Has anyone heard of this supplement RELIV ? My mother in law says it cures alot of ailments. They just had a person in Utah state that she was cured of our little demon. Thanks krank

Reliv is a MLM (multilevel marketing product)

That alone is suspicious...most of these products are not useful:

http://www.corporatenarc.com/relivscam.php

These are the products I could find. If you click on one (I did the Arthritis formula) you get a vague list of ingredients with NO quantities, + a proprietary blend which is not explained.
http://www.reliv.com/US/EN/TargetedSolutions.html

This product has Bioperine listed too, which may interfere with some prescription drugs people may be taking.

All in all...anything that does not list what you are consuming completely and accurately, should be avoided.

So I am giving it a Thumbs Down.

Thank you MrsD. We were quite unsure about taking the product. My wife was diagnosed with RA last fall and it has taken quite a toll. We were looking for a natural supplement any natural supplement. We are taking so many pain meds and are feeling terrible. It just seems like an endless circle of pain meds and doctors visits. We have a very low tolerance and what seems to be a high rate of side effects from any meds. So we are attempting a 30 day trial on the RELIV to see if it may work. We were just wondering if anyone has tried it and what the results were. Thanks krank

I used an all health/energy/mental concentrated juice product a couple years ago. It was a MLM also.

The product did give extra energy and I did feel better and my mental & cognitive seemed improved too.
But after 6 months I decided it wasn't so wonderful to offset the continued price tag.
I think it was a safe product to take, but just not really a super healing thing more of a system boost, and when you stopped you went back to where you had started at.

I just remembered the one I tried -
http://us.univera.com/products/xtra/agelessxtra


I found this suggestion on how to check out these kind of products -

[A. Get a list of the MOST critical ingredients in the MLM’s nutritional product and put them beside your computer. B. Go to the U.S. Government National Institutes of Health nutritional research website PUB MED. Go to Pub Med after you read the next two sentences! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

B. Look up the major ingredient(s) by entering its name in the search box . A very Good or some of the Best MLM - Network Marketing Companies may have sponsored a study.

C. Read through the scientific studies. Some may be complex, but the END sentence usually gives you a good idea if the study was a Plus or Minus for the product. Read over at least 10 articles use a piece of paper to keep track of studies like this Study #1 Good Study #2 good #3 What did they say? (or just What?) Study #4 Good Study #5 Bad. Make your own judgement if the product is Good or Blah!
]
http://www.mlmwatchdog.com/FIND_BEST...G_COMPANY.html

All that is interesting, Jo.... but Reliv doesn't tell you what is in it, besides the few main things. And those don't have doses.
The proprietary blend is not listed.(at least for the one I looked up). Proprietary blends can vary from batch to batch, since they don't tell how much of each thing is in it...they can change the ratios, and as long as the final weight stays the same, no one knows!

It is not possible to look them up with hidden things like that!

Basically people want 1) safety 2) effectiveness, and 3) affordability for things like this.

Belief is the major player with things like this. People who believe it is going to help will get some positive response.
That is what keeps them in business.

Just my opinion.

I will try to respond objectively to this post and correct some of the apparent misunderstandings *edit*

First MultiLevel Marketing or Network Marketing is a legitimate form of marketing a business and there is nothing inherently wrong or suspicious. Would you say that all retail companies are suspicious if you had a problem at one store? Don't confuse the business model with a particular company.

Reliv has been around for more than 21 years and has been ranked highly in Forbes and Business Week. They have no debt and own their own manufacturing facility. They are a solid company.

*edit*

As far as the products, you can find the ingredients listed in each product on the Reliv website. If you will look carefully, you will also see that for the Arthaffect, which I think is the product you referred to, there is a link to the patent. There are not very many supplements out there that are patented because it is a difficult process. But, that patent means that every can of that product manufactured MUST contain the exact same amounts of every ingredient listed in the patent. Quality control is very strict on patented products.

The reason the ingredients are listed under Proprietary Blend without quantities is not to deceive customers but to prevent competitors from trying to duplicate a successful product that was put through the patent process.

Sorry for the long response, but like you, I like to be accurate so that others can make an informed decision.

Thank you for that input.
There are two issues here. Business issues, and medical safety and effectiveness. The mention of any company in Forbes or other business media means only that the company makes money. Many huge companies in the drug industry are in such media, and still engage in medical fraud. The recent examples of Pfizer are typical. So just because a company makes MONEY successfully does not mean people should blindly trust everything that company promotes.
Places like this where people come together to discuss and ask questions, are useful in sorting out complex products and therapeutic situations.

And yes, a patent is for protecting the owner of the patent and therefore product. It is not for protecting the public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
This Wiki article explains MLM in more detail for those interested who wish to learn further. Often MLM companies rely on word of mouth, friends encouraging their friends to buy from them, or relatives. People are more likely to buy from someone they know and trust.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing


There is a blog concerning Reliv products that is on the net which is interesting to read. It has many comments by people who are dissatisfied with Reliv products. This blog illustrates how some supplements are not useful for some people, and may actually result in harm. This is why people should research and ask questions like the originial poster, krank is doing here. Notice the word "cure" in his post? Always be careful when you hear that word.

On that blog is a copy of a letter from the FDA chastising Reliv to change its claims about Arthaffect.
http://relivwatchdog.blogspot.com/20...thaffects.html
(this is the link to the FDA copy of the same letter:
http://test.fda.gov/ICECI/Enforcemen...ucm1107191.htm)


So back to Arthaffect. I am using this one product as an example. I don't have time to study all their offered products and chose this one because of issues contained within it. This contains glucosamine, which many years ago enjoyed some positive press and encouragment. A book was written about the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin, in fact by a doctor who used it in his practice. But as time has passed more studies are showing that this combo is less effective than previously thought. Also the presence of Bioperine (piperine) in the product poses some risk to people taking prescription drugs. Bioperine enhances the absorption of things in the GI tract, and is sometimes included in supplements. It also enhances the absorption of drugs, whose basic dosing was arrived at in human subjects NOT using enhancing substances. Drugs with narrow therapeutic windows may be absorbed more than wanted therefore with Bioperine and cause problems for the user. I really think this should be spelled out on the label of the products that include it.

Dr. Sahelian has this to say about Bioperine:
from http://www.raysahelian.com/piperine.html
You will notice from his website where he sells products, that he does include medical research to help the reader make more informed choices.
And there are other warning letters from the FDA to Reliv:
This one in 2006:
http://www.casewatch.org/fdawarning/...01/reliv.shtml

So what is the bottom line? 1) can you afford this product, and is it worth the price it charges?
2) Have you researched the ingredients carefully before deciding on using any of their products. Don't only use their website for information, go to other non connected sources to confirm your searches. Don't accept word of mouth praises. Everyone is different and people may be taking drugs that interact with supplements, for example. They may have allergies or food intolerances. And be aware that products with many ingredients on the label, will be difficult to sort out, should you have a negative reaction. You will be hard pressed to figure out exactly what is causing side effects.

People who know me here, know that I am professionally trained and very careful about supplements in general. I use many myself, and research them all carefully. I do not recommend any product by ANY manufacturer/distributor that has proprietary blends listed on the label, for example.
A long look at the proprietary blend of Arthaffect shows Licorice root in that 988mg blend. Is there enough of this to be effective? Enough to cause the typical side effects of licorice root on the kidney? There are no real answers to this question for this product. Licorice root has serious consequences for some people:
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/licorice-000262.htm

So do be careful in choosing any supplement. Do your homework also.

I couldn't agree more with your last paragraph. Everyone should do their homework and investigate any supplement before purchasing. But, I would like to add that they make sure that they depend on reliable sources for that information.

Remember that especially when investigating on the internet. Anyone can post a web site and make claims without backing up those claims. If available, check out the clinical studies.

Even though Wikipedia is a common source of information just remember that according to their own page "Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles (except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption and/or vandalism)." It may be a good initial source for investigating but cannot be relied on to be 100% correct.

The blog you mentioned was interesting to read, although I only saw many comments by one person, not many people. That person admitted that many people had seen good results from the product but many of that person's comments about the company were inaccurate, as was pointed out in their own blog by readers. Distributors are taught constantly not make claims that the products "cure."

Regarding the two FDA warning letters, yes two not three. The third link was another copy of the second letter. I would like to point out that one of the complaints about supplement companies is that they are not regulated. This shows that the FDA does regulate these companies. So in a period of 22 years Reliv received two warning letters. The first one, because the claims sounded too much like what would be said about a drug and since supplements don't go through the same approval process that a drug does for the FDA, they cannot make those claims. It didn't mean that the claims were not true, or false. Just that they are not allowed by the FDA to make those type of claims.

The second letter (July 27, 2001) referred to a labeling issue due to what was a recent change by the FDA at that time. As stated in the letter, "Most of the above violations concern certain new labeling requirements." Both of these issues were corrected immediately and the company has been in compliance since then.

I too am professionally trained and also recommend that everyone check out both the supplements and the companies that manufacture them, as well as the companies that sell them. Yes, many companies do not manufacture their own products.

Sorry, mrsD, another long reply and I must get back to my other work. Keep up the good work!

I just want to update everyone on a testimony that I received from a wonderful lady in Utah. My mother found her on a conferance call in Mesa. She had RSD full body for 7 years and tried everything just like most of us. All the meds, all the treatments and nothing seemed to work. She figured that she had nothing to lose by just trying it for 30 days and she did. ( I hope I don't get this wrong) but she did see a glimmer of extra energy by the end of those 30 days. She decided to double up on the stuff and slowly but surely after 2 years of using it she is now in remission. She told that it was a fight at first and she was very skeptical that it would do anything for the RSD. She thought if it would just prevent her from getting sick that was doing its job. She has since been taking just what they call a maintenance dose of it and is doing well. She told of a recent accident she had i believe to her arm? and was very worried that the beast would return. She doubled the dose once again and she had no problems with it rearing its ugly head. I am going to try to get her on this forum to give her testomony. So she could answer any questions about this stuff. Please understand that I don't sell the stuff and I am not trying to peddle it. I just heard from this lady and thought it would encourage some people to not give up fighting. Maybe this works, who knows. It worked for this lady. And if nothing else that it would build some ones immune system to not get sick. I am all for it. I am starting to take the stuff myself. I am only on my third day so I will keep everyone up to date on how it's working for me. On another side note my father in law who was very unhealthy and has diabetes with neuropathy in his legs and a very bad back is running now. It was only a couple of blocks but if you ever seen the guy he had to take a nap after getting the mail. He has been on the stuff for about two months now and says he not felt this good in a long time.

Hi Krank,

I'll start this by saying I know nothing about RELIV.

If it works for anyone.....more power to them !

I like to research anything before I take it and I prefer that there be independent studies confirming it's usefulness.

I wanted to comment on one thing about your posting about the woman from Utah. I understand that we need to build up a level of some chemicals in our blood for them to show their full effects, but 2 years seems like a very long time to have to take something for it to have it'e intended effect. In my opinion, it would be hard to prove that the remission was from something that had been going on for so long. Just my opinion.

Let us know how it works !