The strongest and most hard-working muscle in your body, your heart is also associated with vulnerability . . . and for good reason.  Powerhouse though it may be, the heart is living tissue that requires proper nourishment. A nutrient called coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is essential for keeping your heart strong and healthy. Yet it’s quite possible your CoQ10 levels are suboptimal, leading to a condition that underlies many heart problems called “energy-starved heart.” Every cell in your body contains hundreds of little energy factories called mitochondria. CoQ10 facilitates various chemical reactions in the mitochondria’s energy-producing process. Simply put, when you lack CoQ10, you lack energy. Your muscles, including your heart, may be ready, willing and able, but there’s just not enough fuel in the tank. Even minor deficiencies in CoQ10 can impair heart function and eventually damage the heart itself. CoQ10 plays yet another crucial role in cardiovascular health: Keeping…

Don’t look now, but we’ve all got a population of “zombie” cells living in our bodies!  Like us, cells are born, have a life and die. Ideally, when they lose their ability to divide and reproduce through damage or simple aging, they “commit suicide” in an orderly process called “apoptosis.”  But some cells, although no longer functional, refuse to die. Instead they linger on, generating chronic levels of inflammation and producing protein-digesting enzymes that cause accelerated aging to organs and tissues, increasing our susceptibility to chronic disease. Called “senescent” or “senile” cells, a robust immune system could destroy them, but as we age, our immune systems weaken, and these zombie cells accumulate. In 2011, researchers genetically modified mice so that their senescent cells could be triggered to self-destruct, which increased the mice’s lifespan by an amazing 2025% while greatly retarding development of chronic disease. This caught the attention of the…

Vitamin B12 and folate (aka vitamin B9) work together in a very productive partnership. Unfortunately, government statistics show that 30% of the US population is deficient in vitamin B12 and 75% in folate. This is using the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) as a reference, which many experts believe are far too low. And since they often work together, a deficiency in one means the other won’t work as it should. So it wouldn’t be too surprising to find you’re deficient in one or both, especially if you’re over the age of 50 when both B12 and folate levels start to decline. Because these two B vitamins participate in so many different biochemical processes, deficiencies can produce a wide range of symptoms: Do you have low energy? Feel weak, or get dizzy spells? Do you find you’re getting more irritable or feeling a bit low? Is your memory getting worse? Is it harder to learn new things; easier to get distracted and confused?  Do you have balance, vision or hearing proble…

In Never Be Sick Again, Raymond Francis refers to a healthy, 131-year-old man named Jose Maria Roa, living in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. When asked if he’d ever been sick, Roa said well, yes, he’d had a few colds. A few colds in 131 years! Contrast Mr. Roa to the average person living today, who gets a few colds every year, and you begin to see how far we’ve come from healthy living. But some of us aren’t getting colds anymore. Nor do we fear Ebola. And we’re not poisoning ourselves with flu shots either. How do we do it? By keeping our immunity strong! The immune system is designed to recognize and clear pathogens from the body before they cause disease. If you give your body the nutrients it needs, protect it from toxins, get enough exercise and sleep, and minimize stress, you enable your immune system to work the way nature intended. One vitamin you must have in sufficient quantities for proper immune function is vitamin D. Vitamin D is critical to many immune func…

High-quality supplements are a pivotal part of Raymond Francis’s approach to getting well and staying well, and supplying them is a cornerstone of our business at Beyond Health. We believe that even if you eat an exceptionally healthy diet, high-quality supplements, especially a multivitamin, essential fatty acids extra vitamin C, and vitamin D if levels are tested and found to be low, are essential to maintaining optimal health. (For the many reasons why, see Raymond’s free report, The Roadmap to Supplements.) So we were pleased to read that Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the prestigious Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine, wholeheartedly agrees. The Cleveland Clinic is an academic medical center and a leader in research, education and health information in Cleveland, Ohio. It is rated the second best hospital in the country by US News & World Report, and #1 for heart care. Dr. Hyman himself is well-known for his best-selling books and many appearances on public te…

. . . which is better? As you may know, we carry Kyolic AGE, so we’re often asked this question. The answer is that both forms of garlic are fantastic sources of health-promoting compounds; both are high in organosulfur compounds that do wonderful things in your body. Although the compounds are somewhat different in each, both AGE and raw garlic have abundant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and help your body to detoxify and to prevent and possibly reverse the same wide range of health problems. In addition to the cardiovascular and neurological benefits described above, garlic, whether raw or aged, has immune boosting and antibiotic abilities and is active against worms, fungi (including candida albicans), bacteria (including helicobacter pylori), viruses, allergies and cancer. It helps build energy, endurance and the ability to withstand stress. Because it is anti-inflammatory, and because all chronic disease has an inflammatory component, it is useful in all chron…

Inflammation is a major factor in pain and in all kinds of disease from arthritis to allergies, heart disease, obesity, neurodegenerative brain disease and more (see Inflammation: a Common Denominator of Disease).  And one of the primary causes of inflammation is an imbalance in the modern diet between two types of fats called omega-3s and omega-6s. These two fats are sometimes referred to together as the “essential fatty acids.” They are “essential” because our bodies can’t make them, so it’s essential that we get them from either food or supplements.  Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory, while most omega-6s are pro-inflammatory. The typical modern diet provides far too few omega-3s and way too many inflammatory omega-6s.  To make matters worse, those omega-6s are usually from toxic, processed vegetable oils.  Processing these omega-6 oils damages them, often converting them into dangerous trans fats, while contaminating them with added toxins. …

. . . if a low-quality multi can make a difference, imagine what our multi could do!It always seems to make headlines when a multivitamin performs below expectations. There are, of course, lots of reasons why conventional multis might do this (I’ll get to that later), but two recent studies that failed to make headlines validated the benefit of taking even a conventional multi. Both doubled-blind, placebo-controlled (the gold-standard in science), the first found that taking a daily multi lowered cancer rates by 8% in male doctors; in the second, a daily multi helped older women improve their cognitive abilities.In the cancer study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), more than 14,000 male doctors over the age of 50 were given either a conventional multivitamin or a placebo, and their health was tracked for an average of 11 years. Risk for overall cancers was 8% lower in the group taking a multi, a statistically significant result.In the memor…

If you’re someone who thinks you don’t have to worry about getting a heart attack because your cholesterol levels are within the desired range, think again. Half of those who’ve had a heart attack had exemplary cholesterol levels at the time! A much more meaningful number to be aware of and to control is your level of oxidized LDL cholesterol, and a new test can tell you that all-important number.     LDL (low-density lipoprotein), sometimes referred to as the “bad” cholesterol, can’t cause heart attacks or strokes unless it becomes oxidized.  While doctors have been measuring LDL for a long time, it’s only been recently that a test that measures oxidized LDL has become widely available.  Chemically, oxidation occurs when an electron is stolen from a molecule by a “pro-oxidant.” Oxidation can become quite damaging in our bodies if it isn’t balanced by the presence of compounds called “antioxidants,” which supply missing electrons and protect molecules…

Like bisphenol A (BPA), many endocrine disruptors are estrogen mimics, also known as xenoestrogens. These copycat estrogens add to your body’s estrogen load and lead to an increasingly common problem in women called “estrogen dominance.” Estrogen dominance is situation in which you have too much estrogen, particularly in relation to the hormone progesterone. Many women’s health issues, including fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts and hormone-related cancers are associated with estrogen dominance.Our main xenoestrogen exposure comes from pesticides (in produce, in the fat of conventionally raised animals, and in drinking water contaminated with pesticides) and plastics. A recent study found that almost all commercially available plastic products they sampled, including those advertised as BPA-free, leached chemicals having estrogenic activity.It is known that quercetin, a phytonutrient found in high amounts in onions (especially the outer layers) and cranberries; in le…

. . . low-quality supplements just don't cut itA recent survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found alarming and widespread nutrient deficiency even among people taking supplements and eating fortified foods!!Assessing nutrient intake from food, fortification and supplements combined, researchers found that the percentage of individuals aged 2 years and over falling 20% below the Recommended Daily Requirements (which are already too low for optimal health) was:70% for vitamin D 60% for vitamin E 45% for magnesium 38% for calcium 34% for vitamin A 25% for vitamin CSmaller percentages fell below in the B vitamins, zinc, iron, copper, potassium and selenium.Although more Americans are taking multivitamins than ever before (about 40% of the population, and about 80% of these on a daily basis) most people take junk vitamins bought at drugstores and large discount stores. Fortification is helping to supply nutrients, but only cheap and ineffective forms of vitamins and min…

. . .  the most complete and potent antioxidant formula on the planetOxidative damage is a primary cause of aging, premature aging and disease.  Our inflammatory diets, toxic environment and less-than-perfect health require high levels of antioxidants to maintain optimal health and prevent disease. Even more antioxidant protection is needed to reverse disease.Because there are different kinds of free radicals and other pro-oxidant compounds, an array of different kinds of antioxidants are needed for complete protection. Until now, antioxidant formulas have provided only lop-sided approaches, offering protection against one or more but not all sources of oxidation.Well, we’re very pleased and excited to introduce Age Defense Formula, the most complete and potent antioxidant product on the planet! Age Defense Formula is a balanced and synergistic formula that concentrates more than 30 different plant extracts — all organic and non-GMO, and all superior sources of antioxidants —…

What’s your #1 resolution for 2013? Chances are it’s got something to do with health. Even if your resolutions don’t concern health, you’ve got to have enough energy and vitality to achieve them.Of course it’s important to eat well, exercise, and minimize toxins and stress, but if you’ve been struggling along without a high-quality supplement program, give yourself a break and at the very least try out our Basic Wellness Kit. We’ll even give you a discount to help you get started. My bet is you’ll begin to feel more vital and energetic by the end of the month, and your life will become just that much easier and more enjoyable.I’ll never forget a report we got from a man whose aging mother had become bedridden and totally dependent on others to take care of her. After a month or so on just our multi, she was up and about again, telling her relatives to go home, she didn’t need their help anymore.For best results, of course, you also need essential fatty acids to build healthy cell memb…

Health begins in the gut - the intestines; and, thanks to antibiotics, chlorinated water, bad diet, food allergens, and vaccinations, almost everyone has a major problem in their gut. Chronic gut inflammation, raging like an out-of-control forest fire, causes digestion issues, skin eruptions, weak immunity, allergies, autoimmune illness and a host of other health issues. The Vitamin C Flush is the fire hose needed to subdue the flames so the gut can begin to heal itself.There are many factors today that irritate the lining of the gut, which by the way, is where 70% of our immune system resides. Antibiotics kill beneficial bacteria, allowing pathogenic bacteria to proliferate and produce toxins that damage the gut wall. Chlorine in our water is an irritant. A diet of processed and fast foods is an inflammation-producing diet; the Big Four are major inflammation inciters - sugar, wheat and refined flour, processed oils and dairy/excessive animal protein. Food allergens prompt the immune…

For many people, fear of senility and dementia trumps even the fear of death, and there is justification for their concern. Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, recently advised retirees to plan for the fact that currently more than half of men and women over the age of 80 have either dementia or such serious cognitive impairment that they are unable to handle their own finances. Rates of Alzheimer's Disease are skyrocketing. A 2007 Johns Hopkins University study estimated that by 2050, one in every 85 people will have the disease -- that's 4 times the prevalence found in 2006. A recent survey published in the British Medical Journal found that mental decline begins in the mid 40s for most people. These investigators predicted that the average person will lose 20% of their cognitive ability between the ages of 45 and 75. But are you the average person? I hope not! The average person is eating a toxic and nutrient deficient d…

The only thing that is constant is change ― Heraclitus We may not feel that different from day to day, but our bodies are constantly changing, breaking down old cells and tissues and replacing them with new cells and tissues.  Part of this constant change is self-repair. Have you ever marveled at how a cut or bruise heals, usually leaving no trace of injury, without your having to do a thing? But our bodies need two things from us to perform these miracles—good nutrition to supply the right raw materials, and protection from toxins. Lacking either, repairs can’t be made properly and instead of healing, the body begins to break down.   Inflammation is part of the repair process, and when repairs are complete, inflammation disappears.  But when repairs are incomplete, inflammation becomes chronic. It then causes chronic pain and further damage that elicits more inflammation in a vicious cycle. This is what happens in arthritic joints.  It isn’t “old a…

You probably associate getting enough fiber—the non-digestible “roughage” we get from plant foods—with good elimination. You may also know that fiber helps maintain a healthy weight by filling you up so you eat fewer calories, or even that fiber helps to maintain good cholesterol levels. But how can eating fiber strengthen your immunity?The answer is that fiber nourishes the trillions of beneficial bacteria (probiotics) that live in our intestines, where they are a crucial part of our immune systems. Anywhere from 60-80% of immune system activity takes place in the intestines, where probiotics attack pathogens with powerful antimicrobial substances. These substances are often as powerful as the strongest antibiotic medications, but they don’t kill off good gut bacteria as is done by antibiotic drugs.According to Rachel Begun, MS, RDN, quoted in a recent issue of Environmental Nutrition, various aspects of modern life have altered gut microflora, damaging immunity and leading to signifi…

Now I’ve got to the point where I think we can get almost complete control of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes by the proper use of vitamin C and lysine. If you are at risk of heart disease or if there is a history of heart disease in your family . . . or if you have had a mild heart attack yourself, then you had better be taking vitamin C and lysine. – Linus PaulingIn the US, heart disease causes 700,000 deaths each year—more than all forms of cancer combined.  Atherosclerosis, or “hardening of the arteries” causes most heart attacks and strokes and is found to some degree in almost everyone today, even babies. It doesn’t have to be this way.Dr. Linus Pauling proposed a solution: vitamin C . . .Thirty years ago, chemist Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel Prize winner and one of the great scientific minds of the 20th century, proposed that vitamin C deficiency is the major cause of atherosclerosis.Among its more than 300 functions in the human body, vitamin C helps the…