Suga Vida claims that it contains bio-active vitamin B12 . Can this be true ?

[wedgewood]

This sugar sustitute claims that it is a totally natural product i.e. nothing added .it is made from the nectar of the Palmyra tree . Anyone know anything about it ?

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi wedgewood I can't imagine how Vitamin B12 is "fortified" into my daily "All-Bran"

[wedgewood in reply to clivealive]

This product claims that the b12 is not added , but is naturally contained in the nectar . I’ve Googled it , and that’s what it claims ! Sounds preposterous .!

[fbirder]

Shullbit. Complete and utter shullbit.

I couldn't get much past the first line -

"Unlike refined sugar, SugaVida is made up of long chains of sucrose which are broken down slowly by the body."

Or, to us chemists, "SugaVida is made of starch".

I gave up reading as I was laughing too much at that point.

I have complained about this website to the ASA. asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint... It is illegal for companies to make claims that are demonstrably false on their websites (which are, nowadays, considered advertising).

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

Thanks I just wanted to hear your verdict . But it was the B12 claims that got me !

[fbirder in reply to wedgewood]

Yes. I've written to the company warning them that I've complained to the ASA about false advertising.

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

Good . It needs a scientist to challenge them . I can’t speak the science lingo. and you can . Thanks .

[wedgewood in reply to wedgewood]

I can only look on line and I can’t find out the B12 content . I’ve never seen it in the shops or health food shops .

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

I’ve found the product on Amazon now , and clicked on “See further details “ . No mention of B12 or any other B vitamins they claim are present .

[fbirder in reply to fbirder]

I’ve got a reply from the ASA. They got in touch with the MHRA who “expressed concern with medicinal claims made both on the Amazon page and on the advertiser’s website. As such, they have agreed to open an investigation into the matter.”

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

My goodness fbirder , that is marvellous ! Thank you for your trouble . Very good news !

[fbirder in reply to wedgewood]

Another email from theASA. Apparently they’ve agreed to remove all reference to B12 from their advertising.

Win!

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

What a great result . All down to you ! Excellent. Well done 🥇

[Sleepybunny]

I can't find any details about how much B12 is supposed to be in it.

Do any of you know if there is a nutritional content label on the products?

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to Sleepybunny]

I've looked at some of their products on Amazon to see if there were any listed ingredients. Nope. Here’s An example of listed ingredients : Palmya Jaggery powder* *=certified organic!!!!!

So there we have it - who knows 😱

Buyer beware and well done to fbirder for submitting complaint 👍

[fbirder in reply to Sleepybunny]

They say "Just two tablespoons a day will give you all the vitamin B12 you need, so there’s no need to waste your money on expensive, ineffective supplements!"

So they reckon about 2 mcg in a teaspoonful, or 10 mcg per 100g. That's about 25 times the amount in cottage cheese and 4 times the amount in beef steak.

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

This stuff costs around £10.00 for 250 grams !

[fbirder in reply to wedgewood]

Damn! Why do I have to have morals?

So many opportunities to rip people off.

[deniseinmilden in reply to fbirder]

Is it someone with a grude against vegans peddling Smash?!?!

The upside - at least it's spreading the word that B12 is important! 😁

[deniseinmilden in reply to deniseinmilden]

Or at that price maybe there's more to it than that and saying there's B12 in it accounts for the high you get from it - after all most medics think we are addicted to B12, take it to get a high and that it'll do us harm in the long run!!! 😁 😁

[wedgewood in reply to fbirder]

You are too good a person to want to rip people off . You are someone who can bring the rippers -off to book .

[Slothlike]

It’s just sugar extracted from palm. It’s a real thing but as to the claims ... they don’t stand up to anything I’ve heard of in European food labelling legislation. If they have these sorts of claims on pack and are sold in the Eu then it can be reported to trading standards as a breach of the law. I suspect they don’t though.

As for the chemistry .... none of the outlandish claims make any sense .... More likely it’s a low refined invert syrup (similar to golden syrup or maple syrup) with a slightly higher fructose content and possibly some fructo oligosaccharide in it. Nothing special and not very revolutionary.

It’s all over blogs and other sites .... fake news like a lot of these other so called superfoods... macca springs to mind.

Most of what you read about food on the internet is not worth reading.... the text on the packaging is a closet version of the truth since it is regulated and governed by law (at least in the EU). If the marketing claim isn’t on pack it kind of tells you the internet marketing fluff is likely not to be true.

Sorry I don’t post much ... this sort of stuff is kind of my field of expertise for work (food biochemistry and nutrition) so thought I would jump in.

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to Slothlike]

Great that you jumped in Slothlike. Thank you 👍