Xtend-Life-Questionst
Issue 5th June 2006
Please click on the question of interest...
Is Xtend-Life being greedy?... I have been taking Total Balance for a couple of years. I like the way it has strengthened my immune system, but I have a question. If Total Balance is doing its job of keeping the immune system strong then why would anyone taking Total Balance need to take Viral-Protec? The answer is they wouldn't. More...
Nutrient damage…more… A recent question from Vincent published on the 2nd May asked about damage to nutrients. Can I now press a point he made that he could not understand how nutrients in the food we eat which can be damaged by stomach acid could manage to pass through the stomach unharmed? More...
Policosanol effectiveness?... I was disheartened today to read the attached article (below) outlining a medical study that evidently confirms that policosanol is ineffective as a cholesterol lowering supplement. I have been using your Cholest-Natural for the past 3 months and have recently purchased a further 3 month supply. I decided to use your product as an alternative to red yeast rice extract, because it seemed to be the healthier, safer alternative. More...
Question: from Randy (Subject: Is Xtend-Life being greedy?)q1
I have been taking Total Balance for a couple of years. I like the way it has strengthened my immune system, but I have a question. If Total Balance is doing its job of keeping the immune system strong then why would anyone taking Total Balance need to take Viral-Protec? The answer is they wouldn't.
It appears to me that Viral-Protec is just a greedy attempt to take advantage of the Avian flu scare. I can see why Warren Matthews felt reluctant to even mention it in his "Bird Flu... Real Threat or a Hyped up Hoax?" article because guilt has that effect on you. I think Xtend-Life needs to make crystal clear to their customers that if they are taking Total Balance as directed then they do not need to take Viral-Protec. I guess no one is immune when it comes worshiping the mighty dollar.
Answer: from Warren
Hmmm…actually my comment about being reluctant to mention Viral-Protec in an older article was not prompted by guilt.J We had had this product under development well before the bird flu hysteria surfaced. It just so happened that we completed the development and the manufacture of the first run about the time when the Bird Flu was getting a lot of publicity.
If we were driven by the mighty dollar we would be promoting it quite differently. In fact, we make mention on our website that there is no product specifically for the bird flu because a human to human ‘bird flu’ is not a reality and only exists in the minds of alarmists, opportunists or pessimists!
Our Viral-Protec contains a number of immune enhancing ingredients which either Total Balance does not have, or, may be desirable to take in a greater quantity in order to maximize the immune system against all kinds of viruses. It was designed as an adjuvant to Total Balance although it can be taken as a stand alone product. It is primarily designed as a preventive protocol for the common flu, either as a stand alone product or, as an adjuvant to Total Balance in a half dose.
If you are taking Total Balance in the full dose and are in good condition then it is not necessary to take Viral-Protec as well UNLESS you are in a higher risk situation. For example, you are living and working in conditions in which you are exposed to other people who have, or are susceptible to flu's, or, if you travel a lot in airplanes or visit countries where you are exposed to unusual viruses that you are not normally in contact with.
If a person normally gets the flu each year they are advised to take this product prior to the flu season for maybe 3 - 4 months to build up their immunity. This is a practical alternative for many people who currently get flu injections which have many question marks regarding both efficacy and safety.
I personally added it to my supplement regime initially for 3 months at 3 tablets per day, and now take 3 tablets per day for a month every second month. I do this because of the excessive amount of long distance travel that I do, and also because of the amount of time I spend in Asia. I never have any problems, in that I don't pick up viruses or colds. Whether this would still be the case if I was only taking Total Balance I don't know...very likely it would, but the scientific evidence supports the desirability of taking it in addition to Total Balance so I treat it as extra 'insurance'.
Our philosophy is to provide the best possible solution for as many health objectives as possible and this sometimes means developing additional products to act as adjuvant for Total Balance. Total Balance as you have discovered is an excellent all round 'tonic' for maintaining good health particularly when combined with our Omega 3. However, sometimes it is desirable to add more specialized products, such as what we have done for a number of our products, for example our Neuro-Natural range which supports the brain and nervous system.
In summary Randy, I can assure you that our products are not developed from a greedy perspective...in fact, quite the opposite. It costs us a great deal of money to develop new products and it is not the best use of resources from a financial point of view. If our prime motivation was money we would simply only have produced the three versions of Total Balance and Omega 3 and put our resources into marketing them aggressively. That would be a lot more profitable than continuing to develop new products. However, we really do consider our customers to be 'family' and as such we feel it our duty to provide as wide a range of products as possible to cover as many needs as possible.
Finally with regard to the Bird Flu 'mania' we would never try to capitalize on this because as I have said on previous occasions I believe that this is a 'perceived' risk and not a real one and people are being unnecessarily alarmed.
back to top
Question: from Ron (Subject: Nutrient damage…more…)q2
A recent question from Vincent published on the 2nd May asked about damage to nutrients.
Can I now press a point he made that he could not understand how nutrients in the food we eat which can be damaged by stomach acid could manage to pass through the stomach unharmed?
Since the question has been raised, I would be interested to know the answer. I have always been a bit curious about this. Keep up the good work!
Answer: from Warren
After reviewing my answer which we published, I can see what you mean. I didn’t answer it all that clearly…sorry! Now…if I understand correctly, you are asking why some nutrients in the food we eat are damaged whereas when those nutrients are in Total Balance they are not damaged? I hope I am interpreting your question correctly!
If I am, the answer is in the special coating that we put on the Total Balance tablets. This coating is known as enteric coating. This coating is acid resistant and it enables the tablet and all the nutrients it contains to pass through the stomach completely intact.
However, when it reaches the upper intestine which is slightly alkaline, the coating disintegrates and releases all the active ingredients for absorption through the walls of the intestine into the blood stream. You can find more info about this by going to http://www.xtend-life.com/product_detail.php?product_id=6&lang_id=1&menu_id=15 and clicking on the enteric coating link in the product intro.
This process is able to be completely validated using specific protocols set out by both the British and the US Pharmacopeia.
back to top
Question: from Marion (Subject: Policosanol effectiveness?)q3
I was disheartened today to read the attached article (below) outlining a medical study that evidently confirms that policosanol is ineffective as a cholesterol lowering supplement. I have been using your Cholest-Natural for the past 3 months and have recently purchased a further 3 month supply. I decided to use your product as an alternative to red yeast rice extract, because it seemed to be the healthier, safer alternative.
As policosanol is listed as the most active ingredient in this product, I'd greatly appreciate your advice with regard to these latest medical findings included in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
I look forward to hearing your insights with regard to this matter.
Many thanks, Marion
“Trendy supplement doesn't lower cholesterol
May 17 (Reuters Health)
Policosanol, touted as a natural way to treat high cholesterol levels, appears to be useless, German investigators report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Policosanol is an extract of the waxy coating of sugar cane and other plants, and multiple trials have demonstrated that it safely lowers lipid levels. However, Dr. Heiner K. Berthold and his colleagues note that almost all of these studies came from one group in Cuba, whose research was funded by Dalmer Laboratories, which markets policosanol.
In an attempt to confirm their findings, Berthold, from the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association in Berlin, and his team performed a "rigorously controlled" multicenter study comparing Cuban sugar cane-derived policosanol with an inactive "placebo" supplement.
Their study involved 143 Caucasian adults with LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels of at least 150 milligrams per deciliter.
Participants were randomly assigned to policosanol at doses of 10, 20, 40 or 80 milligrams daily or placebo. After 12 weeks, the researchers saw no statistically or clinically significant effect on LDL cholesterol at any dose.
Similarly, the investigators report, there were no significant differences among the groups in HDL ("good") cholesterol levels, total cholesterol, very low density-cholesterol, triglycerides, or lipoprotein(a).
Berthold's team concludes that "more independent studies are required to counterbalance the vast body of available positive trials." They also hope to see trials showing patient-related outcomes, such as cardiovascular illness and mortality.
The study was sponsored by Madaus AG, an international company specializing in plant-derived drugs, which does not manufacture or distribute any cholesterol-lowering drugs.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, May 17, 2006.
Publish Date: May 17, 2006."
Answer: from Warren
This is a rather interesting study. Interesting in a number of ways!
The study was funded by a pharmaceutical company. Admittedly it does not manufacture cholesterol lowering drugs but they have many associates who may or may not be such manufacturers. One can’t help wondering what their motivation was for funding the study in the first instance.
Is that the study was completed in 2001. Why have they waited for five years before having it published? That is not ‘normal’.
Policosanol over the last few years has become widely accepted worldwide as a safe an effective alternative to the statin drugs. Statin drugs are proving to be the biggest cash earner of all time for many pharmaceutical companies. Policosanol is undoubtly having an impact on the sale of these drugs. Is this a factor in the five year delay in publication? I don’t know…but, I am sure someone does!
The study does not indicate the delivery method used. If it was in a capsule form the efficacy of the policosanol would be compromised. Because policosanol in a ‘normal’ capsule is not the most effective means of delivery we 'bind' the policosanol to a combination of oils in a softgel in the case of Cholest-Natural and in an enteric coating when used in Total Balance.
The baseline of an average LDL of 150 they used for the subjects is relatively low. Unlike a statin, policosanol will not artificially force levels of cholesterol down.
There are many clinics in Europe specializing in natural treatments for lowering cholesterol and policosanol is their most effective ingredient.
It's also rather interesting that JAMA published this old negative study but they seem to ignore the positive ones.
From our own experience policosanol is an excellent substance and is very beneficial for those people suffering from high cholesterol. However, it is only one of the substances that we use to achieve the desired results. We combine it with a number of other important substances to maximize its effectiveness.
Honestly Marion, I would not be disheartened by this report. It is a good effective ingredient.
To see unedited results from quite a number of customers go to http://www.xtend-life.com/product_detail.php?product_id=13&lang_id=1&menu_id=15 and click on Customer Comments. Of course these are not part of a clinical study but nonetheless they are actual results unsolicited by us.
At the end of the day it is results that count and I am sure when you have your next blood test you will find that it is working for you as it has for thousands of other customers.
Can we guarantee that it will work? No…because for some people it won’t work and neither does a statin drug. No two people are the same but it does work for the overwhelming majority of people, just as statins do…BUT…it has no negative side effects.
Important notice: All material provided is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this publication. Consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and wellbeing or on any opinions expressed within this newsletter. The information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate based on the best judgment of the editor but the reader is responsible for consulting with their own health professional on any matters raised within.
back to top
