Nutrients
4 Things You Must Know About Your Multivitamin
Everyone should take a multivitamin. We show you four key nutrients that belong in the ideal multi and why they're crucial for your health and longevity.
Nutrients
Everyone should take a multivitamin. We show you four key nutrients that belong in the ideal multi and why they're crucial for your health and longevity.
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Everyone should take a multivitamin. The background is simple: there's nothing against it. It's a win-win in every respect. We protect ourselves through micronutrient intake of the highest quality and bioavailability – and thereby rule out (more or less) the possibility of having deep-seated functional disorders in our biochemistry. Simple as that, complicated as that.
But this line of thinking doesn't reach many people in our society. A prime example is vitamin D, where it's laughably still debated whether it has any function or impact when we raise those perpetually low winter levels to normal.
Today, we want to discuss four points about our multivitamin that you very likely didn't know yet – points that we, as product developers, wanted to share with our customers.
Chromium has an essential task in the body: to greatly enhance insulin sensitivity – more precisely, it enhances insulin sensitivity by stimulating the insulin-activated tyrosine kinase by a factor of 8. This is an enzyme that passes the insulin signal within the cell. As a result, logically, less insulin is needed. Chromium's role was recognized quite early through diabetes-like blood sugar dysregulation in intravenously fed patients.
What fewer people know: chromium picolinate is the special form of chromium. In experiments, it makes cell membranes softer ("more fluid") by lowering their cholesterol content. This in turn also improves insulin sensitivity and presumably the effects of other hormones on cells.
Even fewer people know that chromium picolinate is the only (!) substance given to rats where dramatic life extension was observed – presumably because it has such positive effects on insulin metabolism. The results of this groundbreaking 1992 experiment by researchers Evans & Mayer even made it into the LA Times. Wow!
It's an essential component of the electron transport chain in the mitochondrium (the cell's powerhouses). Sounds complicated, and it is. The fact is, without Q10 the cell cannot generate energy. Statin users might know this, as many experience severe energy deficiency in their legs (skeletal muscles) because statin administration also lowers Q10 synthesis. The clinical picture is then called "statin-associated myopathy" – quite a mouthful.
Q10 is considered a strong antioxidant. In animal studies, even small amounts of Q10 – over a long period – inhibit the age-typical increase in oxidation and DNA double-strand breaks in cells. Q10 also has wonderful properties regarding heart function: 30 to 100 mg of Q10 per day reduce mortality in people with heart failure by an incredible 30%! This means for us: Everyone can benefit.
People who eat animal products can easily take 30 to 50 mg of Q10 daily and thereby compensate for possible synthesis bottlenecks in the body. Similar amounts are found in our multivitamin. By the way, we use the oxidized form of Q10. Why? While it's only half as effective at raising blood levels compared to the reduced form – the latter would make our multivitamin unaffordably expensive because Q10 reduced is extremely costly! A waste of money.
We increased copper only up to the pain threshold. Copper causes nausea in many people. For many, the pain threshold seems to be 0.5 mg of copper per serving. But we need at least these amounts per day! Unfortunately, some people still believe they suffer from copper excess. You have to wonder: where would all that copper come from? Western food is low in copper, most of us don't have copper pipes in our homes, don't eat from copper pots, don't eat 100g of nuts or beans per day, and certainly don't eat liver anymore. As a result, it's hard to get adequate copper.
The most famous copper researcher is Dr. Klevay – he spent decades researching copper and recommends about 2 to 3 mg per day. Maybe too much. But: he demonstrated two essential things in his rats: First, copper deficiency creates exactly those cardiovascular diseases we have in our country. On command. Second, copper deficiency weakens connective tissue so severely that many animals develop aneurysms. We believe: this is essential, perhaps life-saving knowledge.
Little known is that copper regulates the formation of peptide hormones (in the nervous system), particularly pain-relieving, endogenous opioids. So if you can't find peace, if you've lost your inner silencer, if you need two liters of coffee a day to stay mentally sharp, you might simply be lacking copper.
PQQ was only described in detail 20 years ago, in a groundbreaking study in the prestigious journal Nature – at the time it was postulated that it could be a new B vitamin. Incredibly exciting, isn't it? To this day this hypothesis remains, because some enzymes use PQQ as a cofactor, for example dopamine β-hydroxylase – which means for us: it's likely to be a vitamin, even if it's (not yet) classified as such.
In animal experiments, PQQ has far-reaching effects on metabolism, from reproduction to immunity. Regarding PQQ deficiency, one reads of "poor growth, infertility, and body deformities." Additionally, "severely affected mice had brittle skin." It sounds as though you could mimic aging with PQQ deficiency.
Conversely, studies show that PQQ has a very strong effect on mitochondria and thus keeps muscles and brain (cognition) fit. It's estimated that PQQ requirements are in the range of folate/folic acid, roughly 200 to 1000 mcg – in exactly these amounts you'll find it in our multivitamin.
Big but: PQQ is a very, very strong antioxidant. As a "redox molecule" – meaning a substance that can constantly donate and accept electrons – PQQ is indestructible and dramatically better at this than many other substances, including vitamin C. With such substances, one should proceed with measured care, which is why we include 250 mcg per capsule of this powerhouse ingredient after careful consideration and testing.
As you see: our multivitamin contains lots of brainpower, and we will continue to work constantly on further development whenever we feel we can optimize further.
It must also be clear: assembling and developing products is essentially an art, and the products themselves are works of art. That's how we see it anyway. Like "real" works of art: you don't need to know what the painter was thinking or why they made this stroke this way and that stroke that way – the fact is, they got it right when it resonates with the customer. Today, however, we wanted to briefly explain why we ourselves are so enthusiastic about these individual substances.
