CardioPeptase™

Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Cardiopeptase is LifeLink’s brand of serrapeptase — a substance extracted from the microorganism Serratia sp.E15. Serrapeptase is a ‘protease’ enzyme — that is, it is a protein that destroys certain other kinds of proteins by chopping them into pieces.

Serrapeptase was discovered in the 1960s by Japanese researchers who were studying silkworms.¹ Silkworms spin silk into cocoons, which protect them while they transform into adult insects: silkmoths. When the transformation is complete, the moths escape by dissolving holes in the cocoon’s silk. They do this by making use of the Serratia bacteria that live in the insects’ digestive tracts and which make serrapeptase.

The early investigators of serrapeptase realized its potential as an agent for clearing fibrous deposits in the body. They soon discovered that it also has anti-inflammatory properties¹ and that it improves the tissue penetration of antibiotics.² During the next two decades it became widely used clinically in Europe and Asia.³ Its reputation eventually worked its way to the United States where it is now increasingly used as a supplement and treatment for various conditions.

What we can’t tell you

In the U.S. and some other industrialized countries, government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have adopted censorship as a method for intensifying their control over the supplement industry and its customers. Thus, FDA regulations prohibit us from telling you that any of our products are effective as medical treatments, even if they are, in fact, effective.

Accordingly, we will limit our discussion of CardioPeptase™ to a brief summary of relevant research, and let you draw your own conclusions about what medical conditions it may be effective in treating.

Serrapeptase has found a variety of usages based, presumably, on its ability to destroy specific kinds of proteins. These usages include:

• Hastening recovery from acute or chronic ear, nose or throat disorders.⁴
• Reducing symptoms of coughing in patients with “chronic airway disease”.³
• Treating chronic pulmonary disease.⁵
• Reducing swelling and pain after sprains and torn ligaments.⁶
• Reducing swelling and pain after surgery.^7,8,9,10
• Dissolving blood clots and arterial plaques²⁰
• Improving penetraton of antibiotics in inflamed or infected tissues.^11,12
• Treating carpal tunnel syndrome.¹³
• Enhancing the ability of antibiotics to prevent infections after implant surgery.¹⁴
• Treating breast engorgement¹⁵ (a condition during breastfeeding that occurs when more milk accumulates in the breasts than the infant consumes).
• Reducing the ability of food-poisoning bacteria to infect human tissues.¹⁶

Cardiovascular applications

Serrapeptase has aroused a great deal of interest as an agent for preventing or treating cardiovascular disease — in particular, atherosclerosis (‘hardening of the arteries’). According to current thinking on this subject, plaques form where artery walls have been injured by the immune system. The plaques accumulate debris from dead immune cells, fatty materials, and fibrous proteins like fibrin, elastin, and collagen.¹⁹ The plaques are held together by the fibrous proteins; serrapeptase can destroy fibrous proteins; therefore, it should come as no surprise to find that serrapeptase weakens arterial plaques and helps them to dissipate.

Absorption

It was once widely believed in medical circles that proteins like serrapeptase cannot possibly be effective when used orally because they would be destroyed by acids in the stomach and therefore could not reach the tissues where they are needed. This has turned out to be false — studies have shown that serrapeptase and certain other enzymes can pass through the stomach intact and stlll be active after being absorbed into the blood.¹⁷

Low toxicity

One of the reasons for the increasing popularity of serrapeptase as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever is that, unlike aspirin and many other anti-inflammatories, serrapeptase does not cause ulcers or stomach bleeding. Its toxicity is extremely low¹⁸ and (unlike most other anti-inflammatories) it rarely causes unwanted side effects.

Conclusion

Are CardioPeptase™ supplements useful for the conditions and purposes mentioned above? We aren’t allowed to tell you, so you should take a look at some of the references cited here, and then decide for yourself.

Biotin

Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Biotin is a water-soluble B-vitamin that is involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It is essential for life, growth, food utilization, maintenance of epidermal tissues, normal bone development, and sexual function.

Biotin’s bioavailability varies widely with different sources, but deficiencies in humans are rare. Certain drugs and supplements (such as alpha-lipoic acid), and raw eggs, can cause deficiencies; the symptoms usually begin with dry skin and expand to include brittle nails, dermatitis, hair loss, fatigue, depression, nausea, muscle pains, high cholesterol, heart problems, anemia, and birth defects.

Studies suggest that high biotin consumption may correct diabetic hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and weight-gain, particularly when combined with chromium picolinate.

Recommended biotin dosages range from about 150 mcg/day (minimum requirement) to 15 mg/day (5 mg x 3 times per day) for diabetic use. Alpha-lipoic acid users should probably take several milligrams of biotin per day (but not at the same time as an alpha-lipoic acid dose, since they compete for absorption). Biotin is without side effects up to at least 40 mg/day.

Bioperine®

Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

ioperine is a standardized extract from the fruits of black pepper (Piper nigrum) or long pepper (Piper longum). Its piperine content is 95% or more, compared to only 3-9% found in raw forms of these peppers.

Black pepper extract has been used extensively in Ayurvedic medicine to treat fevers, digestive disorders, urinary difficulties; rheumatism, neuralgia, and boils.

Recent scientific studies have shown that piperine can greatly increase the bioavailability of many other compounds — such as vitamins, minerals, drugs, and herbal substances. For example, in humans the bioavailability of curcumin was increased by a factor of 20 when used with piperine. Piperine improves the absorption of these compounds in the intestine, promotes their retention in cells, and prevents their being metabolized in the liver.

Piperine has also shown promise as an agent for preventing diarrhea, gastric ulcers, stimulating digestive enzymes, suppressing the induction and spread of lung cancer, preventing epileptic convulsions, and stimulating melanin production.

This supplement is usually used at 5-10 mg/dose. It is rapidly absorbed and its effects on bioavailability of other compounds lasts 1-2 hours. Doses higher than 10 mg require careful consideration of potential drug interactions.

How does BHT work in the body?

Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

BHT, distantly related in structure to vitamin E, is an antioxidant that was once widely used to protect food from damage by oxidation and microorganisms. It is frequently used as an anti-aging supplement.

What we can’t tell you

In the U.S. and some other industrialized countries, government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have adopted censorship as a method for intensifying their control over the supplement industry and its customers. Thus, FDA regulations prohibit us from telling you that any of our products are effective as medical treatments, even if they are, in fact, effective.

Accordingly, we will limit our discussion of BHT to a brief summary of relevant research, and let you draw your own conclusions about what medical conditions it may be effective in treating.

How does BHT work in the body?

BHT’s medical usefulness is due to two unrelated characteristics: its antioxidant properties, and its effects on biological membranes. BHT’s antioxidant properties are responsible for its benefits vis-à-vis aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and brain damage; its membrane effects are responsible for its anti-viral benefits.

As an antioxidant, BHT terminates certain kinds of chain reactions that damage structures in living cells. These chain reactions normally occur during the extraction of energy from fats and sugars, a process which takes place in sub-cellular organelles called “mitochondria”.¹ The molecular apparatus for energy extraction has been evolving here on Earth for several billion years, but is still far from perfect — and harmful byproducts are generated along with the energy. One of these byproducts, called the “peroxide radical”, gives rise to chain reactions in which repeated molecular damage takes place until the chain reaction is forcibly terminated by an appropriate antioxidant molecule. The body produces such antioxidants, but not in sufficient amounts to prevent some damage to DNA and other essential biological structures. This is why we benefit from adding antioxidants through supplementation — they neutralize some of the chain reactions that the body’s own antioxidants miss. BHT can serve as such an antioxidant.²

In BHT’s other function, as a membrane manipulator, molecules of BHT merge with the lipid membranes of cells and of viruses that have lipid envelopes (such as the herpes virus). The presence of enough BHT molecules in a viral envelope can alter the envelope’s physical properties enough to make the viral particle incapable of infecting a human cell. This can bring a halt to a viral infection’s spread within the body.

What is BHT good for?

According to the medical research literature, BHT can be useful for:

• preventing viral infections, such as herpes, and terminating their outbreaks^3,4,5,6
• prevention of DNA damage and cancer by certain carcinogens^7,8,9
• protection of the brain from damage by alcohol¹⁰
• increasing the tissue concentrations of Vitamin E¹¹
• preventing birth defects in diabetic pregnancies¹²
• preventing atherosclerosis¹³
• protection from manganese toxicity¹⁴

BHT for herpes infections

To put it briefly, BHT has been shown to lower the incidence of herpes outbreaks, and to shorten the duration of those outbreaks that do occur.^15,4,16 It appears to work better in some people than in others — perhaps because the susceptibility of human cells to membrane-altered viruses varies from person to person. For some people BHT may be an excellent prevention; for others it may ineffective. There’s no way to predict in advance whether it will work for you — you simply have to try it to find out.

A good, readable review of BHT as a herpes fighter is the one by Ed Sharpe at the Delano.com website.⁶ As Sharpe points out, the evidence for BHT’s effectiveness comes both from the medical literature and from numerous anecdotal reports. Since Sharpe’s review was written there have been a few more studies^5,3 and lots more anecdotal reports, such as the experiment reported on by Lucky Phoswa of South Africa in his blog.⁷

While people’s genetic susceptibility to herpes viruses probably varies between individuals, the herpes virus’s susceptibility to interference by BHT probably does not vary from strain to strain. Viruses can develop resistance to antibiotics, which act upon specific viral protein structures that are determined by specific viral genes, but viruses are highly unlikely to develop resistance to a substance like BHT, which alters membrane properties that are not determined by viral genes.

The myth of BHT toxicity

During the 1970s and 1980s, neurotic food-activists scared the public into thinking that BHT and other food preservatives were highly carcinogenic. They succeeded in getting preservatives removed from most food products — and as a result, thousands of cases of food poisoning, some of them fatal, now occur every year that would otherwise have been avoided. Those preservatives were protection against the production of toxic chemicals in food by microoganisms. But at realistic doses BHT is not carcinogenic — in fact, it is anti-carcinogenic.^17,8 Our society has paid dearly in both money and health for caving in to the irrational demands of those food-activists.

At high doses, on the other hand, many substances, both synthetic and naturally-occurring, are carcinogenic — they can initiate or promote the growth of cancer cells. All plants, including those we use for food, produce many kinds of substances that cause cancer when fed at huge doses to lab animals.^18,19 Cooking generates even more carcinogens in food.^22,23 But so what? At lower doses many of them actually protect against cancer. We don’t consume these substances in carcinogenic amounts, and we don’t consume BHT in such amounts, either.

The medical literature suggests that oral doses of BHT up to at least 6 grams/day have no toxicity.²⁰ There is one report of someone who took 80 grams and suffered temporary light-headedness, headache, slurred speech, and unsteady gait.²⁰ It has also been shown that applying BHT to the skin in the amounts used in cosmetics does not lead to any toxic effects.²¹

Conclusion

Are BHT supplements useful for the conditions and purposes mentioned above? We aren’t allowed to tell you, so you should take a look at some of the references cited here, and then decide for yourself.

Benfotiamine

Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2022 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Benfotiamine is a substance that, when taken orally, is converted into thiamine (Vitamin B-1). It is found naturally in plants of the onion family, but the amounts present are miniscule.

Thiamine has been used for many years to treat neurological disorders. But this form of the vitamin is poorly absorbed and rapidly metabolized, making it difficult to achieve therapeutic levels in the body.

Benfotiamine, being fat-soluble, solves this bioavailability problem.¹ Taken orally, it is well absorbed and remains in the body for days.² Consequently, benfotiamine can raise thiamine concentrations in the blood and tissues about 5 times higher than oral thiamine consumption can.³

What we can’t tell you

In the U.S. and some other industrialized countries, government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have adopted censorship as a method for intensifying their control over the supplement industry and its customers. Thus, FDA regulations prohibit us from telling you that any of our products are effective as medical treatments, even if they are, in fact, effective.

Accordingly, we will limit our discussion of Benfotiamine to a brief summary of relevant research, and let you draw your own conclusions about what medical conditions it may be effective in treating.

Applications

Medical research has found evidence supporting the use of benfotiamine for preventing the following conditions:

• diabetes-induced vascular damage
• neuropathy due to diabetes^4,5,6 or alcohol⁷ consumption
• diabetic retinopathy^5,8 and nephropathy⁵
• tissue damage and aging due to protein cross-linking
• genetic damage in late-stage kidney disease⁹
• nerve damage due to vitamin B-1 deficiency after gastric bypass surgery.^27,28

How does it work?

Generally speaking, benfotiamine supplements serve as a source of thiamine and therefore increase the concentrations of this vitamin in the body. Thiamine itself plays at least two biological roles:

• increasing the rate at which glucose is converted to other sugars;⁸
• maintaining conduction of information along nerve fibers.^10,11,12

Thus, thiamine works to prevent high concentrations of glucose from developing in cells and thereby decreases the damaging effects which glucose has on the body’s tissues. And thiamine also helps to maintain nerve function.

How can glucose be damaging to the body? Isn’t it one of the body’s main sources of energy? Yes, glucose is the most common of all sugars — it is a basic constituent of honey and table sugar, and is the building block of starches and other carbohydrates. Nevertheless, glucose has two tragic down-sides:

• during the metabolism of glucose (i.e., when cells break down glucose to extract its energy), free radicals are produced which then proceed to damage the surrounding tissues;
• a small portion of the glucose molecules, instead of being metabolized, react chemically with proteins in the tissues, producing crosslinks (‘AGEs’) that impede or inactivate the proteins. The result is a loss of flexibility and function in skin, muscle, and all other living tissues.

Both of these side effects of glucose consumption are destructive to the body. They are considered major contributors to the aging process as well as to the failure of organs and tissues in diabetes.^13,14,15

But this damage can be limited if glucose levels in the body’s cells can be kept low. And they can be kept low if excess glucose can be rapidly converted to less harmful substances. Thiamine is a biological cofactor that does exactly this¹⁶ — it promotes the conversion of glucose into other, less harmful sugars, as well as promoting the breakdown of glucose into carbon dioxide, water, and energy. Since benfotiamine is converted into thiamine in the body, benfotiamine supplementation is equivalent to dramatically increasing the bioavailability of thiamine.¹⁷

Diabetic applications

Diabetes causes tissue damage in many — perhaps all — bodily tissues. This is to be expected, since the hallmark of diabetes is a failure to limit the body’s exposure to high glucose levels — levels that will cause damage to any type of tissue. However, some kinds of glucose-related damage can be prevented, or even reversed, by benfotiamine. Among these are:

• vascular damage due to protein cross-linking;¹⁸
• damage to limbs caused by wounds and inadequate blood supply;¹⁹
• damage to retina and other tissues by free radical production;²⁰
• dysfunction of nerves and kidneys due to a variety of mechanisms.⁵

Alcoholism

Alcoholics absorb thiamine poorly, and often show symptoms of thiamine deficiency.²¹ One of the results of such deficiencies is nerve damage, especially in the extremities. Benfotiamine supplements can reverse some of these neuropathic symptoms. For example, in a 2001 study, patients with alcoholic polyneuropathy were given benfotiamine at 450 mg/day for 2 weeks followed by 300 mg/day for 4 weeks. The researchers reported a regression in sensor and movement disorders, as well as some neuropathy symptoms.²²

Nerve conduction

Indirect evidence suggests that thiamine plays a fundamental, but still-obscure, role in cell signalling — not only in mammals, but throughout the biological world. During the evolution of nerves as specialized communication cells, this role of thiamine evolved, too. For example, thiamine came to be involved in controlling the pores in nerve cell membranes through which ions pass during neural activity.¹² Thus, thiamine levels seem to be correlated with the efficiency with which nerves conduct information.

Gastric bypass surgery

Gastric bypass surgery can leave some patients with nutritional deficiencies because certain vitamins, such as vitamin B-1, normally get absorbed in the parts of the digestive tract that have been bypassed.²⁷ Symptoms of such B-1 deficiencies include numbness and weakness in arms and legs, and cognitive failures.²⁸

Injections of vitamin B-1 are sometimes used to correct such B-1 shortages, but benfotiamine offers a more convenient approach that can — and should — be followed soon after surgery rather than waiting for symptoms of nerve damage to appear.

Why not just take oral B-1 supplements after gastic bypass surgery? Because benfotiamine’s ability to raise B-1 levels in the body is 5 times greater than that of oral B-1 supplements or of other B-1 derivatives.^3,26

Bodybuilding

Because of benfotiamine’s reputation for improving nerve conduction and preserving tissue flexibility, it has become popular with body-builders. Bodybuilders know from experience that muscles perform better when the nerves controlling them work better and when the muscle tissue itself is flexible.²³

Safety

Benfotiamine has an excellent safety record. No reports of toxicity can be found in the medical literature.²⁴

Reviews

A good overview of Benfotiamine and its uses is the one by Thorne Research.²⁴ Another good Thorne Research review is their discussion of peripheral neuropathy.²⁵

Conclusion

Are Benfotiamine supplements useful for the conditions and purposes mentioned above? We aren’t allowed to tell you, so you should take a look at some of the references cited here, and then decide for yourself.