I just discovered your site because I am frantically trying to determine for the sake of my husband whether we should pursue/continue with a course of supplements that have been recommended for him.

In early March, Rob had a prostatectomy and it was determined that his Gleason score is 9 and that the cancer had spread outside the prostate and into the seminal vesical and 1 of 4 tested lymph nodes.

We came into contact with another prostate cancer patient and following his advice and that of a local nutritionist (both of which are connected with a company called Ariix . Rob ordered and has just begun taking almost $500 dollars worth of their supplements and there are others to come from another source (I do not yet know the cost.)

He is also starting today an intensive 21-day detox program using their product Restoriix. While the money is a significant concern–how long can we afford to keep all of this up–in addition to the expense of an ALL-organic diet regimen–and all the restrictions associated — my/our biggest concern is are we being duped–worse yet, are we doing something that might be counter to Rob’s recovery/health?

I have been trying to research the Ariix products — but have found little to help. I DO SO Hope that you might be able to shed some light — though, I have to be honest and say–that again, I am wondering how objective you/your sight is–are you not selling/representing a particular supplement?

This is NOT to criticize you — after asking for your help — this is just to say, this is the quandary I keep finding myself in every time I try to get some honest input!

My basic question is what, if anything do you know of Ariix products? I apologize for the length of this communication and I thank you if you have actually read the entire note and even more, if you can/will reply to me with the honest truth from the best of your knowledge.

My husband’s life (physically) and the quality of what is left of our lives, is resting on our coming to the truth in all of this.

Thanks and Blessings

Hello Barbara,

Thank you for contacting me. I do apologize for taking so long to reply but due to the nature of your husband’s case I wanted to consult with a medical nutritionist friend of mine and some other friends working in the supplement industry first.

This was necessary as I am not qualified to be responding to people in cases like this which concern serious illnesses and possibly heavy duty pharmaceutical grade drugs that could have potentially serious side effects with certain supplement ingredients at the molecular level in the body. In cases like this, the chief surgeon and/or doctor needs to be consulted about any intended supplement use and approval given.

Since you have not mentioned any drugs I’m assuming that there are none involved for your husband at this time and that the main course of treatment, from your husband’s surgeon’s/doctors/health practitioners, is to strictly follow the organic food diet and associated dietary restrictions given to you, along with some moderate exercise on a regular basis.

So, please accept my apologies for the time that has passed since you first sent your email but unfortunately it takes a while to get in contact with and a response from the people I was after.

Up front I would like to assure you that the supplement comparisons on my site are factual and the information is transparent and true to the very best of my working knowledge, despite the fact that I do receive a commission from the Xtend-Life company for any sales that are generated by people who click through to their website, from links in my website, and go on to make purchases.

I also would like to say that this is the only company whose products I endorse and receive a commission for, simply because no other product out there is worth promoting, in my opinion, and I would have to lie on my site to be able to promote any other nutritional supplements as the best when compared to Total Balance and the various other specialty supplement formulas manufactured by the Xtend-Life Company in New Zealand.

So, Barbara, you have asked that I be completely honest with you and I will do so. Therefore I must tell you that it is very hard to help you with your query specifically, as without having Ariix’s full processing information, and results stats, my colleagues and I have no idea of knowing the success of their products in this specific area.

So we can’t really comment on them specifically. Looking at their site, however, they are first and foremost a business opportunity (MLM structure for their members), and this always raises alarm bells with me.

Any company that promotes itself first as a business, and second with regards to health, rarely has a person’s individual health at the heart of their concern, over their profit.

Business orientated products tend to be very highly overpriced also due to the nature of them wanting to concentrate on making money from the business side of things too. So, I generally advise people to always be very wary of companies that promote their MLM style business opportunity over and above their health results or products. This would always put me off buying from such a company.

I have just visited the Ariix site and had a brief look through it and, yes, their prices are extremely high, for what they are offering in their various formulas, in comparison to other market leading multi ingredient health supplements.

Furthermore, they do not have one comprehensive ‘general health’ formula that targets all areas of a person’s health and even if you were to buy 3 or 4 of the products you would still be missing many important ingredients. This would also result in a handful of overlap ingredients (like Vitamin C and Calcium- two of the cheapest ingredients in supplements, citrus bioflavonoids, grape seed) and this would make your total cost very very high (in comparison to other elite ‘all-in-one formulas’).

With respect to  overlap ingredients it means Rob would be taking in too much of certain ingredients – like vitamin C. The balance of ingredients and cofactors in supplements is an important issue both from ‘efficacy’ and  ‘value for money’ perspectives.

In the case of water soluble vitamins (etc vitamin C and calcium ) any excess which the body cannot use  simply ends up being excreted down the toilet (a total waste of money).  In the  fat soluble ingredients (just to let you know) they are stored in the body and accumulate over time which can lead to potential nasty problems down the road. This is something to be avoided – toxic buildup in the body. I’m sure  Rob’s  doctors or nutritionists would have have talked to you about deceasing his toxic load  (E.G. following an organic and primarily raw food diet) and staying away from toxic products that are commonly used in the home. I cannot however see any overlap of fat soluble ingredients .

Now, looking at the Ariix products, very briefly, I can tell you they seem very general in nature. Genuinely not comparable to the level of potential benefit from, say, Total Balance  (Men’s ‘Premium’ formula has 99 ingredients) which I use and the other very advanced formulas within the ‘Xtend-Life’ range of supplements. There are many advanced specialty ingredients not included – and this is always because companies which use a multi level marketing (MLM) system, which is an expense heavy system, simply cannot afford to include many of the advanced and expensive ingredients in their formulas.

Barbara, this isn’t to say that Ariix’s products are bad, or have no use. I can’t claim that. I don’t know enough about them nor about what they are claiming they can help with. I would need to do a lot more in-depth research with them.

However, just going by the ingredients breakdown for the products (their ‘Vitamins’ and their ‘Minerals’ formulas for example), these are very basic vitamin and mineral products only (putting both together gives a total of 45 ingredients). Roughly equivalent to, say, the  ‘Multi Xtra’ supplement from Xtend-Life (42 ingredients)  which was manufactured as a basic multi vitamin/mineral formulation for people interested in an inexpensive, basic entry level supplement. Of no more specific cancer benefit, for example, than that. I don’t know what has been said about what the Ariix products may achieve, but hopefully this may put it into perspective.

The Ariix products working together may provide some benefit. In my personal opinion however I’d like to stress again that they are very overpriced for what they are, and this is more for the business opportunity than wanting to help people with their health. But I must stress that this is my personal opinion only (based on my experience).

If you have not already read my ‘Total Balance’ review on my website, I highly recommend you read through it and this will help to highlight a number of areas (and ingredients) in which the Ariix products are deficient. This link will take you to my Total Balance review:

Total Balance Review

Naturally Barbara, your main concern upon reading this is whether I am simply pushing the ‘Total Balance’ supplement in my response because of financial concerns and bias.

This is, of course, what regularly happens on the internet as most website owners are primarily concerned with their financial interests as their number 1 priority. The only thing I can say to this, is that all the information, to support my opinion of Total Balance as the most advanced Nutritional Health  Supplement available, is on my website. Nothing can be refuted and never has been, as it is all factual and transparent. The supplement comparisons I have done will help you to narrow in and see what areas you should be looking at when comparing these kinds of supplements.

So, in summing up Barbara, I must stress that these are initial opinions only, and not based on research. I certainly do not want to dishearten you with regard to the money you have already spent on Ariix supplements and I certainly don’t think it is worth throwing them away and starting again.

I recommend you continue trying them and when they are nearing completion, look more closely again prior to reordering. Perhaps asking the Ariix company for more proof of their ability to help your husband, If this is what they are claiming. I truly believe that Xtend-Life supplements could do better for your husband. But short of  doing  full in-depth research into the Ariix company, and their processes, ingredients sources, and formulations, I can’t say what they are claiming.

One thing I did notice is that nowhere on the Ariix website do they mention who their scientists and product formulators are (along with qualifications, experience and achievements) – this is very strange for a company promoting itself as the “Gold Standard”. Makes me wonder whether their products are simply being put together by third party contract manufacturers. I appreciate that they are a new company which was founded in July last year (2011) but this raises another red flag for me.

In fact there is a lot of ingredient information not presented. I hate ‘Proprietary Blends’ – such as in their ‘Minerals’ formula as you can’t see how much of certain key ingredients is being used. I really can’t see what is proprietary about the ingredients in that blend!!! They do not list the ‘elemental’ amounts for minerals and very little to no info about the herbal extracts they include so we can’t see whether they are standardized nor how much of the active ingredient is there. These are measures that really help to show just how good or average a supplement is and how much value for money it offers. (Plus it makes comparing supplements much easier and fairer)

Another point I’d like to mention regards the ingredient ‘Zeolite’ in the ‘Restoriix” supplement which Rob  is currently using. I am a strong believer in the abilities of  (liquid) Zeolite as a potent detoxing ingredient. In fact, I regularly use it as part of my own ongoing detoxification program to lower/remove toxins from my body. I have actually just started a new round with Zeolite which I will use for the next 12 weeks.

My point then Barbara, is that  I’m wary about spending the kind of money that Restoriix costs for detox purposes. The other ingredients in the Restoriix formula are well known for their detox abilities (particularly Chia seeds) but my personal opinion is that Zeolite by itself is enough.

That is, providing that it is the activated liquid Zeolite from the Waiora company in America because they are the only ones with an activated, liquid zeolite product and this is the only form on which clinical studied have been performed (13 studies to date) and it is from these studies that the fantastic health benefits of Zeolite were shown – the same benefits that numerous other companies proclaim despite using Zeolite in a solid form. (Note:  Zeolites in their raw form are certainly equal but in the finalized product they are not.)

I get my liquid Zeolite supplement from an Australian company, who bring it into Australia from the Waiora Company in the USA. (I have no financial interest with these companies Barbara).

One last point which I’d like to make mention of is that the number of ‘excipients’ used in some of the Ariix supplements is high (once again in my personal opinion).

Excipients are non-active ingredients which are used to assist in manufacturing the supplement tablets and are referred to as ‘Other Ingredients’ on the supplement bottle label.

For example, in the Ariix ‘Vitamins’ and ‘Minerals’ products there are -  15 and 17 excipients respectively.

The bottom line with excipients is the smaller the number the better. Cheaper supplements have many excipients, sometimes up to 50% of the weight of a tablet. From my experience I know that the best multi ingredient health supplements, as mentioned on my site, have around  5 or 6 excipients (and it’s crucial that all excipients are all-natural).

So, 17 is high. What you want is more active ingredients in the tablet and less excipients! On the Ariix ‘Vitamins’ and ‘Minerals’ product labels they  list ‘color’ under ‘Other Ingredients’ with no further details – this could be a worry in my opinion as certain colors have been shown to be dangerous to our health and some possibly carcinogenic. So, more details are needed on this.

As a point of reference there is a very well known multi vitamin/mineral supplement in the USA and Australia/Asia called (name withheld )  (perhaps you have heard of it). At last count this supplement has a whopping 62 excipients! yet it has manged to promote itself as a ‘quality’ supplement and has huge sales I believe – a good example of how supplement consumers don’t have adequate product knowledge!

Total Balance has 5 excipients (all natural) plus the ‘enteric coating’ on the tablets which is all natural and protects many of the highly expensive and specialized ingredients from exposure to stomach acid as the tablet moves through the stomach and into the upper intestine  – where it harmlessly dissolves and releases the ingredients.

This type of delivery system allows for much higher bioavailability (absorption) and critical ingredients, which are susceptible to destruction from contact with stomach acid, are protected on their journey and hence make it into the bloodstream. This is a pharmaceutical grade delivery system and Total Balance is one of only a handful of health supplements in the world which employs enteric coating.

The other supplement companies, especially the huge multinationals and those using a MLM sales and marketing structure, simply can’t afford to use it (nor do they need it as they pretty much don’t include the expensive, specialized ingredients which need protection from stomach acid).

So Barbara, I hope my explanations here are of help to Rob and have given you some more knowledge to help you make informed decisions as you move forward.

All the very best to you Barbara and to Rob with this health challenge you are facing.

Hi Brett,

I have recently started researching nutritional supplements.  I never realized that many vitamins aren’t effective at all.  I found your reviews very informative.  I’m also finding it difficult to compare products because of the methods used in the reviewers reviews.

The Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements by Lyle MacWilliam’s rates Xtend-life’s  Women’s formula a 3 on a scale of 5.  I also discovered that Lyle uses USANA which could be a bias?   The copyright is 2007 (which is a little old). Other top products are by Creating Wellness, Douglas Labs, and TrueStar Health.  Any opinions or reviews on them?

Thanks for your time and help.

Thanks for contacting me with your question.

I’m very well aware of ‘The Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements’ and I believe you are correct in your suspected assumption that Lyle MacWilliam’s is biased towards Usana. It is a totally  misleading publication put together via vested interests which does a large disservice to supplement consumers who are researching/looking for the very best products for their health.

I happen to know that the Xtend-Life Company (the manufacturers of the Total Balance supplements which you referred to) receives emails about this publication every now and again from prospective customers and interested health conscious people and so they have answered them in their newsletters and blogs.

I just did a search on the Xtend-Life blog and found their most recent entry regarding this topic – from March 2011. So, I recommend that you read through that as the Xtend-Life staff respond to the claims in The Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements’ more specifically than I can  (although they have been very subtle with their words and certainly could have exposed a lot more home truths about The Guide.

Here’s the link:

Xtend-Life Blog Archives

I am aware of ‘Creating Wellness’ supplements (their ‘Vitalize’ multi formulas for men, women and unisex) and I’m sorry but I can’t agree that they are a “top product”. They fall way short in terms of  formula and value for money perspectives, so much so that I have not included them in my site.

The issue with Douglas Laboratories is that they have so many products and so they don’t have one comparable product within the  ‘General Health’ category  which covers all the bases, or attempts to, like the other supplements in my supplement comparisons. I know their product ‘Ultra Preventative IX” is shown in The Comparative Guide and has has a rating of 5 (according to the rating criteria used in that publication – which by the way rewards and rates based only on simple [inexpensive] ingredients) however  ‘Ultra Preventative IX’ is missing too many nutrient categories (amino acids, gender support nutrients, specialty anti aging ingredients etc) some of which are included in their other stand alone formulas.

By the time one was to buy all the necessary formulas from Douglas labs, to represent a formula equal to the type of comprehensive ‘General health’ formula I am reviewing against  EG Total Balance, Life Force, Essentials, LifePak and so on, (which I doubt is even possible as there would be too many overlapping ingredients), the cost would be completely prohibitive for any supplement consumer to absorb on any kind of an ongoing basis.

I’m sorry Angela, but ‘Truestar’ supplements are not on my radar and I have never reviewed them to date. I did however just take a look at their website for you and at their flagship women’s formula
( ‘TrueBASICS for Women’ - which is part of their “Truestar Professional Series” ) but even with just a cursory glance down the ingredient label I can tell you that this supplement would not make my supplement comparisons chart on my site. There are simply too many key ingredients missing.

If you were to place that formula next to, say,  the Standard version of the ‘Total Balance Women’s’ formula, which costs US $48- versus  US $79- for ‘TrueBASICS for Women’ (both for a one month’s supply) you could easily see the significant difference in favor of the Total Balance formula and that is before we even get into the science and importance of the ingredients that are and aren’t there.

Next to the Total Balance Women’s Premium formula (US $96 for a one month’s supply) the Truestar Women’s product is not even in the same class in my opinion.

I assume you have mentioned these three brands as “Top Products” because they are listed in The Comparative Guide and have a top ranking of 5. If you are able to see the deficiencies in the way the criteria is used to rank supplements in The Guide, you will be able to appreciate why I am telling you that these supplements are not top products. They are quite basic formulas and quite pricey – value for money is not one of their differentiation points- that’s for sure.

Please take note that within The Comparative Guide, they are in the category of “Standalone Products”  ie. only multi vitamin/mineral formulas whereas the supplement formulas I am reviewing and comparing on my site are more comprehensive than that with a more holistic aim towards general health and wellness. These type of supplements are referred to as “Combination Products” in The Comparative Guide.

I refer to them as multi nutrient formulas on my site and differentiate them from basic multi vitamin/mineral formulas.  So, if Angela, you are primarily weighing up  multi vitamin/mineral formulas, with perhaps some extra, dare I say (for some companies) ‘in-vogue’ ingredients thrown in for extra credibility such as phytonutrients  (well known carotenoids and/or flavanoids) or certain well known medicinal herbal extracts, then we are not comparing apples with apples when we talk about the Total Balance formula versus these brands you have asked about.

I do hope you will use the link above and read through the blog post on the Xtend-Life website (and the first reader’s comment underneath it) as this will help to give you a more balanced view of The Comparative Guide situation.

If you wish to continue your research and you haven’t already done so, I urge you to read through my review of the Total Balance ‘Premium’ formulas as it is a quite detailed review with lots of facts that need to be considered when comparing multi ingredient health supplements. Sure, I act as an affiliate for Xtend-Life products via my website but then again none of the content on my site can be reputed since it is all factual and I’m open and transparent in my content.

My family and I use Total Balance (12 years now) as the main-stay of our supplement regime and I can assure you that if I believed that there was a more sophisticated and efficacious health supplement out there (even irrespective of price) I would switch to it without hesitation as I value both my and my family’s health and longevity (without disease) as the highest priorities in my life.

This link will take you to my Total Balance review:

Total Balance Supplement Review

I hope this answer is of help to you.

Good Health To You Angela.

My last post  Nutritional Supplements – Going Going GONE  contained a article by Byron Richards which sums up perfectly the shocking plans of the FDA to destroy the supplement industry.

I hope all Americans who read it let their voices be heard by using the link at the end of that article to visit the ‘Take Action’ page on the wellness resources site and follow the instruction there.

It’s important to keep all American supplement consumers informed and up to date with this story and keep encouraging more and more people to contact both the FDA and their senators and voice their strong disapproval.

Today I’m reprinting an article from the Mercola.com website which discusses this story in further detail and also contains a link to another ‘Take Action’ site put up by the Alliance for Natural Health

FDA Set To Ban Your Supplements

Tuesday, September 13, 2011  -  Dr. Mercola

The FDA has issued a proposed mandate that represents the greatest threat to dietary supplements since 1994. Back in the early 1990s, consumers were so alarmed by FDA bullying that they staged a massive revolt. The result was that Congress passed a law prohibiting the FDA from banning popular nutrients (as the agency had threatened to do).

There was, however, a loophole in the 1994 law. The FDA was given authority to regulate ingredients introduced after October 15, 1994.

It has been 17 years, but the FDA just issued draconian proposals as to how it intends to regulate what it now calls “new dietary ingredients”. You can find the FDA Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients (NDI’s) here. If implemented, some of the most effective nutrients you are taking will be removed from the market. This includes many fish oil formulas and natural plant extracts. A detailed analysis of the FDA Draft Guidance is available here.

These oppressive rules are exactly what the 1994 law (DSHEA) sought to prevent. The FDA is using its authority in direct violation of Congressional intent.

In order for these ingredients you are using today to return to the market, the FDA will require manufacturers to conduct outrageously expensive studies using absurdly high doses, in some situations multiplied by a “safety factor” up to 2,000-times the recommended dosage on a per product basis.

The FDA defines dietary supplements as being “new” if they were introduced after October 15, 1994. That means that even certain nutrients that have been safely used over the course of three decades will be subject to the FDA’s oppressive policies that mandate costly animal testing.

The FDA Views Supplements in Same Light as Synthetic Food Preservatives

According to the new guidelines, the FDA believes that “new dietary supplements” must be regulated similarly to synthetic food preservatives. The FDA guidelines have modeled the outrageous safety thresholds after those in place for food additives. This appears to be in direct violation of DSHEA, the law enacted in 1994 to protect consumer access to dietary supplements, which classifies dietary supplements as foods, not food additives.

The FDA proposes that new dietary supplement ingredients should adhere to aggressive safety margins, which are typically reserved for chemical compounds known to be dangerous in all but the most miniscule concentrations.

Since food additives or preservatives such as aspartame, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrate are known to cause cancer or other severe health problems, the FDA has implemented safety guidelines which limit allowable concentrations of these food additives to levels that are supposed to be physiologically inert.

The fact that the FDA is trying to impose the same limits upon dietary supplements seems to be arbitrary and completely unfounded. In fact, when someone takes a dietary supplement, their intent is to positively affect the structure or function of their bodies in some way – limiting dosages of dietary supplements to physiologically inert levels defeats the entire purpose of supplementation with health-sustaining nutrients.

The FDA’s new guidelines are so flawed that even nutrients shown to be completely safe in hundreds of human clinical studies would fail to accommodate the unreasonable safety margins.

To give you an example, each manufacturer of certain fish oils would have to conduct a one year study where animals would have to consume the human equivalent of 240,000 milligrams each day of fish oil.

Another option under the FDA’s proposed mandates is to conduct a 90-day, 1,000 – fold safety margin study in which two species of animals, one being non-rodent – likely young beagle dogs, will theoretically consume the equivalent of 2.4 million milligrams of fish oil daily. We know of virtually no species can tolerate this high dose, so by default, FDA guidelines will make it impossible for certain omega-3 supplements to be sold. (Note typical dose of EPA/DHA people take each day is around 2,400 mg—100 times less than what the FDA proposes must be tested.)

Since these are not patented drugs, no supplement maker will be able to afford these “safety” studies, which means that many of the nutrients you now purchase at low prices will convert into high-priced drugs.

Pharmaceutical Industry Profit Threatened By Low Cost Supplements

It appears that the FDA is claiming that dietary supplements are unsafe, and in order to “protect consumers” the agency must place a stranglehold on the dietary supplement industry by requesting exorbitant safety testing. These ludicrous safety thresholds are in excess of those required by pharmaceutical drugs despite studies showing supplements are far safer than drugs.

According to the 2001 report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), of the substances implicated in fatal poisonings in 2001, 84.6 percent were pharmaceutical drugs, with analgesics being implicated as the primary cause of death in 32 percent of fatalities or 341 deaths. This compares with 0.8 percent for all dietary supplements combined, even including substances such as dinitrophenol, a dangerous (and illegal) substance banned in 1938, as well as the central nervous system stimulant Ma Huang (Ephedra). Interestingly, the anti-asthma drug theophylline alone was responsible for 15 deaths, 66 percent more than all the available dietary supplements combined.

There is, however, a massive economic benefit for the drug industry if the proposed guidelines are enforced by the FDA. Health conscious Americans who properly supplement slash their risk of degenerative disease. The FDA’s new rules, if enacted, will force the price of many supplements to surge upwards, while removing many effective ones altogether. That means that more aging people will have to rely on side effect laden prescription drugs to treat the degenerative diseases they will contract because they will be denied access to health-promoting nutrients.

What You Can Do to Stop this Impending Carnage!

No one can sit on the sidelines with an emergency of this magnitude about to befall everyone who depends on dietary supplements. As citizens, we have the constitutional right to petition the government to redress our grievances. In this case, the FDA proposals pose a direct threat to our health and longevity.

We therefore have to take extraordinary measures to defend our right to continue using supplements that our very lives depend on, and to gain access to new natural ingredients that demonstrate efficacy in scientific studies.

I ask each one of you contact your representatives by following this link:

Contact your local representative now!  (Please use this link)

Recall how Consumers revolted back in 1994 and the result was a glorious victory over FDA tyranny!

Let your voice be heard by exercising your right to petition the government against these serious violations of the law and scientific principle.   Please be sure to call, fax, or send a certified letter to your representative – emails can be easily dismissed.

Here is a set of talking points for your consideration:

• My name is [Name] and I am a constituent of [Congress Member’s name].

• I am very concerned about the new FDA draft guidance on dietary supplements and new dietary ingredients.

• I request that Congress hold hearings and take action to review the FDA’s draft guidance and stop their overreach of power.

• The FDA’s draft guidance flies in the face of the original congressional intent of the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act: The guidance turns what was meant to be a simple notification system for new dietary ingredients into a preapproval scheme that Congress did not intend to create.

• Congress recognized that dietary supplements are natural ingredients and therefore inherently safer than drugs and chemical food ingredients. It did not intend that the FDA would have the power to approve or reject dietary supplements.

• The FDA’s draft guidance creates unnecessary regulations that limit my access to dietary supplements I rely on. The expensive and burdensome process will force between 20,000 and 42,000 dietary supplements to be removed from the market and will increase the cost of those supplements that remain.

• The draft guidance hurts our economy. Expert analyses show that this guidance will cause a total economic loss of $21.2 billion to $39.8 billion annually.

• Thank you for your time.

Tips:

• Be courteous and respectful.

• Keep your comments brief and focused on the facts.

• Always thank the staff member for their time taking your call.

SAMPLE LETTER TO CONGRESS:

The Honorable _________________________  Washington, DC

In direct violation of the law, the FDA is threatening to ban my access to new dietary supplements.

The FDA defines dietary supplements as being “new” if they were introduced after October 15, 1994. That means that nutrients that I have been safely using over the course of three decades will be subject to FDA’s oppressive policies that mandate costly animal testing, which translates into forced withdrawal from the market, and higher prices for me if the supplement is ever allowed to be sold again.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 states that:

“The Federal Government should not take any actions to impose unreasonable regulatory barriers limiting or slowing the flow of safe products and accurate information to consumers.”

It says that Congress finds that:

“dietary supplements are safe within a broad range of intake, and safety problems with the supplements are relatively rare.”

And it says that:

“legislative action that protects the right of access of consumers to safe dietary supplements is necessary in order to promote wellness.”

 

This draft guidance does the exact opposite of what Congress intended. It imposes unreasonable barriers that limit and slow the flow of safe products and accurate information to consumers. I call upon Congress to:

1. Uphold the landmark legislation it passed seventeen years ago, and to direct the FDA to revise its New Dietary Ingredient draft guidelines to reflect DSHEA’s (and Congress’s) stated values and goals.

2. Vote against the newly introduced Dietary Supplement Labeling Act as this would give the FDA even greater arbitrary powers to remove safe dietary supplements from the market, and will profoundly impact this nation’s health in a negative way.

All of these proposals result in wasteful federal spending, while at the same time impose a massive new “regulatory tax” on consumers and the vitamin industry.

Kindly let me know what actions you are taking in response to the urgent issues raised in this letter.

Sincerely,
Name________________________________________
Address______________________________________
City______________________ST____ Zip___________

If you’re an avid consumer of nutritional supplements  then you’ve probably already heard at least something about the FDA’s  ongoing  quest to take over and essentially hand control of the entire nutritional supplements industry to the pharmaceutical companies.

In a nutshell the FDA is attempting to take away OUR RIGHT to choose and buy nutritional supplements and give complete control of the health of the population to Big Pharma.

Seven weeks ago the US  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a long awaited draft set of guidelines for  New Dietary Ingredient Notifications (NDI’s).  This 35 page document is called  “Draft Guidance for Industry: Dietary Supplements: New Dietary Ingredient Notifications and Related Issues.”

Although this has been expected for some time now, the industry is up in arms and literally shell shocked by the scope of these changes which are being called a complete ‘game changer’  due to the effects they will have on supplement ingredients, products and companies.

Many, many. if not a large majority, of supplement companies will be forced out of business, an obvious follow on effect which many are calling the next step of the FDA to destroy the nutritional supplement industry and allow Big Pharma to step in and take control of vitamins, minerals herbs and all other natural substances.

Experts are predicting that the pharmaceutical companies will design synthetic versions of natural ingredients which,  of course, just happen to be exempt from these new proposed NDI regulations.

When this happens the prices of supplements produced by the pharmaceutical companies will sky-rocket as you will see from the example in the article below.

There is also a move by pharmaceutical companies to take effective natural ingredients that have been proven in the dietary supplement industry and start developing drugs from them.  If they do this then the FDA can deny any NDI application for that ingredient from a dietary supplement manufacturer even if that ingredient has been used for decades.

The ONLY WAY to thwart the FDA’s plans and retain our health freedom is to complain to lawmakers. If you sit back and do nothing we will all be at the mercy of the evil pharmaceutical companies who place corporate greed and profit far above human rights and our health.

I have included below an article by Byron Richards which discusses this topic in depth. He has included a link at the end where you can access a site to take action against this invasion of our health freedom.

If you value your right to choose and access nutritional supplements please use the link and exercise your rights

The FDA’s Scheme to Reclassify Nutrients as Drugs

Tuesday, August 02, 2011  -  Byron Richards, CCN

The FDA and Senator Durbin’s latest attack against the dietary supplement industry should leave consumers for natural health options at affordable prices up in arms. This attack will target some of the most popular and effective dietary supplements, removing them from the free market and placing them under control of large pharmaceutical companies. This move will drastically drive up the price of dietary supplements while severely limiting access to extremely safe and effective nutrients. For example, the GlaxoSmithKline prescription drug version of DHA fish oil (at a therapeutic dose) sells for $189 a month, whereas the equivalent, therapeutic amount of molecularly-distilled DHA sells for $35 a month in the dietary supplement marketplace. Proven to lower triglyceride levels at therapeutic amounts, it is not surprising that DHA is one of the first nutrients the FDA plans to go after. Other powerful nutrients, such as curcumin and resveratrol, are soon to follow.

This is the second article in what will be a series of articles on this critical topic. In my first article, “Senator Durbin & the FDA Viciously Attack Dietary Supplements,” I outlined the scope and nature of the attack and called readers to take action. And it is still critically important that you do take action, so please visit our new TAKE ACTION page immediately following reading this article.

The newly-proposed FDA regulations are complicated. We are just beginning to understand the full scope of their ploy. The FDA is hoping that the complexity of their regulations will confuse consumers so they do not understand the coming changes and resulting repercussions. It is my job to give you some concrete examples of how this will affect you.

It is not just DHA, curcumin and resveratrol that are slated for pharmaceutical industry takeover, hundreds of other nutrients and herbs are at risk. The unfortunate reality is if the FDA is allowed to carry out their illegal strategy then thousands of products currently on the market are likely to be deemed “misbranded drugs” and forced off the market under the FDA’s criminal campaign to wipe out an industry, and ultimately gain even greater power and profit.

The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Perfect Storm of Economic Collapse

Mapping the human genome was supposed to usher in the next generation of pharmaceutical “wonder” drugs. Scientists would identify a gene or set of genes causing each and every disease. New biotech drugs operating at the genetic level would fix the problems or compensate for them, ushering in “The Golden Age of Cures” and reaping huge 21st century profits for the pharmaceutical conglomerate.

This wishful thinking is not the case. Their first biotech drugs have caused more death and injury than benefit. At the same time, rapid advancements in tools to analyze gene function made it obvious that Mother Nature already provided a treasure trove of potential golden cures—natural, safe and effective substances already widely utilized in the dietary supplement industry.

Multiple circumstances threaten hundreds of billions in drug company profits. Their pipeline of new drugs with widespread consumer application is scant, as they gamble their future on dangerous biotech drugs with limited use.  Hundreds of their top-selling drugs are losing patent protection in the next few years, exposing them to generic competitors and massively driving down inflated profits. Widely-publicized adverse side effects and unnecessary deaths caused by many commonly-used pharmaceutical drugs have cast suspicion over their entire industry.

On the political front, Congress is looking for ways to control health care costs, even suggesting incentives for making people well—a far different tune than paying for lifetime drug prescriptions that seldom improve health. In fact, the gene science is actually proving that Western Medicine’s drugs are damaging the human genome and are a significant cause in the onset of many of the diseases of aging—the very diseases they are pretending to treat.

Pharmaceutical companies define their primary assets as patent-protected drugs, giving the drug 15 to 20 years of product sales with no competition. It is vital for them to figure out a strategy to turn dietary supplement ingredients, especially those that could be used for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, Alzheimer’s, and cancer treatment into drug company “assets,” eliminating from the free market many of the most helpful dietary supplement ingredients while drastically driving up prices for consumers.

The Poison-Dispensing Era of Western Medicine

Until the advent of the new gene-regulating drugs, virtually all medications worked on the principle of poisoning the function of a cell or enzyme system to hopefully produce a change that the doctor thinks “beneficial.” If taking a drug results in a better-looking blood sugar, blood pressure, or cholesterol number, then doctors automatically assume the person is healthier. Rather, health has nothing to do with it.  It is in the financial interests of drug companies to dispense more and more drugs, on an ongoing basis.

There is a night-and-day difference in quality of health between a person who has good numbers because they are healthy and a person who has reasonably-looking numbers because they are poisoned with drugs. Studies using high doses of metabolic and cardiovascular drugs to attempt to drive numbers down to the levels of healthy people invariably injure and even kill the participants—clearly failing to improve health quality and extend lifespan.

To make matters worse, the pharmaceutical industry fraudulently hides the actual risks of the drugs from both patients and doctors. This includes slanting, to blatantly falsifying, studies routinely published in medical journals and used for marketing, illegally promoting off-label use of drugs, using funding to bribe research universities to publish only favorable results and blacklisting researchers who refuse to accept, and paying influential doctors to present their data as independent research at medical meetings.

The scope and magnitude of the drug safety issue is a nightmare. In 2006 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted interviews with FDA management and hundreds of FDA employees to ascertain issues leading to drug safety problems. Widespread conflict of interest and many other issues led IOM investigators to label FDA management as dysfunctional. Little has changed.

The Gene-Experimentation Era of Western Medicine

The human body is no slouch when it comes to elaborate complexity. It is often the case that the same exact gene signal is “good” or “bad” depending on the context in which it is activated. In fact, the same genes often behave differently in different areas of the body. Unlike earlier toxic drugs that force cell and enzyme behavior at a rather crude level, biotech drugs turn gene signals “on” or “off” at a powerfully fundamental level of cell function. Unfortunately for consumers, our understanding of genes is in its infancy.  There is daunting complexity in gene regulation, making use of any gene-regulating drug highly questionable.

One example of this problem involves diabetes drugs Avandia and Actos, which turn on the gene PPAR gamma. This gene signal helps to break down triglycerides. These drugs also stimulate the formation of new fat cells, which are more metabolically fit and therefore produce more adiponectin that stops insulin resistance. Thus, in theory, they are potentially great drugs for lowering triglycerides and benefiting people with type 2 diabetes. As these drugs became blockbusters it was soon observed that the patients taking them were experiencing devastating side effects. These drugs have no way to know the context in which they should be operating. They activate PPAR gamma in the wrong places, such as the heart, leading to a 40 percent increased risk for heart failure or heart attack. Additionally, inappropriate PPAR gamma activation in bones causes them to break more easily.

The FDA rushed these drugs to market despite the objections of its own safety supervisor who wanted to employ a black box warning for heart failure. In other words, the FDA knew about the risks but prevented the public from understanding them, and still allowed the drugs to go to market. This was a major scandal at the FDA. The FDA has finally restricted Avandia, but Actos remains available in full swing. Actos has recently been highly restricted in Europe, but in America, the FDA continues to drag its feet. This is likely because the FDA has mud on its face for approving these biotech nightmares in the first place and would rather consumers suffer injury and even die than look bad. The mainstream media fails to aggressively report on or investigate this tragic issue as they are large recipients of drug company advertising dollars.  Even when one of their own, Tim Russert, was likely killed by Avandia or Actos, they turned a blind eye.

 

DHA is a Superior and Intelligent Gene-Regulating Nutrient

The plot thickens. Nature’s nutrient DHA, typically in fish oil, is a powerful activator of PPAR gamma, helping to break down triglycerides as well as make new metabolically-fit fat cells that boost adiponectin and help fight type 2 diabetes—the exact objectives of Big Pharma’s Avandia and Actos. DHA is a near-miracle nutrient for the heart and overall cardiovascular health and also supports strong bones. It has all of the benefits of Avandia and Actos and none of the side effects.

And this is why Big Pharma is so interested in taking over many dietary supplement ingredients. The nutrients know how to work in harmony with gene function in the human body, since nutrition was a key part of human evolution. These nutrients appear to have inherent intelligence that no drug could possibly have. They understand the context of the gene signal and thus support the beneficial gene activity. They know how to behave differently in different areas of the body to promote healthy function at every turn.

Under the FDA’s new draft guidance that redefines the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the FDA targets many nutrients for elimination from the market, and DHA is one of them. DHA is a component of fish oil, which is a pre-DSHEA nutrient. This means that it should be grandfathered in and not subjected to the newly-published New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) guidelines.

Various companies have been able to concentrate the DHA as well as remove toxins from the oil, enabling consumers to take higher amounts of the most important ingredient in fish oil. Consumers can now easily and safely reach doses of DHA that are consistent with studies showing extreme health benefit. Such doses of DHA are known to be safe, have been tested in clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and are consistent with the amounts consumed by people who regularly eat fish.

The FDA’s point man on NDI guidance issues, Daniel Fabricant, has been telling the supplement industry what to expect. In a recent webinar  he was asked, “Should it be necessary to submit an NDI notification over a small change in the ratios of the long chain omega-3 fatty acids EPAto DHA in one fish oil supplement versus another? Is this really a big safety issue?”  Shockingly, Fabricant responded “If it is a different ingredient, a different chemical entity, then it should trigger an NDI notification.”

Fabricant is saying that any modification of basic fish oil should trigger an NDI notification. This is utter nonsense, but it is exactly what the FDA is attempting to do. What Fabricant did not bother to say to the supplement industry webinar audience was that an NDI application for modified fish oil would be denied, since GlaxoSmithKline already has a fish oil prescription drug on the market called Lovaza. Again, shocking.

Yes, the new guidance document makes it clear that if an existing drug contains any form of the nutrient DHA, a NDI will not be allowed (section IV.C.8-11). In other words, if modified DHA did not require an NDI notification, it qualified as a grandfathered nutrient, an obvious part of fish oil. But if the FDA decides that the newly manufactured form of the nutrient, in this case DHA, is different than its typical concentration in food, it can require that nutrient to have an NDI notification. By retroactively applying this definition to nutrients that compete with drug applications, that nutrient will automatically be denied NDI status. As of now, this is the intended fate of DHA. It is gravely unfortunate, as DHA is one of the most beneficial and effective nutrients offered by the dietary supplement industry.

This is a blatant power play to hand the entire high-grade DHA market to GlaxoSmithKline, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Lovaza already costs five to seven times what a similar amount of high-grade DHA costs—imagine how high their price will go up when there is no competition.

The Rise of Epigenetics

The new frontier of science is the field of epigenetics. A true genetic change means there is a change in the DNA sequence. Epigenetics explains factors that are not such DNA changes. Rather, epigenetic changes relate to how genes are expressed. Some are set in response to early environmental influences such as prenatal malnutrition or nutrient deficiency.  As cells split and divide, however, epigenetic factors play a large role in determining life-long human health and are strongly linked to poor health and the onset of disease. Epigenetic weaknesses magnify during aging and are major factors in the cause of cancer, heart disease, neurological and cognitive disorders, obesity, diabetes, infertility and sexual dysfunction.

This new science is finding that when toxins interfere with the human genome, they can cause lasting damage in the form of adverse epigenetic changes which can occur at any point in one’s life. This is not simply an issue of pollution. Researchers are now demonstrating that regular use of many drugs can cause adverse toxic epigenetic changes, a finding that has alarming implications for today’s medical practices. Up to this point in time, drug safety has not involved studying the impact of any drug on epigenetics.  Science now has the ability to see what is going on in this realm. The pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, unsurprisingly, have no interest in understanding and considering this new, ground-breaking information as the public would significantly reduce their intake of drugs.

On the hand, research on dietary ingredients is showing them to be powerful regulators of epigenetics and some show extreme promise for helping to treat metabolic disease and even cancer. Nutrients are showing that they possess “intelligence” and are able to tell the difference between a stressed and struggling cell (one with epigenetic weaknesses) and a cell with cancer. In the case of the stressed cell, the nutrients can fix it. In the case of the cancerous cell, the exact same nutrient can actually help kill the cancer without any adverse side effects—even overcoming mechanisms that make cancer resistant to drug treatments. Two of the very best nutrients in this category are curcumin and resveratrol, making them potential prizes for the pharmaceutical industry.

As I reported in my recent article,  “Curcumin Helps Change Gene Function to Combat Cancer,”  curcumin and resveratrol are under extensive genetic study at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Regarding cancer, these researchers are at the forefront of all things drug and biotech. The last commissioner of the FDA, Andrew von Eschenbach, was in charge at the MD Anderson Cancer Center before joining the FDA.  Researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center are practically drooling over the virtues of curcumin and resveratrol. Some quotes from their recent study include the following:

Recently, natural compounds, such as curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and resveratrol, have been shown to alter epigenetic mechanisms, which may lead to increased sensitivity of cancer cells to conventional agents and thus inhibition of tumor growth. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a yellow spice and the active component of the perennial herb Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric, is one of the most powerful and promising chemo-preventive and anticancer agents, and epidemiological evidence demonstrates that people who incorporate high doses of this spice in their diets have a lower incidence of cancer. Furthermore, epidemiological evidence exists indicating that there is a correlation between increased dietary intake of antioxidants and a lower incidence of morbidity and mortality…. How curcumin exerts its powerful anticancer activities has been thoroughly investigated, and several mechanisms of action have been discovered…. curcumin exerts its biological activities through epigenetic modulation.

Extensive research over the past five decades has indicated that curcumin reduces blood cholesterol levels; prevents low-density lipoprotein oxidation; inhibits platelet aggregation; suppresses thrombosis and myocardial infarction; suppresses symptoms associated with type II diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer disease; inhibits HIV replication; suppresses tumor formation; enhances wound healing; protects against liver injury; increases bile secretion; protects against cataract formation; and protects against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis. These divergent effects of curcumin seem to depend on its pleiotropic molecular effects, including the regulation of signal transduction pathways, and direct modulation of several enzymatic activities. Most of these signaling cascades lead to the activation of transcription factors.

Interest in the effects of dietary compounds such as resveratrol which activate class III HDACs (sirtuins) is growing rapidly because of their demonstrable role in extending lifespan and in reducing, or delaying, age-related diseases including cancers…. Resveratrol, a natural compound found in the skin of red grapes and a constituent of red wine, is believed to play a significant role in the reduction of cardiovascular events.  Multiple studies have shown that resveratrol can activate sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a histone deacetylase, and inhibit p300. Sirtuins, the class III HDACs, are widely distributed and have been shown to regulate a variety of physiopathologic processes, such as inflammation, cellular senescence and aging, cellular apoptosis and proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, stem cell pluri-potency, and cell cycle regulation.

Experimental evidence accumulated in the recent years clearly supports the idea that dietary nutraceuticals such as curcumin have great potential as epigenetic agents.

These researchers go on to cite all of the human safety and efficacy trials with curcumin, resveratrol and many other natural substances.

This is not dietary supplement companies extolling the virtues of these powerful nutrients. These are mainstream drug development researchers, stunned by the ability of nutrients to regulate epigenetics to support health and at the same time combat diseases that plague large numbers of people. The inherent capacity of these nutrients outshines that of any drug.

There should be no question in anyone’s mind as to why the pharmaceutical industry wants to claim these powerful nutrients as patent-protected drug assets. The question is more about how they plan to pull off this major scheme, this heist, from the dietary supplement industry.

Curcumin (tumeric) has been around for thousands of years and is consumed in very large amounts in Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures. This means the basic spice is protected by DSHEA. Unfortunately, curcumin has relatively poor bioavailability and raw material companies have sought to produce purified extracts with advanced production technology and combine curcumin with other nutrients such as piperine, which can elevate the biological activity up to 2,000 percent. Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center have conducted cancer research specifically with one such curcumin product, made by Sabinsa, and found it very promising.

Under the proposed FDA guidelines for NDIs, such curcumin extracts would retroactively become NDIs as they were not available prior to 1994. The immediate impact would be the removal of curcumin from the dietary supplement market while submitting an NDI application. Sabinsa, however, has already been granted several investigational new drug applications for their curcumin complex as they work with researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Under the new FDA guidelines the net result would be eliminating all high grade curcumin extracts from the dietary supplement market, as no NDI will be granted for any ingredient that is under investigation as a new drug. Sabinsa, a dietary supplement raw material supplier, will be able to sell its rights to its curcumin compound to the highest pharmaceutical bidder while all other competing curcumin extracts, including Sabinsa’s product, will be forced off the dietary supplement market.

It is a similar story for resveratrol, which is also under investigation as a new drug. In fact, numerous highly-effective and therapeutic extracts will be targeted in this way by the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA has a glaring conflict of interest and can easily approve investigational new drug applications for any nutrient of interest to the pharmaceutical cartel, automatically blocking them from entry or existence in a competitive dietary supplement marketplace. Dietary supplement companies could spend millions trying to get the FDA to pass a NDI application. The FDA just sits on the NDI application, to ultimately approve the nutrient as an investigational new drug and deny the dietary supplement company’s NDI application.

Consumer options for therapeutic nutrition will rapidly dwindle. What is left on the market will be far more expensive and many nutrients will no longer be available without prescription. Once the pharmaceutical industry gains control of the nutrient, the new price will be ten to fifty times what consumers pay now.

A Call for Consumer Action

The most important force capable of preventing skyrocketing prices and the elimination of therapeutic nutrition from the dietary supplement marketplace is you, the consumer.  If you wait to act until the products actually begin to disappear, it could be too late. Act now and help preserve your right to a wide range of these powerful and valuable dietary supplement ingredients and products at affordable prices. Say NO to the FDA’s illegal strategy to help drug companies take over the dietary supplement industry.

Go to our  TAKE ACTION  page and, please, let your voice be heard.

Take Action!

I’m new to your site and trying to examine a product I purchased for my fibromyalgia. It is Source Natural’s ‘Fibro-Response’ with Malic Acid and MSM.

I usually never buy before researching but guess I had a “stupid” moment and did so—-but I want to know more about its contents before I start taking it.

It is so difficult to ascertain whether a vitamin/herb/supplement is a quality product.

I have used vitamins/supplements for many of my 62 years and I sure do need a product for my fibromyalgia and my arthritis.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Hello Maggie,

Thanks for contacting me with your question. With respect to your Fibromyalgia firstly let me congratulate you on your desire to include an all natural (non-pharmaceutical) approach to your treatment. I’m assuming from this that chronic pain/tender points are not a major symptom for you and I certainly hope that this is the case.

Since you haven’t supplied any details about the exact nature and severity of your symptoms, my initial advice would be to take a more comprehensive multi faceted approach aimed at addressing the (suspected) root causes rather than just trying to suppress/manage the symptoms. Fibromyalgia, as you would know, is a complex chronic syndrome for which the exact causes are simply not known or understood at this point. Medical researchers however tend to have a general ‘genetic’ predisposition that it is likely caused and triggered (made worse) by several factors acting together rather than one isolated underlying factor.

Non pharmaceutical treatment options for FM encompass nutrition, relaxation techniques, and exercise. Looking at your nutritional intake is a great place to start and this is where the nutritional health supplements come in. It is always recommended that FM patients have an optimal dietary regime, fluid intake, and whatever exercise is within their means. Also, to strictly limit the amount of sugar, caffeine, and alcohol they use (as these have been shown to irritate muscles and stress body systems).

You asked about the ‘supplement quality issue’ and I can tell you that although Source Naturals Supplements are of very high quality, I would not recommend their ‘Fibro-Response’ supplement you bought , very simply because the formula is nowhere near comprehensive enough. In order to address the root causes of FM (whatever they may be) you need a much broader spectrum of general and specialized nutrients on a daily basis which overall target every single organ and system in your body including your brain.

The supplement which I do want to recommend to you is called ‘Total Balance’ (in your case the Women’s ‘Premium’ version). This supplement formula contains 91 ingredients, many of which are highly specialized nutrients not found in any other health/vitamin supplements (due to their cost and need to be protected by an enteric coating on the tablet to bypass the stomach and release them in the upper intestine). SAMe (S-Adenosylmethionine), L -Carnosine and L-Glutathione (low molecular weight) are good examples of these highly specialized/highly effective nutrients.

Maggie, this Total Balance supplement I’m recommending to you is an elite grade specialty supplement for very health conscious people who want superior nutritional support to protect the health of their DNA, normalize their aging process and avoid all those 21st century influenced (and preventable) degenerative diseases which are effecting people at younger and younger ages these days. Most Importantly this formula contains ingredients from ALL the various nutrients classes (which is important in your case). It covers these nutrients categories:-

If you can afford a full daily dose of the Total Balance Women’s Premium version then this is what I recommend. If not then use whatever your budget allows.

Now, because FM affects the nervous system, I recommend that in conjunction with the Total Balance you also use another supplement called ‘Neuro Natural’. The ‘General’ version is the one to get (unless you’re having severe bouts in which case the Neuro Natural ‘Memory’ version would be better).

Omega 3 fish oil is also a key part of a highly efficious nutritional intake so if your budget allows please add in 1000mg of Omega 3 oil each day.
Maggie – just to let you know, Total Balance is the only supplement I trust for my own health and I have been using it as the foundation of my own personal supplement regime for the past 10 years. My entire family, including my mother and father, use it.

You also mentioned having Arthritis (unfortunately, a common condition with FM patients). So I’d like to tell you about a supplement called ‘Arthrit-Eze’ (also from the Xtend-Life company in New Zealand). It is, in my opinion, the most advanced all natural arthritis formula in the market (31 ingredients). This supplement was formulated to specifically treat the ROOT CAUSES of Arthritis and this is why I recommend to people with Arthritis.

The truth is that virtually all Arthritis formulas in the supplement industry only aim at suppressing symptoms, simply because they do not have enough specialized ingredients to go after the root causes of the condition.

My father had arthritis in his fingers and so I got him onto Arthrit-Eze. After 3 months he was able to stop using it as his pain and stiffness had gone. This was a fast and excellent result for him.

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MAGGIE, I’ve prepared these links for you and they will take you to the product pages for the supplements I’ve recommended (and to some pages on my website where more product info can be found):

Total Balance product info

Detailed Review of Total Balance

Neuro Natural “General’ version

Omega 3 DHA Fish Oil

Omega 3 DHA Fish Oil – what to look for in the best oils

Arthrit-Eze Product Info

I have been reading with interest your information on Olive Leaf Extract.

My interest stems from recovery from minor heart surgery for 2 stents to be implanted.

The doctors are treating me with aspirin 300mg, Plavix and 10 mg Crestor. I am about to be given medication to lower blood pressure.

As your article mentioned some conflict with antibiotics, will Olive Leaf Extract interfere with the above medication?

In addition my wife has an under performing Thyroid for which she has medication. You mention great results when taken for the immune system how will it play in this situation?

I look forward to your response

Hello Tony

Tony, there are no direct interactions with Olive leaf and Plavix, Crestor or Aspirin (You didn’t mention the names of the hypertensive drugs, the doctors were planning to give you so I cannot answer on that).

If you are taking a multi ingredient health/vitamin supplement containing Olive Leaf Extract, then providing you are taking it in correct dosage (as prescribed by the manufacturer) and away from any pharmaceutical medication, there should be no problems. (This should be the protocol for any natural supplement).

If used on its own, Olive leaf extract is only a temporary aid, not a long-term aid.

Therefore, for your condition, the best benefits over the longer term will come from a specific natural supplement regime (rather than purely pharmaceutical).

Firstly, I would recommend Cardio-Klenz - a sophisticated supplement for the heart and arteries. The formula directly targets the circulatory system (arteries and veins). It was formulated to specifically:

>> Break down the plaque in arteries gradually and dispose of it
>> Reduce aggregation of platelets in the blood
>> Smooth the interior of the arteries to improve blood flow
>> Stabilize blood pressure
>> Increase antioxidant protection (to inhibit free radical damage)
>> Reduce calcium build up
>> Decrease homocysteine toxicity
>> Balance LDL and triglyceride levels
>> Increase circulatory strength and heart muscle function

My mother has hypertension and has been using this Cardio-Klenz supplement for the past year with very good results. She has been able to significantly reduce her blood pressure medication as a result. I personally use it myself once a year for about 5-6 months straight as an annual spring clean for my arteries.

This link will take you to the product page where you can read more about it:

Cardio-Klenz product info

Secondly, for general good health I recommend a highly advanced multi nutrient supplement called: Total Balance – it’s formula targets all organs and systems in the body. This supplement is the cornerstone of my own supplement regime (and that of my whole family).

My mother (who has just turned 80) has been on Total Balance for 3 years now and during that time she has been able to drop all her pharmaceutical medications except for a small dose of blood pressure meds.

I have used Total Balance myself for going on 12 years and I have no health problems whatsoever nor have I been sick for even one day in those 12 years. The immunity benefits I receive from it are fantastic!

Tony, if you have already read through a number of the pages in my website you would have seen the great extent I have gone to to explain the Total Balance formula to mu readers  and the reasons why it out-performs all other supplements out there.

Did you see any of the health/vitamin supplement comparisons on my site? They show the industry’s (so-called) best multi nutrient health and vitamin supplements pitted side by side with Total Balance in easy to understand and completely transparent terms – along with separate detailed reviews.

Best vitamin supplement comparisons

The premium versions of Total Balance have 97 ingredients. I recommend you take the Men’s premium version  if financially you can, (take a half or three quarter dose if you need to reduce the expense- that’s what my mother does).  Both the mens and womens versions contain 50 mg of (standardized) Olive Leaf Extract (for general health purposes).

Here’s a link to the Total Balance product pages if you would like to read up on it and I’ve included some links so that you can compare the benefits, costs and ingredients between the Premium and Standard versions:

Mens Premium Version (The one I use)

Women’s Premium Version

Men’s Standard Version

Women’s Standard Version

Compare benefits and costs

Compare Ingredients

Thirdly Tony, I recommend you take the Omega 3/DHA supplement – a supplement every health conscious person should be taking for good general health but in your case the emphasis is on the heart benefits derived from the fish oil.

There are many omega 3/fish oil products available but this one is far more advanced. Use the link just below to open the Omega 3/DHA Buyers guide (a pdf format file) which explains why the Omega3 Premium Fish Oil supplement from the Xtend-life Company in New Zealand is exceptionally more beneficial than the other Omega/Fish oil supplements in the market.

This is a functional Premium Grade completely PURE oil which is manufactured in a sophisticated way to give far greater anti-inflammatory benefits than other oils as well as containing two very powerful specialty nutrients – Lyc-O-Mato® (a complex lycopene extract from tomato oil) and Natural Astaxanthin which allow the oil to also target your skin from the inside (as in ‘de-aging’ your skin). Since I use this oil myself I can vouch for it potency and ability to do what it promises

Omega 3 Premium Oil- Product Info

Omega 3/ DHA  Buyers Guide

These three supplements represent a very good regime for the purpose of helping with general and specifically in your case, cardio health.

Tony, if you wish to start such a longer-term (helpful) natural supplement protocol, using the supplements I have recommended, you would need to begin at a low dose, away from your meds, and build up gradually to a full dose, (again away from your meds at each dose), and monitored by your doctor as you discuss potentially weaning yourself slowly and gradually down on your pharmaceutical medications.

In addition I want to stress the need for an optimal dietary regime, fluid intake, and whatever exercise is within your means, (supervised where applicable).

If you want any further help with this, especially where the drugs are concerned and the transition to a natural supplement protocol/approach to your health-care, I would need to get more info from you: Blood pressure medication, current condition severity and status, any blood results you currently have, for example, would all be helpful.

I have spoken with the Medical Nutritionist at the Xtend-Life company (the manufacturer of the above supplements) and she would be happy to advise you further if you would like to supply more information. She is based in the UK and I would put you in-touch with her via email.

With regard to your wife, I would recommend Total Balance (Womens Premium) and Omega 3 Premium Fish Oil rather than just taking Olive Leaf Extract in isolation, as these s2 supplements in combination are helpful for the thyroid – they help to balance the body systems, including hormonal. (Again take the supplements away from any pharmaceutical medication, preferably by 2-3 hours, or as near as to this time line as possible).

With more info (blood results, symptoms, severity of condition, etc) I may be able to offer further advice for your wife’s condition.

To Good Health Tony

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]]> http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/benefits-of-olive-leaf-extract/feed/ 25 http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/benefits-of-olive-leaf-extract/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Supplement-truths-blogcom/~3/h1065-XKAOE/ http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-supplement-side-effects/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:27:08 +0000 Brett http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/?p=86 Question: From Jack

I’ve been taking Total Balance Men’s version from Xtend-Life for two months along with Cardio-Klenz.
One side effect I noticed was constipation… I do not take any other medication (never did in my life) and I am 72.

My wife ordered Total Balance for women a month ago, along with Viral-Protec. A few days after starting using the products, she had constipation too (she is 66)… Like me, she avoids all type of medication.

This is a strange coincidence, isn’t it? Constipation has never been a concern to us before!
Searching reviews about Total Balance, I found your nutritional-supplement-truths.com website.
I did not find any side effect such as constipation.

My wife and I do not understand what is going on and worry about this problem. Any idea or suggestion?

Response From Brett:

Hello Jack

I know that this isn’t a usual problem with Total Balance or Cardio-Klenz but I have heard about others experiencing it on occasion – including my mother a few years back.

What I tend to find is that constipation occurs when people’s systems are adjusting if their diet and fluid intake isn’t usually optimal. Total Balance is formulated to be used ‘ in addition to an improved dietary regime, increased pure fluid intake, and regular exercise daily”. This all helps the digestive system to adjust.

Total Balance also helps to eliminate some toxins initially that may have laid dormant in the system for some time. This is another cause and what is known as the toxin release or commonly “detox”. This could also be a part of what is happening here with you and your wife.

So here is what I recommend you do. Stop the supplement(s) for a day or two, until problems disappear, at the same time concentrate diligently on a good dietary regime – based on raw/steamed vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish, whole grains (in moderation), etc; increase your pure fluid intake (water, vegetable juicing, greens and others: 2+ liters per day, or as near as possible, daily), and whatever daily exercise you can regularly do to keep oxygenated. Then, restart the supplements again at a one tablet of each after a few days, and gradually increase this one by one until you’ve reached full dose (or the dose you want) again without any adverse effects.

In addition to this, upon rising in the morning, before doing anything else, drink 2 large glasses of room temp water, with added lemon juice to taste: STRAIGHT DOWN ( before anything else). This in itself is helpful for relieving constipation as well as cleansing the liver and digestive process before it has to begin for the day!

Jack this is the same advice I give to anyone who experiences gastric complaints after starting on Total Balance. It is a very sophisticated supplement which provides your body with a full spectrum of highly effective nutrients – targeting all organs and systems in the body (including the brain). This protocol has worked for everyone who I recommended it to – including my mother.

Here’s to great health Jack!

And here’s some links to anyone interested in reading up on Total Balance:

Men’s Premium Version   (the one I take)

Women’s Premium Version   (my mum and sister use this version)

Men’s standard Version   (my uncle)

Women’s Standard Version   (my Aunt)

Children’s Version   (my niece and nephew use this one)

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]]> http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-supplement-side-effects/feed/ 11 http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-supplement-side-effects/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Supplement-truths-blogcom/~3/24bkGuH70xg/ http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-supplement-help-with-pancreatic-cancer/#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:29:44 +0000 Brett http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/?p=79 Question: From Olivier

My mother has pancreatic cancer. I have found a product that is a mix of minerals that I believe can heal my mother (at least 2 people with pancreatic cancer healed with it).
It is at: http://www.healthhouse.co.nz/CAA%20capsule%20ingredients.html

Now, I dont want to debate that part. I believe it can heal. That’s it. That’s not my issue.

The problem is, they have refined the product (capsule) over the years, and sadly, they have added vitamins. And synthetic vitamins (anything beside real food) have been proven to accelerate pancreatic cancer/tumors.

So my dilemma is I would like to have that supplement, but without all the vitamins. Just the minerals, which they list with the exact quantity – in a sort of custom pill, or at least a pill/source of each and have my mother take those together, for the same effect – just without the fr–ing ‘killing’ vitamins.
And I would want those minerals to be the chelated as natural as possible.

Can you please please tell me if its possible and sources where to get individual ingredients, or have them put together?

Please help me. My mother is all I have.

Thanks so much, for whatever honest answers you will give me.

Best regards
Olivier

Response From Brett:

Hello Olivier

Im very sorry to hear about your mum’s cancer and also for the long delay in replying to your question. Because of the nature of this question I wanted to run my answer by a highly qualified clinical nutritionist friend of mine in the UK before replying to you (but she is extremely busy so I have only just heard back from her).

Olivier, you asked for my “honest answers” so let me begin by saying that I very much doubt that the CAA mix of minerals that you are talking about will heal your Mum. Since, however, you do believe that it can and you have heard of successful cases, I recommend you go and see a qualified Naturopath who maybe able to give you the individual ingredients (in a chelated form for increased bioavailability) if he/she can source them directly from a supplement wholesaler (having them chelated will push the price right up!)

Certainly your mother needs hands-on help, as there is alot of investigation and hands-on examination that really needs to be done in these kinds of cases.

Again, I want to give you my honest opinion and say that the CAA supplement mix you are asking about (even with the vitamins taken away) is an ordinary and quite basic supplement. It is nothing special for pancreatic cancer or pancreatitis.

If your concern is the nature of the (synthetic) vitamins in that nutritional supplement, I would suggest perhaps forgetting that CAA ingredient mix and instead take a look at Total Balance Women’s Premium version – a specialty multi nutrient health supplement .

This is the supplement I use and from the hundreds of supplement reviews I’ve done it is by far the best health supplement available both in terms of efficacy and value for money.

I am not recommending Total Balance to you just because it is what I use or to make commission but rather because I have the considerable experience to know that it is the best recommendation I can possibly make for you mum. Total Balance contains all ingredients in the CAA supplement, but at better doses, and is combined with many other speciality nutrients (over 90 ingredients all up) , and all these are all totally natural, nothing synthetic, (This appears to be your main concern, right?)

I would suggest the  Omega 3 / DHA supplement from the same company (xtend-life). It is an extremely superior Omega 3 esterfied oil (see the ‘Omega 3 Buyers Guide’ pdf file which I have attached above to understand why it is superior). I recommend a high daily dose of at least 4 of the Omega 3/ DHA capsules to help with your mum’s overall health ( in the same way that the CAA supplement would do).

Moreover, you could also give your mum Viral-Protec to help further stimulate her immune system to try to fight infection. This may be additionally helpful.

If your mum is on any medications I would need to know what these are in order to confirm the dosage and safety of all of the above supplement recommendations. This is very important.

If you like, you can also give her additional herbal extracts to try to help cleanse the pancreas, such as cedar berries and echinacea, gentian root, for example. Dandelion root is also helpful to stimulate bile production and improve the health of the pancreas overall.

Proper diet and increased pure fluids, are all essential to this condition as I’m sure you are aware.

Hopefully this overall general health approach may bring your mum some improvement. Obviously I cannot guarantee that it will solve the actual cancer problem itself. I’m sure you know by now that once taken hold, pancreatic cancer is extremely tough to deal with.

Lastly, I’d like to tell you that there is no scientific comment or evidence that I know of that states that vitamins (or minerals), synthetic or otherwise, induce or accelerate pancreatic cancer/tumors, or indeed other types of cancer.

I believe your are referring to specifically synthetic chemical versions of ingredients, and not the natural type which are used in Total Balance and Viral Protec. I think that is perhaps where confusion lays.

Truly synthetic vitamins are definitely not good for the system, and although I know of no specific evidence that relates to pancreatic cancer, it is certainly possible that they could be more detrimental than helpful to health.

I hope this helps Olivier.

All the best to you and your mum

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I have severe bacterial dysbiosis  in my small intestine. I’ve had to use natural anti-microbials because the bad bacteria is antibiotic-resistant. I’ve been using grapefruit seed extract and berberine for 2+ weeks.

However, because the grapefruit seed extract hurts my stomach I’ve had to have it enteric-coated by a compounding pharmacist, and it costs LOTS! And because I haven’t had any “die-off” I’m worried that the enteric coating is somehow keeping the GSE from getting to the bad guys, if they are high up in my duodenum. I know that this enteric coating disintegrates within 20 minutes of hitting an active alkaline environment however, I’m not getting any “die-off,” at all. (Maybe GSE doesn’t create die-off?)

I have a couple of questions:

1)  Do you know if small intestinal fermentation dysbiosis occurs high-up in the duodenum, or in the jejunum? Because I want my enteric-coated GSE to be disintegrating wherever the bacteria is located. On one of your web pages, you said that certain ingredients including some herbal extracts “should” be enteric-coated, but I’m worried that mine isn’t getting into where it should be.

2)  Do you know of any better natural anti-microbials for bad bacteria (including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella, plus more)? I can’t take garlic, because it’s a thiol and chelates Hg.

Thank you very much, Brett.

Response From Brett:

Hi Bernice

First of all, please understand that grape seed extract isn’t a sole cure on its own for IBS or anything related to this type of digestive condition. It is helpful as an aid, but shouldn’t just be relied on solely for cure. It’s also important to know that die-off isn’t always experienced outwardly, depending on the severity of the condition.

The condition can effect any part of the small or large intestine, but even enteric coated products would disintegrate accordingly and via the bloodstream would get to the appropriate place, so I don’t think this is a concern.

The best course of action which I recommend is to consider taking a cutting edge broad spectrum nutritional health supplement such as  Total Balance Women’s Premium version (which contains 50 mg of standardized Grape Seed Extract amongst it’s 90 + ingredients).

In addition take xtend-life’s Omega 3/DHA supplement (high DHA content!!) at 4-5 caps per day – as a good start to help balance your digestive system fully.

Additionally, taking Aloe Vera (orally) twice a day could help further. And intermittent courses of acidophilus and bifidus probiotics to help balance out the bacterial levels. Along with this start, ensure that your diet is optimal and your fluid intake is high. This all helps.

Bernice, monitor your levels and stages and I can help adjust any regimes as they progress if you wish to update me, in case anything else can be added, depending on the severity and stubbornness of the condition.

I hope this helps initially.

Brett

You are promoting the Total Balance multi nutrient health supplement so I have a question. Why doesn’t the manufacturer, Xtend-Life, release their COA’s for Total Balance to prove that all the ingredients are truly there in the claimed amounts?

Response From Brett:

Hi Gene

I contacted the xtend-life company about your question.

They said that they cannot release their Certificates Of Analysis (COA’s) publicly but if you are in New Zealand and visit their company they will show you all the COA’s.

Follow Up Comment from Gene

Hi Brett

It sounds like Xtend Life has got something to hide. Other nutritional health supplement manufacturers, Source naturals for one, has a COA in each bottle of supplements!

Follow Up Response from Brett

I think that there could be a misunderstanding here. So, I wanted to write to you again and find out exactly what you are asking for . I am still making inquiries for you with the Xtend-life company but they have asked me to clarify whether you are asking for a COA for the finished product or a COA for each individual ingredient?

Xtend-Life can certainly provide a COA for each finished batch of Total Balance. But if you are asking for a COA of each individual ingredient in the formula that would be a different story as some of that info is proprietary.

I am sure no manufacturer would release their COA’s for each individual ingredient- and I’m very sure that the Source Naturals COA you referred to is in fact a COA for their finished batch.  Xtend-Life goes to a lot of trouble and huge expense to get the right fractions and specs of each raw ingredient. This is particularly critical for the herbal ingredients. They are completely open about their formulas but if they were to hand over the COA’s for each ingredient they would in fact be handing over their entire formula to their competitors. No leading company would do that (and for multi ingredient nutritional health supplement formulas that would be a ton of paperwork).

Xtend-Life has Prof. Dr. Munem Daoud PhD; MSc; ND. heading up their R & D and product formulation. He is a world renowned bio scientist and is one of the few individuals working in the supplement industry which has both pharmaceutical and natural substance backgrounds at the highest levels. This allows him to formulate more effective natural supplement formulations that his contemporaries cannot. His credentials, affiliations, awards, patents and experience are highly impressive when you see them all.

Xtend-Life are happy for someone to visit their facilities and we will show them the COA’s for each specific raw ingredient but not give out a copy.

Gene, can you kindly let me know whether you were asking about the COA for the finished product or all the COA’s for each ingredient?

Best of Health Always

Follow Up Response from Gene

Hi Brett

Total Balance Men’s Premium version for example. Dosage is 7 tablets per day. After the batch is mixed and pressed into tablets the bottle is labeled with the dosage for each ingredient. Do check this do they take 7 tablets and break them down and test the 7 tablets to find out that the 7 tablets are true to the label claims. In other words take the ingredient Chrysin, listed at 100mg.  A  C.O.A. would either confirm or deny that there is in fact 100mg of Chrysin in 7 tablets. Hope this helps you understand what I’m getting at.

Response From Warren Matthews – Chairman, Xtend-Life Company

Hi Gene,

Brett Seagrott has passed on your comments to me as he thought that it may be appropriate to do so.

I understand what you are saying and it is a valid question.

Most companies only do a microbiological test for each batch. We also do that but additionally we do one for heavy metals as well. I do not know of any company who does a full assay on a completed multi-ingredient tablet for each batch. It is just not economically viable. To give you an idea. We have around 85 ingredients in our Total Balance and to do an assay of the batch would cost US$35,000 each time, IF a protocol can be worked out to successfully do this.

This is the price we have had quoted by various laboratories including the NSF who we are working with on our US FDA GMP compliance program. The scientists at NSF have not as yet been able to come up with a protocol to achieve a reliable assay. The problem is Gene is that you have to liquefy some of the ingredients to do the assay. In the process of doing that the chemical composition changes. We are aware of that and this is what is supposed to happen. In other words we know that if you combine two or more ingredients and then liquefy them together the chemical composition of the mixed product will change. Bit, like mixing up colors in a paint.

So, the whole process is fraught with problems and the end result is not particularly reliable. It is easy for a simple multi vitamin or mineral but not for a complex product like Total Balance which has not only vitamins and minerals but also amino acids, herbals, enzymes and other specialty nutrients.

To further reinforce this point, a few years ago we approached Consumerlab.com with the objective of having them test our products. They admitted that they could not test all the ingredients and we would just have to select a number of ingredients that could be tested. There was no point in doing that. If we were dishonest we could just make sure that those ingredients that were to be tested were present and basically put in anything for the rest.

In order to keep our products as fresh as possible we do small regular batches…generally around 1,600 bottles at a time. So, if we were to do an assay on each batch (if it could be done) it would add almost US$22 of cost per bottle which would be unacceptable to most of our customers.

Some companies make a big thing about having their products approved by a 3rd party such as Consumerlab, but it really doesn’t mean much simply because the test only applies to one batch a year and they may do 12 batches per year, and it rarely covers all ingredients unless it is a simple product with only a few ingredients.

The FDA and all regulatory bodies recognize the practical difficulties and indeed the impossibility of doing a complete assay on all ingredients. It is for this reason why GMP programs provide for the proof of ingredient input to be quantified by input. In other words having a manufacturing process in which there can be no mistakes and no deviations and everything is cross referenced. This is what we do and why we welcome anyone visiting our factory to observe the processes after which their minds are fully at rest.

I hope that this helps answer your question.

Cheers,

Warren

PS. I can assure you that the Chrysin and everything else on the label is present.   I rely on the TB Men’s Premium myself for my own continuing good health.

I have few questions regarding my diet and nutritional vitamin and health supplements.  First of all I’m a 23 years old male. I have a problem in eating vegetables and fruits. In my daily diet I don’t eat any. It is very rare that I eat vegetables or fruits.  Can you guide me regarding what supplements I should take in order to have a good and healthy body. I mean the supplements to cover all the losses. I hope to hear from you soon.

Response From Brett:

Hi Mohd

Ok, the first thing to understand and accept here is that nutritional health supplements, even the absolutely most effective formulas out there,  ARE NOT going to replace the need for a regular intake of fruits and vegetables in your diet !

That’s why they are called supplements - because they are supplemental to a ‘normal’ functioning body (and normal body functioning rests on the comprehensive nutritional foundation provided through a widely varied and healthy diet.) There is no way around this (despite what some ‘leading’ supplement companies ‘indirectly imply’ in their clever marketing presentations and literature!)

The first thing that came into mind when your email arrived Mohd was ‘why’ are you unable to eat fruits and vegetables? Is it a taste issue, a phobia, a medical condition(s) – there can be many potential reasons, physiological and/or physical. I am happy to try and help you change this part of this situation, if you wish. Just email me again Mohd and once I have more information as to the exact cause(s) of your poor diet I can offer you more than what I am going to write in this initial answer.

Based on my knowledge and experience gained from working in the nutritional supplement industry, there are only two supplements which I advise you to take.

The first is a premium grade multi nutrient health supplement called ‘Total Balance’.

Having reviewed and evaluated hundreds of supplements I can assure you that Total Balance is an amazing affordable supplement which out performs EVERY OTHER health / vitamin supplement currently available (and I mean that!!) – particularly the ‘so-called’ elite market leaders.

Total Balance offers fantastic value for money in comparison to ALL competitors – none of which come close to matching the efficacy of Total Balance’s sophisticated formula.

There is a lot of information and proof back on the main site of nutritional-supplement-truths.com which backs up my claims regarding Total Balance . If you would like to follow up, I think the best place to start is by reading my in-depth  review of Total Balance

I have personally used Total Balance as the core of my supplement regime since 2000 (my mum, who turns 80 this year, has used it for the past 6 years with FANTASTIC results (particularly blood pressure, energy and cholesterol), along with my uncle, sister, niece and nephew!) Obviously I wouldn’t trust my health and longevity to anything other than the very best supplement formula out there.

The second supplement you should take is called Omega 3/DHA Fish Oil.

This is a special type of fish oil which comes in an esterfied form (rather than the common (cheaper) triglyceride form).  These days everybody should be taking fish oil as a normal part of their dietary intake.

There are so many medicinal benefits of fish oil supplements

>> Heart
>> Brain
>> Joints
>> Skin
>> Immune system
>> Vision
>> Digestion

(the ‘DHA’ component of the oil is the most important).

This Omega 3/DHA Fish Oil comes  from the Xtend-Life company which is also the manufacturer of Total Balance.  Xtend-Life is a medium sized, family owned premier manufacturer of unique natural supplements and skin care products. They are based in New Zealand. Their fish oil has a very high level of DHA – which is crucial in getting stronger health benefits.

But, Mohd I want to stress to you that these two elite supplements are NOT A REPLACEMENT in any way to a really good diet including fruits and vegetables.

They are not going to ‘fix’ everything in order to allow a person to eat processed and junk food all day and still remain healthy! They need a ‘decent’ dietary regime in order to work themselves.  A sound dietary regime, in connection with high ‘pure’ fluid intake and regular moderate exercise is the type of foundation any health supplement needs to achieve optimal efficacy  and synergy from its ingredient base.

Just ‘popping’ these supplements and continuing to eat virtually no fruits and vegetables will not cut it. Despite the nutritional support which comes from using these sophisticated nutritional / dietary supplements (especially Total Balance), if you continue to avoid fruits and vegetables your health will soon begin to break down with serious degenerative disease (and it’s highly likely the pre-conditions for this are already in place inside you  Mohd).

Your current diet is speeding up your rate of aging!!! Premature aging creates precursors which set the stage for the  onset of degenerative disease (all those well known 21st century aging conditions  like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, strokes, cancers etc etc – the levels of which are increasing year by year and at earlier and earlier ages!).

Modern lifestyles and (inescapable) environmental / dietary toxins and stressors, which are by-products of 21st century ‘civilized’ living, are the chief culprits of PREMATURE AGING. So, more than ever we need to counter this situation by increasing ‘good’ nutritional support from our regular diets and that MUST be largely based on increased intake of fruits and vegetables.  Raw vegetables are preferable because the nutritional composition stays in tact. Cooking (of any kind) changes it and (to varying degrees) destroys valuable and essential nutrients (for example: enzymes).

Mohd, sorry  to have been so blunt in my response here but your nutritional situation is of concern and unfortunately it represents an increasing trend in the health of mainstream society in western countries.

If you currently have any resulting conditions which have already developed then I could advise on other supplement formulas or ingredients to help those areas more specifically, but other than that, at this time, Total Balance Men’s ‘Premium version’ (the one I use) and the Esterfied Omega 3 Fish Oil are what I advise, along with the introduction of fresh fruits and primarily raw vegetables into your diet (subject to the reasons why you currently don’t eat any).

Mohd, these links will take you to the product pages for these supplements on the Xtend-Life website. They can only be purchased online – they are not available in stores anywhere worldwide due to their complexity.

Xtend-Life Omega 3 DHA Fish Oil

Total Balance nutritional health supplement

Good Health Always Everyone

]]> http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-health-supplements-with-no-fruits-or-vegetables/feed/ 26 http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/nutritional-health-supplements-with-no-fruits-or-vegetables/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Supplement-truths-blogcom/~3/VsHK6DJZYe4/ http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/negative-wild-yam-studies-are-only-half-the-story/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:01:40 +0000 Brett http://blog.nutritional-supplement-truths.com/negative-wild-yam-studies-are-only-half-the-story/ Question: From Megan

Could you please give me your thoughts on Wild Yam. I have been told by several female friends that it is an excellent natural alternative for helping with menstrual complications. But when I did some internet searches I came across only negative statements/studies.

Thanks

Response From Brett:

Hi Megan

Thanks for your question. I know I have written about this before but haven’t been able to locate that reader’s question.

Anyway, I know what you mean! The wild yam content you would have come across is typical of what’s happening on the web nowadays. Unqualified people posting content on which they have no idea whether it is factual, incomplete or predominantly wrong. These people are simply doing internet searches themselves and then copying/re-wording the mistakes of other unqualified website authors.

Wild Yam is an extremely useful medicinal herb for women! It is a precursor (to human sex hormones) able to help with menstrual cramps/pain, hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.

Much of the negative content you probably came across about Wild Yam’s oestrogenic effects is quite misleading (clinical studies for traditional Wild Yam are difficult to come across outside of a laboratory conversion.)

I did some searches to see what came up on the first page of results and it was the usual statements suggesting that Wild Yam (botanical name =’Dioscorea’, active component =’diosgenin’) does not produce the medicinal effects claimed. This is because natural diosgenin from Wild Yam root and the form of alternative progesterone hormone which is synthesized by diosgenin in the lab are completely different! IE. Your body cannot convert natural diosgenin without synthesis in a lab.

Well Megan, while this is actually correct it is NOT the whole story and therefore it is misleading.

Although the same hormonal effects have not been proven in natural Wild Yam due to this claim of non-conversion in the body, the natural hormonal precursors present in Wild Yam do have similar effects to the diosgenin used in laboratory conversion.

You see the negative studies currently available can actually be used as as positive studies (because of what they don’t tell you!) What I mean is in order that natural diosgenin can be converted scientifically to create alternative hormone, the precursors MUST be set in the natural Wild Yam in the first place for this to be able to happen!

The key is that the hormonal precursors naturally present in Wild Yam logically encourage the body to produce its own hormones rather than relying on the synthetic version (albeit from part natural origin) which although gives a finished product, encourages the body to be lazy in not producing its own hormones.

The precursors are the key in the natural product, PROMOTING NATURAL HORMONE PRODUCTION!

So, we can see that the negative studies out there are actually acting as underlying positive evidence in so far as the the proven ability to synthesize diosgenin supports that the natural precursors MUST be there in natural Wild Yam.

This is not an easy topic to explain Megan – I hope I have explained it in a way that you can understand.

Let’s not forget about the Wild Yam studies proving anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties. These also contribute to the health of the female reproductive organ!

Megan- at the very bottom of this post I have included a resource which I had on file which helps backup my explanation above. The part in question is highlighted in teal green under the section titled “Quoted references”.

—————————————————————————————————-

Megan, here’s a heads up for you. I review hundreds of supplements each year including the ‘so called’ market leaders.

You might be interested to know that the female premium version of the multi nutrient nutritional health supplement I use contains six natural hormonal balancing precursors including Wild Yam. You won’t find a stronger female support formulation out there!

It’s called TOTAL BALANCE

This formula targets EVERY organ and system in your body. In addition to being gender specific in order to address common health problems specific to each sex (like balancing the female hormonal cascade), it’s the ONLY supplement formula to date which can SLOW DOWN AND NORMALIZE YOUR AGING PROCESS BY PROPERLY ADDRESSING ALL FOUR OF THE PRIMARY CAUSES OF AGING:

Free Radicals

Glycation

Methylation

Inflammation

It uses a WHOPPING 97 INGREDIENTS in order to get the job done !!!!

My mum, dad, sister and I wouldn’t trust our health to any other supplement because quite simply there isn’t another supplement currently out there which takes on each part of the anti aging equation with the specialized nutrients required in addition to doing all the other ‘basics’ that a quality health/vitamin supplement should do.

Use this link if you want to read up on Total Balance. (PS. If you want to give extra nutritional support to your children’s development, I’m happy to tell you that Xtend-Life has JUST RELEASED a special Total Balance formula for children! (My 14 year old niece and 11 year old nephew are already using it!)

Total Balance Womens Premium version

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Good Health Always!

Quoted References

2. “These tubers have been used in some cultures as a coffee substitute. It helps support the spleen, lungs and kidneys. Dioscoreae contains up to thirteen percent diosgenin. Diosgenin has been processed and given to patients to relieve arthritis, asthma, eczema, regulate metabolism and control fertility. Diosgenin provides the steroid building blocks for developing human sex hormones and can be used for developing muscle mass and strength. It has been used for emotional instability, chronic cough, diarrhea, and diabetes.”

4. “Medicinal Action and Uses: Antispasmodic. Perhaps the best relief and promptest cure for bilious colic, especially helpful in the nausea of pregnant women. Valuable also in painful cholera morbus with cramps, neuralgic affections, spasmodic hiccough and spasmodic asthma.”

9. “Botanical name: Dioscorea oppositae Pharmaceutical name: Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae. English: Chinese Yam Root. Properties: sweet, neutral. Channels entered: Spleen, Lung, Kidney. Functions and clinical use: Tonifies and benefits the Spleen and Stomach: used in cases of Deficient Spleen or Stomach with such symptoms as diarrhea, fatigue, spontaneous sweating, and lack of appetite. Benefits the Lungs and nourishes the Kidneys: used for Wasting and Thirsting syndrome. Because this herb moistens and is neither hot nor cold, it benefits both the Yin and the Yang of the Lungs and Kidneys. It is also used for spermatorrhea, frequent urination, and leukorrhea.”

14. “Wild yam root has been used for hundreds of years to treat rheumatism and arthritis-like ailments. The discovery of steroidal glycosides (diosgenin) in the root validated this ancient practice. Most species of yams contain large amounts of plant steroids, primarily diosgenin, a saponin precursor in the synthesis of progesterone. Without the yams, the industrial complex would not be able to meet the worldwide demand for synthetic corticosteroids. But with them, scientists can derive animal or human steroids in a fairly straightforward multi step process. Wild yams are the only really good source of plant steroids for such purposes.

Diosgenin provides about 50 percent of the raw material for steroid synthesis. It must be emphasized that there is not an equivalency between diosgenin and human steroids. It takes many synthetic steps to get from one to the other. If yam has steroidal effects on the body, it is not because it contains steroidal hormones, but because the steroidal precursors have similar effects. The body does not recognize them or mistake them for its own hormones, but uses them in a similar manner.
Research has shown that yam, yam extract and/or diosgenin possess good to excellent anti-inflammatory action.

In one series of studies, yam was found to induce a short-lived decrease in blood pressure and an increase in coronary flow when injected intravenously into rabbits. Also in rabbits, the saponins of yam, fed orally, prevented large increases in blood cholesterol levels. The good therapeutic effect of dioscorea saponins on patients with atherosclerosis combined with hypertension was confirmed in Clinical practice.
The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia recognizes wild yam root as a spasmolytic, mild diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic and cholagogue, for use in the treatment of intestinal colic, diverticulitis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular rheumatism, cramps, intermittent claudication, cholecystitis, dysmenorrhea, and ovarian and uterine pain. Bilious colic and rheumatoid arthritis are specific indications for the use of yam.”

Point 14- website source: http://www.rain-tree.com/REFKEY.htm

1. Free Radical Production
2. Glycation
3. Methylation

and how to effectively treat them with specialized and in some cases rare supplement ingredients.

Your body has to fight against these SERIOUS problems every single day. Besides aging you they are responsible for the onset of degenerative disease.

These four aging components require specialized ingredients in your nutritional health supplement to effectively address and control them.

The problem we have seen however is that because around 99% of vitamin health supplements, of all standards, are manufactured to a price, with many distributed via expense heavy MLM structures, these specialized ingredients are just too expensive to be included.

In today’s article I will look at the final aging component – Chronic Inflammation.

When people hear the word ‘Inflammation’ most will immediately think of Fish Oil and Omega 3. Yes, you will see Fish oil in the list below of the necessary specialized anti inflammation nutrients but……………

It Takes Much More Than Fish Oil To Adequately Tackle And Control Inflammation!

If inflammation is not controlled it will cause crisis to your health!

It is a serious condition but one that is not mentioned much in anti aging discussions. In fact there are leading scientists who have publicly stated that chronic inflammation is the main contributor to age related health damage. This is because excessive inflammation causes toxic chemicals which eat away body tissues, thus leading to heart disease, dementia, arthritis and diabetes and so on.

Just think about that for a moment!

Regardless of whether these scientists are spot on or not chronic Inflammation is a VERY BIG DEAL when it comes to your health and to the issue of

PREMATURE AGING!

You see, just about every one of us is suffering from premature aging. That’s because we live in the civilized world and so we can’t hide from the causes:

Things like oxidation (from breathing), X rays, sunlight, and numerous dietary/environmental toxins and stressors which impact on our health EVERY SINGLE DAY! (The only way to escape these is to run away and live in remote places like the Himalaya’s, with races like the Hunsa’s who live to around 120 years and where men father children well into their nineties.)

How do these things impact your health exactly ?

The answer is above!

They SPEED UP the four things which are primarily causing you to age: Free Radical Production, Glycation, Methylation and Inflammation.

So, to support, improve and (hopefully) optimize your health, you need to SLOW DOWN AND NORMALIZE YOUR AGING PROCESS . In other words to bring it more into line with what mother nature intended.

Therefore you must comprehensively take action against free radical, glycation, methylation and inflammation.

That’s the straightforward answer you’ve been looking for.

Anti Aging Secrets – Take Action How?

Well, your dietary intake is certainly a HUGE part of the action you must take but as you have/will discover from my previous articles in this series, some of the specialized anti aging nutrients you must have to take on free radicals, glycation, methylation and inflammation, cannot be taken in through your diet.

That’s why supplementation is so critical to the process.

So, if you believe in using nutritional health supplements, and you are/are going to spend good money on one, on a continuing basis, then you absolutely need to make sure it can do more than just top up any nutrient deficiencies you may have!

The key here is to understand that these four components are completely interrelated. That means you have to treat all four simultaneously. It’s completely a waste of time buying an isolated nutrient(s) in order to address just one or two of them. This WON’T WORK.

If you haven’t read through parts 1,2 and 3 of this anti aging secrets series then this might be a good time to do so and then you will understand the interconnection of these four aging components. (Use the anti aging secrets links in the sidebar over on the right of this page.)

But here’s a good example to highlight this interrelatedness.

MDA (Malondialdehyde) is a dangerous chemical byproduct formed in your body as a result of the action of free radicals on the fatty membranes of your cells. It is a major factor in the production of AGEs from glycation. This same chemical, MDA, is also involved in inflammation.

Anti Aging Secrets – Reduce The Summation

So, if you try using anti-oxidants to decrease your free radical population then you will reduce the oxidation of your cell membranes which will in turn reduce the formation of MDA which in turn will reduce glycation and thereby the creation of AGEs. Presto- you have reduced inflammation as well!

But you still need to take Carnosine (part 2) in addition to the most powerful antioxidants (part 1) to inhibit the creation of AGEs because there will still be free radical production – you can’t kill all those troublesome free radicals – so MDA is still going to form and try to create AGEs which in a summation effect will contribute to inflammation

And you can’t stop the production of all AGEs and by connection not all inflammation can be avoided so you absolutely have to use specialized nutrients that can tackle inflammation (in ADDITION to the the other specialized nutrients for glycation, methylation and free radicals. (parts 1, 2, 3)

In part two, I discussed the unique qualities of the nutrient ‘Carnosine’ with respect to glycation. Well, Carnosine is also on the list of specialized ingredients for addressing inflammation. Carnosine really is an amazing nutrient!

One nasty component of inflammation is excitotoxicity. This is a process which leads to damage and death of nerve cells from excess levels of glutamate and similar substances in your diet (MSG and other flavor enhancers, like aspartame, are the problem – take note! ) If brain cells are killed due to excitotoxicity this can lead to strokes, traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases like Multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

One of the very dangerous chemicals associated with chronic inflammation is Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF). TNF actively promotes the degeneration of your brain and nerves! It is activated by a combination of free radicals and AGEs.

A supplement label SHOULD list the category of nutrients it contains, like Vitamins, Herbal Extracts, Enzymes, Amino Acids, Immunity and so on? An important category of nutrients that should be on that list is ‘Calorie Restriction Mimics’. Is it there on your supplement label?

To keep the production of TNF as low as possible you need to take in the best known calorie restriction mimic:

Resveratrol.

For greater efficacy and increased value for money be sure to check that any Resveratrol in your supplement is in the ‘Trans’ form and not the cheaper and less bioavailable ‘Cis’ form! Due to resveratrol’s extremely high price, supplements that can afford to include it usually do so with very low potencies of around 5 – 10% and inadequate dose amounts (< 50 mg). BEWARE!

And speaking of well known, let’s talk about Omega 3 fish oil. Now, most doctors and health experts promote fish oil exclusively as the answer to inflammation. There’s no debate that the anti inflammatory activity of fish oil helps significantly in controlling inflammation but the problem here is that it addresses only one component of the much wider picture of inflammation.

So to finish up, here’s your list of the most effective anti-inflammation nutrients that work in synergy with fish oil in addressing and reducing inflammation:

• Resveratrol

• Glutathione

• Carnosine

• Turmeric

• Alpha Lipoic Acid

• Flavanoids

Anti Aging Secrets- Summing Up

I’m sure many of you reading this article would now like to expand your anti aging knowledge more. So, just let me give you a heads up that a very large amount of the literature out there promotes just free radicals as the most important concern in anti aging programs.

Of course you know this is NOT the case. Supplement companies and marketers are responsible for this – because their products do not address glycation, methylation and inflammation, they won’t mention them. They also have tried to brain wash consumers into believing that fish oil is the sole answer for inflammation.

But…just using antioxidants to tackle free radicals or fish oil for inflammation, will NOT achieve what you want. It is only PART of the complex anti-aging equation.

Well everyone, that wraps up this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series. I hope it has helped you to understand your aging process more fully and the actions you need to take to comprehensively tackle and protect yourself from the serious health issues that speed up your aging and lead to degenerative disease and a debilitated lifestyle.

Nature intended for us to live in vibrant health and die from natural causes – not from disease. But unfortunately that’s not the case for the majority of the population today.

We all really do need a helping hand from the best nutritional health supplements to make this possible.

Here’s one more heads up for you. I review hundreds of supplements each year including the so called market leaders. To date I can tell you there is ONLY ONE health supplement out there that has a formula which properly addresses free radicals, glycation, methylation and inflammation.

It uses a whopping 97 ingredients in order to get the job done.

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that it’s the supplement my family and I have use. I wouldn’t trust my health to any other supplement because quite simply there isn’t another supplement currently out there which takes on each part of the anti aging equation with the specialized nutrients required.

It’s called Total Balance. I use the Men’s Premium version. Use this link if you want to read up more on Total Balance and it’s unique properties. They even have a formula for children! (My niece and nephew use it!)

Total Balance

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Of course you know as well as I do that there is a literal mountain of products out there, all of which supposedly give you the anti aging wrinkle results you so desperately desire. If you’re well read however then you know all too well that most anti aging products barely do anything!

The fancy marketing presentations (aka ‘lies’ and ‘mis-truths’) that manufacturers come up with to ‘spin’ their products are designed to mis-lead you and tell you what you want to hear. They also cleverly hide any and all weaknesses that each product contains. But, their days of basking in the vast profits that amass from consumers lack of knowledge are fast coming to an end!

Over the past 10 years researchers have been hard at work learning what actually works and why. So, let’s just cut to the chase!

When it comes to anti aging wrinkle cures what works and what doesn’t work? And just how many ‘PROVEN” anti aging wrinkle substances actually exist?

Well, according to a recent review in The Archives of Dermatology, there are THREE treatments out there waiting for you which are “proven clinically effective”!

1. The topical application of retinol


2. Carbon dioxide laser resurfacing


3. An injection of hyaluronic acid

WOW – only three!

Each of these treatments work with the same mechanism of action- the interaction of connective tissue cells (called ‘fibroblasts’) with the collagen they produce.

David Leffell, a professor of dermatology and surgery at Yale, said in response to the study “This is an area where there’s a lot of hype and not much substance”

Of course any of us who have spent a small fortune on anti aging wrinkle creams and serums over the years already know this.

Leffell went on to say that this particular study is “good science”.

What researchers have come to gradually recognize is that the cause of wrinkles lies with damage to the mechanical properties of collagen outside your skin cells, and not necessarily genetic damage to the cells themselves. This discovery sits along side an improved understanding of ‘dermal collagen’ which is your skin’s connective tissue.

So, here’s an easy breakdown.

Fibroblasts create collagen. So, in a perfect world they could go on their merry way unimpeded throughout our lives busily making collagen to keep us looking young. But…..

…of course there’s always a ‘but’ and here it is. Exposure to sunlight diminishes fibroblasts ability to produce collagen!

Which body parts receive the greatest sun exposure? That’s right, your face, neck, hands and upper chest. All the areas where we wrinkle the most (and don’t want to). This connection is clearly demonstrated in fair skinned people whose light-pigmented skin wrinkles more readily than darker skinned people.

You know that your skin naturally deteriorates with age. This is in part because certain enzymes degrade your collagen. But ultraviolet radiation from sunlight sets of the production of these same enzymes. Double whammy! Sun damage to your collagen and its production essentially creates a situation representing accelerated natural chronological aging.

So, with age and exposure to ultraviolet radiation, your collagen fibers deteriorate and fragment. This inhibits the fibroblasts collagen producing ability. As the fragmented collagen accumulates, new collagen production declines, the connections between the fibroblasts and the collagen weaken, and the skin, now lacking support, begins to wrinkle!

Anti Aging Wrinkle Magic

Enter our three proven treatments from above. Each one is able to tackle this destructive process.

Retinol ( a form of vitamin A) when applied topically on your skin causes the production of new collagen in both naturally aged skin and skin damaged by ultraviolet radiation.

How does it do that? Well no-one is really sure, The molecular pathways involved are not very well understood as yet. But as long as we know it works then who really wants to know how it performs its anti aging wrinkle magic.

The next logical question is what concentration of retinol is enough to have an effect?

According to Dr, Gary J. Fisher, a professor of dermatology and the lead author of the review, you should look for concentrations of 0.2% to 0.6%

Strangely enough MANY of the retinol containing skin creams which are available over the counter do not list the concentration of the retinol. Only a company with something to hide would resort to such measures so steer clear of these kind of dubious products.

A totally ineffective concentration of say 0.005% still qualifies a manufacturer to market their retinol wonder product in big bold letters! These incredibly tiny concentrations barely qualify the retinol as the active ingredient! They are simply a waste of money.

And don’t be sucked in by useless products that do state the concentration of retinol on the label. Take careful note of that number!

Now, with over the counter retinol products there is a fine line between effectiveness and side effects! Anti aging wrinkle preparations with retinol concentrations strong enough (as above) to produce results can cause a ‘retinoid dermatitis’. In such cases you must stop using the product. A gradual build-up in concentration has proven effective for some in avoiding this problem.

Retinol also makes your skin more prone to ultraviolet light damage. Strict sun protection measures such as umbrellas or avoiding the sun altogether are absolutely crucial while using retinol.

If you take your anti aging wrinkle strategy very seriously then the best bet is to go for a prescription strength retinol preparation rather than risking an over the counter product.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Strategy – Zap Them

Now we come to the second treatment from our ‘effectiveness proven’ list – carbon dioxide laser resurfacing.

This CO2 laser has been around for quite a while now and it’s effectiveness has been well tested. I definitely know this treatment works because I’ve had it done on my face twice in the past 12 years and my results were nothing short of fantastic. For most people though one treatment in a space of this many years would normally be enough. (When it comes to my anti aging wrinkle program I’m a bit on the ‘intense’ side!)

If you’re not familiar with the CO2 laser, what it does is to burn away very fine layers of skin without damaging surrounding tissue. New collagen is produced as the wound heals.

The healing time takes on average 2-3 weeks. This rather long recovery period is what turns many people away from this treatment option. You need to completely avoid the sun while your skin is healing.

There are several alternative lasers available now which have virtually no recovery downtime but the results are way less noticeable than with the carbon dioxide laser, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried one of these lasers (around my eyes) roughly 1 year ago and frankly I felt that that the financial outlay was just not worth it for the minimal results achieved. Particularly because I had experienced the results of the CO2 laser earlier so it was easy to assess the comparative effectiveness of both treatments.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Injections

Injections of a form of hyaluronic acid, similar to a substance the skin normally produces, into the dermis that underlies the wrinkles is the third and last of our three effective anti wrinkle treatments.

The interesting thing with hyaluronic acid is that it was originally used as a space filler to ‘fill in’ wrinkles. There was no intended physiological outcome.

In time researchers discovered that as the injection stretches the dermis, fibroblasts react by increasing their collagen production levels. The authors of the Archives of Dermatology review cite studies that have demonstrated that increased collagen production is visible within a month after the injection. The benefit lasts about six months, Dr. Fisher said.

You’ll find topical creams containing “Hyaluronic Acid” for sale but this form is not the same as the effective injectable form. It is not possible to stimulate new collagen with these topical skin preparations so please don’t waste your money on any of them.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Cures – Specialized Nutrients

We’ve seen that these three treatments effectively address the reduction of wrinkles and are backed by solid research. But there’s more we can add to create a much more potent anti aging wrinkle program!

You can address your wrinkles from the inside out!

What I mean by this is using cutting edge nutritional science to address the primary causes of chronological aging. This involves sophisticated supplementation with specialized nutrients that can tackle the four fundamental causes of aging.

Do you know what these four ‘aging components’ are?

1. Free Radical Production


2. Glycation


3. Methylation


4. Inflammation

Each of these is a traumatic and highly destructive situation for your health. But all four together represent a colossal tidal wave of health issues and degenerative disease. You see they are all interrelated so you must tackle all four at the same time.

Living in the civilized world of the 21 st century is the chief cause of these four health busting conditions. Their net effect on your health is PREMATURE AGING. This means the greatest majority of people living in the modern civilized world are aging far faster than what mother nature intended.

Besides the onset of degenerative disease, premature aging leads to the degradation of your collagen. Remember I mentioned earlier how your skin naturally deteriorates with age? Well, premature aging speeds that process up tremendously. Basically your collagen begins to collapse and those youth destroying wrinkles appear more and more.

So, as far as your anti aging wrinkle program is concerned, for more powerful results you need a 2 pronged approach. The first is addressing wrinkles at the skin level with the one of the proven treatments from above. The second is to address premature aging by using supplements containing proven nutrients which can take on and deal with free radicals, glycation, methylation and chronic inflammation.

Perhaps you may like to read my anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series There are four parts and each part covers one of these four aging components and reveals the names of the specialized nutrients needed to tackle it. Parts 1-3 are available now and the final article will be out next week. Just use the link above to pop over to Part 1.

Some of these special ingredients are extremely rare in the nutritional supplement industry. In fact, there is only one multi ingredient health/vitamin supplement in the entire market that contains ALL of them to successfully address premature aging by slowing down and normalizing your chronological aging process.

How do I know?

I used to work in the supplement industry and I’ve reviewed hundreds of supplements including the markets leaders. I can tell you that almost all nutritional health supplements (or nutritional vitamin supplements as they’re more commonly called) address free radical production through the use of antioxidants. But as for the other three primary causes of aging, manufacturers simply cannot afford to include the specialized ingredients that can get the job done. That’s because almost all of them set out to manufacture their supplements to a price!

This approach guarantees that they will NOT include all the necessary key ingredients that the latest nutritional science has identified as the most potent and effective!

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Click on this link if you would like to know more about the only nutritional supplement that includes all the specialized ingredients to tackle free radicals, glycation , methylation and inflammation. There’s separate versions for males and females.

And if you would like to read my review of this supplement (it’s called Total Balance) use this link here: Total balance review

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• Laser Wrinkle Removal – There are many wrinkle treatments such as wrinkle serums, anti aging wrinkle creams, anti wrinkle eye creams, wrinkle reducers, wrinkle removers, and wrinkle products on the market. They all claim to be great at wrinkle reduction. …

If you’ve already read Parts One and Two in this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series you’ll understand how the processes that lead to premature aging and the onset of debilitating degenerative disease are all INTERRELATED!

You’ve seen that to be successful, to any real degree, with an anti-aging program you must treat all four of the fundamental components of aging:

Free Radicals
Glycation
Methylation
Inflammation

The bottom line for [tag-tec]nutritional supplements[/tag-tec] marketing themselves as having anti aging benefits and the ability to slow down your aging process, is that they MUST contain the specialized ingredients which can address and tackle not only the free radical problem (which most supplement do reasonably well) but also these other three crippling aging components.

The anti aging secrets presented in parts one and two revealed that when it comes to addressing the first two aging components, free radicals and glycation, virtually all nutritional health supplements and multi ingredient vitamin supplements FAIL to give you either the best of these specialized ingredients (in cases where there are some choices) or NONE AT ALL.

Because almost all supplements are made to a price the manufacturers simply cannot afford to include these expensive rare ingredients!

Anti Aging Secrets – Methylation

So, now I’m going to move on to the third aging factor:-

Methylation

Anti Aging Secrets No 2:

Maintaining and Enhancing Methylation Is A Critical Step In Treating Aging And Disease Including Cancer And Heart Disease!

Have you heard of Methylation before?

Most vitamin supplement consumers won’t have come across it because supplement manufacturers won’t discuss it. Why?

Well that’s an easy answer and I bet you’ve already guessed it. It’s because their products do little to nothing to address Methylation! To mention it would highlight a major weakness in their supplements putting paid to their anti aging and ‘optimal‘ health claims.

Methylation is a biochemical reaction resulting in the attachment of a chemical fragment, called a methyl group, on various substances/molecules in your body, like DNA. DNA methylation is one of the most essential uses of a methylation process however there are many others – in fact there are hundreds of methylation reactions in your body!

So, simply put, methylation is a reaction that provokes changes in your body!

When a a methyl group attaches to some compounds in your body this acts as a catalyst for a reaction to take place such as the ‘turning on of a gene or the activation of an enzyme. (When the methyl group is lost/removed the reaction stops- ie the gene is turned off and the enzyme is deactivated).

Let’s use an example to put this into perspective so that you can understand why we should bother to care or even think about about methylation.

Consider the well known neurotransmitter serotonin.

Receiving a methyl group ‘turns on’ serotonin production leading to appropriate levels of this ‘happy/feel good’ brain chemical. But if your serotonin is not methylated it is turned off and this results in depression. See how methylation can have serious consequences for your health!

Now, people can be an over methylator or they can be an under methylator. In the case of our depression example above let’s say you are an under methylator. If your methylation is increased you may not need to take SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).

This is very important for a person with depression! Further down I’ll explain how supplements can help to increase your methylation.

Please don’t start worrying about whether you’re an over or under methylator. Not everyone is one or the other, there are other groups and you may be in the group that is neither under or over so you’re fine. Statistical analysis by Professor Karl-Peter Pfeiffer from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, suggests 45% are under methylators and 15% are over methylators. That leaves roughly half of the population as neither!

The simplified bottom line for methylation is this:

If your methylation processes are altered, limited or in any way working less than optimally, you are heading for nasty health problems. The effects of under methylation can be seen as premature aging, cancer, heart disease, liver disease and other chronic illness, depression and birth defects. Not to mention the acceleration of your aging process!

So, methylation is incredibly important. It’s a bit like a spark plug in a car- making things turn on and happen. Without methylation you would die in a matter of days!

Anti Aging Secrets – Homocysteine

Now, I’d like to mention homocysteine because the methylation of it is exceptionally crucial to your health.

You’ve probably heard of homocysteine before because of its connection to the most common cause of death in the United States – HEART DISEASE! The medical and health establishments have gone to great lengths over recent years to bring to the general publics attention the importance of keeping their homocysteine levels low.

Homocysteine is a by-product of an important amino acid methionine and is what remains when methionine is used to methylate your proteins and DNA. Homocysteine needs to be methylated and converted back to methionine – it can be toxic if not converted!

How toxic?

Besides heart disease, elevated homocysteine levels are associated with poor circulation, degenerative illnesses (eg Dementia and Alzheimer’s), liver disease, and other severely debilitating conditions!

It is critical to keep your homocysteine levels down!

Anti Aging Secrets – Methylation As Time Goes By

Your body can become methylation-depleted just as it can become depleted with antioxidants or any vitamin or mineral, and with age your methylation process becomes less efficient. This results in DNA damage and a dangerous buildup of homocysteine as well as heightened risk of contracting any of the flow-on degenerative conditions listed above.

So, if you are an under-methylator to begin with or you have become methylation depleted you absolutely need to take action! If you are still young or middle aged then you also need to take action now to balance and possibly enhance your methylation and guard against premature aging and degenerative disease.

The action you need to take is simple! Just supplement your dietary intake with the methylation agents your body needs to successfully complete this task.

Anti Aging Secrets – The Methylation Agents You Must Have In Your Supplement

These 3 groups of compounds are what you want:

• B Vitamins – B6, B12 and Folic Acid
  

• Tri-Methyl-Glycine (TMG) – also known as ‘Betaine’
  

• SAMe (S-Adenosyl-Methionine)

However they are FAR from all equal in their levels of effectiveness as methylating agents!

SAMe stands head and shoulders above the others!

That’s because science and bio-chemistry have long since identified it as the primary methylating substance in the body.

Now, if you think back to parts one and two in this anti aging secrets series you’ll remember how I keep stressing that your aging process results from constituent components which are ALL interrelated.

Free radical damage, (part one), is one of these aging components. So, here’s another example of this interrelationship: free radicals alter methylation patterns!

What’s the big deal with that you may be asking?

Well, it’s these alterations which ‘turn on’ genes.

And that includes CANCER genes!

Anti Aging Secrets No. 3:

SAMe, in it’s role as the primary methylating agent, has the power to reverse damage to methylation patterns caused by free radicals!

So, SAMe is an absolutely vital ingredient that must be in your health supplement if you expect to be successful in your anti aging program. The other methylating agents listed above must of course also be there.

Now, as with parts one and two, I’m going to ask you to go take a look at your supplement bottle label.

In my post about free radicals I asked you to check your label for the most powerful antioxidant L -Glutathione ‘reduced’. Then for glycation you went to check for Carnosine, the only nutrient which can inhibit the formation of those deadly ‘aging’ molecules AGE’s.

I said that because 99% of nutritional vitamin supplements are made to a price, 99% of you won’t find those specialized and critical anti aging ingredients in your supplements because they are simply too expensive for most manufacturers to include.

Well, this time I’m going to ask you to check for SAMe and guess what?

Yes, it’s the same story for this essential ingredient. You won’t find it !

Firstly, because of its super expensive price and secondly, just like L-Glutathione, it is particularly susceptible to damage by stomach acid and so it MUST be used in a pharmaceutical grade enteric coated tablet.

Unless you’re using the supplement that I use, your supplement definitely isn’t enteric coated.

So, SAMe’s not on your supplement label, right? Well, it’s not on mine either!

BUT…… .it will be there by the end of this month. That’s when the 6th Generation version will be released. It already includes all the other effective methylating agents so the inclusion of SAMe will just further enhance it’s existing methylating abilities. This new formula sets a new standard within the supplement industry.

OK, so I’ve now covered three of the four fundamental components of aging (free radicals, glycation, methylation) and we’ve seen the importance of treating all of them in order to produce real anti aging benefits and achieve a life without degenerative disease.

That leaves one more to go.

Look out for my final post in this anti aging secrets series next week where I’ll be discussing inflammation.

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Use this link if you would like to read about the multi ingredient nutritional vitamin supplement I use.

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In Part 1 of this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series I looked at the meaning of anti aging in respect of nutritional supplements. This, I stated, was the ability of nutritional health/vitamin supplements to tackle the number 1 most prevalent health concern of the 21 st century – PREMATURE AGING.

Premature aging is responsible for the host of degenerative diseases and illness’ which are inflicting an ever-increasing percentage of the population at younger and younger ages! The stats are climbing year in year out and I’m sure you’re all too aware of this health-devastating trend.

You only have to think about how many people die these days of a disease! That’s NOT how mother nature planned for us to go out!

So, the ‘[tag-tec]anti aging[/tag-tec]‘ capabilities of [tag-ice]nutritional health supplements[/tag-tec] must not only be able to correct [tag-tec]vitamin[/tag-tec]/mineral deficiencies (the simplest common denominator for all of them) and then also be able to help heal degenerative [tag-ice]disease[/tag-ice] which may already be present, but MOST importantly be able to comprehensively address the causes of premature aging in order to slow down and normalize (to some significant degree) the aging process, thereby addressing the spiraling increase in degenerative disease in western diet based societies

I went on to say that virtually all nutritional vitamin supplements FAIL when it comes to addressing premature aging!

Why?

Because there are four primary components of aging and each of these is interdependent on the other three. So, to successfully address premature aging a supplement must contain specialized ingredients which can adequately tackle ALL FOUR.

But….

…. just about any nutritional health supplement you care to examine, including the most well known and ‘so-called’ elite super supplements, can only take on ONE of these four key aging components – which is the reduction of free radicals through the use of antioxidants. (For MANY supplements it’s primarily by way of the cheap, less potent vitamin antioxidants only).

The other 3 critical aging components which are not addressed are Glycation, Methylation and Inflammation because the specialized ingredients needed to deal with them are simply not there!

I then ‘opened up’ for discussion the first ‘anti aging secret’ – the role of free radicals in our aging process and I revealed the names of the most powerful and effective antioxidants which neutralize them (the antioxidants that most supplements can’t afford to include!)

If you haven’t yet read Part 1 and would like to, just follow this link anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements part 1

Today, I will continue on by looking at Glycation and exposing what specialized ingredients MUST be there (but nearly always aren’t) to tackle this SERIOUS health crippling process.

Anti Aging Secrets – Glycation leads to AGES And AGES AGE US!

Oxidative damage to your cellular DNA from excessive free radical production in your body is a SERIOUS problem for your health and wellness but Glycation is far more destructive!

So, if you’re conscientious about good health it’s VERY important that you understand how to protect yourself from glycation.

Glycation is a complex process so bear with me while I first spend a little time explaining it (as simply as I can) before revealing the names of those ‘ANTI GLYCATING INGREDIENTS that I’m sure you want to know asap!

The glycation process revolves around protein molecules in your body and basically alters/damages their configuration so they are unable to function correctly.

This is REALLY BAD NEWS for your health because your various types of proteins have key responsibilities in performing biological activities throughout your body which are critical to your health.

So, in a nutshell, glycation is a (non-enzymatic) reaction through which glucose molecules and chemicals derived from glucose, known as ‘aldehydes’ (collectively we can call them all ‘glycating agents’ for ease of understanding), bind themselves to your intra- and extracellular protein molecules. ie. the protein molecules have become ‘glycated’!

Glycated proteins are no longer ‘free agents’ able to effectively perform their designated biological duties necessary to guard against premature aging.

GLYCATED PROTEINS ARE RELIABLE MARKERS OF DISEASE AND AGING!

The new structures formed by glycated proteins are called AGEs which stands for Advanced Glycation End-products. These are REALLY DANGEROUS molecules when it comes to your health!

When both of the sticky ends of AGEs attach to other neighboring proteins, they create permanent, disabling links.

Anti Aging Secrets: Cross-Linking And YOUR Wrinkles

This process of inappropriate attachment is called ‘cross-linking’. You’ve probably heard this term ‘cross-linking’ before.

Cross-linked chains of AGES decreases the mobility/elasticity of proteins. Cross-linking of the skin protein ‘collagen’ has been shown to be responsible for wrinkling and other age-related changes in skin. So, if you take in a lot of sugar through you diet you’re going to have more glucose molecules floating around inside you and that means more glycation, leading to the collapse of more collagen and so MORE WRINKLES.

AGES normally form and accumulate at a slow and steady rate in everybody (except those with diabetes where the greatly increased availability of glucose leads to a marked increase in their formation earlier in life).

But, AGES do a lot more health-busting damage than just playing a part in creating wrinkles.

They produce poisonous chemicals and toxic by-products as well as stimulating free radical production leading to further glycation – a vicious cycle endures! Glycated proteins increase free radical production 50 fold (over non-glycated proteins).

Remember how I mentioned in Part 1 that each of the 4 primary aging components were interdependent? See how they work together?

Researchers have also implicated glycation to Alzheimer’s disease!

And there’s more! Glycation contributes to HEART DISEASE. It thickens artery walls and clinical evidence suggests that AGEs are important components in the formation of potentially lethal atherosclerotic plaque – that’s the stuff that can build up to impede and block blood flow in your arteries.

So, you’ve no doubt got the picture by now of how destructive glycation is to your health. You absolutely need to take action to limit the amount of glycation and formation of AGES in you body. This is a VITAL STEP in slowing down and normalizing your aging process.

What to do!

1. GREATLY reduce the intake of sugar in your diet. Learn the ‘hidden’ sugar content of what you are eating. Avoid simple carbohydrates!

 

2. Inactivate the glycating agents (aldehydes) before they can bind to your proteins

 

3. Prevent a glycated protein from binding to another ‘free’ protein and creating a cross-linked chain

You’re wondering what to do for steps 2 and 3, right?

Well, you can achieve that through ‘Carnosinylation’!

Huh?

A clever and powerful nutrient called Carnosine (an amino acid) is capable of defending your body’s proteins against glycation. The process by which carnosine does this is called carnosinylation.

Inhibiting The Formation Of AGES Is An ESSENTIAL Part Of Any SUCCESSFUL Anti Aging And Life Extension Program!

Here’s what carnosine actually does!

1. It can bind itself to glycating agents and NEUTRALIZE them

2. And it can put a shield around a protein molecule which already has a glycating agent attached. This protects and prevents it from cross-linking with another protein

NO OTHER NUTRIENT CAN DO THIS!

Oh, and carnosine stops the oxidative damage of free radicals!

If you go and check your supplement label I bet you won’t find carnosine listed there. That’s because it’s a very expensive ingredient for nutritional supplement manufacturers to purchase. They simply can’t afford to include it. So, once again we come back to the greatest limitation in the formulation (and effectiveness) of nutritional vitamin supplements – that they are made to a price!

This is why supplement companies (deliberately) fail to mention glycation on their websites or in their product marketing presentations. They don’t want to highlight a major weakness in their product!

Anti Aging Secrets: How Much Carnosine?

“Like so many nutrients there is no real evidence to support the premise ‘more is better’“

The generally accepted effective dose rate is 50 – 150 mg daily!

The multi ingredient health supplement my family and I have used for the past 7 years is called Total Balance and it includes a generous dose of 100 mg of carnosine in a daily dose. (That’s one of the main reasons I originally opted to use it.)

Use these links to take a look at total balance mens plus or total balance womens plus

Or follow this link if you’d like to read my in-depth review of total balance (It’s a loooong one!)

Now, some of you may be thinking right about now about racing out to buy a bottle of isolated carnosine. Don’t do that.

Carnosine, like most specialty nutrients, works FAR more effectively when combined with other compatible ingredients (that’s why you need a professional grade supplement formulated by a bio-scientist or chemist because only they know what nutrients are compatible with one another at the molecular level in your body to synergize enhanced efficacy).

Supplements put together by physicians and worse still by marketers, don’t even come close to making the grade!

And , as you’ve discovered, glycation is only one of the four (interdependent) primary components of aging. There’s not much point in addressing only glycation at the expense of the other 3.

Anti aging secrets special note:

There are currently some really promising experimental drugs being tested to fight AGES – but sorry you’ll have to wait a while. None are yet commercially available. If and when any do become available I’ll be sure to make a post about it.

In the next part of this anti aging secrets series I’ll discuss the third aging component, METHYLATION, and give you a heads-up on the special methylation agents you need in your vitamin supplement to combat it.

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Todays post about anti aging secrets with respect to nutritional health supplements is a very interesting one which I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading. You’re going to discover a number of ‘eye opening’ facts which most of you won’t have come across before.

These are facts which supplement manufacturers and companies definitely don’t want you to know because they reveal major weaknesses and limitations in their products when it comes to anti aging claims.

I’ve decided to split this topic up because it’s quite a complex one. To keep it ‘readable’ and not bombard you with too much technical detail in any one post I’ve divided it into 4 parts which will appear over the next 2 weeks.

Now, if you’re a regular subscriber you will have noticed I haven’t made a post for over 2 weeks. So, first up let me apologize for that.

I’m actually on vacation in Sydney so it’s hard to get ‘online time’ as per my normal schedule.

Additionally, my website nutritional-supplements-truths.com has recently begun to ‘boom’ and I’ve become inundated with reader questions like never before. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs doing.

Anyway, enough with the excuses, let’s start digging into those anti aging secrets!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – SOME YOU KNOW SOME YOU DON’T!

That word ‘anti aging’ has been bandied around in all the various media forms for years now. So much so that of late it has totally outgrown any ‘legitimate’ roots it originally had. Now we are faced with a literal tidal wave of products in the marketplace all promoting some form of ‘anti aging’ capacity.

From a business marketing point of view the term ‘anti aging’ is simply a connotation for looking and feeling younger in some way or to some degree and ‘anti aging’ has basically become nothing more than a valuable brand through which businesses can increase sales!

But, the misleading and deceptive marketing presentations of numerous ‘anti aging’ product manufacturers, not to mention outright fraudulent practices, seems to have reached no limits! That’s because of the enormous profits driven by the antiaging phenomena and these are of course an intrinsic result of people’s natural desire to look good and maintain their youth.

With nutritional science constantly evolving and promising ‘better and better’ results, people are spending increasing amounts of their disposable income in the hunt for stronger anti aging properties.

It’s clear to me thought that an increasing number of savvy health-conscious consumers are learning to no longer be sucked in by exaggerated ‘anti aging’ claims and to take them with a grain of salt. So the lingering question as to the ‘worthiness’ of anti aging products must then become one of degree.

To what degree are anti aging benefits obtainable from a given anti aging product’?

Let’s address that question from the point of view of nutritional health / vitamin supplements.

ANTI AGING SECRETS – NUTRITIONAL HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS

Can nutritional health supplements create significant anti aging benefits for the user?

From a nutritional science standpoint the answer is “yes!”

But do they?

For almost all supplements the answer is a definite “no!” (Note I said “almost”)

To understand why this is the case we first need to define ‘anti-aging’.

The term ‘Anti Aging’ has evolved to represent a number of different common meanings and connotations depending upon whether you’re dealing with the medical, scientific or business communities.

Nutritional health supplements of course define ‘anti aging’ purely from a business perspective and as such we need to address the following common product claims:

• Stopping your aging process

• Reversing your aging process or “turning back the clock”

• Slowing down / normalizing your aging process

I would be highly surprised to find anyone who honestly believes a nutritional supplement can actually “stop” the aging process despite this subtle connotation wafting out from cleverly put together marketing presentations by disreputable supplement companies.

Most supplement manufacturers however would definitely have you believe their supplements can turn back the clock making you look and feel (biologically) younger.

But the truth is that’s not possible. Well at least not yet!

When it comes to the word ‘reverse’ (certain) supplements can undo (to varying degrees) the effects of degenerative and age-related disease thus technically speaking making some people feel and look younger. This can to some be interpreted as an anti aging response.

The market’s best nutritional health / vitamin supplements are also believed to be able to improve damaged DNA. This goes far beyond their abilities to simply limit oxidative damage to DNA through the use of antioxidants. Here we are talking about actually repairing damage that has already occurred!

That’s what the leading industry experts are trying to do right now – find a way to clinically prove that their supplements actually do repair damaged DNA.

Assuming they can do this then at that point the “turning the clock back” claim will become valid.

But, as of right now, what are we left with?

• Slowing down and normalizing your aging process!

• Bringing it back more in tune with what nature originally intended!

This is what I believe is the appropriate anti aging definition in respect of nutritional health supplements.

It must also be remembered that anti aging is relative to the times we live in and the way in which we are now aging. In other words it is linked to 21 st century environmental, emotional and dietary/nutritional stressors which are currently impacting on our aging processes.

The bottom line here is that the daily effects of these stressors has resulted in a speeding up of the aging process for an overwhelming majority of the population. Premature aging if you prefer.

MOST PEOPLE ARE AGING WAY TOO QUICKLY – FAR FASTER THAN WHAT NATURE INTENDED!

This is clear with just a casual look at the ever increasing year on year stats for degenerative disease like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke and so on. People are contracting these life-debilitating diseases at earlier and earlier ages.

How often do we now hear of people in their 40′s having had a heart attack!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – THE COMPONENTS OF AGING

To be capable of producing significant and effective anti aging effects which slow down and normalize aging, a nutritional vitamin supplement must address the primary causes of aging!

But….

This Is A Complex And Multi-Faceted Task!

Yet 99% of supplements, including virtually all the market’s leading, so-called ‘elite’ multi ingredient vitamin / health supplements address this task via ONE APPROACH ONLY – the reduction of free radicals through the use of antioxidants!

This is why they FAIL to make any real headway!

Anti Aging Can Only Be Successfully Accomplished By Targeting The Main Components Of Aging – Not Just One!

There are numerous causes attributed to aging but without doubt four of the primary and most important ones are:

• Free radicals

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

So, that means your supplement must be capable of:

• Using Antioxidants to reduce and control your free radical production

• Preventing Glycation which leads to Age’s

• Balancing Methylation for Healthy DNA

• Reducing Chronic Inflammation which contributes to degeneration.

The critical aspect to understand here is that these critical components ARE ALL INTERDEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER!

Optimizing the normalization of your aging process means you must not short change yourself by excluding any one!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – REDUCING FREE RADICALS

Today I’ll concentrate on the free radical component of aging and then tackle the other components in parts 2, 3 and 4 of this anti aging secrets topic.

Just about every supplement consumer out there has heard of free radicals and antioxidants, right!

You probably know that antioxidants are like ‘superheroes’ for your health and that free radicals are really nasty, unstable molecules wandering around inside you which can cause you serious health problems.

Antioxidants have the ability to neutralize free radicals and so your body uses them to keep your free radical population to adequate levels and minimize the damage they cause.

If your free radical levels are in excess they will accelerate your aging and basically cause havoc to your health.

Here are just some of the diseases linked to excess free radicals:

• Various Cancers

• Arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis

• Heart Disease

• Stroke

• Arthritis

• Diabetes

• Alzheimer’s

• Emphysema

• Ulcers

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Cataracts

• Senility

Now we come to ‘Oxidation’.

Picture an apple which you’ve taken a bite out of and left sitting for 20 minutes on the kitchen sink. The exposed inside part of the apple has turned brown right! This is an example of a process called oxidation (chemicals inside the apple have reacted with oxygen in the air) and this is what oxidation does on a molecular level!

So, what you need to know here is that oxidation creates those bad guys – free radicals!

And there’s oxidation going on inside you ALL THE TIME. Just the simple act of breathing in oxygen (respiration) creates oxidation which in turn creates free radicals. So, you can’t avoid oxidation nor the creation of those nasty free radicals, they are continuous and inescapable!

But not to worry because in controlled quantities free radicals are fine. They are in fact necessary in many of your metabolic processes. The bottom line is simply to ensure that oxidative stress and the production of free radicals do not increase to the point of over production!

Remember above I mentioned that environmental, societal and dietary/nutritional stressors are to blame for premature aging.

Things like smoking including second hand smoke, air pollution, electromagnetic radiation including sunlight and x-rays, stress, exercise, food additives, toxic chemicals, smoked and barbecued foods, lack of nutrients in our diet, pharmaceutical drugs, and even alcohol all create free radicals.

In the civilized world of today you are impacted by these factors every single day. You simply cannot escape them! Three or four decades ago things were significantly different. Food was not processed as it is today and it was far more nutritious with a much greater antioxidant content. Nor were people exposed to today’s ridiculous levels of pollution and toxins.

Faced with these dilemmas you need to take action to ensure you take in enough antioxidants to meet the double challenge of these destructive free radical promoters and an antioxidant depleted food chain!

Supplements are a popular and sensible choice of action!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION

All nutritional health supplements tackle the free radical component of aging through the use of antioxidants.

In cheap and middle of the road supplements you will always find the well known vitamin antioxidants vitamins A, C, E and the trace mineral selenium, all of which are quite weak (and very cheap ingredients for manufacturers to use!)

The up-market multis do much better by using more powerful and expensive antioxidants like green tea, gingko biloba, alpha lipoic acid, lutein, bilberry and grape extract.

BUT NONE OF THESE CAN COMPARE TO AN EXCEPTIONALLY POTENT ANTIOXIDANT LIKE L-GLUTATHIONE!

Anti aging secrets No. 1:

L-Glutathione is an absolutely critical anti aging ingredient which you definitely want to see in your supplement!

But in 99% of supplements you won’t find it for 2 reasons!

Firstly, L-Glutathione needs to be in the ‘reduced’ form. This is a smaller molecular size because ‘normal’ L-Glutathione will not pass through the intestinal walls into the blood stream.

Due to the extreme price of reduced form L-Glutathione very few supplement companies can afford to include it. That’s because almost all supplements are made to a price!

Secondly, L-Glutathione must be protected as it passes through the stomach before being released in the upper intestine! This is the only place that L-Glutathione when taken orally can be effective.

This means that any supplement containing L-Glutathione needs to be ENTERIC COATED! This is a special aqueous coating which protects tablet ingredients from exposure to stomach acid and then harmlessly dissolves when the tablet reaches the alkaline environment of the upper intestine.

Once again due to price controls enteric coating is almost never used on multi ingredient vitamin health supplements. (The unique supplement I use is a rare exception).

Incredibly there are market leading health supplements out there which include L-Glutathione in the ‘normal’ form and without enteric coating.

This is a perfect example of how supplement companies, including the biggest and most well known ones, can deceive you and hide weaknesses in their products.

Of course L-Glutathione is not a miracle worker. It needs to be backed up by a wide range of other powerful antioxidants. The synergy created as these age defying nutrients interact together at the the molecular level create far more potent results in neutralizing more free radicals and bringing their production back more acceptable levels.

Here’s a list of the most potent antioxidants which you need backing up L-Glutathione in your supplement:

• N-Acetyl L-Cysteine
• Lutein
• Bilberry Extract
• L-Carnosine
• Green Tea Extract
• Grape Seed Extract
• Gingko Biloba
• Alpha Lipoic Acid

ANTI AGING SECRETS PART 1 – SUMMING UP

At the top of this article I said that while nutritional health supplements can create significant anti aging benefits, virtually all do not. Since they are made to a price the bio-chemists formulating them simply cannot include all the ingredients that they know should be there to get the job done properly.

Just look at what I’ve revealed for our first component of aging – free radical production!

Does your supplement contain L-Glutathione in the reduced form with an effective dose amount of at least 100 mg AND is it enteric coated? Does it contain every one or at least most of the key antioxidants listed above?

Unless your using the same supplement that I do then I know the answer is ‘no’.

Now, keep in mind that free radicals are ONLY ONE of the four primary causes of aging so there’s a lot more that a supplement has to tackle to truly address the anti aging issue and protect you from degenerative disease.

In my next 3 posts I’ll address the other 3 key components of aging:

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

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P.S. If you’d like to read a review of the one of a kind nutritional health supplement I use, just follow this link, it’s called Total Balance

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Last week I posted an entry about the negative [tag-tec]supplement[/tag-tec] report released last month in the Harvard Men’s Health Watch newsletter.

In that post I made mention of the fact that over the years there has been research and studies released which have “been ‘sponsored’ by those with ‘anti-supplement vested interests’, such as Big Pharma, where the final conclusion has been pre-determined before the study even begins!”

So today I thought I would tell you about another NASTY behavior of pharmaceutical drug companies – HIDING NEGATIVE DRUG STUDIES!

In January this year researchers reported that almost a third of antidepressant studies are never published (anywhere) and almost all these hidden studies show that the drug being tested did not work!

This behavior is known as the “file drawer effect” and it is believed to have been going on for years.

A research team of the Oregon Health and Science University reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that unfavorable results have also been altered in some studies to make it appear that the drug is more effective than it really is.

This of course has serious and potentially deadly consequences for the public because doctors rely on published studies to help guide them in which medicines they prescribe to patients.

The researchers found 74 studies that were started for the 12 antidepressants and that 38 produced positive results for the drug they dealt with. It’s no surprise that 37 of these were subsequently published.

BUT…

The remaining 36 studies showed negative or questionable results (as assessed by the FDA.) Of these only 3 were published and 11 more were written up and published in a way that conveyed the outcome that the drug had worked!

See what we’re up against when it comes to the power and influence of greedy pharmaceutical companies!

As an example:

Antidepressant and Company Name

Paxil GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

7 negatives studies. 5 never published

Wellbutrin GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

3 studies found. 2 were negative. Both never published

Zoloft Pfizer

5 studies found. 3 were negative. All 3 never published.

The FDA concluded that a fourth study was ‘questionable’ and this was written up to make it seem that the drug worked.

So, what did the companies say when they were contacted in reference to this?

GSK said they post the data from ALL studies on the Internet!

Pfizer responded that ALL its drug studies are disclosed within a year.

Do you believe them?

Let me know your opinion in the comment section below.

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Are you using an upmarket multi ingredient vitamin supplement? The types of supplements promoted as super supplements? Do these higher prices give you SUPER ingredients, SUPER efficiency and SUPERIOR value for money? Let’s find out!

Just how super are super supplements – find out here

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Good Health Always!

I’m sure you’ve already heard the stories!

Drug companies authorizing and training their sales reps to ‘take care’ of doctors and nurture the relationship so that in return the doctors will gratefully prescribe the companies drugs to their patients.

This is a MAJOR part of why we are living in an age where 6,000,000 CHILDREN ARE TAKING PSYCH DRUGS!

It’s shocking and immoral but it’s far from a perfect world we live in – especially when it comes to YOUR health care. As you probably know it all comes down to the mighty dollar!

That’s why the major drug companies are ripping in unheard of profits!

And the drug companies are going to keep doing whatever it takes to push their drugs onto the end-user because Americans love popping pills.

Why?

Because they want it ALL! A lazy lifestyle, dreadful diets AND [tag-ice]LONGEVITY[/tag-ice]! (Americans maintain the longest life expectancy of all developed nations!)

You know the really frustrating part of this is that the most profitable pharmaceutical drugs in the market are those that treat PREVENTABLE diseases like high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering drug, is the #1 medication sold in the USA.

Get this – it brings in sales of about 12 Billion Dollars a year! Whoa – 12 billion!

The greed and profiteering of the major drug companies seems to know no bounds!

So then , the number one question to ask is:

“What exactly is going on behind the closed doors of doctors offices across America?”

A former drug rep came out last month to confirm the answer! Right up he admitted he was paid to wine and dine doctors to make a sale!

Shahram Ahari, spent 2 years at Eli Lilly where he sold the popular psych drugs Prozac and Zypraxa.

Ahari told a Senate Aging Committee that his job involved “rewarding physicians with gifts and attention for their allegiance to your product and company despite what may be ethically appropriate.”

Ahari claims that despite having no background in science, former cheerleaders, athletes, models and even military personnel were often hired by drug companies as sales reps.

Clearly drug companies are using more than just the merits of the drugs themselves to influence prescribing decisions!

During their five-week training class, Ahari says he was taught sales tactics such as:

• How to exceed spending limits for important clients

• How to be generous with free samples to leverage sales

• How to use friendships and personal gifts to foster a “quid pro quo” relationship

• How to exploit sexual tension

This whistle-blower basically ‘said it all’ when he uttered:

“The nature of this business is gift-giving.”

Would you like to know some of the more lavish types of gifts that doctors receive?

Ahari claims he’s heard stories about sales reps ‘helping’ with the costs of a doctor’s swimming pool and regular trips to nightclubs where a hostess was paid to keep the doctor company!

Hmmmmm!

The pharmaceutical companies are always telling us about the high costs of research for the development of prescription drugs but what about their marketing budgets - what must they be…?

Keep in mind that the pharmaceutical industry is bringing in new record profits — more than 3 times the average of other Fortune 500 industries, that’s after all research and development costs.

So how much are the sales reps getting for this type of work?

Apparently it’s often more than the researchers earn! Isn’t that truly incredible!

On top of a base salary of $50,000 for starting reps, Ahari says, “there were four quarterly bonuses, an annual bonus, stock options, a car, 401K, great health benefits, and a $60,000 expense account.”

What didn’t they get!

Recommended Reading:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/guess-whos-educating-your-doctor/ Guess Who’s Educating Your Doctor – Tara Parker-Pope NY Times Blog </a>

Sources:

ABC News March 12, 2008

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Are you using an upmarket multi ingredient vitamin supplement? The types of supplements promoted as super supplements? Do these higher prices give you SUPER ingredients, SUPER efficiency and SUPERIOR value for money? Let’s find out!

Just how super are super supplements – find out here

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Brett’s Comments:

This issue seems to have good recognition with health conscious consumers but not so with less healthy people who visit their doctors more often.

Almost all of my friends are well educated about [tag-tec]health[/tag-tec] and [tag-tec]nutrition[/tag-tec] and when I mentioned this story to more than a dozen of them during last week, every single one knew about ‘gift-giving’ practices to doctors and said it was “old news” to them.

Then I mentioned exactly the same thing to 5 people I know who are not in very good shape and have terrible diets full of processed foods and junk foods.

Only one of them said he had heard of the gift giving problem.

The health conscious people all said they are very well aware that their doctors were under this kind of influence and accordingly they not only questioned their doctors when a drug was subscribed but also researched the drug on the web the very same day.

Only then did they make the decision whether to take the drug or revisit their doctor (and in a few cases it was a different doctor for a second opinion.)

Shahram Ahari is one of very few sales reps who has seen and partaken in these corrupt practices and then gone public with them.

He is giving the public the confirmation for what many of us knew was going on but it’s still shocking to hear the extent of this ethical corruption with swimming pools, night clubs and hostesses!

As of April 2007 only 7% of U.S. Doctors refuse to meet with drug sales reps.

What does that mean to you?

That your doctor is probably under the influence of sales reps and has comfy relations with them!

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine reveals the following:

28% of doctors have been paid for consulting services, lectures or signing their patients up for clinical trials

80% of doctors commonly accept free food and samples of drugs

94% of doctors have some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical drug industry

One third of doctors were reimbursed by the drug industry for attending professional meetings and/or further education classes

According to a report by Ahari and a colleague, published in PLoS Medicine

“Reps may be genuinely friendly, but they are not genuine friends. Drug reps are selected for their presentability and outgoing natures, and are trained to be observant, personable, and helpful. They are also trained to assess physicians’ personalities, practice styles, and preferences, and to relay this information back to the company.”

This is very serious stuff!

EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE

The drug sales reps are purposely trained with cutting edge tactics and strategies that will effectively brainwash a doctor for a successful outcome.

Tactics for manipulating physicians are clearly printed out for reps to follow.

For example:

To see the entire chart just use this link:

tactics for manipulating doctors

From the moment a sales rep enters a doctors office the contest begins!

“A photo on a desk presents an opportunity to inquire about family members and memorize whatever tidbits are offered (including names, birthdays, and interests); these are usually typed into a database after the encounter. Reps scour a doctor’s office for objects—a tennis racquet, Russian novels, seventies rock music, fashion magazines, travel mementos, or cultural or religious symbols—that can be used to establish a personal connection with the doctor.”

TO SUM UP

If your doctor is seeing drug reps there is a VERY STRONG likelihood that he/she has been manipulated by the huge multinational drug companies hiding behind their reps and as a result your doctor is probably biased in his attitudes and choices towards the drugs he/she prescribes.

In other words your doctor, perhaps quite unintentionally, does not have a free choice in the medicines he/she prescribes and that means there is the possibility that you may not get the absolute best medicine at the best price.

SO, STAY HEALTHY AND STAY AWAY FROM THE DOCTORS OFFICE!

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This person made 3 comments in his post, all of which I have seen quite regularly on health sites around the web and ALL 3 represent common misconceptions with regard to nutritional supplements!

These particular misconceptions are proof of the popular saying “If you throw enough mud for long enough some of it will stick!”

And the Internet only serves to exacerbate this problem!

Because I take issue with these comments on several levels I have decided to address them in my blog post for today.

”What are they” you ask?

Here’s what the reader said:

1. “Almost all the studies we read about these days are flawed or intentionally skewed….

2. Most supplements on the market are just a waste of money, they contain synthetic or low quality ingredients….

3. ….and what’s actually much worse are the excipients that they are made with – magnesium stearate, stearic acid, vegetable cellulose, etc. are all damaging to the human body, specifically as immunosuppressants”

Hmmmmmmm!

Here are my responses:-

1) Almost All Studies Are Flawed:

It’s waaaaaay too much of an all-encompassing generalization to say “almost all studies …. are flawed or intentionally skewed”.

While some studies, such as the recent Cochrane Report on [tag-tec]supplements[/tag-tec] and early death, are definitely skewed in favour of a pre-existing bias, the majority of studies are conducted in a manner in which much useful information can be gained.

Yes, there will always be flaws in a study; new information will appear that casts things in a different light, the study may not be long enough, the study may not necessarily be looking at the correct values or some of the participants may not be “suitable” for the study, among many other reasons.

But this is no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water!

Even in a “flawed” study there can still be a lot of useful information gathered!

I have stressed this before – it is important to DIG A LITTLE DEEPER and look CLOSELY at the:-

• The reason behind the study – what are they REALLY looking for?

• The parameters used to verify the hypothesis (EVERY study should have a clearly defined hypothesis based on previous research being investigating, rather than just seeing what effect an ingredient has)

• Statistical methods used to analyze the results (remember there are 3 types of UNTRUTH: lies, damned lies and STATISTICS!)

• And even the conclusions that the researchers come to.

Everything needs to be looked at closely and in detail. This is part of the reason why peer-review is important (though it also to be taken to a degree with a grain of salt).

2) Most Supplements Are A Waste Of Money

Yes – I do AGREE that MOST supplements on the market today are a WASTE OF MONEY!

They are contract manufactured, with the cheapest and sometimes useless ingredients of low quality.

They are formulated by people who have no understanding of [tag-tec]nutrition[/tag-tec],[tag-ice] nutritional[/tag-ice] science or [tag-tec]health[/tag-tec]!

But Not ALL supplements are like that!

There is an elite group at the top of the market which are formulated using genuine nutritional science, are manufactured by the company promoting and selling the product, using the best quality materials available including many ingredients that are not in the “run-of-the-mill” products.

These supplements are VERY GOOD VALUE and are the only ones you should use to support your health and [tag-ice]longevity[/tag-ice]!

3) Excipients Are All Damaging To The Body

Again, this person gets very ‘all-encompassing’ with the “excipients….are all damaging to the human body” statement.

This is RUBBISH!

Virtually all excipients, but especially magnesium stearate, stearic acid, vegetable cellulose ARE DERIVED FROM PLANTS!

Is this person saying that we SHOULDN’T EAT PLANTS?

Because all these types of excipients are ordinarily present in plants that are a part of the ordinary diet, and the quantities eaten as part of the diet FARRRRR outweigh the amounts in [tag-ice]nutritional health supplements[/tag-ice].

In the case of stearic acid this is a vital component of the diet that is used in a large number of functions within the body. It can even be used to produce unsaturated fats.

The state-of-the art [tag-tec]vitamin supplement[/tag-tec], Total Balance,I take uses Magnesium Stearate, Carboxy Methyl Celluose (CMC), Microcrystalline Celluose (MCC), Calcium Phosphate, Dextrose and Silicon Dioxide as excipients, and ONLY these.

You can view Total Balance here.

The first 3 are derived from plants, calcium phosphate is a component in hydroxyapatite that makes up 70% of bone, dextrose is a form of glucose, one of the most important sugars in the body, and silicon dioxide is known to pass through the body unchanged.

Many other (less professional and responsible) companies may use a much larger range of excipients 10-20 – even 62!), some of which may have harmful effects, but Xtend-Life which manufactures Total Balance choses only these ones because they can either be used in the body or pass through.

The Chairman of the company once told me that limiting their excipient range often creates problems for them and their tablets resulting in additional expense.

But they accept that as a consequence of producing a safe, high quality, healthy supplement.

Does Your Supplement Manufacturer Follow Suit?

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Good Health Always!