First you can read this article from Dr. Ray Strand. You can also download it and print it if you would like to. www.xxx.org
Or you can always go strait to the website at www.bionutrition.org
But here it is….
Oxidative Stress
Even though the average life expectancy in the United States has increased dramatically during this past century, our quality of life due to chronic degenerative disease has taken a major hit. We are essentially "living too short and dying too long". Most of us can simply look forward to suffering and dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, macular degeneration, and the list goes on and on, unless we literally attack the underlying cause of All of these diseases—oxidative stress.
How long do you expect to live? Now envision what your last twenty years will look like. I can assure you my patients today are not as concerned with the number of years in their lives as they are the quality of life in those years. Who wants to live to a ripe old age if he or she cannot even recognize close family members because of Alzheimer’s dementia? Who looks forward to a decade or two of suffering severe joint or back pain due to degenerative arthritis?
One of my close friends told me recently that he simply wants to live until he dies. Is this your desire? It certainly is mine. That is why I recommend preventative rather than post-problem medicine—empowering people to avoid getting major diseases in the first place. Over the past seven years, I have changed my approach. I now strongly encourage and support my patients in taking a three-fold approach to health: eating well, practicing a consistent exercise program, and daily consuming high-quality nutritional supplements. I now use medication as a last resort—not as my first choice.
Do you fear growing old? Have you accepted chronic disease or pain as a given in your future? Are you willing to make necessary life changes to ensure your health? I believe a full and abundant physical life does not need to start slipping away at age forty. Each year of your life can be your very best. But first you must understand the war that is waging within every one of our bodies.
Oxygen is essential for life itself. But did you know it is also inherently dangerous to our existence? I call this the "dark side" of oxygen. And as a result, we are essentially rusting both inside and out. The same process that causes a cut apple to turn brown or iron to rust is the cause of all the chronic degenerative diseases we fear and even the aging process itself.
Consider the aging of our skin. Oxidative stress is the cause of wrinkles, sagging skin, and age spots. The next time you are with a large gathering of people of different ages, observe closely the change you see in people’s skin. Aging is a process we all take for granted, but when you look more closely, and compare a baby’s face, to that of a grandparent’s, the effects of our largest organ being exposed to all the pollutants in the air, sunlight, and cigarette smoke is baffling. This aging of the skin is an outward manifestation of "oxidative stress," which is occurring within every cell in your body.
Over the past 7 years, I have reviewed well over 2,000 medical and scientific studies in regards to nutritional supplements and their affect on your health. These studies appearing in medical journals like the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, British Lancet, and Annuals of Internal Medicine report that beyond any doubt the "root" cause of well over 70 chronic degenerative diseases is "oxidative stress." These are the "who’s who" of diseases we all fear and want to avoid; diseases like heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s dementia, macular degeneration, lupus, MS, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue. "So what," you may be wondering, "is ‘oxidative stress’?"
Within every cell of the body is a furnace called the mitochondria. As oxygen is utilized within the furnace of the cell to create energy and life itself, occasionally a charged oxygen molecule is created, called a "free radical." This free radical has at least one unpaired electron in its outer orbit essentially giving it an electrical charge. If this free radical is not readily neutralized by an antioxidant it can go on to create more volatile free radicals, damage the cell wall, vessel wall, proteins, fats, and even the DNA nucleus of our cells. Chemically this reaction has been shown to be so volatile that it actually causes bursts of light within our bodies!
Imagine yourself in front of a crackling fireplace and I’ll give you the best illustration I have to explain the process of oxidation. The fire burns safely and beautifully most of the time, but on occasion out pops a hot cinder that lands on your carpet and burns a little hole in it. One cinder by itself doesn’t pose much of a threat; but if this sparking and popping continues month after month, year after year, you will have a pretty "ratty" carpet in front of your fireplace.
The fireplace represents the furnace of the cell (the mitochondria), the cinder is the charged "free radical," and the carpet is your body. Whichever part of your body receives the most free radical damage will be the first to wear out and potentially cause one of these degenerative diseases. If it’s your arteries, you could develop a heart attack or stroke. If it is your brain, you could develop Alzheimer’s dementia or Parkinson’s disease. If it’s your joints, you could develop arthritis.
Through biochemical research we’re learning that we are not defenseless against this attack on our body by free radicals. Antioxidants are like the glass doors or fine-wire mesh we place in front of our fireplace. The sparks are still going to fly but our carpet will then be protected. As you begin to imagine the war that is taking place within every cell in your body, you can envision the two opposing forces: the enemy—free radicals; and your allies—antioxidants and their supporting nutrients.
Living a healthy life becomes a matter of balance. You must have enough antioxidants available to readily neutralize the number of free radicals your body produces. If you don’t, "oxidative stress" will occur. When this oxidative stress is allowed to persist over a prolonged period of time, you will most likely develop a serious chronic degenerative disease.
Each of us must ask, "Am I getting enough antioxidants from my diet to protect myself from this onslaught of free radicals or do I need to be taking nutritional supplements?" This is the question that I’ve had to ask myself as I have spent countless hours researching medical literature. You see I was taught in medical school that you don’t need supplements—that you can get everything you need from a good, healthy diet. And this is what I told my patients for years. I was wrong.
Since balance is the key, we need to look closely at the individual players that are at war within. The number of free radicals you produce each and every day is never the same. All the pollutants in our air, food, and water dramatically increase the number of free radicals we produce. Enormous stress, excessive exercise, cigarette smoke, sunlight, radiation, and every drug prescribed greatly increase the number of free radicals produced in the body. In fact, there has never been a generation on this planet subjected to more oxidative stress than this present one. We are literally under attack from our polluted environment, stressful lifestyles, and over-medicated society.
This ongoing attack is depriving us of our most precious gift—our health. But God did not leave us defenseless against this onslaught by free radicals. In fact, we actually have our own army of antioxidants, which are able to neutralize free radicals and render them harmless. In generations past, these defense systems were sufficient. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Our bodies’ defense systems need additional allies.
Most antioxidants come from vegetables and fruit. This creates a gap in our protection, because our foods have become significantly depleted in their content of antioxidants and supporting minerals as a result of mineral depletion in our soils, green harvesting, cold storage, foods that are highly processed, our poor food choices and food preparation.
At a time when we are under the heaviest attack from the environment around us, our natural defense systems are becoming overwhelmed and depleted. We must do all we can to rebuild our antioxidant systems with a healthy diet, but too you need to learn how complete and balanced nutritional supplementation with high quality supplements is our best hope in winning this war within and protecting our health.
Cellular Nutrition
We have no choice but to live in our present environment. Our bodies are affronted daily by excessive production of free radicals caused by our polluted environment, stressful lifestyles, and over-medicated society. Though we can certainly reduce the amount of free radicals our bodies produce by: not smoking, decreasing stress levels, and avoiding toxic chemicals, most of our bodies are still unable to fight the overwhelming daily attack on the natural defense system. Remember balance is the key--we need enough antioxidants available to neutralize the free radicals produced.
Over the past 50 years, nutritional medicine and supplementation has focused on replenishing a nutritional deficiency. Countless hours and dollars have been spent trying to determine exactly which nutrients our bodies are depleted of. Blood tests, urine tests, hair samples, muscle testing, and more have been conducted in an attempt to determine which nutrients we need to supplement. However, we have been aiming at the wrong target. The present problem is not a nutritional deficiency, but rather, underlying oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has now been shown beyond any shadow of doubt via medical research to be the root cause of over 70 chronic degenerative diseases. Diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s dementia, macular degeneration, lupus, MS, and the list goes on and on.
Because oxidative stress is our concern rather than specific nutritional deficiencies, we must determine what is the best approach to preventing or controlling oxidative stress. This is accomplished by bolstering one’s natural defenses through cellular nutrition.
Cellular nutrition is simply providing ALL nutrients to the cell at optimal levels. This allows the cell to determine what it actually does and does not need. I don’t have to worry about determining which nutrients the cell is deficient in. I simply provide all of the important nutrients at optimal levels—those levels shown to provide a health benefit in the medical literature. Any nutritional deficiencies will be automatically corrected over the next few months by this approach and all the other vital nutrients will be brought up to their optimal levels as well.
Cellular nutrition is providing the body with all the antioxidants along with the supporting B vitamins and antioxidant minerals at optimal levels. This is "preventive medicine" at its best because we can literally attack the disease process at its core by preventing oxidative stress from occurring.
You may be wondering if we can control oxidative stress by simply improving our diet and eating more fruits and vegetables. This is definitely a good start. By simply eating 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day you can decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s dementia, and cancer, two to three fold. We certainly want to supplement a good diet—not a bad diet. However, even if you eat a great diet you can barely obtain the RDA level of all essential nutrients. Medical studies have shown that less than 1% of the American population accomplishes this on a consistent basis.
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA):
Research studies reveal standards of recommended daily allowance (RDA’s) have absolutely nothing to do with chronic degenerative diseases. RDA’s were developed to avoid what are known as acute deficiency diseases like scurvy (deficiency of vitamin C), rickets (deficiency of vitamin D), and pellagra (deficiency of niacin). In other words, if you consumed the RDAs for vitamin C, vitamin D, and niacin, you would not develop any of these illnesses.
Admittedly, the RDA’s have done their job—how many people do you know suffer from these diseases? RDA’s first developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The list of nutrients included in the RDAs grew over the next two decades and in the early 1950s, the definition of RDAs expanded to include the amounts of nutrients needed for normal growth and development. Despite the fact that RDAs have proved useful, most physicians and laypeople tend to assign more meaning to RDA standards than they should.
After researching medical literature on the topic of oxidative stress and the amount of nutrients needed to prevent it, I found the optimal levels of nutrients known to provide health benefits are significantly greater those suggested by RDA levels. For example, the optimal level of vitamin E is 400 IU. The RDA is only 30 IU. That being the case, you may consider eating 400 IU of vitamin E. You would only need to eat 33 heads of spinach, or 27 pounds of butter; 80 avocados will do, or an alternative 5 pounds of wheat germ each and every day to obtain that level of vitamin E.
Similarly, the optimal level of vitamin C is approximately 1200 to 2000 mg daily, while the RDA is only 60 mg. To eat the optimal levels of vitamin would need to consume 18 oranges, or 17 kiwifruit, or 160 apples. Put in this perspective, it becomes clear that the only way to obtain these levels of nutrients is to supplement our diet. And this requires more than a generic multiple vitamin. One-a-day multiple vitamins are primarily based on RDA levels, thus providing no measurable health benefits. Significantly more potent supplements are needed each day to provide the optimal levels to provide cellular nutrition. This web page will explain why I personally believe the Usana Nutritional Supplements offers my patients the most complete and balanced as well as the highest quality cellular nutrition on the market today.
The "Magic Bullet" Approach
Most scientific studies done on nutritional supplements are approached in the traditional way of testing drugs—hoping to discover a "magic bullet". A disease is isolated and targeted by one specific drug. The pharmaceutical results of that drug are then measured.
Research trials have been similarly conducted for nutritional supplements. For example, calcium and vitamin D have been tested for their effects on osteoporosis; vitamin E for heart disease, magnesium for irregular heartbeats or selenium to reduce the risk of cancer.
One problem remains, however: vitamins such as C, D and E are not drugs. They are natural nutrients that our bodies get from our foods. The various antioxidants and supporting nutrients work on different types of free radicals and in different parts of the body. Vitamin E is the best antioxidant within the cell membrane. Vitamin C is most effective within the plasma. Glutathione is works most efficiently within the cell itself. Literally dozens of antioxidants are at work in various parts of the body and are effective against particular types of free radicals. They work together—synergistically-- to control oxidative stress. This means that 1 plus 1 does not equal 2, but 8 or 10. Medical research separates these nutrients out and tries to study their individual effect. The amazing fact remains that the overwhelming majority of studies actually does show a health benefit with even an individual nutrient. However, since oxidative stress is the underlying problem we must concern ourselves with, it is important to realize that all of these nutrients work together—synergy.
Vitamin C actually replenishes vitamin E and intracellular glutathione so it can be used over and over again. Alpha lipoic acid also regenerates vitamin E and glutathione. In addition, these antioxidants need optimal levels of the B vitamins—folic acid, vitamin B1, B2, B6, and B12—in order to perform at optimal levels. They also need the so-called antioxidant minerals such as: selenium, manganese, copper, and zinc to do their job right. If you have all the glutathione in the world available but are depleted in selenium, which glutathione needs to work, there will be very little health benefit.
When all of the necessary nutrients are provided to the cell in a complete and balanced nutritional supplement, the combined effect is phenomenal. The potency of these nutrients in optimizing our body’s natural antioxidant, immune, and repair systems when this synergy is achieved is maximized. Oxidative stress can be controlled and our health will be protected.
I also apply these principles for my patients who are already suffering from a major chronic degenerative disease. I provide them with the same basic cellular nutrition I recommend for all my patients and then I add additional potent antioxidants, which I refer to as optimizers, to the regime tailored to each specific disease. When physicians take advantage of the most tremendous healing asset, the host—our bodies, and support it rather than denying its importance in the healing process, amazing clinical improvement is possible.
Cellular nutrition is about health, not disease. "Attacking" the root cause of chronic degenerative disease is true preventive medicine. By applying these same principles, you who are in good health can decrease the risk of developing these chronic degenerative diseases.
Choosing High Quality Nutritional Supplements
I personally believe USANA Health Sciences has developed and produced the most complete and balanced nutritional products on the market today. In fact, all the clinical case study results documented in my new book, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You, (you can find this book at Chapters) were achieved by using products developed and manufactured by USANA. Based on Dr. Myron Wentz's knowledge of human cell culture technology, USANA has developed the most impressive science-based products available.
USANA strictly follows pharmaceutical-grade Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). This means they not only purchase pharmaceutical-grade raw products, but also manufacture the products according to tough pharmaceutical-quality guidelines. In addition, USANA Health Sciences follows USP guidelines for potency, uniformity, and dissolution of the tablet. In a nutshell, USANA manufactures their products to the strict standards of over-the-counter drugs even though not required to do so-assuring all of their customers and associates that what is on the label is actually in the tablet. I am also duly impressed (as any physician should be) that USANA is one of the only nutritional supplements listed in the Physicians Desk Reference (
Dr. Ray Strand www.bionutrition.org
You can also watch the DVD from a conference of Dr. Strand. I can send it to you if you want just send me an email jproy@aol.com
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
What is USANA??
I have discovered USANA trough some friend. One of my team mate on my ski team was already using the products and his wife who is on the cross-country team was as well. Once I was sick and she told me that I should really try it… that what made me look at it… And me and my wife we have a friend who as been involved with this company for some times and she gave us all the information… I am really happy that she did because it really changed my life.
So you want to know what USANA is and where it is coming from?? You can check out the website there is a lot of info on the company www.jpandsteph.usana.com
But the best to really understand why dr. Wentz started USANA is to read the book or watched the DVD “Invisible Miracles”. I can also send you the DVD if you are interested.
So you want to know what USANA is and where it is coming from?? You can check out the website there is a lot of info on the company www.jpandsteph.usana.com
But the best to really understand why dr. Wentz started USANA is to read the book or watched the DVD “Invisible Miracles”. I can also send you the DVD if you are interested.
The Comparative Guide
Also one reason that I have decided to get involved with USANA is because of the comparative guide of Lyle MacWilliam. You can see is website @ www.comparativeguide.com
You can also download a document that is a written document of MacWilliam CD. www.xxxx.com
Or here it is…
The Science of Optimal Human Nutrition
Hello, this is Doctor Denis Waitley. Biochemist, Lyle MacWilliam, has been a friend of Usana Health Sciences for some time now. His comparative guide to Nutritional Supplements has become a popular standard and reference publication for all Usana Associates.
Indeed, it was the Research behind this excellent work that led him to Usana. An Educator and Nutritional Consultant, Lyle recently served as principal author of the Canadian Ministry of Health’s landmark report, promoting access to safe and effective high quality natural health products. In his message that follows, Lyle shares with you some of the remarkable findings that his research has revealed to lead us to more healthy choices in our selection of nutritional products to benefit ourselves and our families.
I would appreciate a few moments of your time to talk about the importance or optimal nutrition and the need to protect yourself against degenerative disease. To do this, we need to learn a little bit about the cells of your body and uncover recent findings in the world of nutritional science. So, pour yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up and relax and let me take you on a journey of discovery.
Back in the sixties, the term “free radical” would typically have described a left-wing university activist. Today, the term carries a much more scientific nuance. Chemically speaking, a free radical is a molecule that has an unpaired electron. It’s highly unstable and extremely short lived. In its brief turbulent existence, it can inflict substantial damage to other molecules and to the cells that contain them. Learning about free radicals in the process of the biological oxidation, is paramount to understanding the critical role that antioxidants play in cellular nutrition.
Human beings - the paragon of animals - biological machines so evolved that our complexity invokes awe in even the most brilliant of scientific minds. Our cells are the building blocks of life, miraculous biochemical factories, far more intricate that we can ever hope to envision. It is here that the dance of life bursts forth in a scale of complexity simply unimaginable. Life is a constant flow of energy, and in our cells it moves to a transfer of electrons from one molecule to the next. When a molecule gives up electrons, its said to be oxidized. When it accepts electrons, its reduced. Oxidation and reduction, the chemical “Yin and Yang”, drive the machinery of the cell and let flow the river of Life.
Scientists call this process, respiration. It begins with a molecule of glucose, the energy source of the cell. Through a long and intricate series of steps, the molecule is broken down into its component parts. Along the way, energy is captured and stored for future use. Electrons are passed along in a complex series of oxidation-reduction reactions to the terminal step, where they combine with oxygen and hydrogen to form water.
So, in simple terms, respiration is really nothing more than controlled oxidation or combustion, much like the burning of wood of the rusting of iron. In our cells, however, each step is controlled by biological catalysts called enzymes.
Enzymes allow the “oxidative fires” of the cell to burn at a much lower temperature, but the end result of this biologically controlled combustion is, essentially the same. Hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water and carbon dioxide is released. Paradoxically, Oxygen - the giver of life - is also our enemy. While essential for cellular respiration, Oxygen, also forms a type of free radical know as “singlet oxygen”. A species that is extremely volatile and damaging to the cell.
Oxygen is not the only molecule to form free radicals. During the process of respiration, many other highly reactive free radicals are formed. Scientists now know that excessive free radical formation in cells can be induced through exposure to such things as environmental pollutants, industrial chemicals, agricultural pesticides, cigarette smoke and radiation.
Once created, these highly unstable particles can inflict considerable damage to the cell, like sparks from a spitting fire that burns pinholes in your living room carpet. These supercharged particles bounce around the cell and damage its internal machinery. Punching tiny pinholes in cell membranes, altering the cell’s genetic blueprint and tearing apart molecules. Free radicals leave a virtual killing field of destruction in their way. - nasty stuff, with nasty consequences for the cell.
In his book, Healthy at 100, Dr. Robert Willix Jr., comments the most important medical discovery in the last half-century, concerns two substances called: free radicals and antioxidants. We now have evidence that antioxidants can stop and in some instances, even reverse the damage done by free radicals. Antioxidants are the cells’ natural defense mechanisms. Complex molecules that police the chemical processes of the cell and “snuff out” the molecular firestorm of free radicals that burst forth like sparks from a burning log. As long as we have sufficient antioxidant stores in our cells, the carnage is kept intact. But, if we lack antioxidants reinforcements, these free radical sparks - like those in your living room carpet - will damage the delicate fabric of life.
Such oxidative damage is now believed to be the DARK FORCE behind the onset of degenerative disease. In fact, over 50 degenerative disease processes have been linked to oxidative stress. Dr. Ray Strand in his recent book: Bionutrition, adroitly calls the battle against oxidative stress: “THE WAR WITHIN”.
Dr. Danhem Harman, in 1954, was the first scientist to theorize that the aging process was actually caused by free radicals. In 1971, Dr. Richard Passwater, became the first scientist to publicly describe the nutritional role of antioxidants. Since that time, research on these important nutrients has grown prodigiously. Today, vitamins A, C, and E, beta-carotene, coenzyme Q10, selenium, zinc, glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, proanthocyanidins, bioflavonoids, and many other tongue twisting names have stepped into the limelight: FREE RADICAL FIGTHERS AGAINTS the 10,000 or more free radicals “hits” that each cell of your body sustains every day. Over a 70-year lifespan, that adds ups to some 17 Tons of free radicals.
So, lets investigate three of today’s degenerative diseases: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. And lets have a look at the vital role played by antioxidants in the prevention and the treatment of these diseases.
Not long ago, common wisdom held that heart disease was a malady of the elderly. Today we see that it’s just not so. Heart disease starts in childhood. The patterns of diet and exercise that developed during our early years cast the mold for lifelong habits. Research shows that children, during their early development, posses sensitive “windows” for nutritional programming. Dietary patterns established their early years will imprint long-term consequences. Birth weight and weight-at-one-year are now recognized as predictive clinical markers for cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
Even more worrisome, is recent evidence of atherosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries in the infants, 2 to 15 years of age. A 1998 study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the prevalence of atherosclerosis begins early in childhood and increases with age. The finding showed that the diseases affects about 30 percent of adolescents between the ages of 16 to 20 years, 50 percent of young adults between 21 to 25, and 75 percent of adults, 26 to 39. That’s right! Just hold that thought.
By the time we reach the right young age of 39, three-quarters of us have the beginnings of cardiovascular disease, most without any knowledge of the fact. For many of us, our first warning barely precedes our last breath. About a third of individuals that experienced that first heart attack don’t survive. That’s not much of a chance for lifestyle change! Does it have to be like this? Not on your life!
You know, it’s hard to believe that cardiovascular disease, the nation’s public enemy number 1, is a man made problem. The first clinical report on cardiovascular disease in America was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, back in 1912. The disease was so rare, it took 10 years to find! Yet in less than 100 years, the changes wrought to our lifestyle, our environment and to the food wee eat, have made that disease, the number 1 killer in North America.
Elevated blood levels of a simple sulfur-containing amino acid may be the dark force behind heart disease and many other degenerative diseases of our modern world.
Recent studies show that high levels of homocysteine may be responsible for the development of the fatty cholesterol plaques that lead to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. It is believed that high levels of homocysteine irritate the inner walls of the arteries, creating small oxidative lesions or tears. The body, in its attempt to repair the damage, patches the tear with cholesterol, which acts as a sealing compound. Problems arise if the cholesterol itself has been oxidized. Oxidized cholesterol stimulates special immune system cells, called macrophages, to swing into action. These macrophages stuff themselves with oxidized cholesterol and turn into pathologic foam cells. These foam cells, then stick to the lesions on the arterial wall leading to the development of the fatty atherosclerotic streaks. In diabetics, oxidized cholesterol becomes glycosylated or complexed with sugar, rendering it even more prone to hardening of the arteries. This is one of reasons that diabetics often exhibit advanced cardiovascular deterioration.
The 1992 Physician’s Health Study, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, looked at blood homocysteine levels in some 15,000 physicians. The authors concluded that even, mildly elevated levels of homocysteine are directly related to heart disease. Subsequent studies confirm that high levels of homocysteine place people at an increased cardiovascular risk. It is estimated that, for every 10 percent increase in blood homocysteine levels, there is a similar increase in the risk of heart disease. Other studies indicate that people with elevated blood homocysteine face four times the risk of peripheral vascular disease than do people with normal levels.
The massive Framinghan cohorts study, which followed twins over a twenty-six year period, showed a significant increase in carotid artery stenosis, which is narrowing of the main arteries of the neck. This narrowing was consistent with elevated homocysteine levels. Other studies confirmed a positive link between blood homocysteine levels and the risks of arteriosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries, without plaque formation. High homocysteine levels are also implicated in the development of peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, kidney disease, cancer, and neural tube birth defects. Homocysteine is a bad dude!
It’s also a neurotoxin. It destroys the protective myelin sheath of the nerve cells or neurons causing them to short-circuit, much like a frayed electrical wire. Many neurological diseases, such as depression, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline, are associated with high levels of homocysteine and low levels of the B complex vitamins. In fact, recent studies confirmed that deficiencies in Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid are dangerously common in older people who often suffer from many of the above-mentioned degenerative diseases.
Vitamin B6 helps the body convert homocysteine into two other beneficial amino acids: cysteine and taurine. At the same time, vitamin B12 and folic acid change homocysteine back to its precursor: methionine. In the absence of these three important vitamins, B6, B12 and folic acid, blood homocysteine levels build to harmful levels and the damage begins. With supplement with any of the three, can homocysteine fall?
Osteopathic Physician, Richard Firshein reports that supplementing with all three vitamins can reduce homocysteine levels by up to 50%. No doubt about it, homocysteine is a heart breaker!
High levels of this simple amino acid, have cut short many dreams – And all for the want of three inexpensive vitamins…
The good news is that heart disease can easily be prevented and even reversed. Controlling homocysteine induced oxidative damage with Vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid and supplementing with natural antioxidants, are key factors in preventing and reversing heart disease.
The strongest association with heart disease however, appears to be a deficiency in Vitamin E. Supplementation with 400 to 800 International Units of this inexpensive vitamin has been shown to reduce the incidence of heart attacks by 77 percent. As well, reversal of the development of cholesterol plaques has been noted with dietary supplementation of the various forms of vitamin E, alpha and beta-tocoferol and the tocotrienols. If your still in doubt about the efficacy of Vitamin E, just ask cardiologists. Over 90% of them testify to taking Vitamin E supplements on a daily basis. Interestingly, only 75% of them actually prescribe it to their patients.
Another cardiac powerhouse is co-enzyme Q10. Co-Q10, or ubiquinone, is found in all our cells, but is particularly important in the maintenance of cardiac health. Researches have demonstrated that Co-Q10 boosts the performance of the heart, even after cardiac disease has reached a severe stage. A six-year study conducted at the University of Texas found a startling three-fold improvement in the survival rates among congestive heart failure patients who supplemented with this important nutrient.
All said, optimal nutrition with lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation and daily physical exercise is essential components in a holistic approach to sound cardiac health. Supplementation with a high quality, broad-spectrum nutritional supplement is also important. Choose one that provides optimal levels of Vitamin E and folic acid, complemented with vitamins B6 and B12, to reduce homocysteine levels, and don’t forget the Co-Q10.
While most nutritional manufacturers provide sufficient and inexpensive B-complex vitamins, few supplements contain the levels of vitamin E and folic acid required for good cardiac health. Even fewer provide the added benefit of Co- enzyme Q10, because it is so darn expensive!
In our recently published Guide to Nutritional Supplements, we created a rigorous twelve-point product quality scale that evaluates products on a number of nutritional considerations. Two such considerations are: whether the product contains the appropriate nutrient at sufficient potencies to reduce homocysteine levels and protect and enhance cardiac function.
Of the 254 nutritional products evaluated, four (4) nutritional supplements in particular, scored highly on these criteria. These products are Source Naturals: Life Force, SportPharma: Multiguard, Sierra: Fortify and Usana Health Sciences Essentials formulation.
Lets look now at another of our modern killers, Type II Diabetes: The Epidemic of the New Millennium. More than 15 Million Americans and 2 Million Canadians have it, and tens of Millions exhibit pre-clinical symptoms, most without any knowledge the fact.
Diabetes now accounts for 28% of all new serious kidney disease and is a primary cause of adult blindness and non-trauma-related limb amputation. Virtually unseen in children until recently, the starling rise of adult onset diabetes in young people has prompted the American Diabetes Association to issue a public statement declaring type II Diabetes in children, an “emerging epidemic”. Obesity is a hallmark of the disease, a pre-disposition to abdominal fat, particularly over the beltline, contributes to its early onset. In fact, over 85% of children and most adults with the disease are obese at the time of diagnosis.
Insulin Resistance, also know as Syndrome X, or Metabolic Syndrome is the clinical manifestation of type II diabetes and is believed to affect up to 25% of the adult population in North America. The syndrome is a constellation of metabolic changes that begins with excess insulin production, followed by the development of insulin resistance within the body. Insulin is the hormone responsible for reducing sugars levels in the blood. Resistance to this hormone causes a steady elevation of blood sugar. This, in turn, leads to a further increase in insulin production and the entrenchment of a vicious and damaging cycle.
The onset of the disease is characterized by the development of a host related symptoms, which frequently lie undetected, often until irreversible damage is done. Left unchecked, the cycle of steadily increasing insulin resistance eventually announces itself as full-blown Type II diabetes. Although not everyone who exhibits the insulin resistance will develop diabetes, virtually every one who develops adult-onset diabetes, started with insulin resistance.
People with Insulin Resistance Syndrome, have triple the risk of heart disease of those who develop full-blown diabetes. 80% will die from cardiovascular complications. Early detection of the disease, before it reaches its end stage, is paramount.
In Canada, diabetes and its complications, now consume 15% of the nation’s health dollars. U.S. data shows that, in the two decades from 1970 to 1990, the prevalence of diabetes, exploded. The World Health Organization forecasts that more than 300 million people world-wide will develop type II diabetes within the next 25 years - a staggering increase since 1995 of some 222 percent! The good news is that diabetes can be beaten. Part of the solution lies in the prevention of the disease in the first place - before the damage is done.
We now know that much of the damage from high blood sugar levels occurs through the oxidation of fats to form toxic lipid peroxides. Numerous recent studies showed that Vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant, provides protection against damage caused by free-radical oxidation of lipids. Clinical trials also showed that supplementation with vitamin E cause a marked improvement of insulin action and a reduction in blood sugar levels and oxidative stress. As mentioned previously, reduction of blood sugars and the prevention of lipid peroxidation provide added protection against heart disease. Individuals, who are predisposed to insulin resistance and diabetes, generally consume too much fat and to many high glycemic foods. They also exhibit market deficiencies in magnesium, chromium, vanadium, zinc and the important antioxidant complexes.
Proper and effective treatment of the diabetic patient requires a careful integration of lifestyle and dietary changes along with nutritional supplementation and the use of herbal medicines. Symptoms of Insulin Resistance can be mitigated by supplementing with Vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid, vanadium, vitamins B3 and B6, biotin, vitamin C, chromium and the minerals: zinc, magnesium, manganese and copper. Also the herbs, bilberry, gingko biloba and the proanthocyanidins found in grape seeds extract synergize the actions vitamin C and help reduce the micro vascular hemorrhaging that is common in diabetic retinopathy.
The herb Gymnema Sylvestra, a plant native to India has also been found to enhance glucose control in diabetic patients. According to naturopathic physician, Doctor Michael Murray, extracts from the plant enhance the production of insulin through the regeneration on insulin producing Beta cells in the pancreas.
Insulin Resistance, the pre-clinical stage of type II diabetes, also responds well to weight loss and dietary change. Fats and sugars are powerful free radical protagonists, so its important to re duce these from the diet and in the body. The key is the combination of a low glycemic diet, fortified with essential fatty acids, nutritional supplementation targeted to enhance insulin sensitivity and optimize any oxidant protection and of course, regular aerobic exercise to blow out the pipes! It’s a sensible approach that works wonders as it sheds pounds.
The twelve point rating scale in our comparative guide, considers whether a product provides the necessary ingredients to help mitigate insulin resistance. Few nutritional supplements scored well on this criterion. Those that did include: Life Extension Foundation’s: Life Extension Mix, Amni: Basic Preventive 5, Advanced Physicians Products: Maximum potency and Usana’s Essentials.
- GUESS WHAT?
This side of the tape is just about over so, pour yourself another cup of tea, turn the tape over to side B and we will talk about the disease that’s most feared by everyone: CANCER.
SIDE B
The headline in the Los Angeles Times says it all: “Study Ties Most Cancer to Lifestyles, Not Genetics”.
Citing 88 years of data on tens of thousands of twins, a report published July 2000, in the New England Journal of Medicine underscores similar conclusions from a host of other studies. Many cancers can be prevented through simple lifestyle choices and the avoidance of environmental risk factors. These studies all place the burden of guilt on poor dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, the lack of exercise and exposure to environmental toxins.
The importance of diet in cancer prevention is also highlighted in the 1997 report, released by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Fund. This report claims that 3 to 4 million cases of cancer worldwide could be prevented annually through simple dietary change. Its key recommendation is to choose a diet that is predominantly plant-based and includes a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
Similar and almost universal findings were drawn from a comprehensive review of 172 epidemiological studies from around the world. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found overwhelming evidence that fruits and vegetables in the diet provide a huge protective effect against almost every type of cancer. Despite what we know about the importance of lifestyle and nutrition, cancer continues to be the second leading cause of death in North America. Without major advances in prevention, one out of three U.S. and Canadian citizens, now living, will succumb to cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research estimates that cancer will strike 1.2 million Americans each year, and exceed 110 billion dollars in total health and related costs. The lifetime risk for developing some form of cancer is now: one out of three for women and one out of two for men. According to figures released by the Journal of the American Medical Association, adult males now entering their forties and fifties, have more than twice the cancer rates of their grandfathers. Women, who smoke, have 5 to 6 times the cancer rates of their grandmothers. But cancer should not be feared.
Given the right nutrition, exercise and lifestyle, the body can resist cancer for a lifetime. However, if you don’t protect yourself your chance of avoiding cancer is about as good as a flip of a coin. Unfortunately, once you’ve contracted the disease, your over all chance of survival, is considerably less. The problem is that once a cancer shows up on the radar screen, its already well advanced, having been developing silently for the past ten to twenty years. The doctors immediately roll out the heavy artillery - surgery, chemotherapy, radiation - but in reality, there’s not a lot they can do at this point.
Over the last 30 years, survival rates for cancer have not improved. Since former U.S. President Nixon’s 1971 declaration of War on Cancer, well over 30 billion dollars have been poured into a campaign that some critics have labeled: “A Medical Viet Nam”. According to Nobel Laureate, Dr. Linus Pauling: “Everyone should know that the war on cancer is largely a fraud.” The fact is, we have been desperately searching for the “magic bullet” while ignoring the underlying cause. You see, cancer is not a single disease but, rather, a group of over a 100 diseases with a generally similar etiology or cause. The key to fighting cancer lies in prevention. There is growing medical evidence that cancer may initially develop through oxidative damage to the cell’s genetic blueprint or DNA. The proliferation of toxic free radicals created by the cell’s natural metabolic processes and by external environmental influences, can overwhelm a cell whose antioxidant stores are low.
Whether caused by poor diet or environmental toxins, free radical damage to the cell is now thought to be the biochemical “trigger” that sets the destructive process of cancer into motion. Research shows that once developed, cancerous tumors generate their own free radicals and promote further mutations and abnormal cell growth. Like a fire feeding on itself, unchecked cancer growth is invasive and deadly.
But, given the chance, Mother Nature can summon some powerful allies to the battlefront. Antioxidants, the body’s free radical scavengers form an army of potent cancer fighters. Together, they are the cell’s biological shield against many degenerative diseases whose primary cause is oxidative stress. Antioxidants protect the cells in three ways:
• By seeking out and destroying damaging free radicals
• By enhancing the body’s natural immune responses
• By reducing the cancer cells ability to adhere to surrounding tissues.
Let’s have a look at what antioxidants can accomplish in the battle against cancer.
Vitamin A and its precursor, beta-carotene, are antioxidants that provide a protective effect for almost all sites of cancer. In a study of pre-menopausal women with a positive history of breast cancer, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers found that those women who consumed high levels of alpha and beta-carotene, luteine, xeaxanthin, vitamin C and vitamin A were three times less likely to contract the disease than those who did not.
Vitamin C is another powerful cancer antagonist, which demonstrates a protective effect against a wide variety of cancers. It is the premier antioxidant in the extra-cellular fluid. Studies show that a diet supplemented with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, significantly reduces the risk of cancer in both smokers and non-smokers. Other research demonstrates that men with high levels of vitamin C have a much lower incidence of cancer of the stomach, colon and rectum. A review of 46 epidemiological studies, those a large population studies, found that high levels of vitamin C intake, provided an approximate two-fold protective effect against non-hormone dependant cancers, compared with low-intake. As well, several lung cancer studies have found a marked reduction in the risk of disease that correlates with the increase levels of vitamin C intake.
Alpha-tocopherol, more commonly known as vitamin E, is another potent cancer fighter. A fat-soluble vitamin, it is predominant in the cell membrane, where its known to combat the oxidation of fats. A double-blind, placebo controlled study in Finnish men showed that supplementing with just 50 IU of vitamin E reduced the risk of prostate cancer by one-third. In a recent study, researchers found that a combination of vitamin E and lycopene, which is a carotenoid found in tomatoes, inhibited prostate cell proliferation by up to 90 percent. As well, a 1998 decade-long study of 21,000 men reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that those with high dietary intakes of vitamin E reduced the risk of all types of cancer, by 30 percent.
It’s important to note here, that to provide these protective effects, vitamin E and vitamin C are required in amounts far greater than those prescribed in the current Canadian and U.S. Dietary Recommendations. These recommended daily allowances, suggest the minimum of nutrients needed to avoid acute nutritional deficiencies. They do not reflect the greater amounts required for optimal nutrition and for the protection against degenerative disease.
Selenium is a mineral that “kicks butt”. An extensive review of its antioxidant properties shows that selenium can inhibit the development of induced cancer of the liver, breast, skin and colon. A 1998 Arizona study showed that mortality from prostate cancer was reduced by 63 percent in subjects taking as little as 200 g per day of selenium. The same study found that men with normal PSA, or prostate-specific antigen levels who supplemented with selenium reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 74 percent. Similar studies demonstrate that daily supplementation with as little as 200 g of selenium can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 60 percent and lung cancer, by 30 percent.
Co-enzyme Q-10 or ubiquinone, behaves like a vitamin by ac ting as a co-factor to three important enzyme systems in the cells central metabolic pathway. As well as being important in the proper functioning of the heart muscle, that co-enzyme has powerful antioxidant properties. It’s been used successfully to treat breast cancer in humans and has prevented experimentally induced cancers in mice.
A 1995 study, reported in the Journal of the Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, demonstrated that high doses of co-Q10, at 390 mg per day, were effective in producing complete regression of tumors in breast cancer patients, some of whom, exhibited metastasis, or spreading to other organs.
Glutathione, an antioxidant produced by the body is now thought to be on the front lines of defense against environmental carcinogens. A 1999 study reported in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, showed that supplementing with a combination of glutathione, vitamin E, vitamin C and mixed carotenoids, was effective in protecting against UV induced skin damage, which results in premature aging and skin cancer.
Enough said - Contrary to the myth that vitamins just make for expensive urine, that’s not what the science shows. Understanding how to prevent oxidative damage through lifestyle and dietary change and through supplementation of natural antioxidants, offers a host of new possibilities in the treatment and prevention of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other related diseases.
You know, it is interesting. When people debate which antioxidant is the best or which one is the ‘magic bullet’, they’re missing the point. Just like firefighters on the front line who replenish and reinforce one another, free radical fighting antioxidants work best when they work together. This is known as: synergy. Which denotes the fact that antioxidants work as a team where the effect of the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. They also work in different areas of the cell. Vitamin E, is the premier antioxidant of the cellular membrane, quenching free radicals induced lipid peroxidation within the membrane itself. Vitamin C, is king in the extra cellular fluids and works along side glutathione in the cytoplasm or the fluid of the cell. Both vitamin C and vitamin E, along with selenium enhance the effect of beta-carotene. Co-enzyme Q10 works deep within the mitochondrion or the powerhouse of the cell, assisting in the energy transfer reactions and rejuvenating vitamin E. Together with vitamin E, co-enzyme Q10, protects the mitochondrial membranes from the fires that burn within. Alpha-lipoic acid, along with a family of powerful antioxidants call proanthocyanidins, which are found in grape seed and pine bark extracts, regenerates vitamin C, which in turn rejuvenates vitamin E. Working together, these free radical fighters toil in their daily battle, protecting the cell in a symphony of synergy, it’s a masterpiece written by Mother Nature.
According to Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine, “Vitamins, if properly understood and applied, will help reduce human suffering to an extent which the most fantastic human mind would fail to imagine.”
Some years ago, three eminent scientists, Nobel Laureates, Linus Pauling, Dr. Richard Passwater and Dr. Jim Enstrom, examined mortality rates in elderly Californians. What they found was remarkable. The death rate for supplement user was significantly lower than non-users. Male supplement users had a 22 percent lower risk of death, and female users a 46 percent, lower risk. Later, Enstrom and his co-workers found that supplementation with the vitamin C in excess of 250 mg per day reduced the risk of male mortality from cardiovascular disease by 42 percent and lowered the risk of death by all causes by 35 percent providing an estimated six-year increase in life expectancy.
Two large studies of self-supplementation reported in the New England Journal of Medicine back on 1993, found that vitamin E was associated with reduced coronary risk. Men and women, who took vitamin E supplements for more than two years, showed a 37 percent and 42 percent reduction respectively in the risk of heart disease. These results support a recent large-sale study conducted in Laval University, Quebec. And reported in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, which found a 69 percent reduction in ischemic heart disease and a 47 percent reduction in cardiac-related deaths among long-term users of nutritional supplements.
As well, a study reported in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, found that centenarians had substantially higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of free radicals in their blood than people 20 to 30 years younger. By now, you’re beginning to understand that the human body is a pretty complex organism. Even at the level of the individual cell. So, it’s not a stretch to appreciate the fact that the body requires a full complement of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants for OPTIMAL HEALTH and OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE
We require vitamin C for the synthesis of connective tissue and for its power as a free radical fighter. The B vitamins, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyrodoxine, cobalamin, folic acid, all are essential to the cell’s metabolic machinery. Vitamin D, phylloquinone, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, work together to build strong bones. The minerals – copper, chromium, zinc, manganese and selenium – are all needed to help activate the cell’s important enzyme systems. And in the mitochondria, within each cell, coenzyme Q10 teams-up with vitamin E, helping with cell metabolism and protecting against harmful free radical damage. Even in the eye, special antioxidants, lutein and xeaxanthin work together to protect the retina from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Get the point?
The operative word here is teamwork – the symphony of synergy. Together, these vitamins, minerals and antioxidants each with multiple functions provide the bricks and motor to build a strong foundation against degenerative disease. Leave any nutrient out or provide it in insufficient quantities and the strength of that foundation is considerably weakened. That’s why its’ so important that the supplement you choose provides that essential nutritional foundation. A quality nutritional supplement should comprise the complete range of vitamins, minerals, co-factors and trace elements and a diverse group of potent antioxidants. It must also supply them in the correct balance and at a potency that has been shown to enhance immunity and provide protection against degenerative disease. And that, my friend, is a pretty tall order, indeed.
The findings of our comparative analysis show that five products, Source Natural’s Life Force, SportPharma: Multiguard, Karuna: Maxxum Four, Sierra: Fortify and Usana’s Essentials, demonstrated a high level of antioxidant protection, so necessary and so important in the prevention of degenerative disease. As we review these three major chronic degenerative diseases: heart disease, type I diabetes and cancer, I’ve shared with you the benefits of supplementation and the results of our research concerning each area. We are now in the Second Edition of our Comparative Guide, and in both the first and this most recent edition, we have concluded that just a single current supplementation on the market today achieved our ‘Gold Standard’ for nutritional excellence. I’ve given this formula the MVP Award as the best overall nutritional supplement. It’s the Usana Health Sciences Essentials formula. Though there are many fine nutritional supplements on the market, the Usana Essentials was the only formula that found its place as the TOP CHOICE across all three categories. And takes the pennant for a high quality broad-spectrum nutritional supplement. Once again, setting the Gold standard for nutritional excellence.
The Usana Essentials ‘batting average’ was 0.931, a near perfect 93% on our twelve-point quantitative scale. Well above it’s closest competitor at 0.874 yes, indeed – life’s lonely at the top.
If you are interested in comparing a product that you have been currently taking, to the products in our Comparative Guide, just ask the person who gave you this tape for a copy of the guide. Check out, the 254 American and Canadian products we have investigated. See for yourself, how things shape down. You might be quite surprised at the results.
Well, we have covered a lot of material, in our short visit and I sure hope it was helpful.
Just remember, there are many excellent nutritional products in the marketplace today, but there are countless more poor ones.
Whatever nutritional product you choose make that choice an informed one. Be certain that you are providing your body with the very best nutritional supplement that science can offer. After all, your health is too precious to compromise.
You can also download a document that is a written document of MacWilliam CD. www.xxxx.com
Or here it is…
The Science of Optimal Human Nutrition
Hello, this is Doctor Denis Waitley. Biochemist, Lyle MacWilliam, has been a friend of Usana Health Sciences for some time now. His comparative guide to Nutritional Supplements has become a popular standard and reference publication for all Usana Associates.
Indeed, it was the Research behind this excellent work that led him to Usana. An Educator and Nutritional Consultant, Lyle recently served as principal author of the Canadian Ministry of Health’s landmark report, promoting access to safe and effective high quality natural health products. In his message that follows, Lyle shares with you some of the remarkable findings that his research has revealed to lead us to more healthy choices in our selection of nutritional products to benefit ourselves and our families.
I would appreciate a few moments of your time to talk about the importance or optimal nutrition and the need to protect yourself against degenerative disease. To do this, we need to learn a little bit about the cells of your body and uncover recent findings in the world of nutritional science. So, pour yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up and relax and let me take you on a journey of discovery.
Back in the sixties, the term “free radical” would typically have described a left-wing university activist. Today, the term carries a much more scientific nuance. Chemically speaking, a free radical is a molecule that has an unpaired electron. It’s highly unstable and extremely short lived. In its brief turbulent existence, it can inflict substantial damage to other molecules and to the cells that contain them. Learning about free radicals in the process of the biological oxidation, is paramount to understanding the critical role that antioxidants play in cellular nutrition.
Human beings - the paragon of animals - biological machines so evolved that our complexity invokes awe in even the most brilliant of scientific minds. Our cells are the building blocks of life, miraculous biochemical factories, far more intricate that we can ever hope to envision. It is here that the dance of life bursts forth in a scale of complexity simply unimaginable. Life is a constant flow of energy, and in our cells it moves to a transfer of electrons from one molecule to the next. When a molecule gives up electrons, its said to be oxidized. When it accepts electrons, its reduced. Oxidation and reduction, the chemical “Yin and Yang”, drive the machinery of the cell and let flow the river of Life.
Scientists call this process, respiration. It begins with a molecule of glucose, the energy source of the cell. Through a long and intricate series of steps, the molecule is broken down into its component parts. Along the way, energy is captured and stored for future use. Electrons are passed along in a complex series of oxidation-reduction reactions to the terminal step, where they combine with oxygen and hydrogen to form water.
So, in simple terms, respiration is really nothing more than controlled oxidation or combustion, much like the burning of wood of the rusting of iron. In our cells, however, each step is controlled by biological catalysts called enzymes.
Enzymes allow the “oxidative fires” of the cell to burn at a much lower temperature, but the end result of this biologically controlled combustion is, essentially the same. Hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water and carbon dioxide is released. Paradoxically, Oxygen - the giver of life - is also our enemy. While essential for cellular respiration, Oxygen, also forms a type of free radical know as “singlet oxygen”. A species that is extremely volatile and damaging to the cell.
Oxygen is not the only molecule to form free radicals. During the process of respiration, many other highly reactive free radicals are formed. Scientists now know that excessive free radical formation in cells can be induced through exposure to such things as environmental pollutants, industrial chemicals, agricultural pesticides, cigarette smoke and radiation.
Once created, these highly unstable particles can inflict considerable damage to the cell, like sparks from a spitting fire that burns pinholes in your living room carpet. These supercharged particles bounce around the cell and damage its internal machinery. Punching tiny pinholes in cell membranes, altering the cell’s genetic blueprint and tearing apart molecules. Free radicals leave a virtual killing field of destruction in their way. - nasty stuff, with nasty consequences for the cell.
In his book, Healthy at 100, Dr. Robert Willix Jr., comments the most important medical discovery in the last half-century, concerns two substances called: free radicals and antioxidants. We now have evidence that antioxidants can stop and in some instances, even reverse the damage done by free radicals. Antioxidants are the cells’ natural defense mechanisms. Complex molecules that police the chemical processes of the cell and “snuff out” the molecular firestorm of free radicals that burst forth like sparks from a burning log. As long as we have sufficient antioxidant stores in our cells, the carnage is kept intact. But, if we lack antioxidants reinforcements, these free radical sparks - like those in your living room carpet - will damage the delicate fabric of life.
Such oxidative damage is now believed to be the DARK FORCE behind the onset of degenerative disease. In fact, over 50 degenerative disease processes have been linked to oxidative stress. Dr. Ray Strand in his recent book: Bionutrition, adroitly calls the battle against oxidative stress: “THE WAR WITHIN”.
Dr. Danhem Harman, in 1954, was the first scientist to theorize that the aging process was actually caused by free radicals. In 1971, Dr. Richard Passwater, became the first scientist to publicly describe the nutritional role of antioxidants. Since that time, research on these important nutrients has grown prodigiously. Today, vitamins A, C, and E, beta-carotene, coenzyme Q10, selenium, zinc, glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, proanthocyanidins, bioflavonoids, and many other tongue twisting names have stepped into the limelight: FREE RADICAL FIGTHERS AGAINTS the 10,000 or more free radicals “hits” that each cell of your body sustains every day. Over a 70-year lifespan, that adds ups to some 17 Tons of free radicals.
So, lets investigate three of today’s degenerative diseases: cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. And lets have a look at the vital role played by antioxidants in the prevention and the treatment of these diseases.
Not long ago, common wisdom held that heart disease was a malady of the elderly. Today we see that it’s just not so. Heart disease starts in childhood. The patterns of diet and exercise that developed during our early years cast the mold for lifelong habits. Research shows that children, during their early development, posses sensitive “windows” for nutritional programming. Dietary patterns established their early years will imprint long-term consequences. Birth weight and weight-at-one-year are now recognized as predictive clinical markers for cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
Even more worrisome, is recent evidence of atherosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries in the infants, 2 to 15 years of age. A 1998 study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the prevalence of atherosclerosis begins early in childhood and increases with age. The finding showed that the diseases affects about 30 percent of adolescents between the ages of 16 to 20 years, 50 percent of young adults between 21 to 25, and 75 percent of adults, 26 to 39. That’s right! Just hold that thought.
By the time we reach the right young age of 39, three-quarters of us have the beginnings of cardiovascular disease, most without any knowledge of the fact. For many of us, our first warning barely precedes our last breath. About a third of individuals that experienced that first heart attack don’t survive. That’s not much of a chance for lifestyle change! Does it have to be like this? Not on your life!
You know, it’s hard to believe that cardiovascular disease, the nation’s public enemy number 1, is a man made problem. The first clinical report on cardiovascular disease in America was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, back in 1912. The disease was so rare, it took 10 years to find! Yet in less than 100 years, the changes wrought to our lifestyle, our environment and to the food wee eat, have made that disease, the number 1 killer in North America.
Elevated blood levels of a simple sulfur-containing amino acid may be the dark force behind heart disease and many other degenerative diseases of our modern world.
Recent studies show that high levels of homocysteine may be responsible for the development of the fatty cholesterol plaques that lead to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. It is believed that high levels of homocysteine irritate the inner walls of the arteries, creating small oxidative lesions or tears. The body, in its attempt to repair the damage, patches the tear with cholesterol, which acts as a sealing compound. Problems arise if the cholesterol itself has been oxidized. Oxidized cholesterol stimulates special immune system cells, called macrophages, to swing into action. These macrophages stuff themselves with oxidized cholesterol and turn into pathologic foam cells. These foam cells, then stick to the lesions on the arterial wall leading to the development of the fatty atherosclerotic streaks. In diabetics, oxidized cholesterol becomes glycosylated or complexed with sugar, rendering it even more prone to hardening of the arteries. This is one of reasons that diabetics often exhibit advanced cardiovascular deterioration.
The 1992 Physician’s Health Study, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, looked at blood homocysteine levels in some 15,000 physicians. The authors concluded that even, mildly elevated levels of homocysteine are directly related to heart disease. Subsequent studies confirm that high levels of homocysteine place people at an increased cardiovascular risk. It is estimated that, for every 10 percent increase in blood homocysteine levels, there is a similar increase in the risk of heart disease. Other studies indicate that people with elevated blood homocysteine face four times the risk of peripheral vascular disease than do people with normal levels.
The massive Framinghan cohorts study, which followed twins over a twenty-six year period, showed a significant increase in carotid artery stenosis, which is narrowing of the main arteries of the neck. This narrowing was consistent with elevated homocysteine levels. Other studies confirmed a positive link between blood homocysteine levels and the risks of arteriosclerosis, which is hardening of the arteries, without plaque formation. High homocysteine levels are also implicated in the development of peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, kidney disease, cancer, and neural tube birth defects. Homocysteine is a bad dude!
It’s also a neurotoxin. It destroys the protective myelin sheath of the nerve cells or neurons causing them to short-circuit, much like a frayed electrical wire. Many neurological diseases, such as depression, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline, are associated with high levels of homocysteine and low levels of the B complex vitamins. In fact, recent studies confirmed that deficiencies in Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid are dangerously common in older people who often suffer from many of the above-mentioned degenerative diseases.
Vitamin B6 helps the body convert homocysteine into two other beneficial amino acids: cysteine and taurine. At the same time, vitamin B12 and folic acid change homocysteine back to its precursor: methionine. In the absence of these three important vitamins, B6, B12 and folic acid, blood homocysteine levels build to harmful levels and the damage begins. With supplement with any of the three, can homocysteine fall?
Osteopathic Physician, Richard Firshein reports that supplementing with all three vitamins can reduce homocysteine levels by up to 50%. No doubt about it, homocysteine is a heart breaker!
High levels of this simple amino acid, have cut short many dreams – And all for the want of three inexpensive vitamins…
The good news is that heart disease can easily be prevented and even reversed. Controlling homocysteine induced oxidative damage with Vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid and supplementing with natural antioxidants, are key factors in preventing and reversing heart disease.
The strongest association with heart disease however, appears to be a deficiency in Vitamin E. Supplementation with 400 to 800 International Units of this inexpensive vitamin has been shown to reduce the incidence of heart attacks by 77 percent. As well, reversal of the development of cholesterol plaques has been noted with dietary supplementation of the various forms of vitamin E, alpha and beta-tocoferol and the tocotrienols. If your still in doubt about the efficacy of Vitamin E, just ask cardiologists. Over 90% of them testify to taking Vitamin E supplements on a daily basis. Interestingly, only 75% of them actually prescribe it to their patients.
Another cardiac powerhouse is co-enzyme Q10. Co-Q10, or ubiquinone, is found in all our cells, but is particularly important in the maintenance of cardiac health. Researches have demonstrated that Co-Q10 boosts the performance of the heart, even after cardiac disease has reached a severe stage. A six-year study conducted at the University of Texas found a startling three-fold improvement in the survival rates among congestive heart failure patients who supplemented with this important nutrient.
All said, optimal nutrition with lifestyle changes, including smoking cessation and daily physical exercise is essential components in a holistic approach to sound cardiac health. Supplementation with a high quality, broad-spectrum nutritional supplement is also important. Choose one that provides optimal levels of Vitamin E and folic acid, complemented with vitamins B6 and B12, to reduce homocysteine levels, and don’t forget the Co-Q10.
While most nutritional manufacturers provide sufficient and inexpensive B-complex vitamins, few supplements contain the levels of vitamin E and folic acid required for good cardiac health. Even fewer provide the added benefit of Co- enzyme Q10, because it is so darn expensive!
In our recently published Guide to Nutritional Supplements, we created a rigorous twelve-point product quality scale that evaluates products on a number of nutritional considerations. Two such considerations are: whether the product contains the appropriate nutrient at sufficient potencies to reduce homocysteine levels and protect and enhance cardiac function.
Of the 254 nutritional products evaluated, four (4) nutritional supplements in particular, scored highly on these criteria. These products are Source Naturals: Life Force, SportPharma: Multiguard, Sierra: Fortify and Usana Health Sciences Essentials formulation.
Lets look now at another of our modern killers, Type II Diabetes: The Epidemic of the New Millennium. More than 15 Million Americans and 2 Million Canadians have it, and tens of Millions exhibit pre-clinical symptoms, most without any knowledge the fact.
Diabetes now accounts for 28% of all new serious kidney disease and is a primary cause of adult blindness and non-trauma-related limb amputation. Virtually unseen in children until recently, the starling rise of adult onset diabetes in young people has prompted the American Diabetes Association to issue a public statement declaring type II Diabetes in children, an “emerging epidemic”. Obesity is a hallmark of the disease, a pre-disposition to abdominal fat, particularly over the beltline, contributes to its early onset. In fact, over 85% of children and most adults with the disease are obese at the time of diagnosis.
Insulin Resistance, also know as Syndrome X, or Metabolic Syndrome is the clinical manifestation of type II diabetes and is believed to affect up to 25% of the adult population in North America. The syndrome is a constellation of metabolic changes that begins with excess insulin production, followed by the development of insulin resistance within the body. Insulin is the hormone responsible for reducing sugars levels in the blood. Resistance to this hormone causes a steady elevation of blood sugar. This, in turn, leads to a further increase in insulin production and the entrenchment of a vicious and damaging cycle.
The onset of the disease is characterized by the development of a host related symptoms, which frequently lie undetected, often until irreversible damage is done. Left unchecked, the cycle of steadily increasing insulin resistance eventually announces itself as full-blown Type II diabetes. Although not everyone who exhibits the insulin resistance will develop diabetes, virtually every one who develops adult-onset diabetes, started with insulin resistance.
People with Insulin Resistance Syndrome, have triple the risk of heart disease of those who develop full-blown diabetes. 80% will die from cardiovascular complications. Early detection of the disease, before it reaches its end stage, is paramount.
In Canada, diabetes and its complications, now consume 15% of the nation’s health dollars. U.S. data shows that, in the two decades from 1970 to 1990, the prevalence of diabetes, exploded. The World Health Organization forecasts that more than 300 million people world-wide will develop type II diabetes within the next 25 years - a staggering increase since 1995 of some 222 percent! The good news is that diabetes can be beaten. Part of the solution lies in the prevention of the disease in the first place - before the damage is done.
We now know that much of the damage from high blood sugar levels occurs through the oxidation of fats to form toxic lipid peroxides. Numerous recent studies showed that Vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant, provides protection against damage caused by free-radical oxidation of lipids. Clinical trials also showed that supplementation with vitamin E cause a marked improvement of insulin action and a reduction in blood sugar levels and oxidative stress. As mentioned previously, reduction of blood sugars and the prevention of lipid peroxidation provide added protection against heart disease. Individuals, who are predisposed to insulin resistance and diabetes, generally consume too much fat and to many high glycemic foods. They also exhibit market deficiencies in magnesium, chromium, vanadium, zinc and the important antioxidant complexes.
Proper and effective treatment of the diabetic patient requires a careful integration of lifestyle and dietary changes along with nutritional supplementation and the use of herbal medicines. Symptoms of Insulin Resistance can be mitigated by supplementing with Vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid, vanadium, vitamins B3 and B6, biotin, vitamin C, chromium and the minerals: zinc, magnesium, manganese and copper. Also the herbs, bilberry, gingko biloba and the proanthocyanidins found in grape seeds extract synergize the actions vitamin C and help reduce the micro vascular hemorrhaging that is common in diabetic retinopathy.
The herb Gymnema Sylvestra, a plant native to India has also been found to enhance glucose control in diabetic patients. According to naturopathic physician, Doctor Michael Murray, extracts from the plant enhance the production of insulin through the regeneration on insulin producing Beta cells in the pancreas.
Insulin Resistance, the pre-clinical stage of type II diabetes, also responds well to weight loss and dietary change. Fats and sugars are powerful free radical protagonists, so its important to re duce these from the diet and in the body. The key is the combination of a low glycemic diet, fortified with essential fatty acids, nutritional supplementation targeted to enhance insulin sensitivity and optimize any oxidant protection and of course, regular aerobic exercise to blow out the pipes! It’s a sensible approach that works wonders as it sheds pounds.
The twelve point rating scale in our comparative guide, considers whether a product provides the necessary ingredients to help mitigate insulin resistance. Few nutritional supplements scored well on this criterion. Those that did include: Life Extension Foundation’s: Life Extension Mix, Amni: Basic Preventive 5, Advanced Physicians Products: Maximum potency and Usana’s Essentials.
- GUESS WHAT?
This side of the tape is just about over so, pour yourself another cup of tea, turn the tape over to side B and we will talk about the disease that’s most feared by everyone: CANCER.
SIDE B
The headline in the Los Angeles Times says it all: “Study Ties Most Cancer to Lifestyles, Not Genetics”.
Citing 88 years of data on tens of thousands of twins, a report published July 2000, in the New England Journal of Medicine underscores similar conclusions from a host of other studies. Many cancers can be prevented through simple lifestyle choices and the avoidance of environmental risk factors. These studies all place the burden of guilt on poor dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, the lack of exercise and exposure to environmental toxins.
The importance of diet in cancer prevention is also highlighted in the 1997 report, released by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Fund. This report claims that 3 to 4 million cases of cancer worldwide could be prevented annually through simple dietary change. Its key recommendation is to choose a diet that is predominantly plant-based and includes a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
Similar and almost universal findings were drawn from a comprehensive review of 172 epidemiological studies from around the world. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found overwhelming evidence that fruits and vegetables in the diet provide a huge protective effect against almost every type of cancer. Despite what we know about the importance of lifestyle and nutrition, cancer continues to be the second leading cause of death in North America. Without major advances in prevention, one out of three U.S. and Canadian citizens, now living, will succumb to cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research estimates that cancer will strike 1.2 million Americans each year, and exceed 110 billion dollars in total health and related costs. The lifetime risk for developing some form of cancer is now: one out of three for women and one out of two for men. According to figures released by the Journal of the American Medical Association, adult males now entering their forties and fifties, have more than twice the cancer rates of their grandfathers. Women, who smoke, have 5 to 6 times the cancer rates of their grandmothers. But cancer should not be feared.
Given the right nutrition, exercise and lifestyle, the body can resist cancer for a lifetime. However, if you don’t protect yourself your chance of avoiding cancer is about as good as a flip of a coin. Unfortunately, once you’ve contracted the disease, your over all chance of survival, is considerably less. The problem is that once a cancer shows up on the radar screen, its already well advanced, having been developing silently for the past ten to twenty years. The doctors immediately roll out the heavy artillery - surgery, chemotherapy, radiation - but in reality, there’s not a lot they can do at this point.
Over the last 30 years, survival rates for cancer have not improved. Since former U.S. President Nixon’s 1971 declaration of War on Cancer, well over 30 billion dollars have been poured into a campaign that some critics have labeled: “A Medical Viet Nam”. According to Nobel Laureate, Dr. Linus Pauling: “Everyone should know that the war on cancer is largely a fraud.” The fact is, we have been desperately searching for the “magic bullet” while ignoring the underlying cause. You see, cancer is not a single disease but, rather, a group of over a 100 diseases with a generally similar etiology or cause. The key to fighting cancer lies in prevention. There is growing medical evidence that cancer may initially develop through oxidative damage to the cell’s genetic blueprint or DNA. The proliferation of toxic free radicals created by the cell’s natural metabolic processes and by external environmental influences, can overwhelm a cell whose antioxidant stores are low.
Whether caused by poor diet or environmental toxins, free radical damage to the cell is now thought to be the biochemical “trigger” that sets the destructive process of cancer into motion. Research shows that once developed, cancerous tumors generate their own free radicals and promote further mutations and abnormal cell growth. Like a fire feeding on itself, unchecked cancer growth is invasive and deadly.
But, given the chance, Mother Nature can summon some powerful allies to the battlefront. Antioxidants, the body’s free radical scavengers form an army of potent cancer fighters. Together, they are the cell’s biological shield against many degenerative diseases whose primary cause is oxidative stress. Antioxidants protect the cells in three ways:
• By seeking out and destroying damaging free radicals
• By enhancing the body’s natural immune responses
• By reducing the cancer cells ability to adhere to surrounding tissues.
Let’s have a look at what antioxidants can accomplish in the battle against cancer.
Vitamin A and its precursor, beta-carotene, are antioxidants that provide a protective effect for almost all sites of cancer. In a study of pre-menopausal women with a positive history of breast cancer, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers found that those women who consumed high levels of alpha and beta-carotene, luteine, xeaxanthin, vitamin C and vitamin A were three times less likely to contract the disease than those who did not.
Vitamin C is another powerful cancer antagonist, which demonstrates a protective effect against a wide variety of cancers. It is the premier antioxidant in the extra-cellular fluid. Studies show that a diet supplemented with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, significantly reduces the risk of cancer in both smokers and non-smokers. Other research demonstrates that men with high levels of vitamin C have a much lower incidence of cancer of the stomach, colon and rectum. A review of 46 epidemiological studies, those a large population studies, found that high levels of vitamin C intake, provided an approximate two-fold protective effect against non-hormone dependant cancers, compared with low-intake. As well, several lung cancer studies have found a marked reduction in the risk of disease that correlates with the increase levels of vitamin C intake.
Alpha-tocopherol, more commonly known as vitamin E, is another potent cancer fighter. A fat-soluble vitamin, it is predominant in the cell membrane, where its known to combat the oxidation of fats. A double-blind, placebo controlled study in Finnish men showed that supplementing with just 50 IU of vitamin E reduced the risk of prostate cancer by one-third. In a recent study, researchers found that a combination of vitamin E and lycopene, which is a carotenoid found in tomatoes, inhibited prostate cell proliferation by up to 90 percent. As well, a 1998 decade-long study of 21,000 men reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that those with high dietary intakes of vitamin E reduced the risk of all types of cancer, by 30 percent.
It’s important to note here, that to provide these protective effects, vitamin E and vitamin C are required in amounts far greater than those prescribed in the current Canadian and U.S. Dietary Recommendations. These recommended daily allowances, suggest the minimum of nutrients needed to avoid acute nutritional deficiencies. They do not reflect the greater amounts required for optimal nutrition and for the protection against degenerative disease.
Selenium is a mineral that “kicks butt”. An extensive review of its antioxidant properties shows that selenium can inhibit the development of induced cancer of the liver, breast, skin and colon. A 1998 Arizona study showed that mortality from prostate cancer was reduced by 63 percent in subjects taking as little as 200 g per day of selenium. The same study found that men with normal PSA, or prostate-specific antigen levels who supplemented with selenium reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 74 percent. Similar studies demonstrate that daily supplementation with as little as 200 g of selenium can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 60 percent and lung cancer, by 30 percent.
Co-enzyme Q-10 or ubiquinone, behaves like a vitamin by ac ting as a co-factor to three important enzyme systems in the cells central metabolic pathway. As well as being important in the proper functioning of the heart muscle, that co-enzyme has powerful antioxidant properties. It’s been used successfully to treat breast cancer in humans and has prevented experimentally induced cancers in mice.
A 1995 study, reported in the Journal of the Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, demonstrated that high doses of co-Q10, at 390 mg per day, were effective in producing complete regression of tumors in breast cancer patients, some of whom, exhibited metastasis, or spreading to other organs.
Glutathione, an antioxidant produced by the body is now thought to be on the front lines of defense against environmental carcinogens. A 1999 study reported in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, showed that supplementing with a combination of glutathione, vitamin E, vitamin C and mixed carotenoids, was effective in protecting against UV induced skin damage, which results in premature aging and skin cancer.
Enough said - Contrary to the myth that vitamins just make for expensive urine, that’s not what the science shows. Understanding how to prevent oxidative damage through lifestyle and dietary change and through supplementation of natural antioxidants, offers a host of new possibilities in the treatment and prevention of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other related diseases.
You know, it is interesting. When people debate which antioxidant is the best or which one is the ‘magic bullet’, they’re missing the point. Just like firefighters on the front line who replenish and reinforce one another, free radical fighting antioxidants work best when they work together. This is known as: synergy. Which denotes the fact that antioxidants work as a team where the effect of the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. They also work in different areas of the cell. Vitamin E, is the premier antioxidant of the cellular membrane, quenching free radicals induced lipid peroxidation within the membrane itself. Vitamin C, is king in the extra cellular fluids and works along side glutathione in the cytoplasm or the fluid of the cell. Both vitamin C and vitamin E, along with selenium enhance the effect of beta-carotene. Co-enzyme Q10 works deep within the mitochondrion or the powerhouse of the cell, assisting in the energy transfer reactions and rejuvenating vitamin E. Together with vitamin E, co-enzyme Q10, protects the mitochondrial membranes from the fires that burn within. Alpha-lipoic acid, along with a family of powerful antioxidants call proanthocyanidins, which are found in grape seed and pine bark extracts, regenerates vitamin C, which in turn rejuvenates vitamin E. Working together, these free radical fighters toil in their daily battle, protecting the cell in a symphony of synergy, it’s a masterpiece written by Mother Nature.
According to Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine, “Vitamins, if properly understood and applied, will help reduce human suffering to an extent which the most fantastic human mind would fail to imagine.”
Some years ago, three eminent scientists, Nobel Laureates, Linus Pauling, Dr. Richard Passwater and Dr. Jim Enstrom, examined mortality rates in elderly Californians. What they found was remarkable. The death rate for supplement user was significantly lower than non-users. Male supplement users had a 22 percent lower risk of death, and female users a 46 percent, lower risk. Later, Enstrom and his co-workers found that supplementation with the vitamin C in excess of 250 mg per day reduced the risk of male mortality from cardiovascular disease by 42 percent and lowered the risk of death by all causes by 35 percent providing an estimated six-year increase in life expectancy.
Two large studies of self-supplementation reported in the New England Journal of Medicine back on 1993, found that vitamin E was associated with reduced coronary risk. Men and women, who took vitamin E supplements for more than two years, showed a 37 percent and 42 percent reduction respectively in the risk of heart disease. These results support a recent large-sale study conducted in Laval University, Quebec. And reported in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, which found a 69 percent reduction in ischemic heart disease and a 47 percent reduction in cardiac-related deaths among long-term users of nutritional supplements.
As well, a study reported in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, found that centenarians had substantially higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of free radicals in their blood than people 20 to 30 years younger. By now, you’re beginning to understand that the human body is a pretty complex organism. Even at the level of the individual cell. So, it’s not a stretch to appreciate the fact that the body requires a full complement of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants for OPTIMAL HEALTH and OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE
We require vitamin C for the synthesis of connective tissue and for its power as a free radical fighter. The B vitamins, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyrodoxine, cobalamin, folic acid, all are essential to the cell’s metabolic machinery. Vitamin D, phylloquinone, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, work together to build strong bones. The minerals – copper, chromium, zinc, manganese and selenium – are all needed to help activate the cell’s important enzyme systems. And in the mitochondria, within each cell, coenzyme Q10 teams-up with vitamin E, helping with cell metabolism and protecting against harmful free radical damage. Even in the eye, special antioxidants, lutein and xeaxanthin work together to protect the retina from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Get the point?
The operative word here is teamwork – the symphony of synergy. Together, these vitamins, minerals and antioxidants each with multiple functions provide the bricks and motor to build a strong foundation against degenerative disease. Leave any nutrient out or provide it in insufficient quantities and the strength of that foundation is considerably weakened. That’s why its’ so important that the supplement you choose provides that essential nutritional foundation. A quality nutritional supplement should comprise the complete range of vitamins, minerals, co-factors and trace elements and a diverse group of potent antioxidants. It must also supply them in the correct balance and at a potency that has been shown to enhance immunity and provide protection against degenerative disease. And that, my friend, is a pretty tall order, indeed.
The findings of our comparative analysis show that five products, Source Natural’s Life Force, SportPharma: Multiguard, Karuna: Maxxum Four, Sierra: Fortify and Usana’s Essentials, demonstrated a high level of antioxidant protection, so necessary and so important in the prevention of degenerative disease. As we review these three major chronic degenerative diseases: heart disease, type I diabetes and cancer, I’ve shared with you the benefits of supplementation and the results of our research concerning each area. We are now in the Second Edition of our Comparative Guide, and in both the first and this most recent edition, we have concluded that just a single current supplementation on the market today achieved our ‘Gold Standard’ for nutritional excellence. I’ve given this formula the MVP Award as the best overall nutritional supplement. It’s the Usana Health Sciences Essentials formula. Though there are many fine nutritional supplements on the market, the Usana Essentials was the only formula that found its place as the TOP CHOICE across all three categories. And takes the pennant for a high quality broad-spectrum nutritional supplement. Once again, setting the Gold standard for nutritional excellence.
The Usana Essentials ‘batting average’ was 0.931, a near perfect 93% on our twelve-point quantitative scale. Well above it’s closest competitor at 0.874 yes, indeed – life’s lonely at the top.
If you are interested in comparing a product that you have been currently taking, to the products in our Comparative Guide, just ask the person who gave you this tape for a copy of the guide. Check out, the 254 American and Canadian products we have investigated. See for yourself, how things shape down. You might be quite surprised at the results.
Well, we have covered a lot of material, in our short visit and I sure hope it was helpful.
Just remember, there are many excellent nutritional products in the marketplace today, but there are countless more poor ones.
Whatever nutritional product you choose make that choice an informed one. Be certain that you are providing your body with the very best nutritional supplement that science can offer. After all, your health is too precious to compromise.
Contact me!!
So guys if you are interested in looking at USANA's product just call me up or email me I will call you!! 819-776-2104 or jproy@aol.com
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