How to Promote Optimal Immune and Bone Health Without Being Overcharged

By Vitacost.com, Inc.

We at Vitacost strive to provide a very special service for our customers. We have said we will sell you thousands of top brand nutritional supplements at significant savings in addition to providing you with the finest service and support. We have a state of the art warehouse with most items in stock and most orders being shipped the same day. Further we have a science board with eight board certified medical doctors providing you with the latest and most accurate scientific information available at no charge. We believe this mission has served our customers and our company well. Our company has been growing at a tremendous rate and, for the last two years, we have been listed in INC. 500 as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States.

Unfortunately, when you provide products at deep discounts, toes can be stepped on. We recently filed a lawsuit against a second manufacturer, Lane Labs, for price fixing and unfair competition. Lane Labs had approached us offering to sell us products directly versus obtaining them from a distributor, with the requirement that we raise (fix) our prices. When we refused to do so, they instructed certain of our suppliers to cut us off. We are therefore down to our last couple of days of products from Lane Labs. However, we are not the only entity suing Lane Labs. Both the FTC and the FDA have also taken action against this company. The FDA has charged Lane Labs with unlawfully promoting and marketing three of their products, including MGN3 as a treatment for cancer and HIV. This lawsuit is ongoing, you can read more here.

Click here for information from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission website.

Let’s take a critical look at a couple of their best selling products. The first is their calcium product called Advacal. They claim that this product is more effective than calcium citrate for osteoporosis based on a clinical trial. Their trial consisted of a total of eleven patients (five in one group and six in the other) going on for only a total of four weeks. They concluded that their product was effective at reducing bone resorption as was calcium citrate, but to a lesser extent than the Advacal. It should be noted that in this small study, the difference between the Advacal and calcium citrate did not reach statistical significance. To make the statement that Advacal is more effective at reducing bone resorption than calcium citrate based on this rather small and limited study is, in our opinion, ridiculous.

There is a study in The New England Journal from September 1997 involving almost four hundred men and women over the age of 65, indicating that calcium citrate at 500 mg daily coupled with 700 units of vitamin D daily reduced fracture rate by over 50% and actually increased bone resorption over the three-year study. Lane Labs has generated a chart comparing their study to the New England Journal Study. We believe this comparison is misleading, due to the statistical insignificance of the Lane Labs Study. Lane Labs recommends you take 6 capsules per day; a bottle of 150 capsules will last 25 days and retails for $39.95, compared to the list price of Lane Lab's Advacal for $23.99 at Vitacost.

Alternatively, you can purchase Nutraceutical Sciences Institute’s (NSI) Calcium Citrate Malate, magnesium and vitamin D for only $9.95 for 180 capsules providing a 60 days supply at the recommended dose of three capsules per day. The NSI calcium, magnesium and vitamin D provides 500 mg. calcium citrate malate and 700 units of vitamin D which The New England Journal study showed to have significant benefit. In addition, it provides 250 mg of magnesium which other clinical studies have shown benefit for not only healthy bone function, but also healthy cardiac and muscular function. The Lane Lab’s Advacal even at current wholesale will cost you $28.79 per month versus the NSI product at less than $5.00 per month. The Lane Labs product is over 5 times the cost of the NSI product based on recommended daily dosages. Imagine the people paying retail at $39.95 just for calcium, no vitamin D and no magnesium! They are paying nearly 8 times the cost of the NSI product!

Now what about MGN3? MGN3 is basically a mushroom extract. There have been anecdotal reports indicating that this product can improve immune function. However, there have reportedly only been a total of 72 human patients who have been studied using this particular product. None of these studies have been published in major peer reviewed medical journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, etc. How does this compare to other nutrients? NSI has recently introduced a product to promote healthy immune function called ImmunoLift. It contains 600 mg of shiitake and maitake mushrooms standardized to 10% and 30% polysaccharides respectively. The active ingredient of shiitake mushrooms is a polysaccharide called lentinin.

There have been multiple studies in the medical literature indicating that the nutrient lentinin is beneficial for immune function. Likewise, the active ingredient of maitake mushrooms is a polysaccharide called grifola. In one study, for example, out of Japan published last June, patients with cancer were treated with maitake mushroom, both the fractionated and whole maitake mushroom. Cancer regression or significant symptom improvement was observed in 58% of liver cancer patients, 68% of breast cancer patients and 62% of lung cancer patients. It was further indicated that when maitake was added to chemotherapy, immune competent cell activities enhanced 1.2 to 1.4 times compared to chemotherapy alone. We are not claiming ImmunoLift or maitake is proven to treat cancer but merely illustrating there are other studies available beyond what Lane Labs references in its literature. In addition, NSI’s ImmunoLift contains 500 mg of Ester C and 100 mg of co-enzyme Q10 (per serving – two capsules), two additional nutrients that can help with immune function.

Again, the cost between the MGN3 and ImmunoLift is quite significant. One serving of ImmunoLift containing two capsules which provide 600 mg of standardized mushroom extract along with Ester C and co-Q10 costs about seventy three cents. Compare this to one serving of MGN3 which contains two capsules of 500 mg of their proprietary blend of mushroom extract. This one serving of MGN3 (without Coq10, maitake and Ester-C) costs about $1.64 – over twice the cost of ImmunoLift. Keep in mind, the MGN3 price being used in the Vitacost price of $40.99. If you use the retail price of MGN3 at $69.55 and take the recommended dose of 4 capsules per day your cost rises to $5.56 per day or greater than $166 per month or $2,029 per year!

We at Vitacost are trying to stand up for you by providing you accurate scientific information and the best value for your nutritional needs. It certainly could have been easier for us to make an agreement with Lane Labs to raise our prices to get the favorable distribution. However, we will not compromise our principles. If you would like to make a difference we recommend the following:

1) Contact Mr. Andrew Lane at 1-800-526-3005 and express your displeasure.

2) Call and write your regional Federal Trade Commission office and ask them to investigate Lane Labs and Andrew Lane. Give them the website address to the FDA and FTC websites regarding prior and current actions and copy and paste the info regarding the Advacal and ask them to investigate potential consumer fraud and false advertising and violations of the prior FTC agreement. Also note you are aware of companies suing Lane Labs and Andrew Lane for price fixing and ask them to investigate this.

FTC URL to find your regional office (click on your state): Click here.

FDA URL: Click here.

FTC URL (press release about prior FTC action):
Click here.

3) The FTC can only file a civil complaint and seek monetary damages. The U.S. Attorney (Department of Justice) can investigate and seek criminal penalties for price fixing and fraud. Visit www.switchboard.com and type in “u s attorney” in the yellow pages section in the box called “business name” and type in your state in the box called “state”. Find the closest U.S. Attorney, call and write them in the same manner as the FTC.

Rest assured that we at Vitacost will stand up for your rights and continue to provide you with the most effective products at the best prices and with the best service.

Vitacost.com, Inc.

Back to Top