Phyto-V is not a prebiotic/probiotic but a “Concentrated Phytochemical-Rich Nutritional Capsule”. It contains nutritional plant compounds that the designer(s) believes are beneficial. Like HBOT, there is a randomized controlled trial which shows a statistically significant benefit to taking this capsule. But unfortunately, I don’t know if this science is reliable.
Undisclosed conflict of interest
There are 2 different papers from Robert Thomas.
- YourGutPlus+, a prebiotic/probiotic capsule. This was not a RCT (randomized controlled trial). https://www.doi.org/10.29011/2577-1515.100182
- A RCT comparing only YourGutPlus+ to YourGutPlus and Phyto-V. This was a RCT.
https://doi.org/10.3390/covid2040031
The second paper states that “The authors declare no conflict of interest”. Nonetheless, the paper thanks Keep-Healthy.com for the donated probiotics. So here’s the issue:
- The Keep-Healthy.com website lists Robert Thomas as a “medical advisor” (archive.is).
- The same website has also advertised consultation services offered by Thomas (archive.org).
- Health Education Publications is listed as the owner of Keep-Healthy.com and is also the publisher of a 2010 book by Robert Thomas (amazon.com, archive.ph).
It seems that a commercial relationship exists between Robert Thomas and Keep-Healthy.com, contrary to what the published paper says. A similar issue exists in the first paper, which states: “The research team involved in the study […] have no connection with the manufactures”.
The Phyto-V website heavily promotes the study
July 9 screenshot of http://phyto-v.com/
Am I being unfair?
Maybe.
What do you think? Is it possible that their research is reliable and that there might be something to a phytochemical capsule? Feel free to leave a comment below.