Understanding Why USANA's Essentials and HealthPak are Rated #1 in North America
Fact: Some studies indicate that nearly 2/3 of supplements on the market do NOT break down in the body.
Here is an x-ray of a popular multi-vitamin.
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What good is this product doing your body when the vitamin isn't dissolved in the colon?
You're literally flushing money down the toilet!
The USP (U.S. Pharmacopoeia) has made specifications to guarantee that supplements dissolve in your body. If the supplements don't dissolve, what good is it doing you?
Fact: USANA's Essentials and HealthPak Multivitamins meet USP Specifications and therefore dissolve in the body.
Fact: Many vitamin supplements are not effective.
Aside from products that don't break down and absorb in the body, many of the products are not effective. A little experiment has been conducted to demonstrate this.
Have you ever cut an apple open and after some time, you see it turning brown? This is known as oxidation. Oxidation is the same thing that causes metal to rust.
People who make fruit salads often squeeze a lemon or lime over the fruit salad to prevent it from turning brown (or oxidizing). This works, because the Vitamin C is contained in lemon, limes, and other citrus products. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, so it keeps the fruit salad from turning brown (oxidizing).
Our bodies need oxygen and oxygen causes the same reaction in our bodies. Getting enough antioxidants from what we eat and vitamin supplements is critical to combating this oxidation process.
We did an informal experiment by taking one of our multivitamins (glass on the left) and a very popular multivitamin in the market place (glass on the right) and put them in a glass of water with a slice of apple.
36 HOURS LATER
Which vitamin supplement would you rather be taking?
Fact: USANA's Essentials and HealthPak are effective.
Fact: According to a December 2007 study*, approximately 25% of supplements could be contaminated with banned substances (steroids, stimulants, etc.).
Since there is very little regulation in the supplement industry, some athletes who have been clean (never used steriods, etc) have had their medals stripped from them. This is because some over the counter supplements have trace amounts of the banned or illegal substances. Those show up on the druge test and the athlete fails it.
This has been such an issue that the National Olympic Committee has written to their athletes warning them of the potential danger of contaminants in supplements and even encouraging them NOT to consume nutritional supplements.
Only a few laboratories in the world can test vitamin supplements for traces of banned substances. Very few companies meet the high quality control standards because it is such an expensive process.
For more details, you can visit the Informed Choice's Website. This is a non-profit organization that certifies products to be clean and free of banned substances.
Fact: USANA's Essentials and HealthPak products are some of the only products in the world that have been tested and certified to clean and free of banned substances. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. is so confident of the quality control that they are the first and only company to offer a $1 million dollar guarantee to athletes.
To learn more about some of the athletes that use our products, watch this video.
You can also view a document which shows some of the athletes and Olympic teams that use our products by clicking here.
Fact: Many products claim to be the best or better then competitors. How do they stand up in 3rd Party and Independent Studies?
One independent study was performed and a book was subsequently written with the title "Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements." This book is currently in its 4th edition and has rated over 1500 supplements that are available in North America.
Many health professionals around the country now view this as one of the authoritative sources on nutritional supplements.
The rating system ranges from zero (0) or five (5) stars. Five stars is the best score and zero stars is the worst.
Do you already take a supplement? Ask the person who gave you this site for the rating from the study.
Fact: USANA's Essentials and HealthPak are rated #1 in an Indepedent and 3rd Party Analysis - Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements.
Fact: "Many U.S. food-quality [vitamin supplement] products have been found to be contaminated by heavy metals, insect parts and animal feces."
- Lyle MacWilliams,Bsc, MSc, FP,
former Canadian Member of Parliament
and Member of the Legislative Assembly for British ColumbiaC
Author of Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements
Lyle MacWilliams goes on to say "the FDA has no regulatory authority to require labelling changes or to help inform the public of these issues and concerns." The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) does very little to regulate the nutritional supplement market. By law supplements have the same manufacturing requirements as food does, which is loosely regulated and doesn't require everything to be listed on the label.
There's a higher standard of manufacturing known as Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). This is the same standard that prescription drugs are manufactured to. It's extremly strict quality control and has to be verfied by the FDA.
Only a few vitamin supplement manufcatures voluntarily meet these higher standards.
Fact: USANA meets the Pharmaceutical Good Manufcaturing Practices with its Essentials and HealthPak.
You can read the newspaper article on Lyle MacWilliams where the above quotes came from here.
Fact: Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals is not always enough to help prevent certain degenerative diseases (cancer, heart disease, alzhiemers, etc) or to provide protection from oxidative damage (think about the apple turning bown).
The RDA is over 50 years old and was developed during World War 2 to make sure our soldiers were getting adequate amounts of vitamins in their stripped down meals and diets so they wouldn't develop scurvy, pellagra, rickets or beriberi. You may not have even heard of those diesases. Hundreds of years ago sailors would develop scurvy because of short term vitamin C deficiencies.
When was the last time you heard of someone getting scurvy? Really, the RDA should only be considered the "minimum wage" of nutrition.
Today people are concerned about cancer, heart disease, alzhiemers and other diseases. These are known as degenerative diseases or chronic diseases, meaning that they take years to develop in the body. A lot of research today is concluding that "optimal" amounts (much higher standards then the RDA) of vitamins and minerals can help
In June 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association published two articles by health researchers at Harvard University. Their articles were entitled "Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults". Through their research, these authors concluded that "suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing classic vitamin deficiency, is a risk factor for chronic diseases and common in the general population, especially the elderly. Suboptimal folic acid levels, along with suboptimal levels of vitamins B6 and B12, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, neural tube defects, and colon and breast cancer...."
So basically taking optimal amounts of nutrients, as opposed to just the RDA level, appear to help people stay healthy and reduce the risk for degenerative or chronic diseases.
Fact: USANA's Essentials and HealthPak are based on the "optimal" amounts of vitamins and minerals.
If you would like to learn more about the science, independent testing, and 3rd party recognition on our products, then watch the video.
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