November 12, 2009

Gut Bacteria Could Be Making You Fat!!!

Yes, you read that correctly! According to a new article released yesterday, researchers have found that mice who were fed a high-carb, high-sugar traditional Westernized diet developed permanent microbial changes in their guts. In fact, even when they switched the mice to a so-called healthy diet, they still could not lose the weight they had gained from the bad diet! Researchers believe this could be due to the bad microbes continuing to live in the gut.

This, of course, implies that bacteria play a bigger role in your health and specifically your waistline than most people realize or care to admit. If you’re concerned about the microbes in your gut, you may want to consider supplementing your diet with high-quality beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, from Natren.

For more information and the full article, please see below:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20091111/hl_hsn/gutbacteriamightbemakingpeoplefat

November 4, 2009

Questionable “Comments” on the Blog

Dear All–

We here at TAP like to keep the playing field fair and even. We present un-biased scientific information and our personal opinions on the best probiotic supplements out there. Even with our good-natured intentions, we are running into competitors, who pretend to be average consumers posting on our blog. The way we discover who these people are is by tracking their IP address. As we work to heighten IP blocking in our comments section for these people, you may notice some comments being deleted because that particular person has a conflict of interest and therefore, cannot make an unbiased statement on our blog. Because we don’t want confused consumers to interpret biased comments as truthful, we will continue to remove these statements. If you have any questions about our new policy, please feel free to ask at any time!

Keep the comments coming– we love having an open discussion with you all about the Power of Probiotics!

Sincerely,

The Team at TAP

October 21, 2009

Response to Dr. Whitaker Regarding Probiotic “Mistakes”

We here at TAP wanted to respond to Dr. Julian Whitaker who is spinning misinformation to sell his own private label probiotic brand (made by a contract manufacturer)! You may have heard of this doctor, who has been known as a holistic doctor, through his web site, e-newsletter, or other promotional appearances. He has practiced as a holistic doctor for 40+ years.

So, how did he get into probiotics? Well, Natasha Trenev was the first person to introduce this doctor to the probiotic concept in the early 1980s, when he was a customer of a well-known distributor that sold Natren probiotic supplements exclusively to alternative practitioners. In fact, Dr. Whitaker purchased Natren probiotics from this distributor for many years. 

However, as many doctors, chiropractors, and alternative health practitioners have done, they begin to private label their supplements, which they buy from contract manufacturers, in the hopes that their patients cannot find these supplements anywhere else except in their clinic. Unfortunately, this is not to benefit their patients but to secure a revenue stream for their own practice. Dr. Whitaker, along with other holistic doctors, has adopted this business model. 

What we find most offensive is a particular statement made by Dr. Whitaker that says “While you can choose a probiotic supplement that requires refrigeration, which does not help keep the bacteria alive. If you go that route, many of the bacteria can die in your stomach before they reach your intestines where they are needed.” This statement is MISLEADING AND FALSE, and intended to deceive the public regarding the necessity of refrigerating live bacteria.

The reason these companies promote non-refrigerated probiotics is to decrease their handling and shipping costs, thereby increasing their bottom line profit margin. They also avoid the issue of telling people that there is no such thing as ambient temperature (70-80 degrees F) in distribution channels. For example, a non-air-conditioned warehouse can reach 100-140 degrees F, and this is the case with most warehouses across the country! Furthermore, the delivery trucks are not air-conditioned, and according to the AAA, if it is 80 degrees outside, within 20 minutes, the temperature will rise to 120 degrees in the truck. Basically, these conditions would make it impossible for any probiotic to survive– let alone one that is not refrigerated!

 How does Dr. Whitaker’s three-coated layer protect his probiotic product from mishandling like heat exposure? And if these layers do protect the product against shelf-life abuse, why is there not a specific potency guarantee assuring that the strain is alive through a clearly printed expiry date? Furthermore, there is no third party validation that the bacteria are viable in the product at any time during its selling period. Where is the proof that he has any background formulating probiotics?

He talks about only 3 prominent probiotic products that have the triple layer coating, one of them being his private label probiotic pearls. What independent scientific proof does Dr. Whitaker provide that these three layers actually protect the probiotic compound from stomach acid? I take exception to him stating that he formulated pearl biotics specifically for digestive concerns of people over age 50. What is his expertise in the background of probiotics that would allow him to actually formulate this?

In the background description of the product, it says this product contains the five strains of bacteria your body needs most– how did he determine that these were the five strains your body needs the most? Furthermore, there is only mention of species and no specific strain on his bacteria– which is very deceptively misleading to the consumer. Also, it says you get one billion bacteria per capsule– what is the evidence of how much of each species you are getting in this product? For example, Natren will list the exact strain and amount of each ingredient and will guarantee its potency through a clearly printed expiration date. For example, you will see Lactobacillus acidophilus NAS strain, 5 billion CFU per Healthy Trinity capsule. Unfortunately, Dr. Whitaker’s product doesn’t come close to this very accurate and scientific labeling.

As you know by now, if you are an avid reader of TAP, we only recommend NATREN for a reason. We stand behind founder Natasha Trenev’s expertise in the area of probiotics, and we will continue to recommend her brand until we find a worthy competitor. We welcome feedback from Dr. Whitaker regarding his Pearl Biotics product, or the other products claiming to have this triple-layer coating technology, such as Enzymatic Pearls from Enzymatic Therapy and Probiotic Advantage from Mountain Home Nutritionals.

October 20, 2009

More Posts Coming Tomorrow!

Please stay tuned…

October 2, 2009

Balkans Key to Longevity? Probiotic Yogurt and Walnuts…

As the founders and owners of Natren have always known ( Natasha Trenev is from Yugoslavia and Yordan Trenev is from Bulgaria), the people from the Balkans region have historically lived long and healthy lives. One of the reasons for their long life spans and unparalleled well-being stems directly from their nutrient and bacteria (probiotics) rich diet.

People in the Balkans eat a diet rich in authentic homemade Bulgarian-style yogurt because it serves as an accompaniment to almost every meal: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Another powerhouse Balkan food is the walnut, which can be found from everything to main dishes, soups, and even desserts! Natren founder Natasha Trenev says that walnuts were added to desserts to prevent the rise of insulin, which accompanies so many American desserts. The walnuts help to stabilize your blood sugar and make the sugars digest more slowly.

If you are interested in bringing some of the Balkan health practices to your own kitchen, we recommend the Natren Yogurt Starter, which can be used to make delicious Balkan-style yogurt at home. In addition, start trying walnuts in new and experimental ways in your kitchen– for example, blend them into your morning smoothie for an additional nutrient punch!

For the article in the NY times, click the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/health/nutrition/28recipehealth.html?em

 

September 23, 2009

GERD linked to Microbe Changes

According to a recent article posted on “Medpage Today”, researchers have concluded what I have been saying for the last twenty years. I have always maintained that microbes are involved in most illnesses, and yet the medical community has not usually linked diseases to microbes until the last couple of decades. In particular, the medical community believed that acid reflux or GERD was caused by excess acid in the stomach, rather than investigating the feasibility of a bacterial culprit. Many in the medical community had believed that there are no significant colonies of microbes in the esophagus; however, to claim that any area of the body is completely sterile is a wrong assumption in the least. This article shows that GERD, which is on the rise in the USA, is associated with large scale microbial changes in the esophagus.

Because of the bad bacteria that are now prevalent in our food supply, exposure to these bacteria may predispose us to one day developing acid-reflux disease aka GERD. Even though the study found that esophageal disease is associated with large-scale microbe changes, it is not yet clear whether these changes are considered a cause or an effect of GERD.

Yet in my opinion, bacteria can upset the normal function of the digestive tract and can cause acid to go back up from the stomach and into the esophagus. I believe that this bacterial and microbe change is an actual cause of GERD. It is known that bacteria communicate with our body on a cellular level, and their objective is always to find a niche where they can thrive. Sometimes they are a benefit to the host (our bodies) and other times they cause disease. For example, we already know that the bacterium H. pylori is a major cause of diseases of the upper GI tract, and eradicating it can cause symptoms such as gastritis and peptic ulcers. Both gastritis and peptic ulcers can also cause acid reflux.

Therefore, it is imperative as the problems with digestion and GERD in particular escalate in our society, to discover the proper probiotic supplementation program. My suggestion would be to use the Healthy Trinity oil-matrix capsules from Natren, along with their powder products, like Megadophilus, Bifidofactor, and Digesta-Lac.

We would also like to call your attention to a health wire from “Consumer Reports on Health”, Volume 21, Number 10, Page 2, entitled, “Rebound Heartburn”. In this wire, it states that people who regularly use proton pump inhibitors, drugs such as Prilosec or Nexium, may become dependent on them. That’s the implication of a July 2009 trial published in the Journal of Gastroenterology, where 44% of the 120 HEALTHY people who took Nexium for 8 weeks, developed heartburn symptoms AFTER they stopped taking the drug. This very high number can be compared to only 15% of the healthy individuals who took a placebo developing subsequent heartburn symptoms.

Regardless of what you believe the cause of your GERD is, if you take the conventional route, you will develop habitual use of these proton-pump inhibitors. However, I believe it is better for you to go a natural route and to restore normal, optimal digestion rather than using drugs to get results. You should take a proactive, preventative strategy, so that you don’t develop the disease and then end up hooked on the drug.

For more information, please see the September 2009 newsletter from Natren Probiotics.

Follow the Links Below for the Original Articles:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/GERD/15369

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/GERD/14956

July 9, 2009

Don’t Buy these So-Called “Probiotic” Organisms…

Did you know that Health Canada (the Canadian version of the FDA that also monitors natural foods supplements in Canada) will not allow “probiotic” products containing Enterrococus faecium and Enterrococus faecalis into the country because “certain [so-called] probiotic bacteria have been associated with human illness and have a high-risk of developing antibiotic resistance and are not suited for use as probiotics, and the products containing these two species are rejected without further consideration.” This effectively means that Health Canada has deemed any probiotic product that has these species (E. faecalis and E. faceium) in its blend to be unsafe for human consumption. They go so far as to prohibit the sales of these products throughout Canada.

Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration has a bad “bug” book, where E. faecalis and E. faecium are listed as organisms that are detrimental to human health (listed as Streptococcus Group D, which is an old taxonomic ID of Enterococcus). Yet, the US government allows so-called “probiotic” marketers, who import their blends or products from Japan, to sell these dangerous bacteria, without considering the safety of consumers.

I have checked with all of my colleagues who represent American probiotic manufacturing concerns, and they have repeatedly stated that they do not sell probiotic products containing any of the above species for human consumption. Some marketers in the US who import their products from Japan proclaim that they are selling non-toxic strains of E. faecalis or E. faecium; however, they have never provided any independent validation of their claims. It is frightening to me how these products are imported into the country without more vigilant government scrutiny. Is it perhaps due to the enormous amount of imports coming in from China and other pacific-rim regions that overwhelms our inadequate system and thereby allows 95% of the imported goods not to be inspected? I guess this is the ultimate lesson in the age-old adage of “Buyer Beware”.

Make sure to read the label carefully the next time you are considering purchasing a probiotic supplement, and always look for “Made in the USA” on the label.

As always, I recommend products that contain probiotics from the Lactobacillus genus or the Bifidobacteria genus. All species from these two genera are safe at any level. Be wary of labels claiming to contain species from the Bacillus genus, such as Bacillus coagulans, as they are spore-forming organisms and give cause for serious safety concerns.

In Health,

Natasha

June 24, 2009

Probiotics in the News…

We know we haven’t written in a while, and we’re trying to change that! There are some exciting new developments at both TAP and Natren that we will be sharing with you in the next couple of weeks. In the interim, here are some interesting probiotic articles we found, along with the probiotic supplement we recommend that corresponds to the article… Enjoy and Comment Often!

The Story: Probiotics for Babies

Reported By: WKOW TV in Madison, WI

The Take Home Message: Every baby’s diet should be supplemented with high-quality probiotic supplements, as recommended by Dr. Michael Yaffe, who is quoted in the article.  

TAP recommends: Natren’s LifeStart for Babies (at least one teaspoon blended into formula or mother’s milk paste every day).

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10521026

The Story: Our Bodies are Covered in Bacteria Both Good and Bad– especially our Armpits

Reported By: National Geographic

The Take Home Message: We are more bacteria-based than we thought; we should be looking at bacteria for answers to many of our questions, including why we develop certain diseases and illnesses. (2) Probiotic Skin Care can also help sway the balance towards good bacteria on the surface of the skin…

TAP recommends: Natren’s Healthy Trinity as the ultimate everyday supplement in probiotics. Take at least one pill a day to sway the balance of bacteria in your body to the good guys’ side! For external use, we recommend Natasha’s Probiotic Skin Creme by Natren for use everyday after cleansing and before sunscreen application.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090528-armpits-bacteria-rainforests.html

The Story: Vets are Using Probiotics to Ease Doggie Discomfort…

Reported by: Scientific American

The Take Home Message: Supplementing your dog’s daily diet with probiotics can improve intestinal health, especially when giving your dog a dose of antibiotics!

TAP recommends: Natren’s CanineDophilus for Dogs and Natren’s FelineDophilus for Cats– with at least one dose being given daily– more when antibiotics are being used.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=probiotics-for-dogs

For more information on the products recommended above, please visit www.natren.com

June 11, 2009

Clinique Announces a Probiotic Cleanser…

that’s part of a kit that retails for about (get ready) $250! And, they are only making it available at doctor’s offices as part of an after-procedure take home kit. Well, we at TAP would like to give Clinique a run for their money (literally). At TAP, as you know we only recommend probiotic products that pass our stringent standards for quality. One of the companies we recommend the most is Natren because they specialize in probiotic cleansers, creams, and internal probiotic regimens (the Healthy Trinity is our favorite!). We have had fantastic success with Natren’s probiotic skin care line, skin care masks, and supplements. One of our staffers claims it even helped her with her recurrent eczema and dermatitis issues… Another uses it after sunburns to soothe her skin.

The trick with probiotic cleansers is that because probiotics are living organisms the product  must contain a medium that the bacteria can survive in… otherwise the product is as good as sawdust in a bottle. Natren’s Probiotic Skin Cream keeps the active ingredients functioning by using an organic milk base as the medium and storing the product in a dark glass bottle. They also recommend refrigerating the product so the bacteria are happiest. So, for the authentic, true anti-aging probiotic skin cleanser, cream, and mask, look no farther than Natren.

Some final perks about the Natren Probiotic Skin Care line is that they’ve been on the market for 15 years and have been successfully used by medical professionals, dermatologists, and other health care providers. And, with the skin care kit retailing at about $90 versus Clinique’s $230, you’ve just gotten a huge bang for your buck.

For more information, click the below links:

Natren's Probiotic Skin Cream

Natren's Probiotic Skin Cream

 

http://www.edgenewengland.com/index.php?ch=style&sc=grooming&sc2=&sc3=&id=90907

May 27, 2009

Natasha Featured in Natural Products Marketplace

In the month of May, Natasha was featured in two stories for Natural Products Marketplace. Click the links below to read the stories, and don’t forget to comment on them and let us know what you think!

One is dated 5/13/2009 and the other is 5/21/09:

http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com/articles/which-probiotics-for-which-health-claims.html

http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com/articles/the-booming-probiotic-market.html

“No matter if customers are looking to improve gut health, immune health or treat specific gut conditions, many companies have a method to their probiotic “recipe,” versus a random concoction of probiotic strains. For example, Natren offers several probiotic products, but its flagship product, Healthy Trinity has 30 billion CFUs (colony-forming units) of three specific strains designed to enhance the GI system. “We chose three specific strains to target each part of digestion: small intestine, large intestine and the transient flora,” said Natasha Trenev, owner and founder of Natren. “For the small intestine, we feature the NAS L. acidophilus strain, which helps regulate immune function and maximizes food absorption. For the large intestine (colon), we feature Bifidobacteria bifidum malyoth strain, which is considered by Japanese researchers the most important bacteria for human health. It finalizes absorption, helps to flush out toxins and stimulates regularity. The final strain is Lactobacilus bulgaricus LB-51, which travels with the food producing enzymes to break down the food in the proper nutrient size, without adversely affecting the immune system.” Trenev referred to LB-51 as the “crowd control” organism because it travels with the food throughout the entire intestinal tract. “Up to 40 percent of dry-weight fecal matter is hundreds of species of bacteria, and therefore, this strain is very important to prevent other types of bacteria from taking hold and interfering with proper absorption.””