Beta-Carotene Protects Against Sunburns

Oral supplements of beta-carotene may protect against sunburn, and the longer the supplementation period the greater the protection, says a new meta-analysis.

Ten weeks of supplementation were required to produce a protective effect, according to pooled data from seven studies reported in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology.

"This meta-analysis indicates that beta-carotene supplementation of humans is effective in providing protection against the development of a sunburn reaction,"
"This observation emphasizes that systemic photoprotection by beta-carotene is quite different from that achieved with a topically applied sunscreen,"

There is a growing body of science focusing on the potential benefits of nutrients to boost skin health from within, with lutein, lycopene and superoxide dismutase (SOD) having been reported to improve skin health.

Moreover, for every additional month of supplementation, the degree of protection increased, added Kopcke and Krutmann.

"This observation emphasizes that systemic photoprotection by beta-carotene is quite different from that achieved with a topically applied sunscreen," they said. "Whereas proper use of modern sunscreens provides protection against the development of a sunburn reaction within minutes after topical application, beta-carotene-induced photoprotection builds only slowly over several weeks of supplementation."

Responsibly, they stressed that the carotenoid was not a replacement for sunscreen, particularly under strong sun exposure, but may work in addition to topicals. Beta-carotene's sun protection factor (SPF) was "at best" about four, they said.

Mechanism

The researchers said the exact mechanism or mechanisms behind beta-carotenoid's sun protection were unknown, but said it was tempting to speculate that the carotenoid's antioxidant activity may be responsible. On exposure to UV radiation, particularly UV-B, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in the skin that may result in oxidative stress, a known accelerator of the ageing process. Beta-carotene may quench these ROS and thereby offer skin protection.

SCOTT'S COMMENTS
No surprise here, antioxidants protect against oxidative damage! So eat lots of vegetables and take a good multivitamin. Animal paks, GNC's Mega Men, and Multi Maxx by Maxx Essentials are my favs. Oh and stay out of the sun! Ya, like any of us are going to listen to that advice!

Nestle & Jamba Juice Partner to launch new RTDs

Nestle the world's largest food and beverage company, and Jamba Juice, the leading blender of fruit and other naturally healthy ingredients, today announced the launch of a line of Jamba(R) ready-to-drink beverages made with real fruit and boosted with extra nutrients.

Jamba Smoothies and Jamba Juicies are now available in major grocery retailers, convenience stores and select Jamba Juice store locations in eight Western states: California, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Washington and Colorado. Confirmed retail accounts include Target, Safeway, Albertsons, Ralph's, 7-Eleven, Raley's, and Walgreens.

"This is the first step in our strong partnership with Nestle," said Paul Coletta, senior vice president, marketing and brand development at Jamba. "Our teams continue to work together on future product extensions that will build and drive the synergy of Jamba retail and ready-to-drink."

"The response from accounts has been outstanding," said Steve Presley, vice president, general manager premium ready-to-drink, Nestle Beverage Division. "They recognize the value and growth potential that Jamba RTD brings to the super premium juice category."

The 2008 Jamba ready-to-drink product line includes six SKUs: three Jamba Smoothies, named Strawberries Wild w/Energy Boost, Orange Dream Machine w/Immunity, Banana Berry w/Heart Healthy Boost; and, three Jamba Juicies named Orange Strawberry Banana w/Protein Boost, Mango Orange Peach w/Fiber Boost, Very Berry w/Calcium Boost.

Cocoa Increases Vascularity!

Ok, mom was right - all you have to do is eat your Cocoa Puffs every morning! Well, not exactly ... Scientists have found that consuming cocoa flavanols -- naturally occurring compounds in cocoa may have the potential to positively impact the blood vessel dysfunction associated with diabetes, suggests a first-of-its-kind study recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology by an international group of scientists. Study participants who regularly consumed a cocoa flavanol-rich beverage made using the Mars, Incorporated Cocoapro(R) process experienced a 30 percent improvement in measured vessel function at the completion of a 30-day trial.

Poor blood vessel function is recognized as an early stage in the development process of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. For more than 20 million Americans living with diabetes, these vascular impairments can eventually lead to heart disease and stroke, the cause of death for two-thirds of those who suffer from diabetes. Despite good diabetes control and medical treatment, adults with the disease often continue to experience vascular dysfunction. This has led scientists on a search for novel medical or nutritional options to improve the health and quality of life for people with diabetes.

"We are still seeing the devastating complications of diabetes with the standard medical treatments available, so we are increasingly looking to lifestyle changes and new approaches to help address risks associated with diabetes," said Paul Zimmet, MD, PhD, Director of the International Diabetes Institute in Australia. "While more research is needed, this study shows tremendous potential for future flavanol-based applications."

In this study, the impact of both immediate and regular consumption of a flavanol-rich cocoa drink on vascular function in diabetic adults was investigated. In the first part of this study, medically-treated adults with type 2 diabetes -- a population known to have impaired blood vessel function, putting them at higher risk for cardiovascular disease -- drank a well-characterized and standardized cocoa beverage made using the Mars Cocoapro(R) process that contained different flavanol levels, ranging from 75 to 963 milligrams, and had their blood vessel function measured for several hours following consumption. The researchers found a positive correlation between the flavanol dose consumed and immediate improvements in FMD (flow mediated dilation, a measure of vessel health, i.e. the ability of a vessel to relax).
In a subsequent controlled 30-day, double-masked clinical trial, adults with established diabetes who were medically controlled, drank either a flavanol-containing cocoa beverage or a low-flavanol control three times a day. The cocoa beverages contained either 25 milligrams of cocoa flavanols (control) or 321 milligrams of cocoa flavanols (treatment) and were matched for calories, nutrients and other cocoa compounds such as theobromine and caffeine

Beyond the immediate improvements in FMD following flavanol consumption, participants experienced sustained improvements in blood vessel function upon consuming the flavanol-containing cocoa over a period of 30 days (30 percent increase in FMD between day one and 30).

"We were pleasantly surprised by the magnitude of impact of cocoa flavanols on vascular function in these diabetic adults," said Mars, Incorporated Chief Science Officer Harold Schmitz, PhD.

The Body of Evidence
Contrary to statements often made in the popular media, the collective research demonstrates that the cardiovascular effects of cocoa flavanols are independent of general "antioxidant" effects that cocoa flavanols exhibit. While research aimed at studying the potential role of cocoa flavanols in the context of blood vessel and circulatory function continues, a number of previously published studies already suggest that the consumption of cocoa flavanols can have important beneficial effects on the function of the body's network of blood vessels. The body of research not only suggests that cocoa flavanols may provide a dietary approach to maintaining cardiovascular function and health, but also points at new possibilities for cocoa flavanol-based interventions for vascular complications associated with cognitive performance, skin health and age-related blood vessel dysfunction.

SCOTT'S NOTE:
Look for supplement companies to start adding Cocoa extracts to Nitric Oxide stimulating supplements and male libido enhancers. Of course, the various supplements aimed at helping Type II diabetes patients will also start carrying these extracts in an effort to keep consumers interested in their brands and to stay current with the latest research.

At only 25 mg of flavanols needed per dose, this amount will easily fit into any capsulate or pill format supplement and won't likely drive the price up too high. Unfortunately, if Mars charges an excessive amount for their "special" flavanol ingredient mix, supplement companies will just come up with a "similar" cocoa extract, label it as a special "proprietary cocoa favanol blend" and make the same claims that Mars is making with their product.

FDA Busts LG Sciences

The FDA has seized more than 1 million dollars worth of illegal dietary supplements from a Michigan based company.

The products were being marketed to the bodybuilding world and were being sold online and in stores by the names: “Methyl 1-D,” “Methyl 1-D XL” and Formadrol Extreme XL.

The company is called LG Sciences and is located in Brighton. According to FDA officials the products that they were manufacturing contain food additives and other ingredients not approved for use in the United States.

The products "previously were tested and found to contain one or more unapproved food additives and/or new dietary ingredients for which there is inadequate information to provide reasonable assurance that the ingredients do not present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury," the FDA said.

The FDA is warning consumers of any of these products to consult their doctors as soon as possible.

A lawyer for the company Ronald Berry, says that all of their products are legal and that the FDA just wants to insure that this is the case.

GSK petitions FDA to ban dietary supplements

GlaxoSmithKline's petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban dietary supplements from making weight loss claims, has opened a cupboard and only the deluded would deny the presence of one or two skeletons rattling around in there.

The petition seeks to reclassify weight loss health claims as disease claims and by most accounts is unlikely to succeed, but it has brought into focus issues industry has not managed to lay to bed.

Inadequate or incomplete scientific substantiation, question marks over efficacy, health claim exaggeration, formula contamination and mislabelling continue to dog the dietary supplements industry despite the best intentions of the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health Education Act (DSHEA) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations enacted last year.

It's a situation that leaves industry open to the kind of attack GSK has mounted and drives the urgent need for it to get its house in order.

But the existence of rogue players hell bent on exploiting consumer weight management concerns only provides further ammunition to critics who caste the industry as being unregulated, unefficacious and unsafe.

"We're never short of targets in the weight loss industry," Michelle Rusk, from Federal Trade Commission's division of advertising practices, said at Expo West in Anaheim in March. The FTC, along with the FDA, polices claims and labelling transgressions in the US.

The fact the FTC has busted more than 100 companies since 1990 for labelling and claim breaches and is in the midst of a crackdown, is an unhealthy statistic for industry and even unhealthier for its public image.

Yet at something like $4bn the market is hardly flagging - consumer interest in weight management is stronger than ever as obesity-related problems have increased.

Just as the vitamin E market was delivered a serious blow a few years ago after a meta-analysis questioned the nutrient's efficacy, GSK's action - successful or not - may already have dented sales in the sector.

GSK says weight loss dietary supplements don't work and that obesity and the secondary diseases like diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular problems it is linked with are too serious a matter for dietary supplements to be making claims about without pre-market, pharma-style, disease claim approval.

Make no mistake - GSK's 33-page petition is a very strong one. It is well-researched, well-written and premised on a public safety logic that has many advocates, some of whom are likely to be involved in FDA's decision-making process that has about another five months to run.

It assesses a range of ingredients used in weight loss products - from bitter orange to hoodia to CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) - and concludes not one of them has been scientifically proven to manage weight.

"There is no credible scientific evidence that would support any type of a claim accompanying a weight loss supplement," the petition states.

This then becomes an issue of semantics - as there are many studies that demonstrate botanical and other ingredients can benefit weight loss, but GSK says the trials are not rigorous enough, or numerous enough, and therefore discounts them.

Yet companies like DSM, Cognis and Sabinsa possess clinical data supporting their own branded weight management ingredients which may stand up to pharma scrutiny if the petition succeeded.

Commercial versus public interest

The fact GSK just last year launched "Alli" the only OTC weight loss drug that is a direct competitor to weight loss supplements has to be considered among its concern for the public's health.

It is hard to deny the commercial benefit GSK would gain if FDA accepted its petition and re-classified weight loss claims as disease claims.

It's offering, alli, has quickly become the third highest-selling weight management drug in the world, with sales of close to $150m so there is much at stake.

That aside, GSK's action has thrown a light on industry that can yield positive results in the form of greater scientific verification.

When that is in place there will be less cracks in a predominantly honest industry for unscrupulous players to exist in. Until that happens, however, the bullets will continue to fly from the likes of GSK.

Optimum Nutrition Donates 8,400 lbs. of Bars!

Optimum Nutrition (ON) has donated 8,400 pounds of Lift™ Bars, Steel Bars and other high-protein energy bars to the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles which is an affiliate of America’s Second Harvest, a national network that secures and distributes over 2 billion pounds of food and grocery items annually to more than 200 food banks. In addition to containing at least 20 grams of high-quality proteins, each bar supplies about the same amount of carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins and essential minerals that would be consumed with a small, nutritious meal.

“We could easily have used these bars as promotional samples, but we consider helping American families a much higher priority,” said Jay Jacobsen, ON’s Marketing Manager. “Our team is dedicated to making a difference for others, whether it’s meeting customer needs or setting an example for community service.”

This is a great gesture to those in need and one that many supplement companies should consider doing, especially when their bars are close to expiration and turn as hard as a 45 pound plate. Not to say that this is what Optimum has done but it is something that more supplement companies should do when their bars solidify (something inevitable when protein bars sit on the shelf for a while). I hate when companies keep selling bars long after they have hardened up just because they don't want to lose money. I once bit into an NHF "Ultra Whey" bar and loosened my tooth it was so solid! Negative word-of-mouth advertising spreads VERY fast on confectionary items like bars and RTDs and other low-price impulse buys.

World's Best Tasting Protein?

I have almost tried them all, but I think Whey Gourmet is the best tasting on the market. Now CytoSport (makers of Muscle Milk have an amazing tasting straight whey protein that is a close second for sure.) You won't find Whey Gourmet too much around the U.S. but it is big in Canada, especially B.C. where they are manufactured.