Bio-Strath: a Feast of Yeast. (Part One)

November 8th, 2006

Like the determined bloodhound of truth with its nostrils filled with the stench of pseudoscience, SciencePunk tracks quarry from the pages of Carpe Diem to MM Products, home of the famous Swiss Herbal Yeast Tonic, Bio-Strath®. The connection is one Stefan R. Becker, doctor and media consultant, proprietor of the Swiss Journal of Integrative Medicine. Found by SciencePunk singing the praises of kombucha tea, Dr Becker is now found expounding the virtues of Bio-Strath, a sort of real-life gummi bear juice. Clearly Switzerland has no need for antibiotics, vaccines, or other frivolities of modern medicine with a wonder-drug like Bio-Strath on the shelves. Thus, with a heavy heart, I bring the twentieth century to MM Networks.

Dear MM Networks,
I am writing to you after reading about Strath®, the Swiss Herbal Yeast Tonic on your webpage. It sounds like a truly wondrous product indeed! I can’t wait to try some, but first I have some questions to ask you.
On your website, you claim that Strath® is “clinically proven to restore lost vitality when tired, run down or recovering from illness.” This appears to contradict the disclaimer at the bottom of the same page, which states “MM products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness” and “we do not offer medical advice or prescribe the use of diet as a method of treatment for sickness or disease.”.
Which of these would you say more accurately describes Strath®?
I have tried to track down a copy of Notabene Medici, as I would very much like to read the clinical proof that Strath® works. However, I cannot find it anywhere, and I am starting to think it does not exist. Can you please forward me a copy of the clinical trials?
If Strath® is clinically proven to work, why is it that MM Networks have not sought to license it as a medicine?
Taxonomically speaking, yeast is in an entirely different kingdom to humans. Yet you state that “the cells in the body absorb Strath® easily due to the fact that the yeast cells are similar to human cells.”, which leads me to ask: similar, compared to what?
Your answers on this are very much appreciated,
Regards,
Frank Swain.

Dear Mr Frank,
We thank you for your kind interest in Strath.
Description: [lengthy product placement removed]
For your info, since Strath is registered as food supplement in Malaysia, we are not allowed to claim diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Furthermore, all classified as medicine can only be prescribed by medical profession only.
Strath is only a food supplement and it is a requirement to put a disclaimer notice according to our local regulations. Please refer any health portal selling food supplements you search in web and you will see the same statement in their disclaimer page. Strath has an overall therapeutic effect on our body functions unlike medicines/ drugs which can specifically treating an illness or ailment.
Secondly, we have more than 25 clinical proven journals and publications about Strath and its effect. However, we are not allowed to publicized medical reports own by other institutions like Notabene Medici. It will breach the copy right act. For further information or copies, kindly visit us at our office at MM Network or visit www.bio-strath.ch to request for one.
We cannot classify it as medicine because it is not medicine. Our local authority has classifies it as traditional medicine instead.
Yeast: [lengthy (and quite frankly irrelevant) extolling of yeast removed]
If you need to know the technical aspect how is yeast absorbed by human body cell and how similar is yeast cell to human body, kindly refer for a technical explanation from our principal in BioStrath Ag Switzerland at info@bio-Strath.ch
I hope the above have answers your questions. If you need to know more, kindly email us again.
Thank you again
Regards
Alex Wong

This wins the award for the most expedient reply, and also the most verbose, so it’s a shame most of it is irrelevant. I thought MM Networks were going to be a really easy target, and I was wrong. What I thought was a second rate webpage crawling with errors is actually a fiendishly clever piece of writing. What look like promises of miracle cures are actually carefully worded paragraphs that say very little. I’m not one to give up, and after hours of deliberation, I made my case.

Dear Alex Wong,
Thank you for your quick and thorough reply. However, I still have a few questions regarding Strath®
1. You say that Strath® is a food supplement, not a medicine. Yet your website states “Usually during a bacterial infection the number of lymphocytes falls. Treatment with Strath® causes a significant increase in the response of all types of lymphocyte.” Would you agree that the word “treatment” impies Strath® is medicinal?
2. You state that Strath® has “an overall therapeutic effect on our body functions”. By what mechanism is this overall therapeutic effect achieved?
3. Regarding the ability of Strath® to cause a “significant increase in the response of all types of lymphocyte” - if this is the case, why did you choose not to license Strath® as a medicine to treat conditions where the number of lymphocytes falls (lymphocytopenia), such as Hodgkin’s disease, AIDS and during radiation therapy?
Regards,
Frank Swain

Dear Frank,
Thank you for your enquiry.
1. “Treatment” in this context is referring to the clinical study. In most published journals, the word “treatment” is inevitable.
2. By strengthening the whole bodily functions by supplying a wide spectrum of bio-available nutrients (61 vital nutrients). For example, glucan and mannan will boost up the immune system of a person.
3. Since this product is registered as a food supplement, we can’t do much in our capacity as a marketing agent. Perhaps you could write to our principal in Switzerland at info@bio-strath.ch Mr Alfred Habegger (Technical Director). Maybe they can assist you.
By the way, do you have any contact and address so we can send you some materials for your research?
Best wishes
Alex Wong

So there you have it. Strath® works by, er, being food. Food is good for you, therefore Strath® is good for you. If only it was always this simple. I’m tremendously excited to be receiving some Strath® scientific literature in the post, let’s hope it’s more than we got from Carpe Diem.
Just before press, I get a stack of Strath® studies through the post. They are very impressive. T-tests, ANOVAs, significant differences – the type of bedside reading I really dig. I’m convinced of the efficacy and scientific robustness of Strath®. But then I receive a very terse email from their head office. Why so cagey? My spider-sense is tingling…

What happened next…

Entry Filed under: The Letters

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