Early Stage Natural Girls!
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From what I gather, they type of grape seed extract they are testing is Activin. So that's what I ordered. A little more expensive than some of the others, but not that bad. Vitacost has it, and I think Amazon does to.
Just checked my order from Vitacost. Ordered a bunch of stuff in their BOGO sale. It is coming from Las Vegas NV by way of Phoenix. Gah. I hope they are all not a big melted mess.
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IH636 grape seed proanthocyanidin extract is commercially known as ActiVin.
This is from the ActiVin's website.
About the ActiVin® Brand
Not all grape seed extracts are created equal.
There are countless brands of grape seed extract on store shelves. But not all grape seed extracts are created equal. The growing region of grapes, the grape extraction methodology and the potency of OPCs all affect quality.
ActiVin® IH 636 grape seed extract distinguishes itself from other brands through its raw materials and extraction process. ActiVin® IH 636 is made from premier California grapes, ensuring the highest quality grape seed extract. In addition, ActiVin® IH 636 grape seed extract uses a patented water extraction process known as ActiPureä , an environmentally friendly, natural process that is able to recover a wider range of polyphenols from the grape seed. Because of the water extraction process, there are no chemical residues in the final product like those found in solvent extracted grape seed extracts.
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Can you possibly give me any more specifics ? I mean, it seems as though ACTIVIN is the brand name, but when I look it up , I see Paradise activin, Natrol Activin, Vitacost Activin etc ... I look at all the specs, and when I do I see no mention made of the IH636 ...only on their website , as was quoted- where you canot seem to get thenm from.
What brand activin are you using?
Any add'l info ?Many thanks!!!
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purple32, Activin® is the commercial name for IH636 grape seed proanthocyanidin extract . In other words, companies use "Activin®" on the label for short. Along with DIM and a shopping list of other supplements, I use Paradise ActiVin® Grape Seed Extract.
Here is the description
Paradise ActiVin® Grape Seed Extract is a True Full Spectrum 100:1 potent concentration from premier California grapes. It is naturally extracted without the use of toxic solvents, harsh chemicals or fractionizing gases to ensure all active and synergistic constituents are present in the balanced ratio nature intended. Activin supports against environmental and stress related free radicals that can cause premature aging and cellular damage...only Activin® uses a patented natural water extraction process to provide a high level of OPC's without chemical solvents.
Free of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, preservatives, fillers, binders and common allergens.
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I get the impression that they can't use Activin in the name unless they get the active ingredient from the Activin company. I like Vitacost products, prices are good and they are careful about additives.
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That's right!
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Thanks so much, zuvart!
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ok, got my Vitacost order today. They kind of did a bait and switch on me. Instead of Activin, they sent me grape seed extract with "MegaNatural Gold". The web site said Activin (doesn't any more), my e-mail confirmation said it, my invoice in the order said it. I just didn't get it.
So off to find some real Activin. Hope none of you ordered this.
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Thx for the heads up, Diana . That stinks! I too am seeking Activin. Hoping it will be okay with metformin which I plan to start tomorrow.
Please PM me if you find the 'real deal.'
Many thanks and good luck to you! -
Keep in mind that most supplements are manufactured by a small number of companies and they just put different brand names on them. What you buy from Walgreens you may very well be the same as something you buy from vitacost. When you see a trademark for an ingredient, that means it is coming from the same patented source. Companies cannot patent a grape, but they can patent the process of turning it into an extract. All I know is that buying cheap stuff is a waste of money. You get what you pay for. And when you read about claims, go to their website and look at the science behind the claims. If they do not show you the science, don't believe the hype.
I actually tested brands for myself by doing blood tests and comparing. It is expensive but I got so tired of trying to figure out what to use, it was worth it in the end. I now know what works best for me, and I don't have to research it anymore.
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I would stay away from Usana supplements or any other multi level marketing companies for that matter. Consumer Reports is great for researching supplement companies. Consumer Reports relies on 3rd party testing. Costco rates very high for their multivitamins.
Good supplements can be obtained inexpensively. Don't be fooled into spending your hard earned cash on trash like Usana. I just heard someone rave about Usana having a patent on a preservative. It's laughable. There are lots of natual perservatives out there.
Whole Foods makes a 365 paraben free body lotion, shampoo and creme rinse. Wonderful products that everyone can afford. They even donate these products to cancer patients! During my radiation treatments, I was greatful for the Whole Foods 365, fragrence free body lotion. Due to my aggressive breast cancer, I got much more radiation than the normal person but thanks to Whole Foods 365 paraban free natural body lotion, I flew through rads with flying colors. I only had a mild sunburn. Thanks to Whole Foods 365 affordable body lotion. Did I mention that it was natural and paraban free?
365 Body lotion only costs a couple of bucks, is paraban free, and comes in lavender and yummy citrus scents too.
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BC, good sales pitch, sounds like you own shares in Whole Foods and Costco. I just threw away a 50 lb bag of cat food, brand name Kirkland...., got a call from Costco, it was contamined with salmonella.....will never buy that brand again be it olive oil, meat, vitamins or anything else
"How to Identify High Quality Multi-Vitamin Supplements
I do believe that dietary supplements -- including vitamins and minerals -- can help compensate for some of the damage your body incurs through living in a contemporary culture. However, it's not wise to use supplements to justify a poor diet. In my experience no amount of supplements will ever be able to substitute for healthy food choices.
But there are times when supplements can be quite useful, and I believe that some supplements, such as a high quality animal-based omega-3, for example, are essential for nearly everyone. This is because the main source of animal based omega-3 fats in your diet comes from fish - most of which is now so grossly polluted with heavy metals, PCBs and other environmental toxins I can no longer recommend eating fish for optimal omega 3 levels. Another supplement that many people need is vitamin D3, unless you can get sufficient amounts of safe sun exposure year-round, or use a safe tanning bed.
There are other instances when supplements may be useful as well, such as in the case of CoQ10 if you're taking a statin drug. You may also want to take one or more food-based supplements to ensure you are getting an adequate variety of nutrients. However, I strongly recommend you make whole food supplements your first choice, and steer clear of synthetic vitamins. How do you tell whether or not a supplement you're looking at is a good choice? For starters, make sure it has the following characteristics:
• It is as close as possible to its natural (whole food) form
• Use independent third party labs that check the raw materials for contaminants and correct dosage.
• Follows industry standards for quality assurance including ISO 9001, ISO 17025 and Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) certifications.
• The utmost care has been taken in all phases of its production, from growing its ingredients, to manufacturing, testing for potency and quality control.
• It works! I always try to select from companies that have a long track record of providing high quality products that produce good clinical results.
• As this article states, avoid any supplement that uses magnesium stearate. Read the labels carefully as companies need to declare it if they use it, but it is in very tiny print and you might need a magnifying lens to read it.
If you are interested in optimizing your health, your BEST solution is to choose the highest quality foods possible, and eat a wide variety of whole organic foods. You can use my free nutrition plan and work your way up to the advanced stage. Once you have addressed your diet and are looking for further improvement, odds are you would likely benefit from some supplements, like an animal-based omega-3 supplement and a probiotic, for example. There are many others you could consider depending on your specific circumstances, but just about everyone would benefit from these two.
Just remember to do your homework first and use only those that come from a reputable manufacturer using whole-food, natural ingredients that are free of harmful additives, fillers and binders, and have gone through a vigorous quality control process."
High quality supps ARE expensive. Re whole food source, for example, my K2 is extracted from natto beans as opposed to synthetic supps bougth in drug stores or other large surface stores and I get the same darn SEs from my DIM combo as I did with Tamox, but I'm laughing all the way to the bank, because my DIM will not cause secondary cancers
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Looks like Paradise is the only company making the Activin now. You can get it at some local stores, or Amazon with expensive shipping. iHerb has it too, with free shipping on orders over $20.
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THX Diana~
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Multivitamin Reviews and Comparison of 100 Vitamin Brands
http://www.multivitaminguide.org/
Natural Girls, if you want to see which multivitamins pass the test in terms of composition, bioavailabilty, synergistic effect and potency, the Multivitamin Guide is a great site to check out. Click on the link above. They've reviewed 100 vitamin brands. A score that exceeds 8 is excellent.
The Top 3
- Total Balance (Xtend -Life) - 9.6
- Ultra Preventative (Douglas Laboratories) - 9.4
- Essentials (Usana Health Science) - 9.3
The Bottom 3
99. One Daily (Equate) - 0.6 100. Essential (Action Lab) - 0.5 101. Complete (Geritol) - 0.4
Vivre is absolutely right. Often you get what you pay for. Low-cost Kirkland Signature (Costco Brand) scored 1.9. If you can't afford the very top brands, at least try to find one in the middle. The prices are listed on http://www.multivitaminguide.org/as well. As usual, you've provided good info too Maud. This forum would be one hot mainstream mess without you strong women here taking the lead.
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Hey Zuvart, right back at ya
Read most excellent reviews about Douglas Lab, in fact, a lot of their supps are used in trialsETA, am having trouble with your links hon, can you hit return right next to the last digit in your link. Took me ages to figure this out, had real hard time with my links on BCO
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FYI Many of Usana's products have been rated very well by Consumer Labs and even won accolades for best customer service. That said, my comment was not about Usana. It was about quality of supplements in general. Frankly I don't care what brand people use, and I am not here to market anything. I know there are people here who like to accuse me of things, so be it. All I am saying is if one thing is not working, it is probably poor quality. Like Kaara, my vit. D level dropped while using the liquid drops. It was the one thing that made me do the research on quality control. That is when I found out most brands are made by just a few companies. Douglas Labs is also pharmaceutical grade, but usually only rebrands for doctors so they are harder to get, and more expensive.
There are a lot of good products out there, but even more bad ones. We all need to use trial and error to see what works best with our own body chemistry. And do the research.
Maud is right. There is no supplementation for nutrition. Food is the ulitimate medicine. Supplements are beneficial to add to what is so hard to get in food today, with even our best efforts to eat better. It is like having an extra arrow in the quiver. And you make a great point. If we can mention a store brand, why can't we mention others? We have had a lot of discussions of different brands here over the years. I think that is something that is good for us to share.
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Rest assured Vivre, we really appreciate your input at all times and don't fall into the paranoia trap
ETA - Furthermore, I have no hesitation whatsoever recommending Dr. Lorna Vanderhaeghe's DIM formulation, it works !! I highly recommend NewChapter Organics supplements made from whole foods (unfortunately, BigPharm got hold of that one, it worked too well, I guess) and I could add at least five or six more highly dependable supplement makers I buy mine from: Trophic, AOR, very expansive, but New Roots and Natural Factors a bit more affordable. I want to buy from Pure as well.
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Maud-I was not happy about PURE. One of my holistic doctors used them, and then he died of cancer. Okay, I am not saying the supplements caused the cancer! But I did not like the fact that there seemed to be one pill for each ingredient, which meant too many bottles, and $$$$. Plus all the caps looked the same. It was hard to figure out what was what. And as I said, I hate taking capsules. They just do not go down well for me. My test results were also less than optimal.
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Top lobbying firms - very telling, to say the least. And that does not include their marketing/advertising fortune spending.....astounding amounts of money !
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $18,910,000
Pfizer Inc $12,610,000
Amgen Inc $10,000,000
Eli Lilly & Co $9,810,000
Merck & Co $8,245,000
Biotechnology Industry Organization $7,990,000
Novartis AG $6,739,136
Sanofi $6,663,000
Bayer AG $6,360,000
Johnson & Johnson $5,806,000
AstraZeneca PLC $5,640,000
Roche Holdings $5,485,506
GlaxoSmithKline $5,445,000
Medtronic Inc $4,886,673
Abbott Laboratories $4,460,000
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries $3,450,000
Bristol-Myers Squibb $3,330,000
Merck KGaA $2,780,000
Mylan Inc $2,722,123
Eisai Co Ltd $2,715,000
Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals $2,686,000
CH Boehringer Sohn $2,594,086
Kv Pharmaceuticals $2,530,000
Baxter International $2,407,000
Endo Pharmaceuticals $2,360,000
Watson Pharmaceuticals $2,220,000
Generic Pharmaceutical Assn $2,082,372
Covidien Ltd $2,070,000
Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn $1,941,516
Allergan Inc $1,910,000
Biogen Idec $1,810,000
McKesson Corp $1,790,000
Vertex Pharmaceuticals $1,750,000
Gilead Sciences $1,660,000
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co $1,620,000
Genzyme Corp $1,610,040
Boston Scientific Corp $1,600,000
Advanced Medical Technology Assn $1,499,237
Cardinal Health $1,435,000
Astellas Pharma USA $1,410,000
Millennium/Takeda Oncology Co $1,410,000
Sunovion Pharmaceuticals $1,290,000
Cubist Pharmaceuticals $1,160,000
Cephalon Inc $1,090,000
Edwards Lifesciences $1,090,000
Invacare Corp $1,052,000
Healthcare Distribution Management Assn $1,048,000compared to $137,600 total from the Natural Products Asso
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=H04&year=2009
Vivre, thanks for the heads up re Pure. I know what you mean about caps, I empty mine in my smoothie
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Maud: That says it all....thanks for sharing!
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Kaara, I did not add all the millions which must translate into billions and that's only for 2011 !!!
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I have to speak up for AstraZeneca...they not only give away many of their drugs away to needy pts., they also support the AstraZeneca Hope Lodge in Boston MA ( Jamaica Plains area) You can google it to see the wonderful work they do. They are a state of the art facility that provides totally free beautiful lodging for cancer pts. who need to have TX in the Boston area. They are a wonderful place supported by the ACS.
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purple32: That's good to know...with all those millions they should be giving back something. Of course, never should we forget that it's a tax writeoff for them, but whatever it takes, I'm happy there's a benefit for someone less fortunate.
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Yes, Kaara - I agree . They should !
As an FYI for anyone in need ....
THE HOPE LODGE is not just located in MA. There are some in other states ( not saying they are $upported by Astra Zeneca). If anyone needs this service please google THE HOPE LODGE or else call the ACS. -
I have noticed that the few and far between clinical trials on supplements seem to fade away. The Activin one seems to have been cancelled. And the DIM one was supposedly over a year ago, but no results were ever posted. You have to wonder if big Pharm money has anything to do with this.
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DianaNM, I've noticed that also, pouf, into thin air !
For those who had Taxol or Taxotere, we know it comes from the yew tree. Just read that the natives call it the Tree of Death
'Student dead from eating toxic yew tree seeds'
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I have used the Whole Foods 365 shampoo and I did like it. Did not feel like it cleaned my hair well and had to use alot of it. So went back to Nature's Gate. The WF 365 condition was fine and I have never used the body lotion.
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In 1996 the World Health Organization formally designated Tamoxifen a human carcinogen. Fortunately, more and more people are waking up and are looking into safer and more effective alternative treatment protocols and therapies. I'm sure the vulnerable, needy BC patients are not told that Taxol and Tamoxifen are carcinogens when they check into " AstraZeneca Hope Lodge" to get their free carcinogenic treatments.
Here are more extraordinary ways that AstraZeneca and other pharmaceutical companies are giving back to the community. They are our heroes.
"...As the controlling sponsor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), Zeneca was able to approve - or veto - any promotional or informational materials, posters, advertisements, etc. that BCAM uses. The focus is strictly limited to information regarding early detection and treatment, avoiding the topic of prevention and the role toxins may play. A further look at the major players in breast cancer awareness may give plenty of insight as to why a growing number of critics are asking why such is the case.
Take Zeneca for example; it later merged into Astra-Zeneca and in 2008, ICI/Astra-Zeneca changed its name to AzkoNobel and reported annual sales of over 22 Billion Dollars. ICI has long been among the world's largest manufacturers of pesticides, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Its Perry, Ohio, chemical plant was once identified as the third-largest source of potential cancer-causing pollution in the United States, releasing 53,000 pounds of recognized carcinogens into the air in 1996.
After Zeneca acquired the Salick chain of cancer treatment centers in 1997 and then merged with the Swedish pharmaceutical company Astra to form AstraZeneca, creating the world`s third-largest drug concern, Dr. Samuel Epstein, a professor of occupational and environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health stated, "This is a conflict of interest unparalleled in the history of American medicine."
"You`ve got a company that`s a spinoff of one of the world`s biggest manufacturers of carcinogenic chemicals, they`ve got control of breast cancer treatment, they`ve got control of the chemoprevention [studies], and now they have control of cancer treatment in eleven centers - which are clearly going to be prescribing the drugs they manufacture......Other large corporations which contribute to breast cancer awareness also have a vested interest in breast cancer. General Electric sells upwards of $100 million annually in mammography machines. General Electric has also been a major polluter of carcinogenic PCBs in the Hudson River. An estimated million pounds of PCBs lie buried at the bottom of a 40-mile stretch of the Hudson, where GE dumped PCB oil until the mid-1970s, contaminating the entire 200-mile length of the river below Hudson Falls
DuPont, another huge chemical company and major polluter, supplies much of the film used in mammography machines. Both DuPont and GE aggressively promote mammography screening of women in their 40s, despite the risk of its contributing to breast cancer in that age group.And while biotech giant Monsanto sponsors Breast Cancer Awareness Month's high profile event, the Race for the Cure, it continues to profit from the production of many known carcinogens.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/027300_cancer_breast_health.html#ixzz1zNOZM3Ax -
Zuvart, let's not forget that
"Former Monsanto is today known as Pharmacia. Pharmacia is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., which together with its subsidiaries operates the Pharmaceuticals Business. Today's Monsanto includes the operations, assets and liabilities that were previously the Ag Business"
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