New Stuff

USANA recently had their 2010 International Convention. Like every year, it was an awesome, over the top celebration of continuing success. These guys know how to party. They won a Stevie Award for Best Live Event for last year's convention. If you want to get an idea of what a convention looks like, you can find a video on the USANAHealthSciences Youtube channel.

This year, the company announced Nutritional Hybrid Technology, which allows them to combine ingredients previously incompatible in storage into a single tablet, enabling more powerful combinations. Naturally, they released some new products: Proflavanol C100 and C200 for an incredibly powerful dose of grapeseed extract and vitamin C; and a new Digestive/Detox category. This new category includes Hepasil DTX for liver health, as well as Digestive Enzyme and Fibergy Plus fiber supplement (which if you mix with orange juice, you hardly notice its presence). Dr. Myron Wentz, founder and well-respected microbiologist, recommends everyone take Hepasil because the liver is where all of the toxins are filtered out, and it's constantly getting hammered by the environment and food we eat.

Why is detox important? Everyone's heard about environmental toxins like pollution and mercury in tuna, but few consider the impact serious enough for action. For me, the worry's a bit closer. In the Gulf, we've got an epidemic of health concerns brewing and most people don't even know it. The oil “spill” (in which millions of gallons of crude oil gushed out of a well for over two months) has contaminated the sea floor and water in ways we can't measure. People in the Gulf states will be swimming in the water and eating shrimp and oysters from water that will be contaminated with cancer-causing compounds for decades. They won't realize the oxidative stress they're putting on their cells. In some cases, they may get the common cold more often or have general fatigue. In more subtle cases, they'll be oblivious for decades and one day be told they have cancer. What people forget, though, is about 70% of degenerative diseases including cancer are preventable if we take care of ourselves. Most of the people I know can't eat an ultra-healthy, tightly controlled diet every day. We need a boost from supplements to deal with the world outside our cubicles.

Some highlights about vitamin D and supplements in general:

• Dr. Myron Wentz stated at the 2010 convention that there are over 2,500 studies showing vitamin D is an effective preventer of cancer.
• Osteoporosis Canada has published new guidelines for vitamin D intake: 400-1000 IU/day for adults under age 50, and 800-2000 IU/day for adults over 50.
  "Supplementation is necessary to obtain adequate levels as dietary intake has minimal impact" Hanley DA, Cranney A, Jones G, Whiting SJ, Leslie WD, Cole DEC, Atkinson SA, Josse RG, Feldman S, Kline GA, Rosen C. Vitamin D in adult health and disease: a review and guideline statement from Osteoporosis Canada. 2010. CMAJ 10.1503/cmaj.080663, ePub ahead of print. Retrieved online 14 July 2010. [Link]
• Participants with the highest levels of vitamin D (more than 50 nmol/L) had a 67 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease than those with the lowest vitamin D levels (less than 25 nmol/L.) Knekt P, et al. Serum Vitamin D and the Risk of Parkinson Disease. 2010. Arch Neurol 67(7):808-11. [Link]
• A team of researchers from the University of Washington report that daily use of multivitamins over a 10-year period may reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 16%. Am J Epidemiol 2009 Aug 15;170(4):472-83 [Link]

If you'd like to order any of USANA's products, or have questions, just send me an email at journey@markjholmes.com. Visit my website at http://supergeek.usana.com as well.