Mangosteen dietary supplements made their debut on the
American
market in 2002 and the product generated quite a buzz. Dubbed as the “Queen of
Fruits”, it caught the attention of the public and sent shock waves
across the
globe – from the realm of homeopathic medicine to the dietary
supplement
industry. A number of companies were quick to pounce on the opportunity
and
before we knew it, various mangosteen products sprouted like
mushrooms and were on
the market. However, this discussion will focus primarily on mangosteen
capsules and how the different products compare in terms of certain
criteria.
Mangosteen
is usually taken for holistic health and no
one would
argue about the substantial health benefits that can be derived from
the fruit.
The best mangosteen supplements out there are manufactured from the
rind of
this superfruit. In order to make mangosteen capsules in the best
possible way, the fruit is to freeze dried. This is because other
antioxidant extraction
methods like
solvent usage may cause significant damage to the quality of the
antioxidants
and the nutrients.
You may notice
that
many companies
are selling outrageously expensive mangosteen capsules. However, this
actually
highlights the abuse of consumer credibility because even though the
bottle may
be labeled “Mangosteen”, it does not necessarily mean that you will be
getting
100% mangosteen. As a consumer, you must be aware of the dubious
practices of
some greedy companies that are taking advantage of mangosteen’s immense
popularity nowadays. For instance, if you look closely at the
ingredients/supplement facts of some mangosteen products, you would
notice that
it says “Proprietary Blend Mangosteen”. To a layman, nothing seems
wrong as
long as the word mangosteen is present. However, the terms were
expertly
chosen to conceal both the true quantity and quality of mangosteen that
you are
getting.
Some
products are candid enough to
disclose that what they are
offering is simply a mangosteen extract. Again, there doesn't seem to
be anything wrong with that… unless you know exactly what an extract is. An
extract can be defined as a preparation containing the active
ingredient of a substance in concentrated form. Extracts are often made
by using a solvent such as ethanol or
water.
Simply put, a mangosteen extract is not 100% mangosteen since it is
mixed with other components (usually alcohol). In order to harness
all the
healthful benefits that mangosteen has to offer, you need more than
just an
extract. You need the fruit processed in such a way that you don’t lose
the
precious xanthones that you are after. You have to isolate the
xanthones and
avoid interactions with other substances as much as possible so they
don’t lose
their potent antioxidant properties.
Now, you know how some companies are able to
market their mangosteen capsules at a much lower price. It’s quite
alarming
because such products get pitched all the time and a lot of honest
health-seekers are spending their hard-earned cash on them without
really
reaping the true benefits of mangosteen. This is a classic case wherein
paying
less is not always best as there are several things to consider when
making a
decision as to which brand of powdered mangosteen supplement to go
with.
The
Natural Home Cures Super Formula, Fast Acting Mangosteen, comes in
bottles of
120 capsules (515 mg/capsule). This is in sharp contrast to other
brands
on the
market which offer as few as 60 capsules. Still others may offer a few
more capsules but you would have you to take two of their capsules just
to achieve the recommended
dosage.
It is important that you do not allow yourself to be fooled by
advertisements and
marketing ploys which may convince you to purchase low-quality
mangosteen
capsules.
Mangosteen
capsules are an easy way to maintaining
good health. However, it is important to note that they
are
only as good as their processing, the environment they are grown in and
the
ingredients that go into the manufacturing process. The best
form of
mangosteen capsules are produced with nothing more than the rind and are
contained
within naturally made capsules. The
mangosteen
capsules offered by Natural Home Cures are manufactured
from mangosteen
harvested in a large farm in Thailand. The fruits
are grown
without pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers. The
mangosteen and
its pericarp are processed with the highest standards of quality and
you can
rest assured that what you are getting is 100% mangosteen along with
all the
benefits that this superfruit has to offer.
Scams
are common and somewhat ubiquitous on the Internet, especially in the
mangosteen
market. And while some of these 'free offer' scams are quickly found
by authorities, often times they open back up under a different
business name within hours of being shut down.
Let's
get more familiar with the anatomy of the 'free trial mangosteen'
scam, some of this may sound familiar. First, you receive an
enticing offer to try a new mangosteen product in which all
you have to pay for is the shipping and handling (a nominal cost).
During sign up, you are presented with other offers such as paid
magazine subscriptions, a paid membership to the site (which should
be your first warning), free upgraded mangosteen products and/or
almost anything else under the sun. Once you've completed the
necessary steps, which include providing your credit card number, the
steel-cage door is shut, so to speak, and you're locked into the
scam. This is where the nightmare begins.
Now,
you know that given the terms of your agreement, if you don't cancel
within 30 days you'll be charged for the next months' subscription.
Unfortunately, there is no way to cancel. You look for an email
address, telephone number or any other contact information only to
find that all you have is a company name, website address, and
physical post office box location.
However,
being Internet savvy, you know that you can find the information you
need by going to
the Internet Domain Registry and doing a search for the domain name
but once again you will have reached a dead end; when you get to the
domain registry you will find that the web site address is unlisted.
The only real way to get the information is to either be in law
enforcement or know someone who is.
Once
you have the contact information of the company (however it is that
you get it) you'll likely find an “out of service” message when
you try to call them. If you're enough lucky to get a live person on
the phone you'll be put on hold and transferred from one person to
another like a ping-pong ball until you give up and, in the end, wind
up with some hefty phone charges for your trouble.
You
now realize that phoning is just a waste of time and you decide to
file a dispute with your bank. This could take ages before anything
gets resolved because the banks themselves can’t trace and/or
verify transactions from these bogus companies. Finally, out of sheer
frustration and disgust, you decide to cancel your credit card. All
the while, your credit card has been charged multiple times because
you're locked into a subscription and you end up paying 4 or even 5
times the price that you would have if you had just purchased Natural
Home Cures Mangosteen.
Moving
forward, the whole ordeal has taken about three months to 'fix' and
you're stuck with at least
two months worth of product that you can't return. Since you can't
get your money back you decide that you may as well consume the
product you've purchased but to your dismay you learn that the
supplement you paid so much for is inferior and the actual mangosteen
content is almost non-existent!
That’s
how these scammers make their money, by selling cheap products and
locking you into subscription plans. This happens more often with
mangosteen juice than it does with pills because with the juice you
only need to add water to dilute it and unless you have access to a
product testing laboratory (which few people do) you will never know
if you're drinking over-priced water or a mangosteen supplement.
So
how do you know which companies won't scam you? First off, never
believe
those 'free offers'. We all know that nothing in life is truly free.
Natural Home Cures does not offer free mangosteen. Instead, our
mangosteen is priced below our closest competitor's product (as you
will learn in a few minutes).
The
second thing you need to look for
is how long the company has been in
business. A company which is not above-board will be here today
and
gone tomorrow. They will have no proven history of how long they have
been in business for because most of them will be less than a year
old.
The
third thing to look for is how prominently contact details are
displayed on their website. Is there a mailing address and a
working
telephone number that you yourself have verified?
Natural
Home Cures
has been in business for 5 years and our contact
information is
prominently displayed on almost every page of our website. In
fact,
if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you'll see just what
I'm talking about.
The
fourth thing you should make sure to look
for is if the company lets
you buy their product as you need it or if you are forced into
paying a monthly charge for your mangosteen 'subscription'.
Alternatively, the site may automatically renew your order every
month but not officially lock you into a monthly contract: either
'choice' should be considered unacceptable.
Natural
Home Cures only
offers a “buy as needed” option with our products: you are never
locked into a fixed recurring monthly charge.
The
last thing to look for is the companies' money back policy. Most
companies typically offer you only 30 days from the date of purchase
to return your product. This means that by the time you receive the
first order your return window will have already expired. Returning
the product under the best of circumstances, of course, hinges on you
being lucky enough to find the companies' contact details.
Natural
Home Cures differentiates itself from its competition by offering
you
the longest money back guarantee in the industry: we let you try
our
product for up to 4 months.
The
sad truth is, most companies that offer free trial mangosteen
supplements are scammers. They just want your credit card number in
order to lock you into a monthly subscription that, if you'd read all
the fine-print, you wouldn't have signed up for in the first place.
They sell inferior products and don't care about your health or
well-being. Natural Home Cures is different: our product is made from
100% mangosteen pericarp (the rind of the fruit) which is where all
the beneficial compounds are found. Our drying process preserves all
those healthful compounds and we sell the end result to you at a fair
price. There's no paying for water with us. With Natural Home Cures,
all you pay for is pure, dried mangosteen. Don't believe me? Look us
up, read our testimonials
section or better yet, call us with any
questions that you might have. I think you'll find our reputation for
selling top quality products at competitive prices is well deserved.
And, if you're not satisfied with our product simply send it back -- no
contracts. No fuss. No questions asked.
Irradiation is a
high-tech way of treating the mangosteen you consume through the use of
10 kilorays of ionizing radiation – a bacteria-killing surge of energy
equal in power to 150 million chest X-rays. The purpose is to kill,
fungi or bacteria, insects (specifically, the Asian fruit fly that is
transported from Asia from food entering into North America) and to
prevent agricultural cross contamination. The drawback to
irradiating
food is that it depletes many different vitamins: A, thiamine, B2, B3,
B6, B12, folic acid, C, E, and K as well as some amino acids and
essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. In
addition, carcinogens can also be deposited in irritated foods, which
you then consume when you eat the food.
In
recent
experiments conducted by German government scientists, one of these
chemicals, 2-dodecylcyclobutanone ¾ or 2-DCB ¾ was shown
to cause genetic damage when given to rats and genetic and cellular
damage to human and rat cells. Two other chemicals in the cyclobutanone
family 2-TCB¾ and 2-TDCB ¾ were
also shown to cause
genetic and cellular damage to human cells.
Only
whole fruits
such as those found in liquid mangosteen juice need to be
irradiated. Dry, powdered mangosteen pericarp that Natural Home
Cures offers is not irradiated so you can rest assured that with
Natural
Home Cures you will receive only 100% non-irradiated mangosteen.
Thailand and the
Philippines are the worlds largest suppliers of mangosteen fruit and
also one of the biggest users of pesticides in the South Asia
region. Most of the pesticides are imported;
73% fall into the WHO hazard category I: Ia - extremely
hazardous or Ib - highly hazardous.
A further 33% are category II - moderately hazardous.
The three main
insecticides used are the organophosphates monocrotophos,
methamidophos, and methyl parathion, all of which contain carcinogens
and other pathogens. Human
consumption of these pathogens, over time, could result in various
deadly diseases.
Before you purchase a liquid mangosteen or
any other mangosteen product for that matter, ask yourself this
question: "How clean is my
mangosteen? "
The most
nutritious
part of the mangosteen is the pericarp (rind or skin) because of its
rich xanthone content. Chemical pesticides sprayed on the
mangosteen tree will end up on the fruit, especially the
skin. Determining how heavily sprayed the fruit is and what
pesticides were used is often difficult because most companies get
their pericarp from fruit canning companies. These companies
can/bottle the pulp (white inner meat) and throw away the skin as
“waste material,” which is then swept off the floor and sold to
companies looking for pericarp. Since these large canning
companies purchase their fruits from many different farms, the quality
of
the pericarp will be inconsistent. The cleanliness of the factory
floors is also a concern.
In fact, we pride
ourselves on it! Why would anyone market a product that does not
maintain quality standards all the way from the harvesting to the end
consumable product.
Our mangosteen is
grown on one large mangosteen farm in Thailand. It’s grown without
chemicals (that means no pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic
fertilizers). The mangosteen and its pericarp are processed with
cleanliness in mind. Although our product is not labeled organic
because the fields haven't been certified by a US organic certifying
agency, as our farms are not within the United States, they are
certified by BCS Oko-Garantie. This means that they meet the inspecting
procedures, applied inspection, and control procedures of the Japanese
Agricultural Standard of Organic Agricultural Products (JAS) of the
Japanese Ministry of Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). The Japanese
organic standards are very similar to those of the United States (and
more strict in some areas). With our product, you can rest assured that
no pesticides are being sprayed on the pericarp and that the processing
of our mangosteen product is of the highest quality.
So, the next
time you
think about purchasing your liquid mangosteen or any other mangosteen
for that matter, ask yourself this question: "Does
the
mangosteen you're consuming come with any dirty secrets?"
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Left:
This is our crushing and encapsulating machine. It takes the
pericarp from above, crushes it down to a powder, then encapsulates it
and puts it into bottles.
Right: The
bottles then pass through a labeling machine, where a final inspection
of the product is carried out before it is shipped to you.
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