Can Natural Dietary Supplements Really Impact Prostate Cancer?

Choosing the right path when it comes to cancer can be a particularly difficult decision. The word "cancer" instantly inspires fear in any patient. Prostate cancer has recently been addressed more widely in the media than in the past. Many people are unaware that prostate cancer is as common as breast cancer, and may take just as many lives. Unlike breast cancer, however, many prostate cancers are slow-growing, and the approach of "watchful waiting" has begun to gain acceptance in the medical community. The above article discusses research relating to this controversial new approach to treating prostate cancer.

Prostate health is an important issue for men to be aware of and take power of. It is important for men over 40 to get regular prostate cancer screening, which usually involves a rectal exam and PSA test. Men with a family history of prostate cancer should discuss this with their doctors, and may need to begin screening at an earlier age. There is also evidence to suggest that natural supplements can have a significant impact on prostate health, even for those who already have prostate cancer.  http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/nutrition/Pinski_DietarySupplements.html

AmeriSciences offers pharmaceutical grade supplements for many health concerns, including Prostate Plus to promote prostate health. Get the facts to decide if Prostate Plus is right for you. Prostate Plus facts:
https://www.amerisciences.org/us/marketing/as/fact/prostate_plus.pdf

-The AmeriSkeptic
theameriskeptic@gmail.com

The Overwhelming Benefits of B Vitamins

Last night before bed, Kirk and I were looking at our vitamins and wondering why they were so high in the B complex of vitamins. I had heard that B-12 was good for improving energy levels, but the other benefits of the B's were a mystery to me. These three articles cover many of the benefits of the B's. 

B Vitamins and overall health:
http://herbalvitaminsinfo.com/the-importance-of-b-vitamins

B Vitamins and lung cancer risk:
Could diet reduce lung cancer risk? Ask B-6 and amino acids.

B Vitamins and heart health:
http://biovedawellness.com/2010/06/b-vitamins-can-protect-against-heart-attack-and-stroke/

AmeriSciences products are an excellent way to get your daily dose of B vitamins.

AmeriSciences: a product driven company

I recently came across a review of the AmeriSciences opportunity that listed as a fault that the AmeriSciences website focuses on the product and does not have enough specific information about the opportunity. After all, they reasoned, isn't the point of network marketing to recruit other distributors? Isn't that how you make the real money? This is, of course, the reputation of network marketing and MLM companies. And for many companies it may hold true. I have no personal experience with this, but Jerry shared with us last night that he does. He has participated in an MLM before where the push was to recruit distributors rather than promote a product, and swore he would never join a company like that again. That is one of the things he likes about AmeriSciences.

There's a reason why the AmeriSciences website focuses on the products and the science behind the products: the goal is to market the product. The creators of AmeriSciences saw that the vitamin and wellness industry was growing quickly. Demand was high, and quality was lacking. So they decided to address that gap by creating high quality products, products that people could trust to contain what they claim to, and to use a multi-level network marketing approach to get their product noticed (see my previous post about the public's perception of alternative marketing techniques). Of course the opportunity to be a distributor as well as a consumer can be a big draw for some people, and it is by no means overlooked in AmeriSciences. But distributors are encouraged to sell at least half of their poducts to non-distributors (i.e., people who only consume the product). The following link (which can, incidentally, be found on AmeriSciences website), discusses this point:

A Product-Driven Company, by Lou Gallardo, Chairman: http://www.amerisciences.com/media/library/v108_3.pdf

If a company's sole purpose is to recruit more people into the company, it is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. A legitimate multilevel network marketing opportunity, such as AmeriSciences, does focus on the product.

As with the review mentioned above, most reviews that I've found have been written by people who have no experience with the company, have gathered minimal information from a cursory review of the website, and are intended to sell you something. They are a form of advertisement targeted at people looking into MLM or network marketing opportunities, and are designed to make you believe that either a) you need their product to succeed in your chosen company, or b) you should join their company, which is superior to whichever other one you are looking into. 

Step one: using the product: AmeriSciences Sleep, Energy, Head Start, and Slim

Our sample pack has four products in it: AmeriSciences Sleep, Energy, Head Start, and Slim. We are supposed to take a packet of Sleep before bed, one Energy with a Head Start in the morning, the other Energy after lunch, and a Slim half an hour before each meal. I'm still trying to do the no coffee thing so that I know how well the products are working. I'm also avoiding Diet Coke. I would have expected it to be much more difficult than it has been. In the past my attempts to give up coffee and Diet Coke have ranged from getting severe headaches to having my boss kindly suggest that I start drinking them again because I was so zoned-out. So the fact that I've been able to cut back without getting a headache or feeling like a zombie is impressive. My goal is to go the whole week without coffee or Diet Coke.

Unlike the other products, I don't see any immediate effect from the Slim. I'm told it takes about a week to notice benefits from the Slim, and they no longer include it in the sample packs for that reason. I look it up and see a testimonial from a girl saying that she was able to lose weight using free samples of Slim her doctor gave her, so maybe it does take time. The nice thing is that I don't feel jittery from taking these products, unlike many other energy and weight loss supplements.

The beginning of a written "blogumentary": AmeriSciences MLM--business opportunity, or scam?

Who gets involved with multi-level, or network, marketing? Certainly not me. Or so I thought.


In this blog, I will take you with me on my journey into the world of network marketing. I'm investigating one company, and it's products, from the inside out: AmeriSciences. I hope to be able to provide others with information that I couldn't find in my decision making process. I'll discuss the products, the people, and the sales/marketing experience. I never thought I would become invoved in network marketing. I'm not a sales person. I know next to nothing about business and marketing. I'm skeptical of promises of easy money, and the products attached to any such promises. So how did I get here...?

The other day my fiance, Kirk, told me that his friend, Jerry, wanted to talk to us about a "business opportunity." Jerry had recently become involved with AmeriSciences, a company that sells vitamins and supplements, and markets them to doctors to sell through their offices. Since I am in the medical field, Jerry wanted to talk to me about selling them through my office. I was immediately uncomfortable with the idea, but Jerry and Kirk are so close that I had to at least pretend I was considering the option. I shared my ethical concerns, but agreed to hear him out.

On Monday Kirk came home with samples of AmeriSciences Sleep, Energy, and Head Start. This is when I learned that the company we were being approached about was AmeriSciences (Kirk hadn't remembered the name before). I immediately jumped online to find something to discredit the products or the company. Preferably both. I also look for anything pertaining to vitamin sales by doctors for profit. What I found:

1- Kirk had told me that these were the only FDA approved vitamins. False. The FDA does not approve vitamins. However, AmeriSciences does use standards similar to FDA regulations to manufacture it's vitamins and supplements to a phamaceutical grade. Here's what AmeriSciences has to say about it's standards: http://www.amerisciences.com/science/quality.asp
2- Kirk said AmeriSciences had a contract with NASA. This appears to be true. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28993
3- I can't find anything reliable about ethics specific to AmeriSciences sales by doctors. I do find one comment from a patient complaining about her eye doctor's AmeriSciences display, with a response suggesting it is unethical. Jury's still out.
4- I learn that AmeriSciences is a multi-level marketing company. Alarm bells sound! Isn't multi-level marketing the same as a pyramid scheme? (I later learn it's not.) I don't want to be that (annoying) friend who tries to push a product on all of her friends and relatives. I don't think most of my contacts would be interested in such an "opportunity." I'm not sure I am.
5- There's nothing to suggest that AmeriSciences products are in any way unsafe. If anything, what I find suggests that the products are probably high quality. I see no contraindications, except that certain supplements are not advised for pregnant or lactating women. I'm not pregnant or lactating, so I decide the products are safe to try.

Kirk brought home two packets of Sleep, one Energy, and one Head Start. He doesn't need help sleeping, so both of those are for me. I take a packet (2 pills) and go to bed.

SES by business degree online promotion team.