Acai BerryWell, it finally happened.  The FTC has finally taken action against Acai Berry companies that make bogus claims such as: endorsed by Oprah, lose 30 pounds in a month and receive a free trial!  In other news, pigs have started to fly!

FTC We Say Thank You and What Took You So Long?

For over 2 years we have been writing about Acai Berry Scams and begging the FTC to take action.  Everyday we hear from countless consumers who have fallen victim to these scams (take a look at all the comments on our Julia Milller Acai Berry Scam post).  Well, it took a while but the FTC has taken action.

“Too many ‘free’ offers come with strings attached,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “In this case, the defendants promised buyers a ‘risk free’ trial and then illegally billed their credit cards again and again – and again. We estimate that about a million people have fallen victim to this scam. As if that weren’t enough, there were fake endorsements from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray for a product that didn’t work in the first place.”

- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Press Release 8/16/2010

AcaiPure – We Couldn’t Be Happier to See You Go

The FTC named Central Coast Nutraceuticals, Inc. (CCN) and their products AcaiPure and ColoPure in the complaint.  The FTC has frozen the assets of CCN and basically put the company into receivership as the court actions move forward.  This is great news as we have received numerous complaints about the AcaiPure brand and the FTC believes they scammed consumers out of $30 million in 2009 alone.

Consumers Still Need to Be Aware, Other Sharks Are in the Water

Clearly removing AcaiPure and CCN from the marketplace is a major step in the right direction, but consumers still need to be careful.  There are still plenty of companies out there that are pulling various acai berry scams and resveratrol scams.   Our advice remains the same, avoid any “free trial” supplement deals – as they are never free.  If you want to try Acai, go with a 100% Organic and Freeze Dried Acai berry product like the Perfect Acai.

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resveratrol-structureWow we are publishing a lot of articles on Resveratrol!  It is not intentional, there have just been a slew of published studies on resveratrol released this summer.

The latest study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (yes it really is as exciting as the name makes it sound), shows that a relatively low dosage of resveratrol in humans can have significant health benefits.

Best Resveratrol Dosage Much Less Than Previously Reported

Husam Ghanim, PhD, of the University of Buffalo found that a dosage of 40 milligrams of resveratrol, taken once a day for six weeks, was able to reduce inflammation in test subjects.   Inflammation in humans can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes – so anything that reduces inflammation is of great interest.

In the study, Dr. Chanim took twenty volunteers and broke them into two even groups of ten.  One group received a placebo pill for 6 weeks.  The second group received a Polygonum cuspidatum extract (Japanese Knotweed) pill that contained 40 milligrams of resveratrol.

Fasting blood samples were taken throughout the study and here are the results…

“Results showed that resveratrol suppressed the generation of “free radicals” — unstable molecules known to cause oxidative stress and release pro-inflammatory substances into the blood, resulting in damage to the blood vessel lining.

People taking resveratrol also showed suppression of the inflammatory protein tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, and other compounds that increase blood vessel inflammation and interfere with insulin action, causing insulin resistance and the risk of developing diabetes.”

- WebMD, Resveratrol May Slow Aging in Humans, By Bill Hendrick

As for the placebo group – they showed no change in blood levels.

Why This Resveratrol Study is Significant

There are three elements that we believe make this study significant.  First, the study was done with humans.  Human studies are always more significant that mouse studies (sorry to any mice readers we have).  Second, the study used only 40 milligrams of Resveratrol.  This shows that resveratrol can be effective in a relatively small dosage. Third, the study used a Japanese Knotweed extract and this therefore lends credibility to resveratrol supplements currently on the market that are made with Japanese Knotweed.

So, is 40mg the Best Resveratrol Dosage for Humans?

Not sure.  First, a much larger study would need to be done to draw really significant conclusions on the best resveratrol dosage for humans.  Second, it is possible that something else in the extract was helping along with the resveratrol.  Third, it would be interesting to see if 100mg  or 200mg produces even better results.

In the end, this study does not prove that any one dosage of resveratrol is best – but it does put to rest the claim that you need to be taking mega-doses of resveratrol (400mg and up) to see any health benefits.  In addition, the best way to avoid resveratrol side effects is to take the minimum amount required to produce positive results.

Additional Resources:

“An Antiinflammatory and Reactive Oxygen Species Suppressive Effects of an Extract of Polygonum Cuspidatum Containing Resveratrol.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Jun 9.

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Coconut OilSaturated fats are bad for you.  Food cooked in oil with saturated fat – also bad for you.  Don’t even get us started on Trans-Fat – that is simply evil incarnate.  If we all want to live long and healthy lives we simply need to switch to unsaturated fats – cook with Olive Oil and you are a shoe-in to see the 3rd Millennium roll in.

If Only the World Was Black and White

Life would be easy if all the above was true, unfortunately it is not.  As with most nutrition, figuring out the right fats to eat is complicated and filled with many shades of gray.  Sure, large amounts of saturated fats from animals is bad for your heart – no argument there.  However, saturated fats that are rich in medium-chain fatty acids have some positive health benefits. What oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids? Coconut Oil.

Coconut Oil is Left for Dead By The Media and Medical Community

A few years ago the mainstream media made any oils that had saturated fat public enemy number 1.  We were told to replace all our Coconut and Palm oil with Olive oil.   In fact, at the time – the media was generally right!  Coconut oil was often processed by heating the coconuts and using chemicals to extract the oil.  The processing of the coconuts was killing off the positive nutrients in the coconut. Highly refined coconut oil was a saturated fat oil that no longer contained all the positives of medium chain fatty acids.

Coconut Oil Tries to Rise from the Dead

Over the last 6 months we have watched Coconut Oil try to rise from the dead and it is a pretty impressive zombie act.  The reason for the comeback of coconut oil has everything to do with new methods of processing coconut oil.  Today, companies are producing Extra Virgin, Unrefined, Cold Processed Organic Coconut Oil and guess what – it maintains the healthy nutrients of the coconut such as the medium chain fatty acids.

Extra Virgin, Unrefined Cold Processed Organic Coconut Oil

The above is certainly a mouthful to say, but it represents the gold standard of Coconut Oil.  Simply put, Mother Nature has created coconuts, which have some strong nutritional properties.  If you want to use coconut oil and have it still maintain all those nutrients that Mother Nature gave it – you need to find a coconut oil that has almost no processing done to it.

Products such as the new Perfect Coconut Oil are basically coconuts squeezed into a bottle.  They start with Organic Coconuts, cold press them to get the oil out and then put it in a bottle with nothing else added.  You could say that the coconut oil of today is not your Mother’s coconut oil!

Health is All About Moderation

We are not saying that people should start chugging down gallons of saturated fats.  There are still plenty of health issues from including a large amount of saturated fat in your diet.  What we are saying is that not all saturated fat is the same.  The saturated fat in Extra Virgin Unrefined Coconut oil has valuable nutrients like the medium-chain fatty acids (these are not found in high quantities in animal fats).  You can do your own research, but an argument can be made for including some medium-chain fatty acids in your diet.

Like Mark Twain – reports of the death of Coconut Oil may have been greatly exaggerated.

Additional Resources:

Learn More About Virgin Coconut Oil

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lemur

The internet is filled with ads for resveratrol “free trial offers” that claim to help you lose incredible amounts of weight. If you use these advertised resveratrol “free trial” products you will lose weight… in your wallet! We have documented the resveratrol scams on this site and have put little weight into resveratrol weight loss claims (pardon the pun) – but now it looks like a legitimate study has shown some connection between resveratrol and weight loss.

Resveratrol and Weight Loss is There a Connection?

In a study published on 6/22/2010 in BMC Physiology, researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, France found that mouse lemurs (primates) who were given resveratrol decreased their energy intake by 13%, while increasing their resting metabolic rate by 29%. What makes the study very significant is that mouse lemurs are primates.  I know, they have “mouse” in their name, but they are primates, not rodents.  As far as we know, this is the first time that resveratrol has been shown to increase resting metabolic rate in primates.

Resveratrol, Weight Loss and Primates

We could give our take on what the study showed, but why not give an exact quote of the Conclusions from the study itself -

“In conclusion, we demonstrated for the first time the short-term effects of resveratrol on the metabolism of an heterothermic primate. Resveratrol activates energy expenditure by inducing an increase in resting metabolic rate and a decrease in torpor patterns that play key roles in energy saving in this primate. Moreover, resveratrol had a satiety effect in this primate that reduced their spontaneous food intake. All of these changes participated in the limitation of pre-wintering fattening processes in which the increase in the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide levels would play an additive role. These results provide novel information on the potential effects of resveratrol on energy metabolism and control of body mass in a primate.”

- Resveratrol suppresses body mass gain in a seasonal non-human primate model of obesity, 6/22/10

In laymen terms, resveratrol increased metabolism,  increased satiety, decreased weight and decreased the need for food in lemurs while maintaining energy levels.

So the Free Trial Resveratrol Products Really Will Help me Lose Weight?

No, no and NO! The “free trial” resveratrol products are very low quality resveratrol supplements and automatically bill you for their inferior supplements every month.  You really want to AVOID any “free trial” resveratrol supplement.

Will a 99% Pure Trans-Resveratrol Supplement Help Me Lose Weight?

Yes… if you are a lemur!  While our blog is well read, I don’t think we reach many lemurs.  While lemurs are primates, and results in non-human primates may translate to humans,  much more research needs to be done.   We do feel that more and more research in showing strong potential health benefits from resveratrol, but we still need to determine the best resveratrol dosage for humans.   So, if you take a pure resveratrol supplement like the Perfect ResGrape Resveratrol for all the other health benefits and also end up losing some weight – you can thank us later!

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New Approach to Fighting Alzheimer’s By Activating Sirtuin Protein

July 29, 2010

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have conducted a study in mice that shows a promising new way to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s Disease. The study focused on the role that Sirtuin, a protein in the body. played in neurodegenerative diseases.  What they found was activating sirtuin suppressed the disease and [...]

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