Our Philosophy
Whilst there is a large and growing body of international research suggesting that consumption of the antioxidant lycopene may be associated with a variety of health benefits, at this stage insufficient extensive human trials have been conducted to prove this association beyond doubt.
Hulme & Health believes that it is the professional duty of all parties involved in this area of scientific research to act responsibly and refrain from making exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims regarding the efficacy of lycopene based products.
That said, all scientists have to deal with uncertainty – if we only ever concerned ourselves with that which is certain, we would never make any progress in our understanding of the way the world works.
Professional scientists act like this:
- We conduct controlled experiments and observe the results. We then propose a theory to explain the results that we have seen;
- Next, we conceive new experiments to test our theory. If the results of these experiments are supportive, we write up our findings and publish them in a scientific journal;
- Other scientists around the world are able to read about our research. Some will try to recreate our results, others will design new experiments to test the theory further (a process known as “peer review”);
- Finally, if the theory stands up to this intense scrutiny, it is adopted as part of accepted scientific knowledge;
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? However, in practice it is extremely difficult to design controlled experiments where observed results can be attributed to one specific factor, particularly in the field of human health where there are so many variables. Consequently, it takes a long time and many related trials to reach unambiguous conclusions.
The Individual’s Dilemma
In the meantime, every individual has a decision to make:
“Do I wait until the evidence is unequivocal?”
“Or do I, as many others do, trust the results of the trials that have been conducted to date and take extra lycopene in the hope that, on the balance of probabilities, it will do me some good?”
Certainly, taking lycopene will do you no harm but there is a risk (we believe this is very small) you may end up spending money needlessly.
Our Philosophy
The three professors behind Hulme & Health have each been researching lycopene and its effect on human health for more than 30 years. Collectively, we believe that lycopene consumption is likely to yield multiple human health benefits but we also accept that more research is required.
On a practical level within Hulme & Health, we have adopted a two-part company philosophy. Firstly, we monitor intensely the relevant research conducted around the globe, combine it with our own experiences and create lycopene-based products that accurately reflect the latest thinking within the research community – that’s why we were the first company in the world to add vitamin C to a lycopene supplement.
Secondly, we are committed to operate in a completely transparent manner, providing our customers with as much detail as possible about the current state of the science (please register to receive our newsletters to stay up to date with the latest information).
We believe that this dual approach offers us the best possible opportunity to achieve our goal, that is to harness the powerful antioxidant properties of lycopene to help protect the human body against serious diseases… but please remember, there are no absolute guarantees.