A review of Certiphene is pretty much going to be my like my review of Thermocerin and my review of Lipocerin.
The company behind these products (and its obviously all the same company) has found a formula that certainly works.
First, well talk about the company, then well talk about their marketing, and finally well dig specifically into their ingredients and clinical proof.
The Company Behind Certiphene
The company behind Lipocerin is Nutritional Science Laboratories while the company behind Certiphene is the Health Center for Better Living. According to Certiphenes About Us page:
Health Center For Better Living is a family owned business that was founded in 1990. Located in Naples, FL, HCBL is one of the top retailers in the herbal supplement, vitamin, and natural health products market.
When I looked up Lipocerins company it had been inactive for years. I half expected to see Health Center for Better Living in the same state, but saw that it was active.
At least theyre operating this product under an active corporation. (See Certiphenes annual report for 2007 if youd like).
I dont know what it says about a company that will market the same product under different companies, names, and virtually identical websites, but at least we know theyre in good standing with the state (for whatever thats worth).
Certiphenes Marketing Tactics
I mentioned the identical websites and took the necessary pains to make the comparison between the three websites easier for DPR readers.
Click on the thumbnail to the left and see each sites header. Notice that the navigational text is all the exact same (just different fonts), the bottle and box are identical, the overall design of the header is the same, the texts overall message is the same Jen Lost 32 lbs. in 3 months! vs. Kathleen Lost 25 lbs in 9 Weeks! and they use the same polaroid look for their subjects testimonials.
The headers bad, but the sidebar gets so much worse. Their sidebars are virtually identical. They start with how you can be paid $XXX for trying their product (are they ever going to actually pay out the prize? Its anyones guess.
My guess is that Certiphenes using a simple marketing gimmick convincing people its worth the $50/bottle for the chance to win five or even twenty times that amount).
They say theyre VeriSign Secure and also show the Entrust image. These images are there to instill confidence in shoppers that their credit card information is protected from any type of security breach.
Well, the VeriSign image normally is clickable, and you can get verification. On each of these sites, Certiphene included, the image is just stuck there. Theres no link. No verifiable way of checking the legitimacy of these sites in regards to the VeriSign image. Theyre lying through their binary teeth here.
The Entrust link does actually work. Notice how Certiphen includes the Entrust link first because thats the likely one that would be checked the first one.
I found out through the Entrust certification that the domain is owned by a company named Reelpoint operating out of Wakefield Maine.
Now who the heck is that? I thought we were working with Health Center for Better Living based out of Naples, Florida?
I can't furrow my brow any more. It's furrowed to the max. I'm confused here.
I entrusted the Thermocerin site as well and found that domain is also owned by Reelpoint. Reelpoint is a search engine marketing/affiliate company it has absolutely nothing to do with health supplements, or better living healthy living..whatever.
A list of Reelpoints clients starts to make everything come together a bit:
- Health Center for Better Living (Certiphene)
- Nutritional Science Labs (Lipocerin)
- Princeton Labs
- Thermocerin Industries (Thermocerin)
- Phenocerin
- Zovatol
- Captiva Skincare
Ill have to look into Phenocerin and Zovatol now that Ive found theyre connected, but weve got to stay focused on Certiphene, since thats the point of this expos err, review.
Maybe Reelpoint just cuts corners and made the same site for all of these different productsthats probably it.
But honestly, with this whole sidebar thing, were just getting started. Weve established that their get paid banners and security badges are scams.
What about that As Seen On box on the right? Its supposed to make you think that Certiphene was actually mentioned in mainstream media. It hasnt been.
A quick Google search lets you establish that very quickly (there was one hit, for a scam diet pill site).
Finally, notice how they use a stock photo doctor to imply that a doctor recommends Certiphene.
The wording underneath is exactly the same message, with just a change of specific text.
You start to feel kind of scammed when you see things laid out like this.
Certiphenes Ingredients
Certiphenes ingredients are the same as Thermocerin and Lipocerin from what I can tell:
- Hoodia Gordonii is a sham ingredient marketed to be from the deep recesses of Africa.
There are two problems with it: 1) you cant even be sure youre getting quality Hoodia P57 (which is the active ingredient thats touted) and 2) P57 lacks any substantiated clinical research to support the claim that it suppresses your appetite. Hoodia Gordonii is a fad.
Let me reiterate: it is a fad. You can read my in-depth review of Hoodia if youd like more information.
- Chromium Picolinate is up in the air for me (read my full review of Chromium Picolinate if youre interested).
Some studies show it to be effective with weight loss (controlling insulin levels) while others say it has no effect unless youre very deficient in Chromium (and unless you live in a third-world country, the odds are that you are not deficient).
What I dont like about Certiphenes use of Chromium is that they blatantly mislead their potential customers. How? Read on.
Ill take the liberty of quoting myself when I noticed this same dishonesty in Lipocerins ad as part of my review there:
Their clinical proof for Lipocerin cites a study involving patients at high risk for Type 2 diabetes.
If you take the time to just read the abstract of this study you can plainly read that while there was an increase in insulin sensitivity, there was no effect of [Chromium Picolinate] on body weight, abdominal fat distribution, or body mass index.
Gosh, I know scientists like to bury knowledge in lots of fancy words, but that seemed pretty clear to me.
But what does Certiphene cite? They cite a quote, throw in a so they dont have to say the part I put in bold above.
The part that says that what theyre saying Certiphene will do is not really what Certiphene will do. Disingenuous to put it extremely mildly.
Certiphene Review Conclusion
I could go on, but Im getting tired and depressed from all of this. Certiphene is a sham product from a sham company.
If you buy Certiphene, the only thing youll lose is your hard-earned money.
I didnt even go into their rip-off autoship trap they lead you into. Its a consumers worst nightmare.
Stay far away from Certiphene and any other product marketed by these con artists.
