The Collagen Supplement Scam? When Eating Requires That You Accept The Terms And Conditions
"By opening and using this product, you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions, fully set forth at vitalproteins.com/tc, which include a mandatory arbitration agreement."
The following report was first published on September 27th, 2022, on winepressnews.com.
Unless you are living under a rock or far away from any city, you’ve more than likely encountered or seen these brightly-colored containers and packages of these powders and supplements called collagen peptides, namely from the brand Vital Proteins.
Collagen peptide supplements and products are the latest darlings in the fad diet space, especially when you enter a promoted health food store or farmer’s market like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Fresh Thyme, and many others; including all major retailers and supermarkets like Walmart, Target, Meijer’s, Costco’s, etc.
What started out as just multi-flavored collagen powders quickly evolved into collagen proteins, collagen snack bars, collagen creamers for your coffee, to collagen water and energy shots. Needless to say, the collagen space has exploded. On top of that, so many of these [sponsored] health influencers rave and swear by these products.
But is it overhyped and actually dangerous for you?
Many anecdotal reports, studies, and comments from consumers, by and large, suggest that these collagen supplements have really helped their health, namely healthier skin and wrinkle reduction, stronger hair, joint repair, and so forth. I am not here to say all those testimonials are lies: if they worked for someone, great. As a disclaimer, I personally have never used a single collagen supplement, and perhaps I am missing out, but I try to be as discerning as I can be.
By the same token, there seems to be a growing number of people also experiencing problems after taking them, such as cystic acne, gut and digestion issues, heartburn, and more.
But what about the actual clinical and scientific studies that show collagen supplements are healthy and safe? Well, unfortunately, as registered dietician Whitney English points out, the bulk of these formal studies conducted were funded by collagen companies and institutions. Furthermore, there have been studies showing the possibility of heavy metal toxicity and contamination, along with the potential of indirectly spreading mad cow disease due to the cows and parts used from them carrying these contagions.
But specifically getting back to Vital Proteins’ brand of collagen supplements, you know we live in strange times when this happens: a snapshot of the protective seal on these peptide containers, underneath the lid, shows a cryptic and concerning message on them:
READ THIS: By opening and using this product, you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions, fully set forth at vitalproteins.com/tc, which include a mandatory arbitration agreement. If you do not agree to be bound, please return this product immediately.
One Twitter user was naturally freaked-out by such a warning, writing,
“What… what exactly /am/ I eating?!?! Will I need to go to arbitration after eating this?!?! Used to getting sued by your customers, are you?!??”
And apparently, Vital Proteins has in fact been sued before.
In 2018 the California-based Environmental Research Center Inc. filed a lawsuit against Vital Proteins LLC, where the organization said the Vital Proteins products contained high levels of cadmium and lead, which are known toxic heavy metals. Therefore, the Research Center sued the company for not adequately providing a warning label.
The entire document can be downloaded/viewed below:
Read the entire document here.
Nutritionist Frank Tufano, who also owns a handful of high-quality meat, food, and cosmetic businesses, presented these findings in a recent video. Tufano explains in his video that international corporate food giant Nestle has a notably large stake in Vital Proteins.
Based on the terms and conditions, Tufano speculates that if someone were to try and go to court over this, not only would it probably costs of tens of thousands just to get the proceedings started, but the judges and courts would probably not even rule in the plaintiff’s favor.
On top of this, the claims made by Vital Proteins – that their products are grass-fed and pastured-raised – are likely suspect at best due to the lackadaisical and paradoxical regulations on some of the definitions of these terms, Tufano asserts, speculating that these powders are probably from poorly raised cattle on a feedlot, improperly fed, and raised with oodles of medications and steroids.
But regardless of the base quality of the animal, the hefty amount of processing that it takes to achieve these bleached-white powders more than negates the whole purpose of it being (marketed as) high-quality. Tufano even requested information from these companies, asking for an overview of the process, which is fairly lengthy indeed – something Tufano covers in more depth in a separate video, with video evidence showing just some of the process.
“And the real issue with this [is] you have these giant conglomerates, huge companies that are processing tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of beef per day; and they can make this stuff on a very large and unrealistic scale in these laboratories.
“This isn’t something that like a local farm or people raising animals naturally would ever be able to come up with, because they’d be using most of the parts of the animal for health products – it’s just insane. There would be no need to make a product this refined if you had a high quality collagen broth […].”
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
I take a similar stance to Tufano on this issue. When these collagen supps hit the market and were plastered everywhere, and you had all these health “influencers” – who were/are obviously being sponsored by these companies – shilling these collagen powders, I knew something was up. Believe me: I’ve wasted money on bunk supplements before, but not these.
Like I hinted towards earlier, perhaps not all collagen supplements are totally bad, but I’d rather err on the side of caution and hold my wallet even tighter.
It seems to be corporations just trying to pawn off their industrial waste on the masses, like they do with vegetable oils, fluoride, ineffective multivitamins, and toxic cosmetics. Massive margins for a mostly ineffective product that in all likelihood will create long term health issues. Scientific and health literature is faked all the time and is sponsored by corporate interests, so when I see these products everywhere and all the doctors and health influencers are telling us it’s great, I have serious doubts.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Now Vital Proteins and other manufacturers are producing “marine collagen” with little fish on the package. The toxic brew that it must be… farm-raised fish and shrimp in a warehouse setup fed chemical food and swim in poisoned water, and then they have to go through all this processing afterwards. To me, that just shows how these corporations are working to sell literal slop to the masses and charge a stupid price tag for it.
Again, are the some acute benefits if you are totally deficient in these micronutrients? Perhaps. But how much of this is false science and lies? How much of this is placebo? You can purchase collagen and gelatin that has not been ultra-processed (granted it is hard to find online), but those collagens and supplements are golden brown and yellow, which indicates it is much natural and less treated.
It’s official: the clowns are running the carnival. We truly live in the Arkham Asylum run by the Joker – when ingesting a product that has disclaimers and caveats about not suing them. Can you imagine eating a food product that mildly or even severely harms your health, but you can’t go after the company for a simple refund at the very least because of some involuntary no disclosure agreement?! Howbeit, who would eat such a product with a warning like that? Apparently, a lot of people.
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Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Jacob!
Agent 131711 on Substack has done an excellent job exposing the true contents of vitamins and other supplements. His findings were horrendous. Here's one such link which horrified me because, like many people, I always looked for "organic" supplements.
https://chemtrails.substack.com/p/the-natural-vitamin-scam-eating-byproduct
I currently use almost no supplements at this point. When I do, I know well who makes them and how. I also use supplements for a specific condition, and when results are achieve, I discontinue usage. I only use food sources or herbs. I've become extremely careful about the origin of "natural" products.