Reservations Re HIV/AIDS Nutrition Initiative
Further to "HIV/AIDS Nutritional Supplement Donation Initiative" now updated with a donation form, Eddie and Adeha have highlighted some of my misgivings before I posted it. However, I felt that the initiative was a good start and in the right direction, but expect, that if a honest effort was being made than it should include the essential minerals separately till a better reformulation could be made. Or like the mainstream sickness care paradigm this has a strong predisposition to become a another disease management initiative instead of a solid health building program
The cost issue is also very important and I agree with the comments below. Again if there is simply no reason to be extravagant in order to support a select few, Serious effort should be made to find competitive alternate sources as suggested below...
BTW there is a charity business number (11926-5882-RR0001) on the said donation form.
Chris Gupta
------------------------Hi Chris: it's about time people start donating multivitamins to those with AIDS/HIV [and others] but this www.destinywellness.com [DON'T go there if you're using Netscape 4.7 because their bells and whistles WILL crash your brouwser] multivitamin is an awful and expensive approach. It contains no minerals and excessive amounts of B1, B2 [for example] and it costs $60/3 months.
In Canada one can get for $31 a 4 month supply of Nu-Life Ultimate One [most appropriate: 'for men 50+'] at Loblaws etc. profit and minerals included [and it has the vital minimum of 100 mcg selenium]. tel 800 668 0066 and here's the vitamin [one of Canada's best]. The stuff is compact [not destiny's 4 caps/day], cheap and can be crushed easily for swallowing.
I applaud any such donation initiative but it clearly is a money making scheme [with not-the-best multi] considering the hug excess over the base vitamin costs in the product they are 'donating'.
No, I don't have shares in Nu-Life [or any other vitamin company]. I'll fax this to Rana Singh ND since I don't have his e-mail.
Best,
Eddie
http://www.health-heart.org
Nutrition, Health & Heart Disease; Cause and Prevention
- Illness or health: it's the micro-nutrients, stupid! -
----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chris,Some reservations about this HIV/AIDS Nutritional Supplement Donation Initiative. I started out just wondering about the price of these supplements which are supposed to be at cost. I notice that the Fawzi study says
According to Fawzi, the high-dose multivitamins with vitamins B, C, and E used for the study cost about $15 for a year's supply; Aids drugs in Tanzania cost about $300 a year..
$240 per year seems like a lot for a straight vitamin supplement. I can't open the list of ingredients file for this formulation because my pdf reader is broken, but the high cost does make me wonder. Multi vitamins alone generally don't cost that much.
Too bad Rana Singh hasn't gotten behind a Foster-based supplement. Apparently he just joined Destiny last month, which maybe explains why he wasn't able to get them to change the AIDS formulation to include selenium. The body can manufacture vitamins if it has minerals, but without minerals, it can't make vitamins and enzymes. Foster says the key amino acids for glutathione are also critical. Those nutrients will be already depleted in AIDS, and will have to be supplemented. The website says:
Destiny's expert team of researchers have formulated a multivitamin specifically to support the immune system of individuals who have contracted HIV.
Doesn't look to me like this "expert team" did their homework.
The website is heavily directed toward marketing and supporting practitioners to make money selling products.:
http://www.destinywellness.com/footer_02.asp
http://www.destinywellness.com/stlucia_01.asp
The worst thing to me is that their December 6th Lucia AIDs program deadline happens to coincide with the opening of Destiny's new headquarters in St. Lucia on that date. Convenient. Contact: Claudia Monlouis
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - Saint Lucia has been chosen to be the headquarters of a Canadian company, which is in the process of expanding to the United States, South America and the Caribbean Region. By December of 2004, one of Canada's leading nutraceutical companies, Destiny Health and Wellness will be part of the island's growing league of regional and international companies. Chairman of Destiny Health and Wellness, David Singh said that he found the investment climate in St. Lucia very attractive.
"The reason I am here in Saint Lucia is to look into putting all the pieces of the puzzle in place to launch our business here in the Caribbean, and more so specifically here in Saint Lucia on December 6, 2004. Sorting all the pieces of the puzzle means we've got all kinds of banking and legal work to do, but we are committed to being here and launching Destiny Health and Wellness in Saint Lucia,", Mr. Singh said.
According to Mr. Singh, in light of the health conditions that plague the local community, there is scope in St. Lucia for the nutraceutical industry, which focuses on the preventative side of medicine. "The types of things we are looking for before we go into a particular marketplace are things like the need for our products first and foremost, and we know there is a need here in Saint Lucia; we know there is a global need for our products all over the world. We are aware for example, that hypertension and diabetes are two big health issues here in Saint Lucia", Mr. Singh explained. Mr. Singh said that funding to fully establish this new initiative was expected to run into millions of dollars, and would create employment opportunities for several persons.
(Found on Google: have to use the cache feature)
Leading health and wellness company coming to St. Lucia ...... By December of 2004, one of Canada's leading nutraceutical companies, Destiny Health and Wellness will be part of the island's growing league of regional ...
Chris, do you feel good about this proposal? The more I look at the websites, the less good I feel. Rana Singh looks legit, but the initiative looks like a PR/sell more product focus to me, as opposed to a genuine concern to help those with AIDS. It is also very vague "Registered Charity" " Charitable Organizations, Health Professionals, Corporations and Concerned Individuals". I like to see names!
http://www.destinywellness.com/aids_01.asp
I can just see the follow up on this "AIDS nutrition initiative."
"Well, it didn't really do that much good. It just shows nutrition isn't the answer for AIDS."
Sorry to be so negative....
Adeha
posted by Chris Gupta on Saturday November 20 2004
updated on Saturday September 24 2005URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/11/20/reservations_re_hivaids_nutrition_initiative.htm
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