Media Release – embargoed until 22nd March 2009
Stop peeing money down the drain! – New Zealanders wasting $40M a year
- The Vitamin Lab reinvents the supplements market
22nd March 2009 - It’s time to stop wasting money and start buying natural health products that will actually tackle
your health problems – advice from Dr Shaun Holt, founder of The Vitamin Lab. Dr Holt estimates Kiwis could be wasting
as much as a third of their natural health spend on the wrong products or those without any proof they work. A recent
survey showed 74% of people are currently taking at least one supplement and 54% don’t know what to take.
Best-selling author and regular Breakfast TV contributor Dr Holt says, “People’s desire for natural alternatives has
driven them to accept dubious advice from mostly well-intended retailers and many end up with something as useful as
pixie dust. It’s long overdue that people got good advice to make sure what they’re buying actually works. If you take a
medicine that a doctor recommends, you expect there to be good research to show that it will help – it should be the
same for vitamins and supplements.”
“There are some brilliant natural health products around with high quality research behind them and results as good as
any pharmaceutical. The problem is it’s buried in a sea of nonsense, celebrity endorsements, ridiculous claims, and
urban myth.”
After 10 years of clinical research and three years reviewing natural health research Dr Holt has launched The Vitamin
Lab to provide information and products that have proven their worth. People with existing medical conditions, or those
who want to stay healthy, can choose a customised ‘natural prescription’ of products based on good research, and can see
the research for themselves.
Professor of Medicine and founder of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Richard Beasley says, “Natural
health products are commonly used in New Zealand for a wide range of medical complaints, however consumers have
difficulty knowing which products are effective. Now they can be guided in their choice, and have access to the
scientific evidence on which the recommendations are based. We can reasonably expect better health outcomes than those
achieved with the current hit and miss approach.”
Recommendations by The Vitamin Lab are based on peer reviewed research published in international medical journals.
Every recommendation has links to medical journal articles to let users see for themselves. The Lab has advice for many
common conditions including high blood pressure, depression and arthritis and for ease of use, each order is packed into
daily sachets to avoid confusion and hassle and delivered to the person’s home.
Dr Holt continues, “The usual distribution channels for supplements in New Zealand put them into places where the
sellers are not well qualified to advise. One third goes through supermarkets where no advice is available and another
third goes through health food stores where retail staff are not medically trained and have been shown in many studies
to give bad advice. The final third goes through pharmacies which are best placed to advise but receive little formal
training in natural health.”
“New Zealand has a fantastic natural health industry which competes based on having produced its supplements from a
clean, green and pure country. Those are the nice fluffy bits, but what the industry needs now is substance and
scientific credibility. I believe The Vitamin Lab is the first organisation to supply this.”
Web: www.thevitaminlab.co.nz
About Dr Shaun Holt
• Qualified Doctor and Pharmacist
• One of NZ’s most experienced medical researchers
• Author of 2008 best-seller “Natural Remedies that Really Work”
• Regular slot on TV One’s Breakfast show and national radio shows
• Member of International Editorial Board of medical research journal Focus on Alternative and Complementary
Therapies
About The Vitamin Lab
• Natural health products based on medical science and the best research available
• Recommendations given on a variety of health conditions and general health
• Every order packed into convenient daily tear-off sachets and delivered
Some useful natural product facts:
• Fish oil can work as well as antidepressants for depression
• Coenzyme Q10 can reduce migraines by over 50%
• Magnesium and vitamin C can reduce symptoms of asthma
ENDS