Is There Such a Thing as Natural Skin Care Products?

Are there really all natural skin care products out there? Some of the magazines have done features in the last year or two trying to find products that live up to the claim of being all natural. Much of this is marketing fluff to attract your attention and and hopefully make a sale. Good consumers need to look beyond the marketing hype and start reading the labels!!
All skin care products such as soaps, shampoos, facial products, etc must be preserved or have a system in place to reduce and inhibit bacteria growth in the products to keeps us safe from infections. The majority of the products are preserved with chemical preservatives called Parabens. There is much research out now on the safety of these chemicals but before now the industry didn't have much choice because there were no other alternatives available.

Usana Health Sciences is one company that has developed the technology to remove the chemical preservatives and formaldehyde releasing chemicals from their complete line of skin care products using a self preserving hurdle technology that keeps the shelf life a long 2 years and does not need to be refrigerated. Read more in the News Release below. For more information on the ground breaking technology that all the major skin care companies have been trying to develop you can go to Http://www.beautifulscience.com
You can also visit my website at: http://www.pamdunwald.com

News Release

USANA Health Sciences Receives U.S. Patent on Exclusive Self-Preserving Technology for Skin Care and Beauty Products
Technology Offers Long-Sought Alternative to Artificial, Paraben Preservatives
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2007--USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:USNA) received notice of an official patent, to be released at 10:00am EST from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, for its exclusive self-preserving technology currently used in the company's Sense beautiful science(R) skin and personal care product line.
This patent covers USANA's formulation for manufacturing the Sense skin and personal care product line so that they are capable of maintaining an industry-standard, two-year shelf life without the need for added chemical preservatives. USANA's now-patented "self-preserving" technology utilizes a variety of proprietary blends of purifying botanicals, antioxidants and other active ingredients in protective liquid crystals to keep the product fresh naturally. The Sense line maintains its shelf life without the use of parabens or other chemical preservatives commonly used in other cosmetics and skin care products. Sense has utilized this self-preserving technology since September 2004 on a patent-pending basis, and it is the only skin care and beauty care product line in the world to implement this scientific advancement.
USANA scientists believe this patented process represents a significant innovation in the skin-care industry, as self-preserving technology will allow users' skin to receive all the benefits of pure, natural, and healthy ingredients without the use of chemicals or potentially harmful preservatives.
"This patent is the result of nearly 10 years of research and development by USANA scientists, and it is an important milestone in our company's drive to become a leader in the skin and beauty care industry. USANA's self-preserving technology has changed skin and beauty care in a meaningful way by allowing for the formulation of healthy, all-natural products," USANA President Dave Wentz said. "Our customers rely on USANA's high-quality products to enhance their quality of life. Just like our pharmaceutical-grade supplements, USANA's Sense skin and beauty care line offers the best - and healthiest - products available. Consumers can now enjoy healthier skin and the peace of mind that comes with safe, self-preserving technology that does not rely on artificial, chemical preservatives."
The Sense skin and beauty care line includes:
Sense:
Gentle Daily CleanserHydrating TonerDaytime Protective EmulsionNight RenewalPerfecting EssenceSerum IntensiveRice Bran PolisherEye Nourisher
Sense Splash:
Intensive Hand TherapyEnergizing Shower GelFirming Body NourisherRevitalizing ShampooNourishing Conditioner
About USANA
USANA develops and manufactures high-quality nutritional, personal-care, and weight management products that are sold directly to Preferred Customers and Associates throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. More information on USANA can be found at http://www.usanahealthsciences.com.
CONTACT: USANA Health Sciences, Inc.Riley Timmer, Investor Relations, 801-954-7922investor.relations@us.usana.comorDan Macuga, Network Development & Public Relations801-954-7280dan.macuga@us.usana.com
SOURCE: USANA Health Sciences, Inc.

Giant Step for Wellness and Prevention

A major announcement was made in the arena of wellness and preventative health. This is HUGE as 98% of health care dollars are spent on treatment leaving only 2% for prevention. This will allow the Dr. Linus Pauling Institute to continue it's research on wellness and preventative health. Dr. Linus Pauling was a 2 time Nobel Peace Prize winner and was the scientist that put "Vitamin C" and it's benefits on the map of health.

News Release

USANA Health Sciences Expands Research Partnership with Renowned Linus Pauling Institute
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2007--USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: USNA), announced today that it is expanding its existing partnership with the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI), in an effort to better determine the function and role of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (micronutrients) in promoting optimal health and preventing disease. USANA will contribute $500,000 per year to the institute over the course of 10 years.
For more than a decade, LPI, one of the nation's first Centers of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, has been committed to the research of heart disease, cancer, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases. Along with its research on micronutrition, LPI's mission includes:
Determining the role of oxidative and nitrative stress and antioxidants in human health and disease
Helping people everywhere achieve a healthy and productive life, full of vitality, with minimal suffering, and free of cancer and other debilitating diseases
"The partnership between LPI and USANA will significantly enhance the institute's research mission, enabling our scientists to better understand the role antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other nutrients play in human health," said Balz Frei, director of the Linus Pauling Institute. "We are very excited about this opportunity."
USANA's research team will collaborate with LPI on cutting-edge nutritional and clinical research. This collaboration and contribution will help advance the science of human nutrition and health, provide USANA with valuable information to be used to formulate and upgrade its nutritional products and help USANA to better advise its customers on how to use USANA products. USANA's support and the contributions of its scientists may also be credited in leading scientific and medical journals.
"The Linus Pauling Institute is clearly at the forefront of research in the arenas of nutrition and health," said USANA's Executive Vice President of Research & Development Tim Wood. "USANA is proud to be supporting their efforts and we look forward to working with LPI in advancing the science of nutrition in both laboratory and clinical settings."
About USANA
USANA Health Sciences develops and manufactures high-quality nutritionals, personal care, and weight management products that are sold directly to Preferred Customers and Associates throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
CONTACT: USANA Health Sciences, Inc., Salt Lake CityDan Macuga, 801-954-7280Dan.Macuga@us.usana.comSOURCE: USANA Health Sciences, Inc.

For more information on Usana you may also visit: http://www.pamdunwald.com

Benefits of Raising your Good Cholesterol (HDLs)

This week I have added a newsletter by Dr. Ray Strand. Dr Strand is a family practice physician who has been specializing in Nutritional Medicine for over 8 years now. Dr Strand looks at diet, exercise, and supplementation as a first line of therapy before getting out the prescription pad. He has many success stories and case studies over the years. Dr Strand is an International Speaker on the subject of Nutritional Medicine and the use of Supplementation. He has written several books such as Releasing Fat, Death by Prescription, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know about Nutritional Medicine May be Killing You, Healthy for Life, and others.

You can learn more about Dr. Strand and even have a phone consultation with him or start his Healthy for Life online lifestyle program for weight management.

One of the safe ways to increase your HDL or good cholesterol is by adding the "good" essential fats. The fats found in fish oil, flaxseed oil, and Olive oil are some examples of good fats that will help raise your HDLs or good cholesterol. In the Greek Islands and other Mediterranean countries the incidence of heart disease is RARE. Many scientists contribute the diet and intake of Olive oil as one of the factors.

Many people can't get the 2-3oz of Olive oil needed per day so they look to supplementation. Fish Oil capsules are quite popular. One down side is that you want to look for a company that filters their fish oil during the manufacturing process to remove the potentially harmful Mercury that is being found now in cold water fish. Warnings are out there concerning the amount of tuna people eat, recommending not more than 2 cans per week because our bodies cannot process any more Mercury. Visit http://www.pamdunwald.com for information on products such as the Fish Oil where the company does remove and filter any harmful Mercury.

Dr. Strand's links are below.

http://www.releasingfat.com/ Healthy for Life Program- Discount code: 111958. Certified Coach: Pam Dunwald, R.N.

http://www.bionutrition.org/


Healthy for Life NewsletterJuly/August 2007 Vol. 4, No. 4Raising Your HDL or "Good" Cholesterol
The July/August edition of the Healthy for Life Newsletter is attached to this e-mail as an Adobe Acrobat file.
To view the attached newsletter, your computer must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. This software is free and can be downloaded at the address shown below. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

The on-line edition of this newsletter can be found at: www.Bionutrition.org/newsletter

Below is an excerpt from this month's newsletter.

"Physicians have known for years that those patients who have a high HDL or good cholesterol have a significantly decreased risk of developing coronary artery disease. The dilemma has been finding ways to improve someone's HDL that is below normal. Lowering the total and LDL or bad cholesterol has been much easier to accomplish, since we now have a host of statin drugs from which to choose. Pfizer pharmaceutical has just slammed the brakes on a 15,000 patient trial involving an experimental drug that had previously been shown to raise this HDL or good cholesterol. A preliminary report involving this drug, called torceptrapib, demonstrated that this drug had a dark side. Reviewers of this clinical trial showed that there were 60% more deaths in the group taking torceptrapib with Lipitor, than the group that was just receiving the Lipitor. Pfizer was left with no choice but to put a halt on this very large clinical trial. This has now led cardiologists and pharmaceutical companies concerned about the safety of other drugs that are being studied, which also raise HDL. Ways to exploit HDL and avoid its pitfalls are among the hottest questions in heart research today."

How do you Judge a Quality Vitamin Supplement?

Whew, this can be difficult especially if you are not educated on supplements and you just go by what you hear or see on the advertisements.



There are a few details one should know about Vitamins. Many people do not understand that they are not regualated by the FDA. There are no "label" laws meaning there is no regulation requiring supplements to have what is on the label is in each tablet. How can this be you think? Well, vitamins are regulated as food. It is like comparing pizza with penicillin. If you buy a frozen pepperoni pizza at your favorite store or from your favorite pizza place you are not overly concerned with the number of slices of pepperoni on your pizza. If it didn't contain any or just a very few slices you may be concerned. If your penicillin did not have the same dose in each and every tablet you may not get well or have other complications. Supplements are treated like your pepperoni pizza. Food grade vitamin manufacturing must have the products made under sanitary conditions and not cause food poisioning. Not much more than that.



On the other hand if your vitamins were manufactured under the more strict guidelines of medication you would be guaranteed to get what is on the label in each and every tablet each and every time. Sound better? Don't you think you should get what you pay for?



So the first criteria in purchasing a quality supplement is that it is manufactured under GMPs or Good Manufacturing Practices for Medication. Not required but quality supplement companies will pay for an outside agency to come in and certify them to these GMPs for drug standards.



Going hand in hand is the second criteria of offering a written guarantee of potency and purity. What is on the label is in each and every bottle and each and every tablet. Also just as important is that this means that nothing that is NOT on the label will get into the products either. Extremly important for all of us and especially for the elite athlete that is concerned about testing positive for any one of the over 75 banned substances that will ban their ability to compete in their sport or event. Call the customer service department for your vitamin company and ask them if they will provide you a written statement that they guarantee potency and purity. If yours will not no matter what the excuse, find a company that will. They ARE out there. Get yourself a copy of the Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements. (See previous blog posting for further information) Find the companies that manufacture vitamins you can trust. One such company can be researched at http://www.pamdunwald.com/



Next you want to be a little savvy on the nutrients that are contained in the vitamin. We here about the dangers of taking too much of certain nutrients. What if the dose is higher than the RDA (Recommended daily allowances). One comment on the RDA levels is that they are designed to prevent nutrient deficient diseases such as Rickets, Scurvy, and Pelegra. In my 26 years of nursing I have never taken care of a patient suffering from any of these diseases. We have done a great job to eliminate these but there is a lot of research which I will also begin sharing on this blog that shows certain nutrients at optimal levels can assist the body's defense mechanisms to help prevent chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, Asthma, Multiple Sclerosis, Adult Onset Diabetes, and many more.



There are some nutrients that you need to be careful of. One is Iron. Iron should be taken under the supervision of your doctor as you can have toxicity due to too much iron in your system. Select a vitamin without iron unless directed otherwise by your physician.



Another nutrient that can cause problems is Vitamin A which can be very harmful especially if taken in too high a dose in pregnant women. A quality vitamin company will not have any Vitamin A in their products they will have Vitamin A in the form of Beta Carotene. Some companies can save money by offering a combination of Vitamin A and Beta Carotene but we prefer a vitamin that does not have ANY Vitamin A. Beta Carotene is transformed into Vitamin A by your body and what you don't need is eliminated so you do not have the chance of accumulating too much vitamin A.



Does you vitamin dissolve? If your vitamin does not dissolve in a glass of water within 20-30 minutes chances are it is not dissolving in your stomach. Obviously if the vitamin does not dissolve your body cannot absorb it and use the nutrients. This is one of the reasons physicians have not had great faith in supplements and called them "expensive urine" because the quality has not been there in most over the counter products. Again, because they don't have to. Look for a quality company that is concerned. Again in the Comparative Guide, dissolution or how the vitamin dissolves, is one of the criteria that must be passed and is included in their grading system which helps to determine how highly a particular vitamin is scored.



Look for a company that manufactures it's own products. What many people don't know is that about 80 vitamin companies manufacture 100s of products and puts different labels on them depending on the direction of the company selling the products. By manufacturing their own products they can keep tighter control on the quality including the use of raw materials and making sure none are tainted with impurities or other substances we would not want in our supplements.



What is the background of the company? Is it a science based nutritional company? Do they do their own research? Do they manufacture and sell everything from A-Z? What are the qualifications of the scientists and researchers? Do they evey employ their own scientists? Many companies do not. They contract them out now and then to do reformulations or make new products. Look for a company that has a team of scientists employed by them and have a team that researches the nutritional and supplement scientific studies that are out there to make sure their products are of top quality.



I will give you some details from a lecture I attended by Lyle MacWilliams, the author of the Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements.

• 75% of the people living today will die of a chronic degenerative disease. Anyone born after the year 2000 will have a 1 out of 3 chance to develop Diabetes in their lifetime and if they are African American or Hispanic the chance goes up to 1 out of every 2 people.


• We have no cures for chronic degenerative disease but the good news is that 60-70% of heart disease is preventable, 60-70% of cancer is preventable, and 90% of type II or Adult onsent diabetes is preventable.


• The answer may lie in proper nutritions, exercise, and the use of a quality multiple vitamin supplement with a wide variety of anti-oxidants. Look for a product with 15-20 different antioxidants.


• 1.5 Trillion dollars is spent on health care with 98% of that going to treatment leaving only 2% for prevention.


• The U.S. rated the #27 country in the world for health tied with Cuba. The sad thing is that we spend 25 times more on health care than Cuba.

The American Medical Association has published a statement stating that all adults would be prudent to take a mutiple vitamin supplement to help fight chronic degenerative disease.

Do your homework, investigate the supplement product you take. Find a quality company and product. Eat a well balanced diet full of at least 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, watch your high glycemic foods such as white rice, potatoes, bread, etc, get at least 30 minutes of exercise (at least a brisk walk) 4-5 times per week, and take your vitamins!

Pam Dunwald is an R.N. of 26 years that has specialized in wellness for the past 4. Look to this blog often for more articles on health topics and ways to improve your health. Find out Pam's supplement of choice and why at http://www.pamdunwald.com/

Or http://www.bionutrition.org

Or http://www.releasingfat.com Discount code: 111958

You can reach Pam at: pam_dunwald@usana.com