Carnivora

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Deliciously edible!

Food and Diet

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Dubious diets
Food woo

Carnivora is yet another herbal dietary supplement (the manufacturer prefers the term nutriceutical) that dances around the law prohibiting hyperbolic claims for such things. Easily confused with the Latin name for the order of meat-eating placental mammals,[note 1] this is an extract of Dionaea Muscipula, a species of the venus flytrap plant. The active ingredient is plumbagin.

Contents

[edit] Claims

The main claim is support for the immune system. It IS NOT a cure for cancer -- oh no.[note 2] However it "selectively responds to abnormal cells" (nudge, wink).

Other claims are in the category of "at least it can't do any harm", viz:

  • No toxic or mutagenic effect
  • Manufacturing process uses superior technology
  • 100% pure. No excipients or fillers

Contrary to the claims, plumbagin was known to be mutagenic to Escherichia coli since 1985.[1]

Quackwatch lists Carnivora as a "dubious treatment."[2] The American Cancer Society information page points out that:[3]

"Most of the studies done on the herbal extract were conducted by the physician who patented the drug [sic] Carnivora, who also has a large financial stake in a clinic that administers the drug and in the company that manufactures the drug."

[edit] Promotion

Carnivora is heavily promoted on the overnight woo-radio show Coast to Coast AM, whose audience is justifiably believed to be extremely gullible. The script emphasizes that "in the 1980s, only President Reagan himself could obtain Carnivora."

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Iscador -- the mistletoe variant

[edit] Notes

  1. The Latin name is pronounced with stress on the second syllable, the nutri-wossname emphasizes the third.
  2. Or, indeed, anything else. The official disclaimer is This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease in the United States.

[edit] Footnotes

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