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*This was a question raised on Warren's Blog where you can find many comments regarding this question and various others.

Question: from Meliss

Warren what do you think about this..It was sent to me?

“Dear Meliss:

Probiotics are bacteria and enzymes are acids. To be healthy
you need less bacteria and less acid with more alkaline electron
rich foods and drinks.

High blood pressure is caused by increased acidity and a deficiency of
sodium, magnesium and potassium.

pHour salts and pHlavor salts will help.”

Answer: from Warren

I don't know who sent you this but unfortunately it is typical of the uninformed comments and half truths that circulate the health supplement business.

Probiotics are indeed bacteria but they are friendly bacteria. Your body needs friendly bacteria otherwise you would become very sick. Normally you do not need to take probiotics unless you have been on a course of antibiotics. But, if you do take them they will certainly not do you any harm. So, that was a very misleading statement.

It’s been said that if you add music to a moment, it becomes a memory. A specific song, catchy tune or funky ditty can easily take you back to memories of that first kiss, vacation or even your child’s first steps. However, there’re more benefits associated with listening to music than simply taking a trip down memory lane.

Music is basically an orchestrated collection of sound waves. Ironically, the human brain uses waves of its own, each one determined by a specific emotion.

These emotions play a key role in influencing various systemic functions throughout the body – like varying the rate of breathing and heart beats per minute, blood pressure, hormone release, muscle contraction and many others.

Listening to your favorite music may even promote a healthy heart. In 2008, researchers at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine in Baltimore conducted a study which showed that listening to joyful music arouses emotions that have a healthy physiological effect on blood vessel function.

Well, that’s according to a new study from Japan…and we must admit that we couldn’t agree more.

You see, in addition to the risk of losing teeth, dental diseases are usually the result of bacteria-triggered inflammatory host responses that cause destruction of alveolar bone and periodontal connective tissue. Dental diseases have also been implicated has risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

So where does omega-3 come into play?

*This was a question raised on Warren's Blog where you can find many comments regarding this question and various others.

Question: from Mary

I recently am dating a wonderful guy but has numerous cardio problems as well as being diabetic type II, He also has a defibrillator and is under numerous prescription meds that seem to be doing more harm than good.

He supposedly had 3 heart attacks but doesn't remember having them. Also supposedly a stroke. I believe he was used as a guinea pig for this defibrillator as it almost killed him by shorting out 19 times and was never notified of a recall on it. He is 49 yrs old.

He experiences extreme pain in legs, knees, shoulders, feet and has ED. Now he is starting to experience problems with his eyes and headaches. I think these doctors have him on so many drugs his body is trying to fight them. Also fatigue is a factor and some pain in the kidney area. Oh, by the way they did a test on his kidneys a while back and injected him with iodine.

This poor guy has been through hell. Being diabetic and very conscious of his blood sugar and checks this regularly and is under control as well as his blood pressure. A better diet has been my main concern but have recently started investigating these prescripions. He recently had bloodwork done and would like to get back with you once I get the results.

Hi, my name is Dean and I am overweight…well, according to the Body Mass Index (BMI).

It seems strange though, especially considering that I’m reasonably fit, eat a healthy balanced diet and have been blessed with genes that help me gain muscle even if I do light to moderate weight-bearing exercises…but still, the BMI says I’m overweight so I can’t be healthy, right?

Wrong! I’ll explain why…

The BMI has been used for ages (over 100 years) and many people believe that it’s an accurate indication of good health. It’s simple to calculate and measure: “…weight in kilograms is divided by height in meters squared…someone with a BMI of less than 18.5 is considered ‘underweight’, between 18.5 and 24.9 is ‘normal’, 25 to 29.9 is ‘overweight’ and 30 or greater is clinically obese.” So where does the problem lie?

Question: from Joanne

Hi, I have an 8 year old son, adopted from Russia. He is having problems and is suspected to have some fetal alcohol effects and many of the ADHD symptoms. I have had him on your Omega 3 (2 tablets a day) for a few months. He has definitely calmed down, however I am now looking for something to help with concentration. I have read numerous articles on line and have come across herbal products called "brightspark" and "focus formula" - but I am looking for something I can buy in NZ.

I was wondering whether your TB children's (tried a bottle of this but he wouldn't swallow the tablets) or whether the natural memory would be worth a go. Your memory product contains some of the ingredients recommended in the "brightspark" and focus formula products. Do you know anything about either of these products? I am finding it very difficult to decide what to try.

Answer: from Joanna Machin (Medical Nutritionist for Xtend-Life)

First of all yes, the Total Balance Children's would be ideally advised to try to balance his health overall more, which in part includes this area, at his young age. The recommended dose for his age of the Children's formula would be 3 tablets per day - 2 in the morning and one in the afternoon.

If he has problems swallowing this may just take encouragement and perseverance if he isn't used to taking tablets full stop. Children can find this hard when they are not used to it, once they do it a few times with positivity they usually find it second nature. In order to help, here are some swallowing tips that you could use:

Bruce Ames, one of the most respected professors in the field of biology and human health, is fine tuning his ground-breaking ‘triage theory’ which could soon be a slap-in-the-face for those authorities who insist on restricting access to nutritional supplements and natural ingredients containing important nutrients.

Professor Ames’ triage theory hypothesizes that short-term survival in human beings relies on the body prioritizing where scarce micronutrients should go. For example, if your heart lacks sufficient amounts of zinc, the body will source more zinc from areas that aren’t too essential.

This means that our short-term survival mechanisms operate at the expense of long-term survival mechanisms…

There’s a lot of excitement coming the University of California in San Francisco…it’s all about the research being done on telomeres, the DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that shorten as cells replicate and age.

Elizabeth Blackburn, a telomere pioneer at the institute, recently received the Nobel Prize in Physiology for her discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that protects telomeres as they shorten with each replication. Her work aims to overcome the burden of damage caused by aging cells.

This is the first posting in our new Xtend-Life blog. As our customers know, my personal blog has been the ‘de-facto’ Xtend-Life blog for the last few years. But, because we wish to expand the amount of information available to readers and customers…and with the increasing demands on my time, we made the decision to develop this new blog and include input from other Xtend-Life staff and members of our Scientific Advisory Board.

This will enable us to ensure more regular postings…seven days a week. I will still continue to do regular posts.

The format of my personal blog is being changed and will be in place early next month. It will be more interactive and will give both readers and customers the opportunity to make comments on a variety of subjects including Xtend-Life. More about this in a later posting.

This new Xtend-Life blog will have a post every day. We appreciate that it is hard for most people to keep up to date with what is going on in the wellness area due to their busy lives and overloaded email boxes…so, we are making an effort to keep things simple.