Xtend-Life-Questionst
6th September 2005
Please click on the question of interest:
Comment: From Shane. (Subject: Dose rates of vitamins and minerals...)q1
I've spent a great deal of time reading your site, newsletters, FAQ's, and I find much of what you say compelling. What I'm curious/concerned about are the quantities in your Total Balance formula. You address this issue in the FAQ:
"Vitamins and minerals are the cheapest ingredients in the formula. If greater quantities of each were needed we would have increased the amounts in the formula with minimal impact on the cost."
This sounds reasonable, but I'm still confused on one point. Regardless of what you claim to be the greater efficacy of your finely-tuned formula and enteric-coated capsules, there is still an RDA for nutrients, is there not?
How does this jibe with Total Balance? Are you claiming that the RDA overstates the quantities of vitamins and minerals required by a healthy person? (From what I've researched I suspect it *is* probably wrong, but in the other direction - people probably need more than the RDA to function optimally.) Or are you assuming that users of Total Balance will already be eating diets so close to perfect that the relatively small quantities of nutrients in TB will push them over the edge into compliance?
Or do you perhaps intend TB as a completely new class of supplement, meaning that people with sub-optimal diets (which is almost everyone) would still require a multi-vitamin to get them to appropriate RDA levels, and it's after this point that TB becomes useful?
I suspect a lot of people are wondering the same thing, so you might be well-served by elaborating the section of the FAQ that deals with this topic.
Answer: From Warren.
You raise a very good point, and I agree that it is somewhat confusing and does need clarification.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about vitamins and minerals and as a result many people blissfully overdose on them not realizing that they can do themselves harm.
They are also unaware that there are many different forms of the same vitamin. Vitamin E is good example. The overwhelming majority of vitamin E supplements are synthetic and can actually be harmful to health if taken in excess. Even if not taken in excess there are concerns regarding its use in isolation as it needs to be combined with other substances such as broad spectrum tocotrienols. This is why we not only use a natural version of Vitamin E succinate but we combine it with tocotrienols. However, you will rarely see tocotrienols in a mult-vitamin supplement because a good quality tocotrienol can be 50 times more expensive than a quality natural Vitamin E, which in turn can be 5 times more expensive than a 'standard' synthetic vitamin E.
Vitamin C is another example. Many people advocate mega doses of this substance and manufacturers fulfill this demand. However, it has been scientifically established that daily doses of Vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid exceeding 400mgs per day in an oral supplement, can be harmful when taken by a person without a chronic disease. This is because it will react with acids in the stomach to generate free radicals. Vit C in the form of calcium ascorbate is much safer.
Of course it is OK to take as much Vitamin C as you can handle when it is in the form of natural fruits.
The key to an adequate intake of 'vitamins' is not taking high doses of a few vitamins but rather taking a broad spectrum of 'vitamin like' substances as they are all interdependent and synergistic.
The general public tends to think of vitamins being only those substances which have 'vitamin' in front of their name. But in actual fact there are many more potent 'vitamin substances' that are not called vitamins. I have already mentioned tocotrienols. Another example is alpha lipoic acid…and there are many more.
The bottom line... is that even if someone has a poor diet they still have some intake of the common vitamins then this is all that is needed is a "top up" without going to excess. Minerals are another case in point. Many types of minerals stay in the body and can become toxic in time if taken in excess.
To ensure that your organs have adequate nutrients it is important to have a wide spectrum of nutrients all working together to enhance each other without causing imbalances. Some researchers believe that properly combined nutrients can increase the efficacy of the individual substances by as much as fifteen fold. This is what we believe we have achieved with Total Balance.
It in summary is not necessary to take an additional vitamin/mineral supplement if you are taking Total Balance. I certainly don't personally and neither does any of our staff or family.
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Question: From Johnny. (Subject: Nanotechnology?)q2
There is a company that claims that there is not a product or a vitamin on the market anywhere that can come close to their products. They are making this claim because they say they are the only one using nanotechnology in their vitamins etc.
They use the analogy of trying to force a basketball through a chain link fence, which would be your product, to a nutrient smaller than a pea, which is their product. The company is Royal Body Care and it was founded by a man named Clinton Howard who at one time was a professor at Rice University.
What is your opinion, your honest opinion, unbiased opinion, if you can bring yourself to do that? I heard on the news the other night that nanotechnology will revolutionize the entire medical and drug industry in the next 5 years. They were not trying to sell anything. It was just news.
Answer: From Warren.
I have no problem giving and honest unbiased opinion.
Royal Body Care is a multi-level marketing company who tend to be pretty big on 'hype'.
Their main product is microhydrin which is modified water, but it is not nanotechnology in the true sense of the word. In so far as their other products are concerned they are not using nanotechnology as far as I can see based on the info on their website... and frankly I can't see how they can apply nanotechnology to supplements at this early stage of the development.
Nanotechnology is still very much in its infancy.
The analogy about trying to force a basketball through a chain mesh fence is nonsense. If that was the case we would all be dead as we would be unable to get the nutrients from our food into the blood stream.
The biology of nutrient intake is quite simple. We eat food, it gets broken down by stomach acids and enzymes and passes into the upper intestine where the bulk of the essential nutrients pass through the intestinal wall into the blood stream which distributes the nutrients to the cells throughout the body.
A supplements job is to provide those essential nutrients which are either inadequate or missing from the diet and are needed for good health... or, are known to reduce the deterioration or aging of the cells and organs.
For someone to claim that no other product comes close to theirs they should state clearly what it contains so a potential customer can make an informed comparison.
The best way to assess whether a supplement is the best or not, is to examine the ingredient contents, both in type and quantity, (impossible to do with Royal Body Care because they don't reveal this info), and to also examine the delivery system.
Some company's put all sorts of fancy names to their products and try to 'piggy back' on some new type of technology even though it doesn't really apply to their products.
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Question: From Eric. (Subject: Alternatives to Viagra?)q3
Is your organization working on a supplement to treat erectile dysfunction? As a Loyalty Program member, I value the fact that Xtend-Life products treat the causes rather than the symptoms of problems. So, I trust your products.
I am leery of taking Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra because I also take Doxazosin Mesylate, an alpha-blocker, for high blood pressure. I have read that there are herbal supplements that are effective and safe for treating ED. Do you know of any that are safe and effective?
Answer: From Warren.
As a matter of fact we have just completed the development of a new product which we will be calling Xtend-Life Male Rejuvenator. This will be in a tablet form and is designed for male sexual and prostate health.
As a point of interest we actually developed a male rejuvenator a few years ago in a liquid form, and although it helped some customers we were not happy with it for a number of reasons (largely taste) so we withdrew it and wrote off our inventory of it.
We have now developed a new tablet which overcomes the problems of the previous product and is designed to work as a stand alone product or, in conjunction with Total Balance.
This new product is not designed specifically to address erectile dysfunction but rather to help promote general sexual health, libido, and in particular protect the prostate by the use of various powerful anti-prostate cancer agents.
However, some of the ingredients are purported to be effective for erectile dysfunction...but they will not be an instant fix. I think that it would be worth adding this new product to your daily Total Balance for 2 - 3 months. I think that there is a good possibility that you will find it helpful. At the very least we know it will be beneficial to the health of your prostate... and give your libido a boost.
We should be releasing this some time early next month.
These are the ingredients that it contains.
Beta Sitosterol
Bromelain
Calcium Ascorbate
Damiana Extract
Epimedium Brevicornum
Ginkgo Biloba Extract. Standardized 24/6
Grape Seed Extract
Green Tea Extract. (camellia sinensis Min. 80% total catechins)
L-Arginine HCL
Magnesium Ascorbate
Manganese
Piperine. Standardized Extract 95%
Quercetin Dihydrate
Saw Palmetto
Silymarin (Silybum marianum extract)
Tribulus Terrestris extract
Vitamin B3 (Nicotinamide as niacinamide)
Vitamin B3 (Nicotinic acid as Niacin)
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride)
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