PITTSBURGH STEELERS neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon, author of The Longevity Factor, discusses living a longer and healthier life. It’s not about simply living to an older age, it is about fighting the diseases of aging and keeping our bodies younger.
Don’t we all want to have great quality of life? Live healthy and even longer if we can feel good and stay active?
Scientists have been studying many years a group of natural substances – including resveratrol – that can help activate specific genes in the human body that promote living longer and healthier.
Dr. Maroon wrote The Longevity Factor to look at the fascinating science behind the study of aging – that can have a real impact on our lives. It has taken years of study to learn about a group of natural substances – including resveratrol – that can help activate specific genes in the human body that promote living longer AND healthier. And then it took more time to learn how to isolate resveratrol and concentrate it into a supplement.
As soon as that happened, almost 200 products flooded the market. Since food supplements are not regulated by the FDA, it is hard to determine which work better or if they are formulated in a way that will make a difference at all.
We have talked before how you must do your own homework on choosing a brand. Dr. Maroon will only recommend pharmaceutical grade supplements to his patients because he can be assured of the quality and efficacy.
Shaklee partnered with Harvard University scientists to develop Vivix, a unique anti-aging supplement with resveratrol and polyphenols from the (super) muscadine grape. It wasn’t one of the first resveratrol products on the market – it took significant time get it right!
Only pharmaceutical grade brands are mentioned in his book and Dr. Maroon dedicates most of page 193 to Vivix: “There is growing evidence that a combination of resveratrol and other potent polyphenols might provide improved health benefits due to the synergistic properties of different polyphenols from different plant sources. Shaklee Corporation, a direct selling nutrition company has recently released a product called Vivix, which is described as a cellular anti-aging tonic. It contains a multi-source polyphenol blend.
In conversations with the company, they state that the blend includes 100 mg of 98 percent pure resveratrol from Polygonum cuspidatum long with a proprietary extract derived from the fresh pomace of muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia) The company recommends 5ml per day of Vivix, which they state is equivalent to the abount of resveratrol found in 100 glasses of red pinot noir red wine.
The muscadine polyphenols in this blended product along with the added resveratrol, European elderberry extract, and purple carrot extract will increase the total overall polyphenol content of this product. A month’s supply will cost a member $85.00.
In Shaklee’s accompanying literature for Vivix, they state that the Vivix ingredients were shown in a laboratory study to be 10 times more powerful in slowing a key mechanism of aging than resveratrol alone. No specific studies are listed but here they appear to be recognizing that resveratrol may work better in people as a mixture of complementary polyphenols. They also have focused on leveraging the benefits of the muscadine grape in their product.”
Dr. Maroon also discusses calorie restriction that is associated with resveratrol and inflammation that is at the root of so many illnesses and disease. He states in the book that some resveratrol products contain polyphenols from the muscadine grape to further enhance resveratrol to help with inflammation (VIVIX!).
I was especially impressed that Dr. Maroon recommends the combination of pharmaceutical grade fish oil and resveratrol almost exclusively to his patients with pain and inflammation. That is right in line with what Dr. Shaklee believed: the body can heal itself – with nature. Natural supplements, made as close as the way you would find them in nature as possible are powerful for healing.
On page 292, Shaklee OmegaGuard is listed as a pharmaceutical grade Fish Oil supplement worthy of recommendation.
Dr. David Maroon is a distinguished surgeon, and noted professor and Heindl Scholar in Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is a lifelong athlete and has competed in more than fifty triathlons including 3 Hawaiian Ironman Championship competitions.