Mannatech - Anyone Tried it?

[Paul Ruinaard]

HI - I am looking a a supplement called Mannatech - seems like its getting some pretty good reviews. Its not a meal replacements etc, just a supplement.

 

Has anyone tried it and if so what were your outcomes.

 

 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

2 words. Expensive piss.

 

It's a sugar pill, and while the research in to glycobiology is a legit scientific study, glyconutrients are an attempt to profit off the back of that science using misdirection and gullibility. In essence, we get all we need from food that we eat. Like most multi vitamins, it's a bunch of pseudo scientific balls.

 

It's also being touted as a cure all, when in fact it's not got ANY evidence backing anything other than placebo status.

 

I had a look into it last week as a mate of mine is trying to get me to buy it. Absolute BS.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3228488

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Mannatech, Incorporated, is a multinational multi-level marketing firm engaged in research, development, and distribution of "glyconutrients," the company's name for blends of plant-sourced saccharides.[2] Mannatech was founded in November 1993 by Samuel L. Caster and is headquartered in Coppell, Texas.[3] It operates in 24 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, countries in Asia, Africa, and within the EU.[4][a] The company's stock is traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol MTEX. Mannatech employs 310 people and sells its products through approximately 229,000 active independent sales associates.[1]

 

In 2006, Forbes magazine named Mannatech the #5 company on its annual list of the "200 Best Small Companies"[5] and in 2007 Mannatech was ranked 12th in BusinessWeek magazine's 2007 list of America's "Top 100 Hot Growth Small Companies."[6] The scientific validity of Mannatech’s key product Ambratose has been called into question by several researchers,[7][8][9][10][11] and the company was the focus of a 2005 class action lawsuit (settled in 2008) for alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act, [12] and a 2007 investigation (settled in 2009) by the Texas attorney general for alleged violations of that state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act.[13]

 

Products Edit

 

As of July 2011, the company offered 22 nutritional supplement products, two topical products, five skin care products, and four weight management/physical fitness products. Mannatech is most widely known for Ambrotose, its "glyconutritional" dietary supplement, which is a patented blend of plant-sourced saccharides used in its line of Ambrotose products. Glyconutritionals were formulated to support cellular communication by positively impacting human glycoforms, a claim that has generated controversy among some members of the scientific community.[7] In an SEC filing, the company stated that its products "are formulated with predominately [sic] naturally-occurring, plant-derived, carbohydrate-based ingredients that are designed to use nutrients working through normal physiology to help achieve and maintain optimal health and wellness, rather than developing synthetic, carbohydrate-based products, as other companies are doing."[14]

 

Scientific evaluation Edit

 

Independent commentary Edit

The opinion of independent glycobiologists is that the body cannot digest Ambrotose, as it lacks the enzymes needed.[7] Prominent glycobiologist Ronald Schnaar, PhD of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine[15] told 20/20 in a June 1, 2007 interview, "All of the sugar building blocks that we need in our body are made from the most common foods we eat."[8]

 

Hudson Freeze, PhD, leading glycobiologist at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute[16] said this about glyconutrients: "There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials, and it doesn't really do anything except increase flatulence."[8] Freeze is a member of the editorial board of Glycobiology, and Schnaar serves as editor-in-chief.[17] Schnaar and Freeze published a critique of Mannatech's products in Glycobiology in 2008, describing the lack of published clinical benefits of the "partially purified polydisperse plant polysaccharides" found in "Ambrotose Complex."[9]

 

In Glycobiology, another article described the potential for the public to be misled about the science of glycobiology by the nebulous "glyconutrient" term.[10] The authors' concern was that the public would be susceptible to the "scientific-sounding label" of glyconutrient, which may "generate a feeling of security and credibility...despite the lack of acceptance among many glycobiologists of the term." In November 2007, Science published an article in its "News Focus" section detailing the scientific controversy surrounding Mannatech.[11] It included criticisms and comments from glycobiologists, including Ajit Varki, Raymond Dwek, Freeze, and Schnaar.

 

According to the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, Ambrotose has been "promoted aggressively to cancer patients" on the basis that it can help cellular health and boost the immune system, but that "strong scientific evidence to support these claims is lacking".[18]

 

Company-funded studies Edit

Mannatech has sponsored pre-clinical and clinical research on their products.[19] The company states that these studies indicate that the products can be broken down into smaller, absorbable fragments by GI tract bacteria[20] and can modify human serum glycosylation profiles.[21] Additional studies sponsored by the company have indicated that the products also exert positive prebiotic effects [22] and induce positive effects on human brain wave activity, cognition,[23] mood, and memory.[24][25]

 

In a study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology in 2010, Drs. Massimo Marzorati and Sam Possemiers (University of Ghent and ProDigest, Ghent, Belgium) and colleagues employed human gastrointestinal tract simulations and microbiological analysis to show that Ambrotose complex and Advanced Ambrotose powder exerted positive prebiotic effects. Both products exhibited quality selective fermentability throughout the entire colon with a positive and selective bifidus factor. They also demonstrated the possibility of enhancing species belonging to Bacteroidetes, a phylum recently associated with body weight management.[22]

 

In a five-week combined Phase 1 and 2 open label, forced titration dose response study of 21 healthy adults, physicians and scientists from Southern Cross University showed that the Ambrotose AO dietary supplement was safe and raised serum Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) by 36.6%. The study was published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In a subsequent 21-day randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of 25 healthy adults, scientists from the University of Memphis showed that Ambrotose AO capsules significantly increased two measures of antioxidant capacity in the blood: ORAC and Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC).[26]

 

Two clinical trials (one conducted in the U.S. and one in Australia) investigated the effect of Ambrotose complex on brain function. Atiya N. Stancil and Leslie H. Hicks of Howard University conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Ambrotose in 62 healthy young adults. It was reported that a single one-tablespoon serving of Ambrotose complex significantly improved visual discrimination and working memory.[24] A trial in 109 healthy middle-aged adults conducted by Talitha Best (a Mannatech-funded researcher)[27] and colleagues showed that Ambrotose complex powder (4 grams/day for 12 weeks) significantly improved memory and psychological well-being.[25]

[velomonatiCT]

haha nice one renaissance

 

there are no magic bullets only enough people who believe in magic to make the unscrupulous very rich

[Paul Ruinaard]

So no one has bought it or is taking it and has any anecdotal evidence that it works or doesn't work?

 

Just the research out there.

 

I am always sceptical of fantastic claims but hen again I am as sceptical of big pharma. 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

So no one has bought it or is taking it and has any anecdotal evidence that it works or doesn't work?

 

Just the research out there.

 

I am always sceptical of fantastic claims but hen again I am as sceptical of big pharma. 

you should be even more sceptical of Multi Level Marketing companies, aka pyramid schemes... (this is one of them)

 

BTW - if the science says it doesn't work, IT DOESN'T WORK. 

 

My mate says he's never felt better since taking it. But then he's also upped his exercise, become more active in his church community, just received a raise at work thanks to a promotion, started cooking and making much of his food himself rather than buying food as ready meals, cut beer out extensively and started watching his food intake.

 

Yeah, it's the pill that's "changed his life"

[Baaisikilist]

No. It's the church...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

No. It's the church...

Lol. Only through the increased interaction with other people and the feeling of community. Prayer gets you bupkiss. But let's not go there...

[PhilipV]

I don't like, mannatech. And I hate it when people try to sell it to me. I have friends who sell it, who know they can chat to me about anything but mannatech.

I have three friends who used it for a while, no cure to their diseases as promised, but the one girl did get very bad acne. My boet is a doctor, one of his patients stopped his stroke medication because he was going to try mannatech, and the the family was surprised when he died.

 

And then when people come to me with the business side of manna tech and how "it is not a pyramid scheme, it's multi level marketing," my blood boils. Don't try to BS me because you have been BSed. It's like Saying a dog is not a dog it is a canine.

I know of old people who lost a he'll of a lot of money throwing it into the deep dark pool, and I know people who visited sick old men with cancer, trying to convince them to stop the expensive cancer treatment and rather go on the mannatech "treatment."

It might work for some, but Paul, my honest opinion is that you should stay very very far away from it. You have been warned.

 

Okay rant over.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I don't like, mannatech. And I hate it when people try to sell it to me. I have friends who sell it, who know they can chat to me about anything but mannatech.

I have three friends who used it for a while, no cure to their diseases as promised, but the one girl did get very bad acne. My boet is a doctor, one of his patients stopped his stroke medication because he was going to try mannatech, and the the family was surprised when he died.

 

And then when people come to me with the business side of manna tech and how "it is not a pyramid scheme, it's multi level marketing," my blood boils. Don't try to BS me because you have been BSed. It's like Saying a dog is not a dog it is a canine.

I know of old people who lost a he'll of a lot of money throwing it into the deep dark pool, and I know people who visited sick old men with cancer, trying to convince them to stop the expensive cancer treatment and rather go on the mannatech "treatment."

It might work for some, but Paul, my honest opinion is that you should stay very very far away from it. You have been warned.

 

Okay rant over.

It's exactly this sort of practice that makes me the moer in...

[HappyMartin]

Well it's not totally useless. Even the scientists say it increases flatulance. That could be a pretty cool party trick.

[Vanzyl]

Mannetech is not about selling product, its about getting more people to buy in to the business, pyramid scheme..... The mannetech employees make more profit by getting people to join than selling the product.....i know a guy thats been using it for 10 years and was totally convinced he would live to 100 years old, he passed away last year from cancer....so much for glyconutrients!

[Paul Ruinaard]

Thanks guys always like the hub for a balanced viewpoint.

 

I have declined - as soon as I saw the multi level marketing stuff i started asking questions.

 

and as they say - no science around it - in fact the "associate" warns you not to google it.

 

 

WTF?

 

As they say in the classics - another myth busted.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Thanks guys always like the hub for a balanced viewpoint.

 

I have declined - as soon as I saw the multi level marketing stuff i started asking questions.

 

and as they say - no science around it - in fact the "associate" warns you not to google it.

 

 

WTF?

 

As they say in the classics - another myth busted.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

[NotSoBigBen]

There are times when social media and fora are really good and this is one of them! Glad that scammers are not like in the old days where they got away with murder (not that they don't anymore but I am sure it is somewhat reduced)