05/16/2007
New Study: Pycnogenol® Reduces Heart Failure
May 16, 2007 – GENEVA, Switzerland – A study to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal of Cardiovascular Toxicology reveals Pycnogenol®, natural pine bark extract from the French maritime pine tree, helps prevent damage that high blood pressure causes to the heart. The study demonstrates Pycnogenol® counteracts the “wearing out” of the heart, which may aid the five million Americans living with heart failure. Previous studies have shown Pycnogenol® supplementation to be associated with improved cardiovascular health, such as cholesterol reduction, blood pressure control and prevention of thrombosis.
In hypertension, the over-worked heart gradually wears out, resulting in the weakening of the heart muscle and increasing of heart chamber volume. This process (known as cardiac remodeling) may eventually cause heart failure when the heart insufficiently supplies the body with oxygenated blood. The study showed that Pycnogenol® prevents the heart from getting worn out during hypertension. Cardiac chamber walls showed a significantly higher rate of collagen connective tissues than control groups.
“Alternative treatments such as Pycnogenol® are crucial components in the fight against heart disease,” said Dr. Ronald Watson, professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Arizona and a lead researcher of the study. “The effectiveness of Pycnogenol® supplementation is a great option for many people who want an alternative to prescription medications such as beta blockers or ACE inhibitors. This new study shows Pycnogenol® administers a therapeutic effect to limit the degenerative process in patients predisposed to congestive heart failure, such as the aged.”
The study was conducted at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Elderly female mice (18 months old) were randomly divided into four groups: control mice, mice receiving Pycnogenol® only, mice receiving L-NAME only (a substance which causes arterial constriction) and mice receiving both Pycnogenol® and L-NAME. Pycnogenol® and L-NAME were administered in tap water and the study was approved by the Animal Review Committee at the University of Arizona.
One group of hypertensive mice received Pycnogenol® in drinking water for four weeks and another group of hypertensive mice was left untreated. After five weeks, the hearts of the latter control group had significantly increased in size as a result of hypertension. In the Pycnogenol® treated group, hypertension and heart function parameters resembled those found in healthy control mice with healthy blood pressure.
“This study provides evidence that oral administration of Pycnogenol® reversed cardiovascular remodeling induced by L-NAME by blocking nitric oxide production, which leads to hypertension and finally cardiomyopathy,” said Watson.
After a detailed investigation of the heart tissue, Watson found Pycnogenol® supplementation to significantly enhance the connective collagen matrix of cardiac tissue. Whereas the chronic hypertension in mice led to a significant loss of connective collagen fibers, Pycnogenol® significantly increased the collagen presence, resulting in stronger cardiac chambers.
According to the American Heart Association nearly five million Americans are living with heart failure, and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The mortality rate for heart failure affects 80 percent of men and 70 percent of women within 12 years of obtaining cardiovascular diseases. According to Watson, cardiac remodeling is considered an important therapeutic target to battle this disease.
Watson presented the new research this month at the SupplySide East Educational Conference and Trade Show in Secaucus, NJ. Previous clinical research shows Pycnogenol® to battle coronary heart disease and stroke, high blood cholesterol and hypertension. Research shows Pycnogenol® to diminish the major cardiovascular risk factors simultaneously while offering a safe, natural approach.
http://www.ecenter.isotonix.com/
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Pycnogenol and OPC-3™
You've known about the beneficial ingredients in our top-selling Isotonix® OPC-3 for years. New research continues to indicate that a key OPC-3 ingredient, Pycnogenol, may offer powerful, significant benefits to those who take it.*
To find out more about Market America Isotonix® OPC-3™, go to "top ten products" (left column)>Isotonix® OPC-3™
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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Vital Nutrients and the Benefits of Nutritional Supplements
Discover the Benefits of Nutritional Supplements
In modern times, there is a growing and important need to incorporate nutritional supplements in one's diet for many reasons. While the average person may believe that he or she is eating a balanced diet, in fact he or she may be missing out on vital nutrients that cannot be easily gained on a daily basis. There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration when one is weighing the reasons for taking supplements.
Why Take Nutritional Supplements?
Modern farming methods utilize frequent crop rotations in order to maximize productivity. As a result, however, vital nutrients and especially minerals in the soil are rapidly depleted. This is so extreme that you may notice that a tomato from the store today just doesn't taste like the tomato of your childhood - and it probably has nowhere near the nutrient level either. As a result, those eating mass-produced vegetables and fruits are missing out on key phytonutrients, including bioflavanoids and minerals, which are generally no longer present in the amounts they were in the past.
In addition, today we are constantly exposed to overly processed food products. If you walk into any standard supermarket, you would likely eliminate 90 percent of the store if you were to ignore the processed foods that are offered. It's certainly hard to avoid, since these are the products advertised on television, available at grocery stores, and served in the multitudes of fast-food restaurants. Even if you are conscientious and try to eat well, you still likely are filling your stomach much of the time with processed grains (stripped of bran and fiber), fatty foods (loaded with saturated and trans-fats) and overly sweetened foods with few vital nutrients.
Plus, it can be almost impossible to achieve the diverse and vital nutrients that your body requires just in what you eat day to day. For example, different fruits contain different nutrients - but you are not likely to eat every type of fruit every single day, or even once a month. How often have you eaten blueberries, bananas, pears, cherries and raspberries in a single day? Because there is such a variety out there, and because these nutrients are all important, it can be simply impossible to consistently get them all from diet alone.
Another challenge is that Americans are eating the wrong types of fats - we eat too many products containing high levels of trans fats, saturated fats, and vegetable poly unsaturated fats, instead of healthy monounsaturated fats and fish oils. Fish oils, in particular, are a valuable source of essential fatty acids, which are critical for maintaining normal mental and cardiovascular function. But unless one is eating wild Alaskan salmon three to four times a week, every week, one is not likely achieving the optimal level of these essential fatty acids and vital nutrients from diet alone.
For all of these reasons and more, high-quality nutritional supplements can help fill in the gaps and provide the vital nutrients missing from foods. They can give you the variety that you need on a day-to-day basis. Nutritional supplements are also important as it becomes evident that many vitamins and minerals can optimize your genetic potential - and taking nutritional supplements with the right blend of vital nutrients can also achieve this.
How Can You Choose the Right Nutritional Supplements?
Therefore, if taking nutritional supplements is so important to your health, your next step is to figure out how to navigate the sea of options that currently exist. Walk into any grocery store or pharmacy, or do an online search, and you'll find thousands of nutritional supplements. How do you choose a product or a brand?
Generally speaking, you should start by making sure that any supplement you buy is from a manufacturer and/or supplier working under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). These practices include documentation of the manufacturing process to eliminate the risks of i) contamination or adulteration of the vital nutrients the supplements contain, or ii) product mislabeling. Most well-known brands use GMP, so you may want to stick with a better-known product to ensure quality.
You can also investigate the manufacturer of a supplement to ensure that it has good quality control processes in place. The manufacturer should make this information available for consumers on its website or in product literature, including whether it has in-house testing of its products and whether it works with independent labs to confirm the potency and purity of its nutritional supplements and the vital nutrients that are included. In addition, you should be able to see up front if the manufacturer is promoting clinical research or simply featuring pseudo-science with little back up of its claims.
Take a look at the entire product line offered by the company as well. Many producers of nutritional supplements simply provide stand alone vitamins or single-ingredient herbs, such as a vitamin D supplement or an Echinacea pill. These companies are often simply of the "me too" variety - offering basic products just to make money. Other companies may offer blends or balanced formulations with the right combinations of vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs that work together to produce optimal results. Such companies are likely to provide balanced nutritional supplements that more closely mimic those found in nature and that are better for maintaining your health. Companies that provide such products are more likely to be interested in the overall well-being of their customers rather than in just selling a single type of ingredient.
Finally, look carefully at the delivery method of the vital nutrients in any supplement you are investigating. While many nutritional supplements are offered in a compressed tablet format, this is not necessarily the best way to get the nutrients into your system. If this type of tablet isn't formulated properly, or if it is compressed with too much pressure when it is created, it will not dissolve readily in the stomach. If you decide to try tablets, make sure the label notes that they meet USP dissolution requirements, which means that the product has been tested and will properly dissolve in the stomach.
A better choice for delivery is to find nutritional supplements that are isotonic - provided in powder form that can be mixed with water to create an isotonic solution. This enables vital nutrients to be absorbed more readily in the small bowel without need for digestion in the stomach, thus a very efficient delivery method.
Conclusion
Nutritional supplements can be extremely beneficial to your overall health and well being and can compensate for the lack of vital nutrients in modern processed foods and inadequate diets. However, it is important to choose very carefully the nutritional supplements that you purchase. Look into the background of the manufacturer or supplier of the supplements and make sure they are meeting quality control standards as well as providing these vital nutrients in a delivery form that has the greatest benefit.
www.marketamerica.com/customizeme
or
www.CustomizeME.com
In modern times, there is a growing and important need to incorporate nutritional supplements in one's diet for many reasons. While the average person may believe that he or she is eating a balanced diet, in fact he or she may be missing out on vital nutrients that cannot be easily gained on a daily basis. There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration when one is weighing the reasons for taking supplements.
Why Take Nutritional Supplements?
Modern farming methods utilize frequent crop rotations in order to maximize productivity. As a result, however, vital nutrients and especially minerals in the soil are rapidly depleted. This is so extreme that you may notice that a tomato from the store today just doesn't taste like the tomato of your childhood - and it probably has nowhere near the nutrient level either. As a result, those eating mass-produced vegetables and fruits are missing out on key phytonutrients, including bioflavanoids and minerals, which are generally no longer present in the amounts they were in the past.
In addition, today we are constantly exposed to overly processed food products. If you walk into any standard supermarket, you would likely eliminate 90 percent of the store if you were to ignore the processed foods that are offered. It's certainly hard to avoid, since these are the products advertised on television, available at grocery stores, and served in the multitudes of fast-food restaurants. Even if you are conscientious and try to eat well, you still likely are filling your stomach much of the time with processed grains (stripped of bran and fiber), fatty foods (loaded with saturated and trans-fats) and overly sweetened foods with few vital nutrients.
Plus, it can be almost impossible to achieve the diverse and vital nutrients that your body requires just in what you eat day to day. For example, different fruits contain different nutrients - but you are not likely to eat every type of fruit every single day, or even once a month. How often have you eaten blueberries, bananas, pears, cherries and raspberries in a single day? Because there is such a variety out there, and because these nutrients are all important, it can be simply impossible to consistently get them all from diet alone.
Another challenge is that Americans are eating the wrong types of fats - we eat too many products containing high levels of trans fats, saturated fats, and vegetable poly unsaturated fats, instead of healthy monounsaturated fats and fish oils. Fish oils, in particular, are a valuable source of essential fatty acids, which are critical for maintaining normal mental and cardiovascular function. But unless one is eating wild Alaskan salmon three to four times a week, every week, one is not likely achieving the optimal level of these essential fatty acids and vital nutrients from diet alone.
For all of these reasons and more, high-quality nutritional supplements can help fill in the gaps and provide the vital nutrients missing from foods. They can give you the variety that you need on a day-to-day basis. Nutritional supplements are also important as it becomes evident that many vitamins and minerals can optimize your genetic potential - and taking nutritional supplements with the right blend of vital nutrients can also achieve this.
How Can You Choose the Right Nutritional Supplements?
Therefore, if taking nutritional supplements is so important to your health, your next step is to figure out how to navigate the sea of options that currently exist. Walk into any grocery store or pharmacy, or do an online search, and you'll find thousands of nutritional supplements. How do you choose a product or a brand?
Generally speaking, you should start by making sure that any supplement you buy is from a manufacturer and/or supplier working under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). These practices include documentation of the manufacturing process to eliminate the risks of i) contamination or adulteration of the vital nutrients the supplements contain, or ii) product mislabeling. Most well-known brands use GMP, so you may want to stick with a better-known product to ensure quality.
You can also investigate the manufacturer of a supplement to ensure that it has good quality control processes in place. The manufacturer should make this information available for consumers on its website or in product literature, including whether it has in-house testing of its products and whether it works with independent labs to confirm the potency and purity of its nutritional supplements and the vital nutrients that are included. In addition, you should be able to see up front if the manufacturer is promoting clinical research or simply featuring pseudo-science with little back up of its claims.
Take a look at the entire product line offered by the company as well. Many producers of nutritional supplements simply provide stand alone vitamins or single-ingredient herbs, such as a vitamin D supplement or an Echinacea pill. These companies are often simply of the "me too" variety - offering basic products just to make money. Other companies may offer blends or balanced formulations with the right combinations of vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs that work together to produce optimal results. Such companies are likely to provide balanced nutritional supplements that more closely mimic those found in nature and that are better for maintaining your health. Companies that provide such products are more likely to be interested in the overall well-being of their customers rather than in just selling a single type of ingredient.
Finally, look carefully at the delivery method of the vital nutrients in any supplement you are investigating. While many nutritional supplements are offered in a compressed tablet format, this is not necessarily the best way to get the nutrients into your system. If this type of tablet isn't formulated properly, or if it is compressed with too much pressure when it is created, it will not dissolve readily in the stomach. If you decide to try tablets, make sure the label notes that they meet USP dissolution requirements, which means that the product has been tested and will properly dissolve in the stomach.
A better choice for delivery is to find nutritional supplements that are isotonic - provided in powder form that can be mixed with water to create an isotonic solution. This enables vital nutrients to be absorbed more readily in the small bowel without need for digestion in the stomach, thus a very efficient delivery method.
Conclusion
Nutritional supplements can be extremely beneficial to your overall health and well being and can compensate for the lack of vital nutrients in modern processed foods and inadequate diets. However, it is important to choose very carefully the nutritional supplements that you purchase. Look into the background of the manufacturer or supplier of the supplements and make sure they are meeting quality control standards as well as providing these vital nutrients in a delivery form that has the greatest benefit.
www.marketamerica.com/customizeme
or
www.CustomizeME.com
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