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January 7, 1998 Ms. Laura Niznik, Editor Dear Ms. Niznik: I read Galean O. Ballard's article on "Evaluating Nutritional Claims -- Separating Fact from Fiction" in your December issue with some dismay. Mr. Ballard needed to work harder at separating fact from fiction himself as concerns his remarks about cetyl myristoleate (CM). As the daughter of Harry Diehl and president of EHP Products, Inc., patent holder for CM, I think I can speak with some authority about the many misrepresentations in Mr. Ballard's article. Mr. Ballard states" "The product was discovered more than 25 years ago 'by a brilliant research scientist from Canada'. The active ingredient is cetyl myristoleate which is synthesized from cetyl alcohol and myristic acid." There are three factual errors in those two sentences. (1) CM was discovered in 1964, which was 33 years ago. (2) My father is not from Canada. (3) The CM molecule is a fatty acid ester from cetyl alcohol and myristoleic acid, not myristic acid. Next, Mr. Ballard states that a bottle of 100 capsules retails for approximately $300.00, which he describes as "outrageous cost". There may be a few multi-level companies offering the product at that price. The prices vary, based on the total number of grams of CM provided in the bottle. As far as we know, MYRISTIN provides more CM than any other product at 13.25 grams per bottle. We also include a bottle of synergistic capsules containing glucosamine and MSM, among other things, and a bottle of lotion, all for the price of $199.50 retail. I had severe arthritis in several sites in my body before taking MYRISTIN, and I can tell Mr. Ballard that being pain-free and flexible as I am now wold still be a Godsend at $300.00, or five times that. Mr. Ballard writes, "This product [sic] claims transgress so many red flag warnings that I hardly know where to begin", and notes a lack of clinical studies. CM is new on the market, and the responsible distributors are working to support more clinical studies. One double blind patient study done on rheumatoid arthritis was published in The Townsend Letters for Doctors and Patients, a respected peer reviewed journal in the alternative medicine field. Mr. Ballard apparently overlooked this article in researching his article. EHP Products is working with an MD at the current time on an 80 patient double blind study on osteoarthritis. The study protocol was designed with publication in a peer reviewed journal article in mind. In his closing paragraph on CM, Mr. Ballard writes "if [CM] was discovered 25 years ago...and...really could cure the over 100 various forms of arthritis [wouldn't it] have been published in every medical journal in the world by now? With more than 200 million Americans suffering from osteoarthritis and another several million from [RA], don't you imagine every health practitioner would be prescribing it?" First, responsible marketers of CM do not claim for CM to be a cure for anything. Secondly, by way of explanation of why CM was not marketed when it was discovered 33 years ago, my father is not a marketer, he is a researcher. Anyone familiar with the drug discovery and marketing process would understand why. (1) Major pharmaceutical companies may have to screen as many as 25,000 to 35,000 compounds to find one that can be brought to market. They are not generally interested in bringing into that stream of research a previously unknown compound discovered by a scientist working alone on which they would have to pay royalties. (2) Natural products cannot generally be granted a product patent, which is what drug companies seek before bringing a compound to market. Thirdly, Mr. Ballard displays little understanding of the conventional medicine world when he imagines every health practitioner would be "prescribing it". I have no idea what authority Mr. Ballard is relying on for his citation of 200 million Americans suffering from osteoarthritis. This is more than 2/3rds of the entire nation, an incredibly high figure. I have never seen a figure higher than 55 million affected by all types of arthritis. Nor do I have any idea what his authority is when he refers to "over 100 various forms of arthritis". According to some authorities, there are somewhat over 100 causes for the 25-30 different forms of arthritis. Lastly, we note a new product for arthritis introduced by Titan Laboratories in the same issue as Mr. Ballard's attack on cetyl myristoleate. Mr. Ballard works for Titan Laboratories. In addition to poor research on Mr. Ballard's part, could there also be a conflict of interest in operation behind his attack on cetyl myristoleate? I realize Chiropractic Products is unable to check the accuracy of articles, and hope that you will publish this letter to set the record straight. We would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you in advance for considering this letter and its contents for publication in Chiropractic Products. Sincerely,
Elaine Diehl Parrish |
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