Food Supplements
THE GOLD STANDARD IN FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
Stop Press… Nutrigold’s natural, organic Citrizorb® magnesium comes out on TOP again!
Did you know that Citrizorb magnesium can be demonstrated to be almost ten times better value for money than Food State magnesium?
As many of you are aware, the activities of the nutritional health profession have never been more in the media spotlight. So often the media reports that we have just discovered the latest wonder cure in the form of a new "medicinal compound" or, quite the opposite, they think we are potentially doing great harm to the nation. As we all know, the truth is often so much less dramatic.
There is no doubt in my mind that good nutrition is far more effective as a supportive measure rather than a curative and a daily top up of key nutrients is highly advisable to support long term health and wellbeing. The word "nutrition" is used so generally these days and rarely will a journalist dig deep enough to truly inform the reader about key issues, whether positive or negative; "What's a balanced diet?" "What is a portion of the suggested five a day?" "What is a truly effective multi-vitamin and mineral?" Apart from the label claim, what is the product’s real ability to deliver its promised nutritional properties?
As a well known naturopathic practitioner and researcher into nutrition, I have spent many years reviewing some of the most wonderful, high quality, research papers on the subject of how nutrition can really support good health. There is no doubt that the research really stacks up and yet we still hear people of influence saying that they haven't seen any research that backs this view. "All we can say is that they can't have looked very hard!"
Could it be time to reconsider the products you recommend to your clients?
As practitioners it's our job to select the very finest nutrients for our clients that we know will achieve the desired effect. However, when companies promote the attributes of a certain nutrient very few people know enough about the subject to ask the relevant biochemical questions like; "What levels of a certain nutrient were used in the research to achieve this result?" Often it is many times more than they are selling to you in the finished product and another very important question would also be “In what form was the nutrient delivered?".
An example of this would be, magnesium, so often this important mineral is offered in the industry as a "Magnesium Oxide", a truly synthetic, manmade and inorganic form of the mineral known to be poorly absorbed by the body. It can even act to neutralize our stomach acid or act as a mild laxative. By contrast, magnesium Citrizorb, is a truly organic mineral that appears as it would in living tissue. Interestingly it is present in mother’s breast milk and is known to be much better absorbed than the cheaper oxide form. I also believe that Citrizorb magnesium would act very differently when it becomes available to the body.
There are also an increasing number of companies that claim that their products are closer to food than others due to their use of yeast and they adopt names that suggest some added product advantage. They want to represent themselves in that way. To my mind this is just not so. To produce yeast that is highly enriched with one mineral, you must treat that yeast with a concentration of it that is quite unnatural for yeast to encounter. The yeast does not then necessarily react in a natural way. Then again, there are limits on how much of the mineral the yeast can be forced to absorb into its cells. Consequently there are concerns about consuming so much yeast, a potentially allergenic substance. We feel that the term “food state” is a real play on words. Their data usually compares their nutrients to the worst-absorbed forms of nutrient on the market, e.g. isolated synthetic nutrients like oxides, or rock like carbonates. They would compare much less favourably with proper organic minerals, in particular Citrizorb minerals.
It's true to say that food state minerals are in an organic form, but they don't mention that so are many other forms on the market, such as acetates, citrates, aspartates and other salts of organic acids. An example of this is our natural, yeast free, low toxicity, high absorption, organic Citrizorb form of mineral. We believe that our Citrizorb minerals will outperform many of those claimed to be closer to food form. This applies both to absorption performance and value for money. Citrizorb minerals are also much less bulky and so can deliver much more of the mineral in each capsule or tablet.
As an example, by which to make the comparison, I offer the following figures concerning Cytoplan's Food State magnesium (4084) which only delivers 30mg of magnesium per tablet compared to our 100mg per capsule of Citrizorb. In this example both forms are organic, although we know that the Citrizorb form would be better absorbed, than the food state form.
We can make a simple value-for money-comparison:
Cytoplan "Food State" magnesium (4084) offers:
Magnesium (elemental) 30mg tablet = for approximately 18 pence per tablet. The standard consumer price, excluding special offers, is £10.82 per pot of 60.
Nutrigold offer a Citrizorb Magnesium 625mg of magnesium citrate (NC012), delivering 100mg of organic elemental magnesium. The cost is approximately 14 pence per capsule, £8.27 per pot of 60, excluding any special offers or discounts. Please remember that to produce vegetarian and vegan capsules is a much more expensive process than producing tablets.
So it is easy to work out that, of the two, our product delivers 3.3 times more elemental magnesium for less money. Actually, the “Food State” product also costs more. So the price comparison per milligram elemental magnesium shows the Nutrigold product being 4.3 times better value.
However, when you also take into account the absorbability difference the gap in terms of value for money is even greater. Wait for it, this is the punch line, as you most probably do not already know the extent of this difference.
Comparing both forms to the oxide, our product is 4 - 4.5 times better absorbed than oxide (here I shall call it 4.25 times), compared to the 1.83 times in the case of Food State magnesium. For the studies concerned see the references at the end, i.e. Vinson, regarding Food State and Lindberg et al (1990) regarding citrate. Note that the value of 1.83 times for Food State is the figure that is quoted by the suppliers of it.
One can then work out a value-for-money comparison of the two products in terms of their real nutritional benefit.
We can derive from the above that our 100mgs of Citrizorb is more than twice as well absorbed as the Food State magnesium. In fact, it is better absorbed by a factor of 4.25/1.83 = 2.3 times better. We are already delivering 3.3 times as much quantity. So, 3.3 x 2.3 gives us seven and a half times more nutritional benefit.
Now take the price difference into account as well, which adds a further factor to the value-for-money calculation. The price factor is 10.82 / 8.27 = 1.3. Due to this price difference, the value-for-money that we offer here at Nutrigold is 7.5 x 1.3 = 9.75 times greater.
There are several reasons why these points are particularly relevant now.
The first of course is that we are in the middle of a recession and as always we need to deliver the most effective nutrients, in the most cost effective way. Secondly as many of you know, soon the new upper safety levels for long term use of food supplements will become enforceable, So if we are, as practitioners, going to be limited to an upper safety level limit of 350mg – 400mg for magnesium, surely it’s important that we use the most biologically active form? So forget the hype about Food State. Remember Citrizorb minerals are as close to food as anyone else's and are often better absorbed and value for money than other mineral forms . Please see attached newsletter entitled "The Truth About Your Mineral Supplementation", by Dr Plaskett B.A, Ph.D., C.Chem., which offers a more detailed review of the research literature.
To help our readers understand more about how to get the very best out of their multi-vitamin and mineral regimes or single minerals we are pleased to enclose the latest newsletter from the Nutrigold Education Team entitled "Do we really need to take a food supplement or are they all just a waste of time?" This is further supported with a newsletter which explains exactly how our Citrizorb minerals are made.
Should anyone have any questions about any of this you would be most welcome to make contact directly with me at andywren@nutrigold.co.uk or call 01395 227850 (Monday - Thursday).
Assuring you of our best attention at all times
Yours sincerely
Andrew Wren
Managing Director
References
Vinson, J.A., (undated), “Comparison of the absorption of different forms of magnesium, unpublished data on human studies”, quoted in Natures Own / Cytoplan literature.
Lindberg, J. S., Zobitz, M.M., Poindexter, J.R. Pak, C.Y., “Magnesium bioavailability from magnesium citrate and magnesium oxide”, J Am Coll Nutr. Feb; 9 (1): 48-55 (1990).
Citrizorb® Did you know that Citrizorb® magnesium can be demonstrated to be better absorbed and almost ten times better value for money than Food State magnesium?
As many of you are aware, the activities of the nutritional health profession have never been more in the media spotlight. So often the media reports that we have just discovered the latest wonder cure in the form of a new "medicinal compound" or, quite the opposite, they think we are potentially doing great harm to the nation. As we all know, the truth is often so much less dramatic.
There is no doubt in my mind that good nutrition is far more effective as a supportive measure rather than a curative and a daily top up of key nutrients is highly advisable to support long term health and wellbeing. The word "nutrition" is used so generally these days and rarely will a journalist dig deep enough to truly inform the reader about key issues, whether positive or negative; "What's a balanced diet?" "What is a portion of the suggested five a day?" "What is a truly effective multi-vitamin and mineral"? Apart from the label claim, what is the product’s real ability to deliver its promised nutritional properties?
As a well known naturopathic practitioner and researcher into nutrition, I have spent many years reviewing some of the most wonderful, high quality, research papers on the subject of how nutrition can really support good health. There is no doubt that the research really stacks up and yet we still hear people of influence saying that they haven't seen any research that backs this view.
All we can say is that they can't have looked very hard!
Could it be time to reconsider the products you recommend to your clients?
As practitioners it's our job to select the very finest nutrients for our clients that we know will achieve the desired effect. However, when companies promote the attributes of a certain nutrient very few people know enough about the subject to ask the relevant biochemical questions like; "What levels of a certain nutrient were used in the research to achieve this result?" Often it is many times more than they are selling to you in the finished product and another very important question would also be “In what form was the nutrient delivered?".
An example of this would be, magnesium, so often this important mineral is offered in the industry as a "Magnesium Oxide", a truly synthetic, manmade and inorganic form of the mineral known to be poorly absorbed by the body. It can even act to neutralize our stomach acid or act as a mild laxative. By contrast, magnesium Citrizorb, is a truly organic mineral that appears as it would in living tissue. Interestingly it is present in mother’s breast milk and is known to be much better absorbed than the cheaper oxide form. I also believe that Citrizorb magnesium would act very differently when it becomes available to the body.
There are also an increasing number of companies that claim that their products are closer to food than others due to their use of yeast and they adopt names that suggest some added product advantage. They want to represent themselves in that way. To my mind this is just not so. To produce yeast that is highly enriched with one mineral, you must treat that yeast with a concentration of it that is quite unnatural for yeast to encounter. The yeast does not then necessarily react in a natural way. Then again, there are limits on how much of the mineral the yeast can be forced to absorb into its cells. Consequently there are concerns about consuming so much yeast, a potentially allergenic substance. We feel that the term “food state” is a real play on words. Their data usually compares their nutrients to the worst-absorbed forms of nutrient on the market, e.g. isolated synthetic nutrients like oxides, or rock like carbonates. They would compare much less favourably with proper organic minerals, in particular Citrizorb minerals.
It's true to say that food state minerals are in an organic form, but they don't mention that so are many other forms on the market, such as acetates, citrates, aspartates and other salts of organic acids. An example of this is our natural, yeast free, low toxicity, high absorption, organic Citrizorb form of mineral. We believe that our Citrizorb minerals will outperform many of those claimed to be closer to food form. This applies both to absorption performance and value for money. They are also much less bulky and so can deliver much more of the mineral in each capsule or tablet.
As an example, by which to make the comparison, I offer the following figures concerning Cytoplan's Food State magnesium (4084) which only delivers 30mg of magnesium per tablet compared to our 100mg per capsule of Citrizorb. In this example both forms are organic, although we know that the Citrizorb form would be better absorbed, than the food state form.
We can make a simple value-for money-comparison:
Cytoplan "Food State" magnesium (4084) offers:
Magnesium (elemental) 30mg tablet = for approximately 18 pence per tablet. The standard consumer price, excluding special offers, is £10.82 per pot of 60. Nutrigold offer a Citrizorb Magnesium 625mg of magnesium citrate (NC012), delivering 100mg of organic elemental magnesium. The cost is approximately 14 pence per capsule, £8.27 per pot of 60, excluding any special offers or discounts. Please remember that to produce vegetarian and vegan capsules is a much more expensive process than producing tablets.
So it is easy to work out that, of the two, our product delivers 3.3 times more elemental magnesium for less money. Actually, the “Food State” product also costs more. So the price comparison per milligram elemental magnesium shows the Nutrigold product being 4.3 times better value.
However, when you also take into account the absorbability difference the gap in terms of value for money is even greater. Wait for it, this is the punch line, as you most probably do not already know the extent of this difference.
Comparing both forms to the oxide, our product is 4 - 4.5 times better absorbed than oxide (here I shall call it 4.25 times), compared to the 1.83 times in the case of Food State magnesium. For the studies concerned see the references at the end, i.e. Vinson, regarding Food State and Lindberg et al (1990) regarding citrate. Note that the value of 1.83 times for Food State is the figure that is quoted by the suppliers of it.
One can then work out a value-for-money comparison of the two products in terms of their real nutritional benefit.
We can derive from the above that our 100mgs of Citrizorb is more than twice as well absorbed as the Food State magnesium. In fact, it is better absorbed by a factor of 4.25/1.83 = 2.3 times better. We are already delivering 3.3 times as much quantity. So, 3.3 x 2.3 gives us seven and a half times more nutritional benefit.
Now take the price difference into account as well, which adds a further factor to the value-for-money calculation. The price factor is 10.82 / 8.27 = 1.3. Due to this price difference, the value-for-money that we offer here at Nutrigold is 7.5 x 1.3 = 9.75 times greater.
There are several reasons why these points are particularly relevant now.
The first of course is that we are in the middle of a recession and as always we need to deliver the most effective nutrients, in the most cost effective way. Secondly as many of you know, soon the new upper safety levels for long term use of food supplements will become enforceable, So if we are, as practitioners, going to be limited to an upper safety level limit of 350mg – 400mg for magnesium, surely it’s important that we use the most biologically active form? So forget the hype about Food State. Remember Citrizorb minerals are as close to food as anyone else's and are often better absorbed and value for money than other mineral forms . Please see attached newsletter entitled "The Truth About Your Mineral Supplementation", by Dr Plaskett B.A, Ph.D., C.Chem., which offers a more detailed review of the research literature.
To help our readers understand more about how to get the very best out of their multi-vitamin and mineral regimes or single minerals we are pleased to enclose the latest newsletter from the Nutrigold Education Team entitled "Do we really need to take a food supplement or are they all just a waste of time?" This is further supported with a newsletter which explains exactly how our Citrizorb minerals are made. “A range of natural organic metabolic food chain minerals that your body can recognise and utilise”.
Should anyone have any questions about any of this you would be most welcome to make contact directly with me at andywren@nutrigold.co.uk or call 01395 227850 (Monday - Thursday).
Assuring you of our best attention at all times
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Wren
Managing Director
References
Vinson, J.A., (undated), “Comparison of the absorption of different forms of msagnesium, unpublished datav on human studies”, quoted in Natures Own / Cytoplan literature.
Lindberg, J. S., Zobitz, M.M., Poindexter, J.R. Pak, C.Y., “Magnesium bioavailability from magnesium citrate and magnesium oxide”, J Am Coll Nutr. Feb; 9 (1): 48-55 (1990).
Actizorb® These specialist formulae have been designed to offer the consumer a broad spectrum of the key nutrients we feel form the very basis of a balanced nutritional regime.
These formulae deliver to the consumer some of the most biologically active ingredients, mainly minerals in the Citrizorb form, in a convenient, cost effective method. This is why most nutritional regimes now start with an Actizorb formula / Supamag Plus or a combination of Nutrimin / Multi B Complex / Magnesium Citrizorb / Calcium Citrizorb or Potassium Citrizorb.
At Nutrigold we feel that many of the more popular, high profile multi vitamin and mineral formulae on the market, though they may seem like good value for money, often try and deliver too many different nutrients and therefore do not deliver enough of the important ingredients. Or they use inorganic forms which may look impressive on a label claim but are themselves often poorly absorbed, like carbonates (chalk). Companies often state the gross weight of a mineral not the active elemental weight (see glossary page 56 in our current catalogue), which can make it look more impressive than it really is. To make our products as effective as possible we only use the highest quality, bioactive raw materials.
The less frequently used minerals such as boron and molybdenum are included in the Actizorb formulations, as are the key antioxidant vitamins A, C, E and K. These formulae can be used quite simply as straight-forward multiple formulae providing broad-spectrum nutrition or additionally they are designed to be used within a full naturopathic regime, that can be supported with EFA’s, Superlec, Golden Aloe and, where needed, Oxycell.
This system focuses upon the fact that many of the nutrients in these unique formulae increase the activity of detoxification enzymes and hence support the body’s natural eliminative processes. The differences between the individual formulae influence how strongly and in what manner the eliminatory processes are supported. All four formulae have the same basic constituents but are then modulated by the inclusion of extra calcium and/or extra choline and inositol. These are the “modulating nutrients”.
Oxycell This revolutionary antioxidant formula is now one of our best selling products.
Oxycell is made from only the highest quality, carefully selected bioactive natural ingredients. These ingredients deliver one of the most potent pure antioxidant formula on offer in today’s Complementary Health Field. This formula contains the cutting edge bioflavonoid complex Quercetin that is noted to be one of the most wide reaching antioxidants. This formulae also contains the well known cutting edge antioxidant Grapeseed Extract, this ingredient has been reported to have at least twenty times more antioxidant activity than the traditionally used Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) Reference Murray and Pizzormo’s encyclopedia of natural medicine.
This product has been used with great success by many of the U.Ks leading practitioners. Why not find out what makes Oxycell their natural choice.
Golden Aloe
The natural choice for high quality biologically active whole-leaf Aloe Vera.
So why is Golden Aloe recognised to be such a great product and the complementary health practitioner’s natural choice?
We at Nutrigold believe that our Golden Aloe is one of the highest quality Aloe Vera products on the market. We manufacture this unique product in only the highest quality processing facilities and it is produced using only the finest quality, Aloe Barbadensis Miller plant leaves. In our view it is important to only source our product from the Aloe Barbadensis Miller variety of Aloe Vera plant. This is a very special species that is normally used in high quality internal use Aloe Vera products. It is also the only species we are aware of that has a large amount of scientific and safety research to support its use. At Nutrigold we do not use any other species of Aloe Vera in our product.
Why use whole-leaf Aloe Vera?
Many Aloe Vera products are simply made from the inner gel of the leaf. These are good products in their own right, but they contain far less of the solids that whole-leaf Aloe Vera offers. These important solids are responsible for delivering the properties associated with good quality Aloe Vera.
At Nutrigold, we believe our Golden Aloe is in many ways superior to many of the other Aloe Vera products offered in the market place. The specialised process used to manufacture our Golden Aloe marks a quantum leap forward in the handling and processing of Aloe Vera products.
British Multi A multi vitamin and mineral designed to supplement the average British diet.
At last we all have access to a multi vitamin and mineral that has been designed by some of the Uk’s leading nutritional health experts, that delivers a carefully considered blend of well absorbed natural ingredients that have been both researched and demonstrated to be appropriate to nutritionally optimise the average British diet.
Rather than as so often seen on the market a random formula of nutrients designed to support the average American diet or a formula that delivers the basics with the addition of the latest wonder ingredient, without really explaining the logic of why we would need this ingredient on a daily basis, or as often seen delivering much smaller amounts of certain nutrients than the research would suggest might have a positive effect. Also many of the main stream nutrients are made from cheaper, often less well absorbed nutrient forms…
Why do we not add calcium to the British Multi?
Although we are aware of and recognise the importance of a good intake of calcium on a daily basis, we have decided not to include calcium in our British Multi formula because on average the British Diet contain more than sufficient levels of calcium, in fact in excess of 1000mg daily, with a Government RDA level of 800mg. Instead we prefer to focus our energies on delivering other key appropriate nutrients in an optimum biologically active form.
Omega These days the media and food industry are always talking about our need to eat foods that contain high levels of essential fatty acids (EFA’s), known as Omega Oils 3, 6 & 9.
These important oils occur mainly in foods like oily fish, flaxseeds, evening primrose oil, borage oil, pumpkin seeds & olive oil to name but a few of the sources. It’s well known that many of us don’t get enough Omega 3 and sometimes more than enough Omega 6 in our diets. We believe that an adult should aim to consume an estimated 2g of Omega 3 and 6g of Omega 6 daily. However all too often much of the excess Omega 6 in our diets tends to be present as heated fats or hydrogenated fats. These are not considered to be a good thing for our health and are not nutritious to the body.
The key issue with essential fatty acid supplementation isn’t just how much of each oil we consume, but we need to know that these oils are in a form that can be easily broken down to prostaglandins in the body so they can be used? i.e. it’s not just what you consume, it’s what you absorb that really matters!!!
This is where we feel that OmegaSmart differs from so many of it’s competitors. To help our bodies utilises these oils correctly OmegaSmart delivers a range of Omega 3, 6 & 9 from premium quality sources, with the addition of carefully selected emulsifying nutrients, Phosphatidyl Choline and Monoglycerides, that make the oils more readily available to the body.
Cookery Workshop Let’s get back to preparing and cooking our own healthy foods!
In the latest newsletter we have discussed how we feel people have lost touch with many of the decisions we should make when making our food choices and there seems to be an ever growing number of people who have either never learnt or forgotten how to cook simple health food. Well if you want to get back to cooking your own healthy foods why not consider enrolling in this exciting short, easy to follow cookery course…
The next Good Food Cookery workshop is on Saturday 3rd October at Hove Park School in their well equipped cookery lab, where you'll get to cook a selection of delicious dishes in the morning to then eat for lunch, and some mouthwatering snacks and treats in the afternoon that you'll get the chance to taste too. There will be short talks on seasonal and healthy eating, and all recipes are gluten-free and sugar-free, with vegetarian and vegan options. Ingredients are supplied - you just have to turn up and take part.
Cellular AwakeningWhat if you had within you the ability to heal from any condition?
This book shatters many of the myths that currently exist regarding health and illness and presents a vision of the human body and healing that both makes sense and inspires. If you have any illness, you have the potential to heal yourself. If you already enjoy great health, you can illuminate your conciousness in waysbeyond your imagining. Whatever your current situation, you can begin to feel a true connectedness to who you really are and your potentialto create your own reality.
Available from the Collegeof Natural Nutrition on(01884) 252703 or at www.natnut.co.uk
The latest from The FNTPAs many of you know I am an avid supporter of the recent activities of The FNTP and I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate them and their ever increasing number of members for having the courage to stand up for your basic human rights, Thank you!
Following The FNTP’s recent announcement it’s clear to me that the profession is now speaking with a more united inclusive voice and I can rest comfortable in the knowledge that the profession is in safe hands. I just hope you go on to build on the great success you have achieved over recent months.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say to anyone who has not yet joined The FNTP, now’s the time to play your part in moulding the future of this wonderful profession for many years to come… come on get involved…
For those of you who have not seen the statement please find this below:
Enhancing Fertility by TV's Amanda HamiltonIf you live in or near Edinburgh why not consider attending a talk by TV’s Amanda Hamilton on enhancing fertility… which is being hosted by the industry renowned College of Naturopathic Medicine….
