Leaky Gut Syndrome.. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.. Synthetics versus natural

• Leaky Gut Syndrome
  Do your products address leaky gut syndrome?
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  In terms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, how consistent have your results been, and is there an approximate timeframe, and which products would you suggest specifically?
• Synthetics versus natural
  Hi, I have a question about the type of ingredients you use in your products. Is it true that natural ingredients are better for your body than synthetic ingredients?

Question: From Celena. (Subject: Leaky Gut Syndrome.)q1

Do your products address leaky gut syndrome?

Answer: From Nicolien.

With regard to your question about leaky gut syndrome, Total Balance (TB) and our Omega 3/DHA fish oil can indeed play a beneficial role in addressing this. Leaky gut syndrome is caused by inflamed intestinal mucosa, in which the absorptive epithelial mucosa cells end up being too permeable for partially digested food products, bacteria and endotoxins. These substances end up in the blood stream, causing havoc in the body. An inflammatory cascade damages body tissues and the toxic load burdens the liver. Many disorders may originate from leaky gut syndrome, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, (bowel) cancer, arthritis, malnutrition, bloating, food intolerances, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis etc. Initial causes for leaky gut syndrome are gut dysbiosis, candida, damage by NSAIDs, antibiotics, chemicals and pesticides, intestinal parasites, diet too low in fiber and too high in sugars and proteins, intestinal infection, malabsorption, Coeliac's disease, achlorhydria, inadequate digestive secretions, altered pH, stress, etc.

To treat leaky gut syndrome, these steps need to be taken:

• Eliminate food allergies (common are wheat and dairy) by an elimination diet, and eliminate intake of antibiotics, alcohol, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as nurofen and aspirin), pesticides and chemicals (by for example choosing organically grown food).
• Help to stop the inflammatory process in the intestinal epithelia (and possibly beyond).
• Support liver function.
• Re-inoculate bowel with probiotics

• Re-establish the epithelium of the bowel to normal function by eating high fiber foods such as slippery elm powder (also anti-inflammatory to the bowel epithelia), psyllium, cabbage (and bananas).

TB can play a role in these steps as it contains anti-inflammatory ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, myrrh, vitamin c, quercetin, rutin, and bioflavonoids. Turmeric also improves bile flow, thus improving digestive function, along with digestive enzymes in the formula (lipase, papain, betain HCl, isolase) and is a liver-protective herb, as well as anti-oxidant and blood cleansing. TB contains Mahonia grape, it's active ingredient berberine promotes digestion, is anti-diarrheal, anti-microbial and enhances the immune system. Other important ingredients for balancing (digestive) health are vitamin A and D, the B-vitamins, choline, folic acid, green tea extract, L-taurine (also liver health) and zinc. Aloe polysaccharides and beta glucans are beneficial in inflammatory bowel conditions.

Fish oil plays an important role in supporting healthy inflammation management, I would suggest taking 2 - 4 capsules daily. See also this page on our Omega 3 product.

Other beneficial supplements you may need to consider taking are Silymarin or Milk thistle to restore liver function, glucosamine and L-glutamine to heal and normalize bowel epithelium and probiotics to re-inoculate the bowel with beneficial microflora.

Question: From Celena. (Subject: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.)q2

In terms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, how consistent have your results been, and is there an approximate timeframe, and which products would you suggest specifically?

Answer: From Nicolien.

Our Total Balance will certainly be beneficial for most people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I can't give you any results or time frame as we do not actively "treat" people as such and when people buy our products we do not always know what specific conditions they may suffer from. We get very positive general feedback but only initiated by our customers.

Ingredients in TB which will be specifically beneficial to people who suffer from CFS are: L-carnitine, vitamin B12, vitamin B3, magnesium, anti-oxidants, selenium, N-acetyl cysteine, oligomeric pro-anthocyanidins present in bilberry and the ATP precursors (which help the body to form its own CoQ10). The anti-oxidant ingredients present in TB are: vitamin C, E, selenium, copper, lipase, betaine, beta carotene, bioflavonoids, hesperidin, lutein, rutin, Tocotrienols, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, quercetin, alpha lipoic acid, L-carnosine, L-cysteine, myricetin, policosanol, beta glucan, maitake mushroom, mahonia grape, green tea, red clover, gotu kola, black cohosh, black cumin, ginger, gingko, hawthorne, myrrh, soy isoflavones, turmeric, olive leaf and bilberry.

Question: From Tony. (Subject: Synthetics versus natural.)q3

Hi, I have a question about the type of ingredients you use in your products. Is it true that natural ingredients are better for your body than synthetic ingredients?

Answer: From Warren Matthews.

Regarding your question about natural versus synthetic ingredients, with some ingredients this is indeed true, particularly some of the vitamins and in particular Vitamins E and D.

However, some ingredients, although they are considered to be natural, can only be man-made (synthetic). These are produced used biotechnology. Probably the most well known one in this category is CoEnzyme Q10 and some of the vitamins such as B12 and Biotin.

Some of the synthetics can be indistinguishable from the natural product even at molecular level. So I am sorry but there is no simple answer to this question, as it can be both yes and no. When there is a choice we will always go for the natural version but, as I said sometimes the 'natural' version has to be synthesized.

By the way, in case you are wondering why we don't include CoQ10 in our Total Balance, we don't need to as we have a specific combination of ingredients within the formula which produces more usable CoQ10 in the body than if you had taken a normal 50mg CoQ10 tablet.