more respitrol goodness - where are the clinical trials?

If you are reading this post, it is most probably because you are looking for information about Respitrol, information you probably have not found on the myriad of websites that sell it and advocate its miraculous properties. I have already written a post about Respitrol in the past - and I suggest you read it before this one. However, if you do not have much time on your hands, I am going to tell you something about Respitrol.

What I am going to be doing in this post is simply to be looking up the ingredients listed on Micronutra's website, and on another website selling Respitrol - the content of the two is basically identical, you can check this yourselves. I will try to look up some of the ingredients in search engines used to scout for peer-reviewed publications (ie., publications in scientific journals), and I will try to see if I get any hits regarding asthma.


Here is the list of ingredients, as reported on Micronutra's website:

Aloe barbadensis extract 200:1 . . .
It has been proven to have a diverse array of benefits from antibiotic, astringent, and pain reliever and cell growth stimulator beneficial to asthma.

Tragacanth gum . . .
The active ingredient is known help increase the elimination of toxins causing allergies and asthma. Studies have shown that it increases the production of interferon.

Beta-Glucan 1,3/1,6 . . .
supports the production and activity of macrophages, a type of white blood cell that is part of your cellular defense team. The active linkages of 1, 3/1 and 6 glucose molecules in beta-glucan cause certain immune cells to fight and communicate better to overcome asthma.

Arabinogalactan . . .
Impressive studies have shown beneficial effects on healthy digestive flora as well as helping to balance serum cholesterol and glucose intolerance and may have a vital role in immunological function for asthma.

Glucosamine sulfate . . .
is a super critical amino-saccharide that is necessary for many functions in the healing process especially in the formation of healthy cartilage and joints while supporting cellular elasticity important during asthma response.

Ghatti gum . . .
Ghatti is a complex polysaccharide, which is a natural source of calcium, magnesium and potassium, critical minerals for health immune response.

There is no arguing the effectiveness of each of these individual ingredients. The secret of Respitrol™ success comes from the proprietary blending at the molecular level of all these ingredients to attack the root cause of Asthma from every direction.

OK, now we are ready to start checking this out. We can start from Aloe barbadensis. The explanation proposed implies that Aloe can have a beneficial effect in people affected by asthma. So let me search "Aloe and asthma" in PubMed.

I mostly find some very old papers. Anyway, through my library subscription I have access to at least some of those. There are no clinical trials whatsoever, but I find some meeting proceedings from a journal called Phytotherapy Research. Never heard of it. So I venture out searching for the impact factor: 0.803 in 2003. Basically it is very rare that anybody publishing papers ever cites this journal. This already leaves me a little skeptical, but anyway, one should not stop looking at impact factor when assessing the quality of a paper. And therefore, I went to read the article in question: "Aloe and its therapeutic use", by F. Capasso, F. Borrelli, R. Capasso, G. Di Carlo, A. A. Izzo, L. Pinto, N. Mascolo, S. Castaldo, R. Longo, in Phytotherapy Research, 1998 (notice how two of the authors have the same surname? Miracles of universities in the Country of Jokes, where often professors manage to promote their own sons to the position of researchers or even associates).

Here are some excerpts of the paper, which should allow anybody with half a brain to judge on whether we can take this seriously or not:

Antitumour effects of aloe extract may also depend on the ability to augment tumour-specific immunity (Yoshimoto et al., 1987). These findings have encouraged cancer treatment in humans with a preparation as follows: aloe (5 years old) fresh leaf 300 g, honey 500 g, two tablespoons of gin (vodka or whisky); the mixture can be left for 10 days in a jar, filtered and taken (1 tablespoon 1 or 2 times a day for 14 days) or mixed in a blender and then taken as above. Honey increases the palatability of the preparation and could enhance the effect of aloe for its content of caffeic acid phenethyl ester, a potent chemopreventive agent useful in combating diseases with a strong inflammatory component, i.e. various types of cancer (Frenkel et al., 1993). However well-controlled clinical trials are insufficient to allow conclusions.

Could that be the miracle cure for cancer? Mmmm....no, because as they say, there is no solid evidence in support of such a use of aloe. And here is something to do with asthma:

There is also evidence to show the efficacy of aloe extract in chronic bronchial asthmatic patients (Shida et al., 1985).

I could not access the article they cited. But that is all they say about asthma. But I did find this:

Aloe extract is also considered as a possible therapy for AIDS, in association with an antiviral agent (asidothymidine), as it is able to reduce the dosage of antiviral by up to 90% reducing consequently the side effects (Murray and Werbach, 1994).

Ok, here is my point: can we actually even believe what these people are saying? And to add to this, any other paper relating aloe and asthma is very old, I get only nine hits, which are often not accessible in English, and no clinical trials. Which leads to the question: how can the makers and sellers of Respitrol say that Aloe is beneficial to asthma? They cannot. Because there is no solid evidence out there in support of what they state on their website.

Let me try another ingredient - glucosamine sulphate. This is another one of the favorites of the supplement industry. The search gives me only 8 hits, but I find something interesting. One of the articles actually reports a case of asthma exacerbation after the use of glucosamine supplements. But there is no study reporting positive effect of glucosamine in asthma patients.

Lastly, I decided to try to search all the ingredients at once, as the website says that the properties of Respitrol are really due to the proprietary blending of all the ingredients. They also say, somewhere on their website, that they run clinical trials. Well, of course, I found no hits whatsoever. So the next question is: where is the evidence that a clinical trial ever took place? The results of proper clinical trials usually get published, and therefore come up in a search in PubMed. But there is no evidence of such a trial out there.

I would therefore encourage everybody out there to be critical, and if in doubt, talk to a medical professional about your intention of using supplements. Even natural ingredients can cause negative interactions (and create health risks) with other natural, or pharmaceutical compounds. So, whatever your decision about Respitrol, make sure that your doctor knows.

I tried to show you that there is no solid evidence for the claims that Respitrol can be "99% effective in overcoming your asthma and increasing your peak air flow by more than 400%". But the final decision, of course, is up to you and your doctor.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, nor do I work for the pharmaceutical industry. Make sure you talk to your doctor if you decide to consider using any supplements, to make sure side effects and medicinal interactions can be taken into account.

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