Is this website legitimate www.drnatura.com, and are the ingredients safe to ues?

sappy2002...

The website checks out as about as legitimate as you can get.

Looking the domain name up in the allwhois database, one is
referred to the domain provider's whois lookup on GoDaddy.com.
GoDaddy is a well-known provider of domains. The data for the
drnatura domain is given as follows:

Registrant:
DrNatura.com Inc.

701 N. Green Valley Pkwy
Suite 200
Henderson, Nevada 89074
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: DRNATURA.COM
Created on: 13-Jan-01
Expires on: 14-Feb-07
Last Updated on: 24-Oct-04

Administrative Contact:
DrNatura.com, DrNatura.com lhardy@drnatura.com
DrNatura.com Inc.
6981 Curtiss Ave.
Unit 4
Sarasota, Florida 34231
United States
9419271667

Technical Contact:
DrNatura.com, DrNatura.com lhardy@drnatura.com
DrNatura.com Inc.
6981 Curtiss Ave.
Unit 4
Sarasota, Florida 34231
United States
9419271667
http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=drnatura.com&prog_id=godaddy

Notice that the domain was created on 13-Jan-01, renewed
on 24-Oct-04, and is not due to expire until 14-Feb-07.
This is the mark of a company that has been around for a
good while, and plans to be around for a long time. 


They have also provided accurate and verifiable information
in other areas. The phone number for the Administrative and
Technical contact, when checked in the white pages reverse
phone lookup, yields the address and company name given above:

Drnatura Com Incorporated
6981 Curtiss Ave
Sarasota, FL 34231-8100
(941) 927-1667
http://www.whitepages.com/10001/search/Reverse_Phone?phone=+941-927-1667


The email addresses for contact are from the drnatura domain,
and not from some disposable email site such as hotmail or
yahoo.


The address given for the registrant:

701 N. Green Valley Pkwy
Suite 200
Henderson, Nevada 89074

...is a very common address, as noted by this Google search:

"701 N. Green Valley" Pkwy "Suite 200"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22701+N.+Green+Valley%22+Pkwy+%22Suite+200%22

It has about 358 results. I called one of the companies
with this address, Analysts International from their
listing on this page:
http://www.analysts.com/pages/Locations.aspx

The secretary kindly informed me that there are a large
number of corporations with this address, including the
"Suite 200" part, and that the Management service for
these corporate suites was at the following number:
702-990-3000, and a reverse phone search for this number
gave this company:

Millenium Twins Incorporated
701 N Green Valley Pkwy
Henderson, NV 89074-6177
(702) 990-3000


A reverse addresss search for the address given on the
contact page of the website:

DrNatura.com Inc. S&R Dept.
250 Natural Bridges Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
http://www.drnatura.com/contact-us.php

...reveals the following information:

Global College Of Natural Medicine Inc
250 Natural Bridges Dr
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 457-2615

and

Global Institute For Alternative Medicine
250 Natural Bridges Dr
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 458-3248

So, they may have some relationship with this organization,
though this cannot be ascertained entirely by the address.
The DrNatura product line is featured on the  bottom left
of the organization's home page:
http://www.gifam.org/

This organization is listed by the QuackWatch.org site under
a very long list of "Schools Not Accredited by Recognized 
Accrediting Agency":
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nonrecorg.html

on the other hand, the credentials of the staff, at least
among alternative health circles, is quite impressive.
See the faculty credentials page:
http://www.gifam.org/school-faculty.htm

The GIFAM.org website is also registered through GoDaddy,
and has a similar record of longevity and thorough records.
http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=gifam.org&prog_id=godaddy

Note that in their records on the page above, they give
their current address as:

501 Mission St. Suite 7
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

...so it's possible that GIFAM moved, and the DrNatura
company took over their former address, and the White
Pages have not been updated since that occurred.


Reverse phone lookup for the 1-800 numbers on the contact
page of the website returned no results.

Reverse phone lookup for the International contact numbers
given on the contact page of the website reveal that they
are Sarasota, FL phone numbers, consistent with the phone
number and address of the Administrative and Technical 
contact given on the GoDaddy Whois page.



As for the ingredients in the products:

Colonix Intestinal Cleanser

PROPRIETARY BLEND
Psyllium Husks
Flax Seed
Fennel Seed
Licorice Root
Aloe Vera
Grapefruit Pectin
Papaya Fruit 
Slippery Elm Bark
Marshmallow Root
Rhubarb Root 
Alfalfa
Guar Gum
Peppermint Leaf 
Uva Ursi Leaf

and

Paranil

PROPRIETARY BLEND
Black Walnut Hulls
Wormwood Powder
Pau D?Arco Powder
Pumpkin Seed
Clove Bud Powder
Male Fern Root Powder
Grapefruit Seed Extract
False Unicorn Root
Myrrh Gum
Garlic Bulb Powder
Hyssop Leaf
Turmeric Root
Gentian Root
Peppermint Leaf Powder
Fenugreek Seed Powder
Elecampane Plant
Prickley Ash Bark Powder
Yellow Dock Powder
http://www.drnatura.com/#Colonix_Pack_Ingredients

...these are all well-known plant and herbal dietary
supplements which can do no harm unless you have an
allergy to one of the specific ingredients. 

Please keep in mind the GA disclaimer at the bottom
of this page:

"Answers and comments provided on Google Answers are
 general information, and are not intended to substitute
 for informed professional medical, psychiatric,
 psychological, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or
 other professional advice. Google does not endorse,
 and expressly disclaims liability for any product,
 manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider
 mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments."

Nonetheless, I have had a passing interest in herbal
remedies for 25+ years, and the names of these ingredients
are all familiar to me, particularly in connection with
purification and cleansing of the system.


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 

sublime1-ga


Additional information may be found from an exploration of
the links resulting from the Google searches outlined below.

Searches done, via Google:

"701 N. Green Valley" Pkwy "Suite 200"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22701+N.+Green+Valley%22+Pkwy+%22Suite+200%22

"Global Institute For Alternative Medicine"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22Global+Institute+For+Alternative+Medicine%22

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sappy2002-ga on 14 Jan 2006 21:45 PST

Thanks for the detailed answer, one of my concearns was that if any of
the testimonials were doctored.  It seems that if it is a legitimate
company the testimonials may be true.  Am  correct to assume that?

---

Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 14 Jan 2006 22:56 PST

sappy2002...

Naturally it's simply not possible to verify testimonials that
are posted unless they have chosen to include a phone number
along with the testimonial, which realistically, very few
people are inclined to do, myself included, no matter how
excellent the product.

However, I would be personally inclined to believe that the
testimonials are factual, both due to the seeming validity
of the site itself, and the cleansing nature of the ingredients
that are listed for the products. So, yes, I would say that
your assumption is based in reason, and is likely correct.

sublime1-ga

Good detailed answer.

The fact that the company has a physical address and has paid for a
web domain for the next few years is not what the question referred
to.  What this questioner is interested in when he/she asks if this
site is legitimate refers to the claims made for the products.  The
claims made are as misleading.  This product is nothing more than a
laxative.  Save yourself some money, eat a healthy diet including lots
of fiber. If you still feel that you need a laxative, your local
grocery store has plenty of choices all at a fraction of the price,
none implying that they cure anything but constipation.
I can't believe that answer was from one of Google's "carefully
screened expert researchers".  If you had to pay for that answer, you
got ripped off.

Completely agree with you ccmd...

"Is this website legitimate www.drnatura.com"

The answer was very thorough, for the question as put, and the
clarification was also answered in the only manner it could have been.

"are the ingredients safe to use?"

This portion of the answer was also as accurate and fair as anyone
could have expected, contrary to 'Doctor' ccmd's comment reducing the
product's performance to match his opinion, without providing any
research or information to back it up.