concentration recommendation is followed, to get any benefit from SkinnyWater someone would have to drink 20 litres of the liquid a day. Of course, if 200mcq is what you need the you’ll only need five litres of SkinnyWater a day.

I’m not sure endorsement from a magazine that’s enclosed with News of the World is something any business would wish to publicise.

I’ve made a new poster for you - attached. Feel free to use it in a “I hate Marmite” sort of way.

For the record, although I have a BSc(Hons), it’s in artificial intelligence, so I’m probably not a real scientist. I did biology at A-level though, and really enjoyed the week-long field trip we went on.

Did you know that by volume lard is better for you than butter?

Kibo

PS. there’s a word missing on page 3, third paragraph, second line: “the eight period,”.

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Dear Kibo,

Thanks for your time and effort. If you require more information on the benefits of chromium perhaps visit the FSA (Food Standards Agency) website.

If you are a fan of diet coke, you should try our skinny cola, as we use spring water instead of mains water. It maybe worth noting that diet cola’s do actually have calories.

Kind regards,

Bio-Synergy

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Bio-Synergy,

I checked out the FSA site. At first, I ended up at the Financial Services Authority’s site. Ironic, really, as when I worked in Financial Services (for seven years - Jesus, that was dull) I never once visited their site. They do, quite bizarrely, have one search result for the term “chromium”.

I eventually made it to Food.gov.uk, and these pages. Have you read them?

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/vitaminsandminerals/chromium/?lang=en
http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/Com/chromium.htm

In a nutshell they say that I can get more than enough chromium from meat, bread and oats. I figure a bacon sandwich on granary with brown sauce, followed by a Snickers flapjack is the way forward. They also say that too little chromium is not bad for me, and that too much chromium might be bad for me, but at no point do they say that any amount of chromium is good for me.

I realise that Diet Coke (I meant the trademarked diet cola, rather than a generic term) has calories. In fact, 500ml of Diet Coke has 0.76k/cals. In the grand scheme of things 8k/cals per 500ml is small change, but it’s still >10x more than Diet Coke, which goes with JD much better.

After reading the FSA documents, I ended up at badscience.net, and found these links to make interesting reading:

http://www.badscience.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3219
http://www.badscience.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5586
http://www.badscience.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8255
http://www.badscience.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11007

“Dangers Of Chromium Picolinate: If you want to build muscle and lose fat, will a chromium supplement help? Here’s a cool look at the facts”
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0066.htm

“Exposure to chromium is induces renal failure, anaemia, haemolysis liver failure, and death”*
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/evm_chromium.pdf

* I paraphrased this in to marketing parlance.

I would try Skinny Cola, but given that it’s almost double the price of Diet Coke, I think it’s more likely that I’ll start buying Volvic instead of choosing tap water.

You may be wondering why someone filled with so much negativity about your product bothered to get in touch. Well, the answer’s simple: I’m tired of the bad, mis-represented, fake science that’s invading our lives. If it’s not BS, it’s Volvic claiming that their water will make our lives better, or Vanessa Hudgens can feel her pores open when she uses that vibrating face-scrubbing thing, or Actimel is, believe it or not, good for us. A few years ago we had some company advertising a skin cream that contains “liquid oxygen”!

It’s a shame that fat dumb people don’t know how to use the internetwideweb to get information.

Kibo

PS. Your products get too much coverage in low-grade media.