Pills target video game enthusiasts
By Heather Newman
Knight Ridder News Service
DETROIT — Dave Klawitter has heard about the pills from California that some video gamers swear help lift their scores. And the 22-year-old gamer from Grosse Pointe, Mich., was curious enough to visit the manufacturer's Web site to check them out.
MindFX, a distributor of herbal products, based in La Quinta, Calif., is selling three supplements for gamers that promise energy and "brain support," and relaxation after the games are over.
Yet experts consulted say gamers probably don't get much out of the pills, and one group was concerned about the effects some of the ingredients could have on teenagers.
"I thought about trying them," Klawitter says. But he eventually decided against the pills because they are, after all, drugs. "You shouldn't need anything like this if you're getting enough sleep and eating stuff for energy."
News of the pills that call themselves "fuel for the mind" is traveling fast via Internet chat rooms, video game events and articles in magazines such as PC Gamer.
It's the first time a company has marketed nutritional supplements to people who play video games — a group that includes plenty of teens.
But according to independent laboratory experts, the formulas contain at least one ingredient — green orange extract — that has been linked to heightened blood pressure and heart palpitations.
Some of the supplements were sent to ConsumerLab.com in White Plains, N.Y., a reputable tester of supplements. Tod Cooperman and William Obermeyer, ConsumerLab.com's president and vice
president of research, expressed concern about some of the ingredients in the pills — especially those in Maxx Impulse, the energy formula.
One of the five primary ingredients in Maxx Impulse is green orange extract, which Cooperman and Obermeyer say has many of the same effects as ephedra, a drug that has been criticized for causing heart problems in apparently healthy people.
"It carries a lot of the same risks as ephedra," Cooperman says. "It is also known to be potentially dangerous. I couldn't recommend this for use by a child. Even for adults, there's a potential danger. I wouldn't recommend it at all."
At a recent gaming event, several players said they were aware of the supplements, even though there has been almost no advertising beyond the company's Web site, www.mind-fx.com. MindFX says it's working on ads for campus newspapers and sponsorship of video game events.
The three formulas — called Maxx Impulse, Neurocharge and Aftermath — are considered to be dietary supplements, so they don't have to be tested by any governmental agency.
MindFX says the company that manufactures the pills has done its own research into the ingredients. It isn't marketing the pills specifically to teens, but to gamers in general, it says.
Robert Krakoff, president of MindFX, said, "We wanted the company we went with to be ultra-conservative. When you're targeting gamers, you're talking about kids as young as 14-15, though our core audience is 18-24," he says.
"We wanted to market this as an intelligent alternative to heavy use of caffeine. Some of these products have been around for 35 to 40 years."
