Why we selected this company:

Allergy Research Group (ARG) is one of the very first allergy oriented, hypoallergenic nutritional supplement companies and was founded in 1979 by Stephen Levine, Ph.D., a biochemist from UC Berkeley. For almost 30 years, Dr. Levine has dedicated himself to the latest research and the passionate pursuit of cutting-edge nutritional supplements.

Dr. Levine and Allergy Research Group were one of the first to introduce truly hypoallergenic products to the market, and developed the very first Buffered Vitamin C product. Dr. Levine's antioxidant research is legendary in that it created a unique, broad spectrum integration of the data with a very expanded perspective, which is still one of the most sophisticated antioxidant presentations even today. This work eventually lead to Dr. Levine’s groundbreaking textbook Antioxidant Adaptation, which he co-authored with Dr. Parris Kidd in 1985. For almost thirty years, Allergy Research Group has been known for the highest quality, most hypoallergenic, and most cutting-edge nutritional supplements available, and supplies products to physicians and healthcare practitioners around the world.

A History of Quality
Since 1979, Allergy Research Group has used only the purest raw materials available, and has implemented strict quality control procedures in every stage of production including inspection of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging and storing. For many years they have used the same manufacturers to produce their capsules and tablets to ensure consistency. In their facility in Alameda, California they bottle, label and ship their finished products. Allergy Research Group is currently licensed by the California Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch. Our registration number is 0021150.

GMP Standards
ARG’s products are manufactured under the recognized principals of current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) proposed by the FDA. The GMP standards are applied to a wide variety of procedures associated with the manufacturing of dietary supplements, including approval of raw materials, production and process controls, laboratory testing, and product packaging, labeling and distribution.

Independent Third Party Laboratories
In addition to their in-house quality control department, they use independent analytical laboratories to test raw materials as well as finished products. They are assayed for identity, purity and potency. Their products are confirmed to contain not less than 100% of the contents listed on every label. Microbial and heavy metals analysis are also conducted on all applicable products.

Procedures of Analysis
They utilize a number of advanced methods of analysis, including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), IR and UV-VIS spectroscopy, capillary electrophoresis (CE), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and atomic absorption (AA), along with biochemistry and wet chemistry techniques.

Why we selected this product:

Anti-oxidants for therapeutic use: Why are only a few drugs in clinical use?
Suzuki K.

Department of Biochemistry, Hyogo College of Medicine, 1-1, Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomoya, Hyogo, 663-8501, Japan.

It is well known that ROS are involved in a wide spectrum of diseases. In spite of this fact, only a few drugs are currently in use in clinical settings: Ebselen for the treatment of cerebral infarctions, N-acetylcysyteine for over-doses of acetaminophen. Because ROS production is very common and the human body has an abundant capacity for producing anti-oxidants, it is difficult to obtain statistical differences in trials designed to evaluate an anti-oxidative drug. Additional resources will be needed, if we are to use anti-oxidants in human clinical settings; Drug delivery to a specific region, appropriate setting of evaluation goals in clinical trials, new approaches to understanding the details of anti-oxidative systems. In spite of these drawbacks, the additional use of anti-oxidants in clinical settings is clearly warranted, and could contribute positively to human health. It is generally thought that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in a wide variety of diseases, including ischemia-reperfusion, cancer and various types of inflammation. Because of this, the therapeutic use of antioxidants is now widespread. Some of these have been shown to be successful, but many appear to have no or little benefit, in terms of being beneficial to general health or in disease prevention. In this commentary, the author takes a look back at important anti-oxidative drugs and wonders why only a few such drugs are currently in clinical use.

Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2009 Mar 20.
PMID: 19306902 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

FREE RADICAL - Nutrition Free Radicals and Antioxidants

This is an extensive review article on the role of free radicals in health. Oxidative stress has been implicated in ageing, cancer, atherosclerosis, malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. This article presents an extensive list of disease syndromes that are related to free radical pathology that cross through most disciplines. An excellent diagram reviews the inter-relationships between the antioxidants. This diagram is excellent in that it shows how a variety of antioxidants regenerate each other during the quenching of free radicals. An excellent list of food sources of antioxidants is given. It is noted that foods such as powdered eggs, deep fried foods and heated fats are thought to be responsible for exposure of the population to significant levels of lipid peroxides. The pro-oxidant actions of nutrient components and/or proposed food antioxidants must be fully characterized. Care should be taken with the fortification of food with flavonoids and other plant-derived phenolic compounds which are classified as natural replacements for synthetic antioxidants under the assumption that they are safer. The concern is under conditions where iron and calcium EDTA salts are being used. Their pro-oxidant actions may result in the iron ions chelated onto EDTA being reduced to more active complexes by compounds. The author notes that it makes little sense to indulge in high fat diets, smoke cigarettes, drink excess amounts of alcohol and at the same time take antioxidant supplements. The best source of antioxidants to the food matrix is that which has been added during processing or those already naturally present. From a human prospective the best source of antioxidants come from a better diet rather than exclusive reliance on commercial vitamin pills. Judicious antioxidant supplement is necessary in certain disease states such as cancer or atherosclerosis but the amounts consumed need further detailed evaluation. Even though antioxidants have been highly publicized for their benefits in ageing more prudent measures of health maintenance would be minimization of stress and avoidance of the formation of excessive reactive oxygen species.

"Nutrition and Health Aspects of the Free Radicals Antioxidants", Aruoma, O.I., et al, Federation of Chemical Toxicology, 1994;32(7):671-683.

Benefits for the body:
A state-of-the-art combination of herbal extracts with standardized bioflavonoids, providing broad spectrum antioxidant support.

Interesting facts:
It is not possible to avoid free radicals.  We as humans are constantly exposed to radical-generating radiation and toxins every single day.  Our bodies even produce their own set of free radicals.  These radicals are produced from the breakdown of chemicals we are exposed to, from the production of energy that our bodies produce, and from our immune system when fighting off infection, where radical promoters such as hydrogen peroxides are synthesized inside cells and used to destroy intruders such as viruses and bacteria.

However, our bodies are able to offset these free radicals by producing antioxidants of its own.  Some are in the form of enzymes, which rely on certain metals such as selenium and zinc.  These include glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase.  Others are sulfer-related, and include lipoic acid, N-acetylcysteine, and glutathione.

Researchers in Belgium theorized that people have a certain balance of antioxidants and free radicals in their bodies, and if the balance were tipped toward free radicals, they would be more likely to die. So they came up with a scoreboard for oxidative balance in a group of smokers.[30] Using diet as the basis, the smokers were divided into groups with low, medium, and high oxidative stress (which generates free radicals). Those with the highest iron intake and/or the lowest antioxidant vitamin intake had the worst score. At follow-up 10 years later, those with the worst score (based on high iron intake plus low beta-carotene and vitamin C intake) had a 44% higher risk of all-cause mortality and a 62% higher risk of cancer mortality than those with a good level of antioxidants.[30]

The study is confirmed by others showing that blood levels of antioxidants are “strongly predictive of mortality.”[31] Lycopene and other carotenoids can slash the risk of mortality in half in nonsmokers.[32] Antioxidant supplements and vitamin E can likewise reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence,[33] and lycopene can do the same in relation to oral cancers.[34] Adequate levels of vitamin E, vitamin A, and lycopene are associated with a reduced risk of microangiopathy-related cerebral damage,[35] and vitamins C and E taken as supplements at levels much higher than the US RDA can help protect against ovarian cancer.[36] These findings are from just a few of the hundreds of published studies.

30. Van Hoydonck PG, Temme EH, Schouten EG. A dietary oxidative balance score of vitamin E, beta-carotene and iron intakes and mortality risk in male smoking Belgians. J Nutr. 2002 Apr;132(4):756-61.

31. Fletcher AE, Breeze E, Shetty PS. Antioxidant vitamins and mortality in older persons: findings from the nutrition add-on study to the Medical Research Council Trial of Assessment and Management of Older People in the Community. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Nov;78(5):999-1010.

32. Ito Y, Suzuki K, Suzuki S, Sasaki R, Otani M, Aoki K. Serum antioxidants and subsequent mortality rates of all causes or cancer among rural Japanese inhabitants. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2002 Jul;72(4):237-50.

33. Fleischauer AT, Simonsen N, Arab L. Antioxidant supplements and risk of breast cancer recurrence and breast cancer-related mortality among postmenopausal women. Nutr Cancer. 2003;46(1):15-22.

34. Mayne ST, Cartmel B, Lin H, Zheng T, Goodwin WJ Jr. Low plasma lycopene concentration is associated with increased mortality in a cohort of patients with prior oral, pharynx or larynx cancers. J Am Coll Nutr. 2004 Feb;23(1):34-42.

35. Schmidt R, Fazekas F, Hayn M, et al. Risk factors for microangiopathy-related cerebral damage in the Austrian stroke prevention study. J Neurol Sci. 1997 Nov 6;152(1):15-21.

36. Fleischauer AT, Olson SH, Mignone L, Simonsen N, Caputo TA, Harlap S. Dietary antioxidants, supplements and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. Nutr Cancer. 2001;40(2):92-8.

Ingredients:
Serving Size: 1 Capsule
Servings Per Container: 90

Amount Per Serving
Milk Thistle (Seed) Extract ...80mg*
(Standardized to 80% Silymarin)
Bilberry (Berries) Extract ...100mg*
(Standardized to 25% Anthocyanidins)
Ginkgo (Leaves) Extract ...40mg*
(Standardized to 24% Flavonglycosides and 6% Terpene Lactones)
Grape Seed Extract ...100mg*
(Standardized to 50% Polyphenols)
Green Tea Extract ...80mg*
(Decaffeinated, Standardized to 35% EGCG)
Cranberry Juice (Berries) Extract ...100mg*
Hawthorn ...100mg*
(50% as Berry and 50% as Leaves and Flowers) Extract (Standardized to 1.8% Vitexin-2-0"-Rhamnoside)

* Daily Value not established

Contains:
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Cellulose, Silicon Dioxide, Magnesium Stearate

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.  If in doubt consult with a licensed naturopathic physician before use.  Physician’s at Genesis Health Systems can be reached at 480.284.8155 and we are happy to consult with you about this product and helping you achieve optimal health.