Nutritional products from New Chapter and other health innovators

Monday, July 11, 2005 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: nutrition, nutritional supplements, New Chapter

In the world of nutritional supplements and healthy foods, there are some wonderful companies out there providing some outstanding products for the marketplace. They're being quite innovative with the products they bring to the market. I'd like to talk about some of those companies and what they're doing that can benefit you in terms of health and disease prevention. None of these companies have paid for this. This is an unsolicited review. I'm not into payola. So this is just the straight truth about some companies that are doing great work and deserve to be mentioned here.

I'm talking about companies like Natural Factors, which is Michael T. Murray's line of nutritional supplements, and companies like Nature's Way. Another company is Food for Life, which makes the sprouted grains cereal. The company I want to talk about here in particular is called New Chapter.

New Chapter deserves a lot of recognition. They're coming out with some of the most innovative products I've seen introduced recently. My experience with this company started with Berry Green. This was the first product from this company that I got really excited about. I've done another entire report on Berry Green to be posted shortly. Berry Green is a superfoods concentrate product. It is called Berry Green because it combines green superfoods with the berry superfoods to create one concentrated food powder that is absolutely outstanding as a health supplement. My only complaint about Berry Green is that it contains too much spinach (and not enough blueberries) and costs way too much at the retail store, but it's nevertheless a great nutritional product.

If you look at the effects of the different ingredients in this product, you will find that many of them are well proven to enhance health and prevent chronic diseases. These are my own explanations for this product based on my own research, these are not claims made by New Chapter. (I hope they don't send me letters from their legal department for saying these things about their product. You never know, it's happened before!)

Here you have ingredients in this Berry Green product like organic spinach, organic blueberry, and organic kale. In fact, there's a long list of other ingredients in here. But those first three are the exciting ingredients. Why? Because all three of those ingredients help prevent cancer. In fact, new research has been coming out on blueberries, showing that blueberry phytochemicals inhibit the growth of cancer cells at every stage of cancer development. Every stage. So just by eating blueberries or blueberry concentrates, you can help prevent cancer, and I believe you can even reverse early stage cancers with the help of nutrition and, of course, with the help of a naturopathic physician who can give you guidance from a qualified medical point of view.

Remember that blueberries also act as powerful balancers of natural cholesterol levels, and they help reduce the bad cholesterol in your blood (LDL cholesterol) while raising the good cholesterol, thereby giving you a much better cholesterol ratio. In fact, blueberries have been clinically proven to be more powerful than statin drugs in lowering LDL cholesterol, without any of its negative side effects. Blueberry is truly a miracle berry. It's an incredible gift from nature. We as human beings are fools if we don't accept those gifts from nature and use them. Just by eating blueberries you can be healthier. By taking a product like Berry Green, which is sold as a powder, you can get these concentrated forms of blueberries, spinach, kale, other cruciferous vegetables, and high-antioxidant fruits into your diet on a regular basis.

Berry Green does have a rather unusual taste. Having powdered spinach blended into a glass of water or soy milk is not most people's idea of a tasty beverage. That's not necessarily mine either. I'm not a big fan of the taste of spinach powder. So here's a tip: I take this Berry Green product by combining it with a superfood product from another company called Enzymatic Therapy. Their product is called Earth's Promise. This is what I currently consider to be the best tasting superfood product on the market, although it is also a bit on the pricey side. It's expensive, but it tastes great.

Here's how I use it: I put in one heaping tablespoon of the strawberry kiwi flavor of Earth's Promise in a glass of water, and blend in a tablespoon of the Berry Green. Essentially, I'm increasing the dosage of the superfood nutrients, and still getting the outstanding flavor of Earth's Promise, which has a sort of tangy, tart flavor. Earth's Promise uses some stevia, so there's some sweetness in there without using any refined sugars whatsoever. That combination -- wow, that's a great product! That will, by itself, give you so much good nutrition. We're talking about freeze-dried forms of these highly concentrated fruits and vegetables. This is what people need, and this is what people are lacking in their diets today. They need these foods to prevent disease and be healthy. Again, Berry Green is from Vermont-based New Chapter, which can be found online at www.newchapter.info.

Another great product: Zyflamend

Let's take a look at some of the other products New Chapter is making now, as they're doing some great work. They have a product called Zyflamend. A strange name, but it's a product positioned for those who are suffering from inflammation problems, joint pain, or arthritis pain. Although this is not stated on the box, in the world of natural health and holistic nutrition, people are using this as a replacement for Vioxx, Bextra, or other Cox-2 inhibitors.

We have now learned all of these prescription drugs are very dangerous for human consumption. People are out there saying, "We found out that all these drugs are so dangerous, but we don't have any alternative. Please keep these drugs legal!" When they go to the FDA and say silly things like that, they don't really know about the natural alternatives, such as products like Zyflamend. It's a great natural alternative. It's available in soft gel capsules as a dietary supplement.

How it helps with inflammation

Let's look at what's in Zyflamend and why it might work to help reduce inflammation. It has quite a few interesting ingredients in it. There's rosemary, turmeric, ginger, holy basil, green tea, a Chinese medicinal herb called Hu Zhang, Chinese gold thread, barberry, oregano, and Baikal skull cap. All of these are encapsulated with extra virgin olive oil and yellow beeswax. So even the capsule itself is healthier than what you would normally find in other products.

The top three ingredients are rosemary, turmeric and ginger. What's the big deal about these three ingredients? You'll notice that these are not isolated chemicals, nor are these vitamins or minerals. This is not chondroitin sulfate, or glucosamine, or MSM, or any of the other more common nutritional supplements you might typically take for joint health. Rather, these affect inflammation and joint pain through a different mechanism. They help inhibit the inflammatory response in the human body by fundamentally balancing the body's systems. They're not treating symptoms; they're balancing the body. Both rosemary and turmeric are well known for their tonic effects.

Turmeric also has the advantage of being a potent anti-cancer herb. This herb has also been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years as something that aids in joint flexibility. By using this herb, people are able to reduce joint inflammation and resume a wider range of motion in their joints. To enhance the range of motion of joints in your body, you are going to have to push the envelope a little bit -- try to move those shoulders a little more and unlock those hip joints a little more, because none of these ingredients are going to do the work for you. They do, however, create a much better situation in terms of lessening the pain. They lessen the inflammation, making it easier for you to follow a body movement discipline such as Tai Chi. (Note: be sure to work with a physical therapist or other qualified health care practitioner before engaging in any new exercise program.)

Ginger is used in both traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. It's also recognized in Western medicine. Ginger is a whole body tonic. It also has outstanding benefits in terms of immune system enhancement. Ginger helps boost circulation in all the joints and extremities in the body. This is why many diabetics derive some benefit from ginger. It's more popularly known to help treat motion sickness or nausea. That's really only one of the minor uses of this herb, however. This herb is a fantastic tonifier, and this combination really works for reducing inflammation, joint pain and arthritis pain.

There are some claims on the front of this product that are acknowledged by the FDA, but I'm trying to give you a description that goes beyond those claims to look at what these individual ingredients offer. The description I'm offering applies beyond this particular product. In other words, you could go out and buy rosemary extract, turmeric, ginger, holy basil, and green tea. You could take all of these herbs separately and you would get the same positive results. So I'm talking about these herbs in a general sense. New Chapter's Zyflamend, however, happens to put them all into one capsule with a specific market positioning. I think that's fantastic. I think they deserve a lot of credit for introducing a product like that.

Another ingredient in this product, as I mentioned, is holy basil. There's 100 mg of this particular extract in every serving of Zyflamend, which is two soft gels. The holy basil is a beneficial ingredient as well. Again, these are gifts from nature. If you take these medicinal herbs, which include basil, oregano, and even culinary herbs like thyme, and use them in a balanced way in the human body, these can have remarkably positive effects on your health. These should, of course, only be taken under the direction of a naturopathic physician, or a nutritionist, or someone who can really guide you.

Supercritical Holy Basil

Another product from New Chapter is called Supercritical Holy Basil. The product slogan is: "Uplift, calm, and balance." So let's try to decode this slogan to find out what it really means. The front of this box says, "Supports normal cortisol, blood sugar, and insulin metabolism. Protects healthy cells from radiation damage and elevates spirit." These are sort of general, but interesting claims. Remember that the FDA is always watching out for claims on products -- they don't want supplement makers to be able to tell the truth about what their products do, because if people knew that supplements worked better than prescription drugs, the drug companies would lose billions.

Let's talk about what the research shows basil extracts, in general, are able to accomplish in the human body. One of the properties of holy basil is that it has Cox-2 inhibiting properties. Of course, we're all familiar with prescription drugs like Vioxx, which are also Cox-2 inhibitors. With holy basil, you obtain Cox-2 inhibition from the plant world. This benefit can be useful, but it can also be slightly deceptive. Specifically, people might be compelled to rely on herbs rather than addressing the underlying lifestyle changes or discrepancies that have caused joint pain in the first place. This can be a helpful product, but it's not going to restructure your health foundation. Be aware of that as you use this product or any nutritional supplement.

Holy basil has also been shown to inhibit the proliferation of cancer tumors in various organs of the body. Holy basil is an herb with a great number of medicinal properties, including antibacterial and antiviral properties. A lot of herbs, especially those with strong, pungent oils, tend to have these kinds of properties. Oregano certainly falls into that family as well. There are some companies out there making potent oregano extracts which can be used to enhance your overall health, including enhancement of immune system function.

What about the claims regarding blood sugar, cortisol, and insulin metabolism? Simply put, holy basil helps regulate blood sugar in a way similar to cinnamon. Cinnamon is an herb that's been shown to lower high blood sugar, even in response to the consumption of high glycemic index carbohydrates. Holy basil can do this as well. This shouldn't be an excuse to start consuming high glycemic index foods, thinking, "I've got these herbs. I'll just take some cinnamon and some basil, and I'll get this blood sugar under control." That's not the right way to approach nutritional supplements. Rather, think of holy basil as an adjunct therapy, as something to support your healthy lifestyle and food choices.

Those were just a couple of different products from New Chapter. It's a company to really watch. I think they're doing some great work, and they're very much in tune with the needs of customers out there. They understand that people are in pain, that the population is aging, and that people are dissatisfied with the answers (or lack of answers) provided by organized medicine. They know that people are looking for alternative solutions, and that people want something that is more natural and comes from a company that actually cares about the customer, not just shareholder profits such as we see in the pharmaceutical industry.

I fully expect this company to come out with more innovative products in tune with the needs of customers out there. I'm curious if they're going to develop some products to help with Alzheimer's, or dementia, or the lack-of-cognitive-function conditions that seem to be greatly increasing out there, partly due to the fact that so many people are taking prescription drugs.

Prescription drugs damage your nervous system

Prescription drugs slam your nervous system and greatly impair cognitive function. Statin drugs are one class of drugs that has a highly destructive effect on nervous system function, including brain function, awareness, memory function, and so on. Of course, antidepressant drugs are also in that category. If you want to mess with your head, start taking antidepressant drugs. They say this is for people who are depressed, but people who take these drugs end up detaching from reality. They often end up thinking violent thoughts, and acting out violent actions, such as killing people. This is not a good way to treat depression, especially when people who are depressed could more readily address that problem through nutrition.

Some regular exposure to natural sunlight could help, for example. Phototherapy, or light therapy, can have a dramatic impact on depression. Consumption of superfoods, such as what's found in Berry Green, is also outstanding for treating depression. Depression is not a "brain chemistry imbalance." It is a fundamental result of poor habits that can be addressed by changing your lifestyle, changing your food choice, getting exposure to natural sunlight, and avoiding the toxins that harm with your nervous system, such as avoiding statin drugs, MSG, artificial colors, and artificial chemical sweeteners as well. There are a lot of ways to address depression.

I want to emphasize again that I don't own any shares whatsoever in this company. I'm not even sure if they're a public company. I don't make kickbacks on these products. I went out and bought these products, just as you would, paying full retail price. This company hasn't paid a dime to be mentioned here. I want to bring you information about products and companies that I believe can really help you. A company could not pay me to talk about them here. This is about bringing you the information that matters.

Too often, the information that you really need in order to be healthy is totally absent from the mainstream press. You're not going to get that information from the USDA with their ridiculous Food Guide Pyramid. You're not going to get it from the FDA. They're out there just defending the drug companies, trying to get you to take more drugs, convincing you that you have diseases which don't even exist. They're trying to get you on a lifetime of prescription drugs that you don't need. You're also not going to get that information from a lot of the popular magazines out there. Why? Because they're taking money from the drug advertisers as well. The popular information sources out there really cannot be trusted, because they have no incentive to bring you the information about companies or products, especially little known companies, that are doing great things.

In that list, I should also mention Garden of Life. This is a great company headed by Jordan Rubin. This company is producing some fantastic superfoods. It's a company driven by a man with a genuine desire and a personal mission to do good out there. I strongly support Jordan's vision and his company. I think he's doing tremendous good.

To wrap this up, keep your eye on New Chapter. Realize that if you go to a health food store, the answers to preventing disease and even reversing early stages of disease are right there on the shelves. The answers are right in front of you. There is no mystery to these diseases. Modern medicine tries to make everything a huge mystery, like they don't know what causes cancer. They try to peer into your body at the cellular level and figure out the biochemistry of cancer. How do anti-angiogenesis factors really work in cancer? They get lost in the details, frankly. Cancer is not that mysterious. Your body already knows how to cure cancer. It has done so thousands of times already.

You already have the cure for cancer

How do we know that? Because you're still alive. Everybody has had cancerous cells. Your immune system takes care of them, and it knows how to do that. The only time that you actually get cancer, or get a full-blown case of cancer so bad that it gets diagnosed, is if your immune system fails. It's not that you don't know how to cure cancer, it's that your body is being poisoned by all the wrong foods and the wrong environmental chemicals. You're also probably not getting the nutrition you need. The answers, however, are right there in the health food store. In my personal view, this one product, Berry Green, is more powerful than any 20 to 30 prescription drugs out there in enhancing human health without any side effects. I could list at least 20 different diseases that this product prevents, and it's just one product. The answers are out there. It's just that the FDA has made it illegal for these companies to tell you the truth about these products.

Because the FDA doesn't want nutritional supplements to succeed, these companies are prevented from listing on their labels the truth about their products. They can't tell you what they really do, so they have to speak in code, saying, "It enhances immune system function." So you might find a product with reishi mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms, for example, and it says, "Enhances healthy immune system function." What does that really mean? In reality, it means it helps halt the growth of cancer tumors. It even helps reverse advanced stage cancers. If you know how to use reishi mushrooms, and you're working with a naturopath, then you can potentially reverse advanced stages of cancer. It's being done all over the country today. It's sort of the "underground railroad" of cancer treatments.

You can live a life free of chronic pain and disease

The health answers are out there. It's up to you as a consumer to decide if you want to be part of that system or not. By "that system," I mean the system of holistic medicine, of nutrition, of disease prevention, of having a good, healthy, happy, long life without chronic pain. If you want to be part of that system, you have to make a choice, and you're going to have to shell out a little bit of cash for some of these products. Unfortunately, none of these are free.

If you don't want to be part of that system, then you have the default system. That's the system of organized medicine, of medical bankruptcy, and lack of power and control. That's a system of chronic pain where you're put on one prescription drug after another, day after day, year after year, moving from one doctor to another who keeps adding on new labels of disease that he claims you have. That's the system of organized medicine, the system of classic health insurance -- Western medicine. That's the system of disease and bankruptcy. You can make a choice and decide which system you want to be in.

Why doesn't everyone choose the path of health, longevity, and being happy and healthy through nutrition, herbal medicine, and natural health? Because it requires taking responsibility for your outcome. It seems so much easier to sit back on the couch, avoid exercise, eat junk foods, and blame somebody else for your health problems. You then go to the doctor and blame them when you don't get healthy. I think it's so ridiculous.

People need to take responsibility for their health. That means being proactive about learning the true underlying causes of health, and then being willing to invest in yourself. Invest in your own health by buying the products and consuming the products that prevent disease. These products are right in front of us. You can walk out your door and find these products on the shelves. We have products today that never existed until recently. The technology that goes into these products is just amazing. It's astounding how many different fruits and vegetables are combined into this one product, this Berry Green powder. Ten years ago, they didn't have anything like this. Fifty years ago, they didn't even know about this stuff. Doctors thought there were only four vitamins. We sure learned a lot since then, right? Today, they think there's only "X" number of vitamins, and there's still more yet to be discovered.

Remember, the answers to health are right out there. It's up to you to decide which system you want to experience. Do you want to have a healthy, happy long life, or do you want to be another victim of organized medicine, another statistic of the pharmaceutical industry? It's really up to you.

The few products I've named here, by the way, are just a sampling of what's available. Go to any health food store and you'll see thousands more. I also plan to continue covering new and interesting products as I find them. Unfortunately, I can't possibly cover all the great ones available today, but I'll try to bring you the highlights.

Note for product manufacturers: Yes, we are happy to review your products. Contact us via email for details. But remember, we don't charge for reviews, and we don't take commissions on products we recommend. You can't pay us to be reviewed here, you simply have to offer a great product with outstanding health benefits.