Xceler8: Metabolism and Energy Support
Xceler8 is a patented blend of methylcobalamin (natural B12), biotin, and a synergistic blend of a specific classification of herbs known as adaptogens; so named due to their proven ability to improve resilience to stress, increase adaptive responses and to reduce the perception of stress. (42)
The coenzyme form of B12, known as methylcobalamin, provides the foundational structure of the Xceler8 product. This methyl-donating form of B12 is superior to analog chemical copies of B12 that are typically used in pharmaceutical drugs, inexpensive vitamins and “enriched” processed foods. (43) Various methyl donors are required in the body for chemically transforming chemical substances into usable forms for nutritive function. Methyl donors are also used for neutralizing destructive byproducts, such as homocysteine, into benign substances, which would otherwise contribute to disease. Methylcobalamin is the only form of B12 that is able to dispose of homocysteine through methylation and enables the production of SAMe, (S-adenosyl methionine), the most important methyl donor for adequate glutathione levels to be possible. Adequate glutathione synthesis in the body is the hallmark of a strong immune system and high functioning metabolism. (44)
Cyanocobalamin is chemically-derived synthetic or analog vitamin B. The B vitamin portion is cleaved to a cyanide molecule, which requires the presence of a methyl donor to be broken down by the liver to split off the (toxic) cyanide component, allowing the remainder to be converted to the biologically active form of methyl B12. This synthetic cyanocobalamin B12 is typically 100 times cheaper than methylcobalamin, and contributes to system-wide methyl donor depletion, which can cause a relative shift in homocysteine metabolism, increasing significant risk of heart disease, neurological degeneration and measureable age-related brain shrinkage.
“Homocysteine tends to accumulate in the body whenever (methyl or usable) B12 gets deficient. Homocysteine accumulation has been linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s Dementia, among other conditions.” (44)
An Oxford University study, published in The Journal of Neurology, reported an estimated 40% of the population is deficient in B12. (45) B12 deficiency is so wide spread because of commonly used pharmaceutical drugs like estrogen containing birth control pills, antacids— including excessive calcium supplementation; antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, anti-psychotics, and anti-diabetic medications. All of these directly cause B12 depletion. Without adequate B vitamins to suspend the bile salts in the liver, fat soluble nutrients are not able to be assimilated, resulting in compromised metabolic, neurological and immune function.
Subjects in a study reported in Neuropsychopharmacology comparing the effects of methylcobalamin as compared to cyanocobalamin, reported remarkable results in only one week of supplementation. Methyl B12 users reported reduced sleep time, with increased sleep quality and feeling more well-rested upon rising, increased day time energy and ability to concentrate. (46) Restoring appropriate levels of B12 supports healthy energy levels and excellent neurological performance. (43)
Biotin is a coenzyme and B vitamin which, when combined with chromium, has been shown to reverse insulin resistance and support healthy blood sugar levels. Even when tested in isolation, biotin plays a significant role in several key metabolic functions in digestion and blood sugar regulation. Biotin supports the integumentary (skin) and nervous systems by facilitating repair of nerve damage due to type 2 diabetes, and fosters improved glycemic impact on these systems. (47)
Rhodiola Rosea and Ashwaganda are adaptogenic herbs used traditionally in both Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine. Adaptogens are defined by their ability to have a normalizing effect on the body, allowing the individual to become more resilient to chronic stressors, whether physical or emotional. Adaptogens are non-toxic plant based therapies that normalize physiological functions which have been disturbed by chronic stress. These work through correction of balance to the neuroendocrine and immune systems. (42)
Adaptogens have been used successfully to treat a milieu of chronic health conditions for over 100 years, contributing to current theory that stress is the number one contributor that drives pathology of all diseases. Specifically, rhodiola has been shown to prevent the excess release of cortisol and adrenaline in response to stress, also blunting the increase in cholesterol and triglycerides typically triggered in response to stress. Rhodiola helps to transport serotonin precursors, reducing depression; and increases body fat to muscle ratio by mobilizing fatty acid stores during exercise, supporting increased fat burning. (42)
Ashwaganda has been used successfully in both India and China as an aphrodisiac, to treat insomnia, anxiety, fibromyalgia and arthritis, and used to promote emotional balance in cases of depression and mental or physical fatigue. (42)
Appropriate Supplementation: Vitamins and Minerals
ARIIX’s Vitamin and Mineral, known as “Optimals” contain a signature whole food dried vegetable juice blend that is certified to be grown from GMO-free seeds and without pesticides. This blend includes broccoli, carrot, tomato, beet, spinach, cucumber, Brussels sprout, cabbage, celery, kale, asparagus, green bell pepper, cauliflower, parsley, and wheat grass. The vegetable blend adds important enzymes, peptides, and phytonutrients that support the body’s ability to absorb and utilize vitamins and minerals, and to help offset the diets of those who have low daily consumption of vegetables. Rice bran contributes naturally whole complex antioxidants, magnesium, calcium, Vitamin A carotenoids, and nine B vitamins, along with several essential amino acids and phospholipids, which are necessary for maintaining healthy cell membranes.
Every ingredient in the Optimals is certified as of non-GMO origin and these products are manufactured in an OTC facility, certified for efficacy, purity and potency by NSF, GMP and the FDA, providing exacting standards of quality assurance, dependability of consistency and purity. Studies have concluded that supplements containing natural food nutrient complexes are better than supplements containing only isolates. [11][12]
Getting appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals every day is essential to not only a high functioning metabolism, but these can be the critical differentiators between vital health and the simple absence of an illness. Because most people in the world are deficient in one or more of the 40 vitamins, minerals and other essential biochemical nutrients necessary every day for minimal survival; and the human body was created with an innate ability to adapt to amazing variables and still survive, we observe most people today experience life, not in a state of vital health, but fluctuating on the continuum between the absence of illness and experiencing illness.
Most individuals are grossly deficient in the critical “Metabolic Supportive Nutrients”, which are crucial to appropriate blood sugar control, stress responses, methylation of foods into usable forms that can actually nourish the body at the cellular level, and controlling every enzyme reaction from fluid regulation to neurotransmitter production. As a nation, Americans are over fed and yet, undernourished and chronically stressed. This chronic state of deficiency results in a down shifting of the metabolism to attempt to spare what nutrient resources are remaining. This is most evidenced by mental sluggishness, poor digestion, daytime fatigue, poor sleep, chronic aches and pains due to inflammation, and cravings that are not satisfied by food. As the brain signals the body to input more nutrients to try to satisfy these vital deficiencies, and people answer these signals with low-nutrient convenience foods—notoriously high in sugar, starch, vegetable oils, chemical additives and stimulants—metabolism continues to down regulate and disease breeds at a faster rate.
Bruce Ames, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed over a hundred chronic degenerative diseases that are triggered by nutrient deficiencies. These symptoms in the early stages are typically identified by traditional medicine as “typical signs of aging”, but with obesity and other metabolic, chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases becoming more common in adolescence and children, his revolutionary analysis, “The Triage Theory ”(1, 2) has not come too soon. In his observations, he found that over 50 enzymes within the body are completely dependent upon daily intake of adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids in order to be catalyzed. Without consistent adequate levels of these three complexes every day, it is impossible for the body’s enzymes to begin their work and for humans to experience vital health and optimal metabolism.
These nutrients, which have to be taken in daily, a minimum of twice a day, to replenish fuel necessary for routine cellular renewal throughout the day, are the critical factors which determine whether human genes are prompted to express health or disease. Dr. Ames found that a deficiency of any one of this array of critical micronutrients, posed a threat of oxidative stress damage to cellular integrity and metabolism that was equal to and in some circumstances, greater than 100 times the known damaging effects of radiation! (1,2,3,6) It is established that if individual cells within the organs of the body have a low metabolism due to low fuel levels, then these organs will also be functioning at a lower than optimal level. This means the entire body is then operating in survival mode of a low functioning metabolism, while usually experiencing a default of fat storage to conserve nutrient resources, and creeping closer to chronic degenerative disease.
Continuing his work at the Nutrition and Metabolism Center, Children’s Hospital and Research Institute, Oakland, CA; Dr. Ames observes what he describes as a shift within the body toward short-term survival gene expression as a coping mechanism in times of low nutrient intake. This shifting into survival mode simultaneously requires sacrificing expression of genes that produce long-term health. (4) This means that if we see individuals whose bodies are downshifting and accommodating to low nutrient intake by storing fat abnormally to spare nutrient reserves—this single indicator—belly fat, is enough to indicate life-shortening inflammatory diseases are not far down the timeline, if these nutritional deficiencies are not quickly remediated with therapeutic dosing of these essential nutrients. (5,6) Dr. Ames also postulates that micronutrient deficiencies that trigger the triage response would accelerate cancer, aging, and neurological decline, but would leave critical functions like ATP production, intact.(7)
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) have long reported that the food intake of the following groups of people in the United States does not provide adequate nutrition from all 40 essential nutrients for adequate health: the poor, teenagers, menstruating women, the obese, and the elderly. Opinion has now shifted, according the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), [see Table 1], that micronutrient levels from food are probably not adequate for anyone else either, to express optimal health without disease. (7)