That's how you sell nutricueticals, you fund a small, meaningless study, then only quote the numbers on the 1-2 guys you maybe saw an 'increase'. Also, two of those journals are not peer-reviewed and have ISI impacts of 1.0 or lower.

This extends out to some drugs. In 2000, the German government funded a large , 9,000 person double-blind controlled trial of placebos vs. St. John's Wort (herb) vs. Paxil (FDA approved drug) for depression. Conclusions: neither SJW or Paxil worked, the best results were from the placebos.
Anti-depressants are a $13B business.

There is little interest in regulating all this. The FDA will only get involved if people start dying (Fen-Fen), but for stuff they know does nothing, they just ignore it. One exception is Valerian root, anyone can buy this at a health food store, and it is identical in content to valium, and it is being abused.

How to make money:

Get a herbal mix from a company, re-badge it as a sports supplement, add things like vitamins, glutamine and anything that vaguely has ever been implicated as healthy. Package it uniquely, so it doesn't look like anything else.
Give it away at races, 1/3 will swear this is the best stuff they ever tried, regardless of what it is (careful, up to 1/3 will say it made them sick). Then get a bunch of guys to post on forums, setup a website, sponsor a team, Bob's yer uncle. This has been going on for 30 years.

You want effective? Red Bull. But, there are many ingredients in Red Bull that are known not to be safe if taken for months on end (see medical column in this month's ROAD).

Ethics aside, this isn't much different from other things typically sold to cyclists. It won't harm you, unlike Red bull.