Leptoprin-SD (Leptoprin-SF) Review

Leptoprin SDLeptoprin (the SF in Leptoprin-SF stands for “stimulant free”) is distributed by A.G. Waterhouse. It looks like Leptoprin-SD is A.G. Waterhouse’s single product. A quick google search of AG Waterhouse shows www.leptoprin.com as the “AG Waterhouse Home Page”.

It was a bit tough at first to figure out what Leptoprin contains as far as ingredients go. They don’t list supplement facts anywhere that I could find. The only way I was able to figure out what was in there (amounts thereof are still an unknown, which is very poor form on the part of A.G. Waterhouse) was by reading this very official sounding “Comprehensive Analysis for Product Claims Concerning Leptoprin-SD” by Dr. Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D.

This document appears to be the only source of information that is provided for Leptoprin by the company. Let’s dig in.

Who is the Author of this Comprehensive Analysis on Leptoprin?

Daniel B. Mowrey, from what I could gather, is an author. His first book was published in 1986, “The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine”. He also authored an article about rainforest remedies for a company called Raintree Nutrition. The site existed at least as early as December of 1996, but doesn’t look like it’s been too updated since then. I couldn’t find when Mowrey’s article was added to the site.

Most material actually appeared pretty dated from Mowrey. Most from the late 90’s. The Leptoprin site first was caught by the WaybackMachine in August of 2002. I wonder how AG Waterhouse picked Daniel B. Mowrey, PhD, to do their comprehensive analysis. There’s no biography given or anything.

A bit more digging into Daniel B. Mowrey and we find he was the respondent in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from a June 15, 2004 complaint alleging that he and the other respondents (more on this later), “engaged in unfair and deceptive acts in violation of Sections 5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act. The operative allegations charge Respondents with lacking support for various representations purportedly made in their advertising”1.

Leptoprin’s “Comprehensive Analysis” – a Closer Look

The comprehensive analysis lives up to its name. It’s definitely comprehensive. AG Waterhouse will have to let me know how they do at the “Use Lots of Big Words to Sound Right Awards.” I think they have a chance.

According to the analysis, Leptoprin-SD:

combines a documented weight-loss mixture, a broad spectrum ergogenic, an anti-inflammatory compound, a source of calcium, and an amino acid with a unique ability to enhance the suppression of appetite induced by the ergogenic mixture.

Right…

The weight loss mixture is made up of three “exotic” herbs (remember, this is the Good Doctor’s speciality): Ilex paraguarensis, Paulinia cupana, and Turnera diffusa. They go on to claim that the compound “has been shown to…produce significant weight loss in humans, without changes in diet or exercise.” I love how they throw in that phrase “in humans” to try and make it sound like there was a study done. But was there a study done? We don’t know. They make the claim, but then they don’t back it up by anything.

The main part of their “broad” spectrum is L-tyrosine — an amino acid with a pretty solid track record for weight loss (review pending). Yeah, L-tyrosine is very inexpensive from any health food store…might want to check there first if this is their only real ingredient.

Good grief, I’m reading through this triple-column, single-spaced, five-page document and I’m dying. This is a wonderful strategy for them. Put out the document that you know nobody will read, put a doctor as the author, and make it look legit.

I don’t buy it.

More on Leptoprin’s Distributor – AG Waterhouse, and the FTC

If you do some digging on Utah’s Better Business Bureau website, searching for AG Waterhouse gives you Basic Research as the result. You quickly find that AG Waterhouse is one of the DBA (doing business as) names of Basic Research out of Salt Lake City. In the Government Actions section, we read the conclusion to the complaint filed by the FTC back in 2004:

On May 11, 2006 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement agreement, subject to final approval, with Basic Research, LLC, A.G. Waterhouse, LLC, Klein Becker USA, LLC, NutraSport, LLC, Sovage Dermalogic Laboratories, LLC, BAN LLC, Dennis Gay, Daniel B. Mowrey (also doing business as American Phytotherapy Research Laboratory) and Mitchell K. Friedlander

There’s the Good Doctor popping up again — the author of their claim analysis paper meant only to confuse and deceive.

The settlement ended up being for $3M, and Basic Research footed the entire bill. It was for skin gels that “melted away fat wherever applied.”

Leptoprin’s Price Tag – $153 – Cha Ching!

You have to love Basic Research, er AG Waterhouse — whatever — as far as their marketing approach goes. They price their Leptoprin diet pill at the absolute extreme, going for only those who are “seriously overweight” (as if 90% of overweight people don’t think the problem is serious). It’s almost like they’re saying, “Nah, Leptoprin is probably too strong for you, you better try something else.” So the poor consumer comes back and says, “Oh no! I’m serious! Here’s my hard-earned money!”

Their pricing is ridiculous. Based on the ingredients they have in there (which they don’t disclose in any readily available/readable way, but can be found on wikipedia), I’ll bet the cost to manufacture each bottle of Leptoprin is south of $10 per bottle. Well south.

For a bit of a deeper look into the marketing approach of Leptoprin, I took a look at LeptoprinSupport.com. That experience follows.

LeptoprinSupport.com – A Trial Run

The first thing I did was to make sure the email address I used was specific to them so if I all of a sudden get a bunch of spam to that email address, I’ll know it is. I made sure to let them know that I don’t suffer from cellulite, and would like to lose 5-9 pounds in my “love handle” area. I also rated my sex life for them, because they asked. I told them I wouldn’t be interested in products that increase stamina and desire, and that I’m not concerned that dieting will reduce my breast size…

The next page I let them know my eating habits…

The next page was interesting as well. They asked me the following questions:

  • Do you have dry or flaky skin?
  • Do your fingernails peel or break easily?
  • Do you experience fatigue after exercising mildly?
  • Do you suffer from acne?
  • Do you usually fall asleep rapidly?
  • Do you usually sleep deeply?
  • Do you wake up frequently at night, feeling nervous or restless?
  • Do you sometimes feel depressed?
  • When you remove your socks, do you notice that they have left imprints on your skin?

The next page went on about working out…

And the final page asked for my mailing address, which I gave them.

I chose to take a look at the Mild Weight-Loss Program, Week 1. You can see what type of menu my answers drummed up for me. It looks pretty comprehensive!

LeptoprinSupport.com screenshot The LeptoprinSupport.com website is broken down into several sections:

  • Your Menu Plans
  • Fitness
  • well-Being
  • Community
  • Article Archives
  • Supplements (this is a single link that sends you to Leptoprin.com) and
  • Site Support

Overall, I’ve got to say that the information on their site is great. It has a large section about working out, relieving stress, body calculators, etc. Their article archive is huge! I did a search for ‘exercise’ and got results from December 4, 2001 clear up to January 5, 2008. It looks like they average about one new article per month, maybe slightly less than that. It’s a good sign that it’s up to date. It shows that the site owners still care about the site.

LeptoprinSupport.com’s Message Boards

They’re all moderated by someone named Tiffany. It looks people stopped posting to it back in 2005, which I would say is a shame, if they were providing good information on there, but it looks like it’s mainly a mechanism to push their product. One guest user named Gina asked about a product called Leptopril (I reviewed Leptopril here).

Leptoprin vs. Leptopril. Is this the same product. I received my bottle of Leptoprin-SD three days ago and I see the product Leptopril at Rite Aid for four times less than what I paid. Anybody have any comments?

Tiffany the moderator had the following comment:

Like any blockbuster type drug or supplement, you are going to get knockoffs, (the Leptopril), if I were you, I would be buying the “real deal.”

A few things I found funny. She subtly claimed that Leptoprin is a blockbuster drug/supplement. Oh really? Says who? Please. And the fact that the same company that makes Leptoprin also makes Leptopril…it’s just a way for them to get more market. Since both products probably cost a few dollars to make, selling it under a “generic” name is also extremely profitable.

I spent a good amount of time reading through the forums and have a pretty good idea that they’re all pretty well…eh…moderated. (Splendid job Tiffany! Keep it up!)

I was having nice things to say about the amount of helpful articles they were providing, but they lost some major points with their censured “discussion” boards.

Leptoprin Overall Conclusion

Given the fact that they used a paid author to write the comprehensive analysis supporting their claims, that they got into trouble with the FTC because the author was putting himself out there as a medical doctor when he is, at best, an expert in herbal remedies, the fact that their markup on Leptoprin is north of 2000% (this is a guess, but I’ll be I’m not far off), given the fact that their support site is nothing more than a way to be shoveled completely biased information…

Pass on Leptoprin. And its generic sidekick, Leptopril.

  1. http://search.ftc.gov/cs.html?url=http%3A//www.ftc.gov/os/adjpro/d9318/040727certainrespmointerlocappeal.pdf [↩]

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