Microhydrin

Claims, Benefits: Ultimate antioxidant. Cure-all.

Bottom Line: The health claims made about Microhydrin are outrageous and not supported by science. Don't fall for products that are being promoted with piles of technical, pseudo-scientific gobbledygook.

Full Article, Wellness Letter, November 1999

High on ions, short on facts

As we noted in August, some distributors of the cure-all supplement Microhydrin have been claiming that the WELLNESS LETTER "reviewed and approved" it. This claim is bogus. The hard-sell multi-level marketing campaign (via the Internet and audio- and videotapes) for Microhydrin raises many other red flags.

Microhydrin is made by a company called Royal BodyCare. Its inventor, Patrick Flanagan, appears on the tapes and is said to be a "Nobel Prize nominee" (nominees' names are never made public—see our December 1998 issue). He claims that his discovery is based on the special high-altitude water consumed by the Hunza people of northern Pakistan, who supposedly live to well over 100 and don't get cancer. "Hunza-type" water is said to contain special minerals and negative hydrogen ions, and these are supposed to make Microhydrin the ultimate antioxidant (that is, battler of cell-damaging free radicals). Tap water, it's claimed, is a villain be-cause it robs the body of hydrogen ions. Aging, chronic diseases, everything bad comes down to a lack of negative hydrogen ions.

The health claims made about Microhydrin are outrageous. Not only is it supposedly "thousands of times more effective than any other known antioxidant," but also the most exciting nutritional discovery of the century, one that will prevent aging, cancer, heart disease, tooth decay, asthma, impotence, diabetes, athlete's foot, vision problems, you name it. The tapes are filled with testimonials. A child with a lung infection was cured by Microhydrin. It revived a dying cat. A woman bitten by a scorpion was saved by Microhydrin. One user says it prevents sunburn, another that it boosts his energy.

Science fiction

Of course, there is no such thing as a cure-all. Still, prospective buyers may yearn to believe in the promises. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by all the scientific jargon and charts presented in support of Microhydrin on the Internet, on the tapes, and in the brochures. But the "science" is fiction, and the chemistry all wrong.

Negative hydrogen ions can't exist in water, according to Dr. William Pryor, director of the Biodynamics Institute at Louisiana State University and a leading expert on free radicals. Marketers of Microhydrin claim that it reduces the surface tension of water so that fluids can pass through cells and toxins can be released. That makes no sense, says Dr. Pryor. The explanation for how Microhydrin boosts energy: "total garbage." The whole idea that the source water for Microhydrin is better than other water, let alone life-prolonging, is nonsense. All water is simply H2O. The other experts we consulted agreed.

Words to the wise: Increasingly, "nutritional supplements" are being promoted with piles of technical, pseudo-scientific gobbledygook. Don't fall for such products—especially on the Internet—however enthusiastic the multi-level marketers or "Nobel prize nominees" may be.

UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, November 1999