The flu and you: help stop the spread

8 June 2007

Education materials will be distributed through general practices and community pharmacies to inform Australians about how to reduce the spread of influenza.

‘The flu and you’ brochure and poster series is a reminder of hygiene practices that should be adopted to reduce the spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness.

The production of these materials follows a recommendation by the Australian Health Protection Committee to remind Australians about the importance of adopting simple hygiene practices that are critical in reducing the spread of infection, particularly in the event of an influenza pandemic.

The flu virus can travel through the air when a person coughs or sneezes. It can then survive on surfaces for several hours, remaining a source of infection for others. There are, however, simple things everyone can do to help stop the flu spreading:

• covering your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough;
• washing your hands regularly and properly;
• cleaning household, school and workplace surface areas;
• not sharing personal items such as eating and drinking utensils and food; and
• avoiding close contact with other people and staying home when sick.

Most healthy adults will recover from influenza within a few days. However, some people, especially those aged 65 years and older and people with certain chronic medical conditions, can suffer very serious, even fatal complications.

Annual vaccination, good personal hygiene and protecting others through staying at home when ill are important prevention measures for influenza.

The Commonwealth Government will provide more than $30 million this year for free influenza and pneumococcal vaccine for all Australians aged 65 years and over and for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and over, or 15 to 49 years with specific risk factors.

The materials can be found at www.health.gov.au/fluandyou

For consumers looking to live healthier and nutritionally enriched lives, Mannatech Inc. offer hope. Based in Coppell, Texas, Mannatech sells more than 24 proprietary and scientifically validated glyconutritional supplements and products for adults and children that address health and wellness issues, weight management and skin care.

Echinacea more than halves cold risk

June 26, 2007

ECHINACEA may not only help reduce the symptoms of a cold but may help prevent infection with some cold viruses, US researchers said today.

People who took echinacea had a 58 per cent lower risk of catching a cold, according to the researchers, who did not study the herb's effects directly, but looked at the results of 14 studies in an approach called a meta-analysis.

Dr Craig Coleman, of the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, who led the research, cautioned that the studies only involved 1600 people and involved various echinacea products.

But even so, "all the studies trended toward reducing a patient's odds of developing a cold".

He said none of the studies was large enough - they didn't have enough patients - "to prove it statistically".

Dr Coleman's study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, is one of the few to take a look at the efficacy of echinacea, a widely-used product derived from several different species of flower.

"Someone needs to do a really large, well-done, randomised trial. That is unlikely to occur because there is a lack of funding," Dr Coleman said.

Drug companies could not patent such a widely used herbal product, he said.

In 2005, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found echinacea was of no benefit in stopping colds.

But Dr Coleman said it only looked at part of the picture.

"In that study what they did was they took healthy volunteers and they inoculated them, put a little Q-tip (cotton swab) up their nose. The problem is there are more than 200 kinds of viruses that cause colds."

The team involved in that particular study only looked at a rhinovirus.

"So maybe it doesn't work against that kind of virus, but it does against the other 199 kinds."

Dr Coleman said it also appeared as if echinacea reduced the duration of a cold by 1.4 days on average.

One of the studies looked at echinacea used together with with vitamin C, another common cold remedy, and that one showed the two together reduced the number of colds by 86 per cent.

The term echinacea refers to parts taken from nine related plant species indigenous to North America.

It was used originally by Native Americans and is now the most commonly used "nutraceutical" product - a catchall term that refers to herbs and some supplemented foods.

Dr Coleman, a pharmacist, said it appears to stimulate the immune system, although no one quite knew how it worked.

It might also cause harmful effects, he said.

"While echinacea is generally regarded as safe, it hasn't undergone any long-term safety evaluation," Dr Coleman said. "So you should use it with caution."

Patients with autoimmune diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis should be particularly careful, he said.

In addition, echinacea affects a liver enzyme that breaks down some drugs, so using it with prescription medications could cause drug interactions.

Article from: Reuters

Mannatech products are at the cutting edge of nutritional science. They are designed to offer unique capabilities based on proprietary technologies. The breakthrough innovation found in many Mannatech products is Ambrotose® complex, which is designed to provide the supplemental glyconutrients (the scientific word for “carbohydrates” or “Sugars” generally missing from our diet but necessary for optimal health in humans).

Eat food that 'fills you up'

June 20, 2007

Foods that fill you up without packing a ton of calories can help in the battle of the bulge, results of a new study suggest.

In the study, obese women who reduced the "energy density" of their diet by cutting their intake of fats and adding more fruits and vegetables lost more weight over a 12-month period, and felt less hungry, than did those who simply reduced their fat intake.

"Incorporating low calorie-dense foods into the diet is an effective strategy for lowering calories and reducing hunger when you're trying to lose weight," study co-author Dr Julia A. Ello-Martin, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, said.

"This is an approach that allows you to focus on the foods that you should be eating" rather than focusing on restricting calories, she added.

One of the reasons people don't stick to a weight-loss diet is hunger. Ello-Martin and her colleagues speculated that a diet that controls hunger by encouraging dieters to fill up on low energy-density foods may improve adherence as well as increase weight loss.

For the study, 97 obese women were randomly assigned to a group that was counseled to decrease their intake of fat or one that was told to decrease their fat intake and increase their consumption of filling, low energy-density foods, particularly fruits and vegetables. The study participants were not forced to meet any daily goals for their total caloric intake or to limit the amount of calories they consumed from fats to a specific amount.

Twelve months later, weight had come off the women in both groups, the investigators report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The women in the fruit and vegetable group, however, lost 7.9 kg (17.4 pounds), in comparison to 6.4 kilograms (14 pounds) among the others.

The women in the fruit and vegetable group also reported experiencing less hunger than did the women who merely reduced their fat intake, study findings indicate.

Although the study lasted only one year, Ello-Martin speculates the dieters may be able to maintain their weight loss and dietary changes over a longer period.

"There is potential for people to sustain the diet and weight maintenance because it is food focused," she said. "They are getting to eat foods that are helping them not feel hungry."

What's more, she said, the study "didn't have that hideous approach of having to count calories every day."

Reuters

For consumers looking to live healthier and nutritionally enriched lives, Mannatech Inc. offer hope. Based in Coppell, Texas, Mannatech sells more than 24 proprietary and scientifically validated glyconutritional supplements and products for adults and children that address health and wellness issues, weight management and skin care.

Organic Cosmetics

Elettra Rossellini Wiedermann, on the ‘faces’ of Lancome, and a long-time greenie life her mother Isabella Rossellini, was worried that her globetrotting work for the cosmetics brand was at odds with her environmentally friendly lifestyle. So she asked the company if it would join the carbon-offsetting program Carbonfund.org to make up for her flying time. Lancome thought it was a great idea, and at the same time decided to put it into practice for Wiedmann’s fellow spokes models – Sharlom Harlow, Daria Werdowy, Ines Sastre and Selena Breed. It’s all part of Wiedemann’s approach to life. “People aren’t anxious to get rid of luxuries. We don’t want to be in a can wearing animal skins, but you can be conscious of what you’re doing without changing your lifestyle in a big way,” The 23-year-old said recently. “It’s a lot of little things, but lots of little things add up to a big thing.”

For the past five years, sales of natural and organic cosmetics have been growing at a rate of 18 per cent a year. The US leads the world, with sales of natural personal care products passing $5.5 billion a year in 2005 and steaming towards $8 billion by the end of 2008. According to a recent report from specialty researcher Organic Monitor, sales of natural and organic beauty products in Europe passes $2 billion for the first time in 2006. In the UK, one in five cosmetics products now falls into the natural basket.

The Japanese, meanwhile, are the world’s third largest buyers of natural beauty products, and they’re also leaders in organic technology, Mannatech’s Optimal Skin Care System, recently launched in Australia, uses a preservative-free detoxifying water technology.

Source: Sunday Magazine

For consumers looking to live healthier and nutritionally enriched lives, Mannatech Inc. offer hope. Based in Coppell, Texas, Mannatech sells more than 24 proprietary and scientifically validated glyconutritional supplements and products for adults and children that address health and wellness issues, weight management and skin care.

Why use supplments?

Laxatives

Overuse of laxatives can result in poor absorption of vitamins and minerals from food, by hastening the internal transit time. Paraffin and other mineral oils, increases the loss of fat soluble vitamins a, E and K. Other laxatives used to excess can cause large losses of minerals, such as potassium, sodium and magnesium.

Fad Diets

Bizarre diets that miss out on whole groups of foods can be seriously lacking in vitamins. Even the popular low fat diets, if taken to an extreme, can be deficient in vitamins A, D and E. Vegetarian diets, which exclude meat and other animal sources, must be very skillfully planned to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency, which may lead to anaemia.

Overcooking

Lengthy cooking or reheating of meat and vegetables can oxidise and destroy heat susceptible vitamins such as the B-group, C and E. Boiling vegetables leaches the water-soluble vitamins B-group and C. As well as many minerals. Light steaming is preferable. Some vitamins, such as vitamin B6, can be destroyed by irradiation from microwaves.

Food Storage

Freezing food containing vitamin E can significantly reduce its levels once defrosted. Foods containing vitamin E exposed to heat and air can turn rancid. Many common sources of vitamin E, such as bread and oils are nowadays highly processed, so that the vitamin E level is significantly reduced or missing totally. This increasing the storage life of the bread but can lower nutrient levels. Vitamin E is an antioxidant which defensively inhibits oxidative damage to all tissues. Other vitamin losses from food preserving can include vitamins B1 and C.

For consumers looking to live healthier and nutritionally enriched lives, Mannatech Inc. offer hope. Based in Coppell, Texas, Mannatech sells more than 24 proprietary and scientifically validated glyconutritional supplements and products for adults and children that address health and wellness issues, weight management and skin care. Steve Lemme, senior vice president of sales and marketing, says Mannatech has been entrusted with a divine technology.

Complementary Medicine Gains Government Support

November 24, 2006

Blackmores welcomes the Commonwealth Government’s $5 million in dedicated funding through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) which will add to the growing body of complementary medicine research.

This research funding will build the existing body of evidence for complementary medicines, build research capacity, provide a point of co-ordination for research, and increase community knowledge.

“The funding demonstrates the Government’s commitment to research in this area of healthcare,” said Marcus Blackmore.

“Seventy per cent of Australians use natural healthcare products and one in three health consultations in Australia is with an alternative health practitioner.”

The funding was announced by Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, yesterday. In February 2004, Mr. Abbott commented: “One of the great things about what might broadly be described as the complementary health sector, is that it is the only major part of our health industry which [focuses on] wellness as much as sickness. The traditional model treats disease … and somehow we’ve got to move from only seeing people in our health sector when there’s something wrong with them, to doing what we can to ensure that people don’t get sick in the first place.”

The report released by the Expert Committee on Complementary Medicines in the Health System in 2003 acknowledged the need for government funding for further research into complementary medicines claiming that, “there is a social responsibility for government to fund such research.” It highlighted the funding disparity between research for complementary medicines and drugs and called for this to be addressed.

Mannatech is at the forefront of the complementary medicine field.

About Mannatech, Incorporated
Mannatech, based in Coppell, Texas, is a wellness solutions provider that sells its products through a global network-marketing system throughout the United States and the international markets of Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Denmark. For additional information about Mannatech, please visit its corporate Web site: www.mannatech.com

Mannatech is #12 in Business Week’s “Hot Growth” Companies 2007:

A report released this week by Business Week appropriately named "The Hottest Of The Hot Growth 100" lists what they foresee as the Top 100 Growth Company's for 2007 - world wide, in their words "This fascinating group of small companies is tearing up the charts...the Hot Growth Class of 2007 are an incredibly diverse group...they're determined to be faster, and better, than the next guy."
The big spin on this story, is that Mannatech is not only listed in the Top 100, they are listed as #12!

The Common Cold

The common cold is probably the most frequently occurring illness in humans worldwide. A cold is an inflammation of the respiratory system (airways and lungs) caused by a viral infection. These viruses are usually spread by one person coughing and sneezing and another unlucky person breathing in the germs. Now you know why it’s so important to cover your nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing! The average adult has tow to three infections per year and young children can have up to seven cold annually.

Cold, hard facts

· Damp, cold, or bad weather doesn’t increase the chances of getting a cold.

· Doctors believe a cold lasts seven days without treatment and one week with it!

· The only way to get rid of a cold is for the body’s immune system to make antibodies t destroy the virus. This usually takes three-to four days.

· Antibiotics that fight bacteria are useless against viruses that cause colds.

· Cough mixtures, antihistamines and other medications provide only temporary relief of the symptoms.

· Taking vitamin C probably doesn’t prevent getting colds but it may reduce their severity and duration.

Whether or not you get a cold after you’re exposed to a virus depends on how ready your immune system is to fight infection. Factors that can impair normal immune function include old age, smoking, stress, poor nutrition, fatigue and lack of sleep.

“The world as a whole is becoming much more aware of the need for wellness, rather than just the need to manage illness,” says Ronald D. Norman, Mannatech’s vice president of international finance. “And with science increasingly validating the essential role of the glyconutrients in our patented and patent-pending products, Mannatech is uniquely positioned to provide the missing ingredient in the wellness puzzle.”

Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is a condition in which hardening and narrowing of the coronary arteries diminish blood flow to the heart. Coronary artery disease occurs when the coronary arteries develop atherosclerosis which is a build up in the arteries of plaque and fatty deposit that narrows the artery thus reducing the amount of oxygen rich blood that the heart must have. The heart must have a continuous flow of oxygen to function normally and the clogged up arteries prevent this, which weakens the heart muscles. As this develops, it causes ischema that damages the heart muscles. The two major complications that may occur from coronary artery disease are angina and heart attack.

Angina is a heart condition in which chest pains develop when the heart is not getting enough oxygen from the coronary arteries. This is usually severe chest pain that can also cause pain in the arm and shoulder. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot cuts off most of the blood supply to the heart. If the coronary artery disease continues over a long period it could cause heart failure. Heart failure is not an emergency condition but over time it is dangerous. Heart failure is when the heart muscles are weakened to the extent that the heart is not able to pump enough blood for the entire circulatory system. Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.

The cause of coronary artery disease is a sedentary life style, smoking, no exercise and no weight control. The most effective preventative and most effective treatment is a change to a healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition, exercise and weight control. Healthy nutrition means to eat no refined sugars or carbohydrates, eat fruits, vegetables, lean protein, cold-water fish, sprouted grain bread and fiber. The exercise program should be thirty minutes, three to six times per week. Helpful food supplements are multivitamins, CoQ10, and fish oil. For fiber eat two tablespoons daily of ground flax seed mixed with water, fruit juice, or soymilk.

“The world as a whole is becoming much more aware of the need for wellness, rather than just the need to manage illness,” says Ronald D. Norman, Mannatech’s vice president of international finance. “And with science increasingly validating the essential role of the glyconutrients in our patented and patent-pending products, Mannatech is uniquely positioned to provide the missing ingredient in the wellness puzzle.”

The Future of Wellbeing

Glycobiology has emerged as a new technology only in the past decade. So what’s in store for the future?

For Mannatech it’s a form of “genetic blueprinting”. “We are currently developing the first generation of nutrigenetics/nutrigenomics tools, to help guide consumers toward specific health products in our range,” explains Robert Sinnott (chief science officer and vice president of research and development of US based Mannatech, a company that specializes in glyconutritional science).

Using these tools, an individual will be able to take a DNA test to determine if they have genetic factors which put them at a higher risk of certain health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and immune disorders.

“Based on this profile, they can then follow recommendations for proven ways to reduce these risk factors, such as increasing intake of certain nutritional substances,” Sinnott says.

Human genetic constitution has changed relatively little in 40,000 years, but what we eat and how we live has changed dramatically, which is why we sometimes need to turn to supplementation to redress the balance. Sinnott aggress, “While you may already take vitamins, mineral, amino acids and enzymes, glyconutritional supplements provide the “missing link” that will help you preserve your vitality.”

Mannatech was founded in November 1993 by current CEO and Chairman Sam Caster. During its first two years, the company focused on products that contained aloe vera extract. Mannatech announced its flagship product, Ambrotose, 1996 based on the discovery that the body’s immune system needs eight plant-based sugars – also known as glyconutrients – to function properly.

Study by Histochemical Methods

Glycoconj J. 2000 Nov 17

The carbohydrate deposits detected by histochemical methods in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampal formation of patients with schizophrenia, Down's syndrome and dementia, and aged person.

Nishimura A, Ikemoto K, Satoh K, Yamamoto Y, Rand S, Brinkmann B, Nishi K.

Department of Legal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-tsukinowa-cho, Otsu, 520-2192, Japan.

Post-mortem brain tissue was obtained from 28 patients with brain disorders, of which 15 had clinically diagnosed schizophrenia, 6 Alzheimer type dementia, 5 dementia with tangles and 2 cases of Down's syndrome.

The controls were 22 cases from autopsies without brain disorders or with no known episodes of brain disorder. The tissues were stained for the detection of carbohydrate deposits in the hippocampal formation, using lectin, immunohistochemical and conventional staining methods. The staining revealed the existence of spherical deposits in the inner and middle molecular layers of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampal formation which contained fucose, galactose, N-acetyl galactosamine, N-acetyl glucosamine, sialic acid, mannose and chondroitin sulfate. The number of the deposits was higher in patients with brain disorder such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer type dementia, dementia with tangles or Down's syndrome, and in some aged individuals, in comparison to those in younger individuals. No deposits were detected in a few younger or aged individuals. Spherical deposits 3-10 microm in diameter may be an immature form of the corpora amylacea, since they were similar in the histochemical characteristics with lectin, immunohistochemical and conventional staining methods. However, differing staining ability by hematoxylin, periodic acid Schiff's reagent and antibodies against the intracellular degraded proteins such as ubiquitin and tau-protein was observed. The antibodies against ubiquitin and tau-protein showed clear reactivity with the corpora amylacea and no reactivity with spherical deposits, indicating that the corpora amylacea has an intracellular origin and spherical deposits an extracellular matrix origin. The results obtained in this study indicate that not only neuronal degeneration but also unusual glycometabolism in neurons may disturb the neuronal function and cause brain disorders, and that spherical deposits may cause dysfunction of the neuronal network in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus which is closely linked with recognition and memory functions. Glyconutrients may increase wellbeing.

Some of the best glyconutrients come from a company called Mannatech. Mannatech is the world leader in this field.

You can find more information about Mannatech at www.mannatech.com.

Interview with Dr Steve Nugent

Can you tell us about the relationship between synthetic chemicals – which have been released since about 1930 – and disease. Is there a correlation between the levels of free radicals produced by these chemicals and disease?

There is a definite correlation. Prior to 1930 there were two synthetic chemicals known on planet Earth. Since 1930 we now have more than 75,000 synthetic chemical, and these are just the ones registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency, which has registered more chemicals than any other government agency in the world. But that is not all the chemicals! In fact there are new chemicals being made every day. When a scientist realizes that he can make something, he does, and often doesn’t think about the consequences. There are a couple of scary aspects to this.

The first frightening aspect is not just the fact that there are 75,000 synthetic chemicals, but why do not belong here. They are not natural to the planet and therefore they are not natural to our bodies. Logically we would expect an adverse response to them. Only approximately 7% of the 75,000 chemicals have been tested for safety in humans. Others have been tested in rats and so on. The 5,000 chemicals that have been tested in humans account for approximately 3.5 billion kilos of toxins put into the Earth’s environment every year – just from the 7% that has been tested. If we tested the rest, who knows what the number would be? Perhaps it would be different, perhaps it would be very different – we just don’t know. Of the ones that have been tested, we now know that many of them cause free radical disease such as heart disease and cancer. There are 29 diseases which are directly linked to oxidative stress. We also now see links between some chemicals and nervous system disorders, including developmental disorders in children. We do whatever we can in an environmental sense to try to reverse this trend with industry. On a daily basis, what an individual can do for themselves is to take the best possible antioxidants so that they can render the free radicals harmless.

On that point, can particular diseases be linked directly to synthetic chemicals in the environment?

The one that would be the biggest is breast cancer. There are various chemicals which are linked directly to breast cancer, and it is very difficult these days to find in any country someone who has not been affected by breast cancer. There are 80% of the people in any group who will respond. Cancers, including lung cancer, colon cancer and many others, are definitely linked to chemical toxins.

Is the prostate gland affected by synthetic chemicals?

Yes. There are several chemical compounds which are the by-products of the production of various types of plastic materials – anywhere from plastic bottles to plastic foam. These chemicals tend to disrupt normal glandular function and have an adverse effect on the gland’s ability, not only to function correctly, but also to be protected from cancer.

To consumers, the basic building blocks of nutrients are well known: essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. What Mannatech has discovered is a brand new category of important nutrients: glyconutrients. Following our initial breakthrough discovery, Mannatech filed patents across the globe. Ambrotose® complex has now been issued patents in 29 countries, including the United States. Securing its position of leadership, Mannatech dedicates approximately 30 employees to its science department, and continues to develop new technologies, review research, and conduct studies.

Interview with Dr Steve Nugent

Did you do your research into antioxidants because you viewed them as the primary factor in the prevention of most diseases?

It follows naturally. We do know scientifically that oxidative stress is an umbrella term. Free radicals are what actually cause the damage. A free radical can be rendered harmless if there is an extra electron that can be lent to it. Antioxidants are called antioxidants because they carry extra electrons which they do not require. When they come in contract with a free radical, they lend the electron to it, rendering the free radical harmless. We could simplify this by saying that if you have sufficient levels of antioxidants to meet the free radical stress, you can render the free radicals harmless and have no damage done to your cells. We know that oxidative stress from free radicals can lead to degenerative diseases like various forms of cancer, heart disease and so on. With this in mind, in the 21^st century – as far as I’m concerned – the most important thing for you to ingest each day would be antioxidants.

Antioxidants come in many forms. At what we might call the ‘high end’ you have the OPCs, while at the other end we have beta carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E and the mineral, zinc and selenium. Are there any others that we should be ingesting?

In the beginning I did what every other doctor does when they get involved with antioxidants, which was to prescribe individual antioxidants. But research says that this is not the correct approach, the medical model is to isolate a selected component and put it into tremendously high levels as a drug. Studies that have been done recently showed that when beta carotene was isolated and used in extremely high levels (which are not natural), it caused health problems. It should never be used in such quantities. Health is synergy and our model should be nature. Plants offer us the best possible model to study. A healthy plant has a particular ratio of nutrients within it. If you unbalance that ratio deliberately, the plant will become unhealthy. If you put too much of a particular nutrient into the soil in which a plant is growing, you end up by killing the plant. So nature provides the very best example for us – it is the ratio of antioxidants as well as the synergy which are important. Different plant antioxidants within them so that a synergy – one type of antioxidant to its cofactor and perhaps with other antioxidants – occurs within the same plant. That results in optimal antioxidant balance as opposed to using the drug model and isolating antioxidants, such as 2,000 units of vitamin A or 10,000 units of vitamin E and so on. That is not productive – it is not the best science and we should avoid doing it.

Mannatech announced its flagship product, Ambrotose, 1996 based on the discovery that the body’s immune system needs eight plant-based sugars – also known as glyconutrients – to function properly. Medical research has shown that cells use these glyconutrients to communicate with each other so the immune system, when confronted, can mount a coordinated response to foreign invasion. These sugars are plucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid. According to Mannatech, six of these eight glyconutrients are deficient in the modern diet, largely because foods today are heavily processed and balanced meals have succumbed to fast food. Mannatech scoured the world to find new, rich sources of the missing nutrients.

Here’s to your health

Medical profession is increasingly turning to nutrition education

Registered pharmacist JaeHi Neil had a vision. Time after time she had witnessed an extreme lack of understanding among the medical profession and consumers alike of the need for proper nutrition.

Has no one been paying attention? In 1994, the U.S. Congress passed an act stating that proper nutrition is critical to health. In 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that, given poor nutrition, every adult should supplement their diet. In 2003, the World Health Organization announced that diet could have strong effects on health throughout life.

Ms. Neil realized education was the key. In 2000 she co-founded Proevity Continuing Education Group to educate health care providers to the growing shift from traditional allopathic models to integrative and complementary wellness.

Proevity has seen an increase in the number of licensed medical professionals attending the group’s seminars. Today, medical physicians, pharmacists, dentists and nurses comprise more than 40 percent of the its participants – double the number who received Proevity’s continuing education credits just four years earlier.

Proevity (www.Proevity.com) now has courses accredited through the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, providing Australian and New Zealand health care professionals with the opportunity to learn more about nutrition and the burgeoning science of glyconutrition.

This focus on health and nutrition comes as international communities increasingly address wellness. One quarter of all deaths in New Zealand, for example, were caused by cancer, according to a 2000 study released by the New Zealand Ministry of Health. Heart disease is just as prevalent. Were these causes of death as common just 50 years ago?

At Mannatech, a U.S. manufacturer of proprietary glyconutritional supplements and wellness products, such questions are important. Years ago, the company’s top leaders decided to take an entirely new approach to serving health-conscious consumers, and every day presents opportunities to put the company’s vision, “Better Solutions to Global Health,” into meaningful action.

“The problem is that we really do not have a healthcare system at all—-we have a disease-care system,” says Mannatech’s Medical Director, Stephen Boyd, M.D., Ph.D. “It’s wonderful at treating diseases after they are diagnosed, but there is little incentive for physicians to keep us well before that point.”

Moreover, according to Dr. Boyd, many people mistakenly believe that there are “miracle” cures to treat all their ailments, when in fact science has not made much progress against viruses such as the common cold. Our efforts to stay healthy have been compromised by the declining nutritional value of our foods.

Perhaps consumers and the medical profession should look, in part, to poor dietary habits, which are rampant throughout much of the Western world.

“There’s no question that good nutrition is crucial in the outcome of illness,” Dr. Boyd says. “With each passing day, the population is actually becoming less healthy.”

The medical community increasingly is coming to understand the benefits of nutritional supplementation. In 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association—the publication of one of the United States’ most respected medical groups—stated, “Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. . . . It appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”

Attempting to address illness by medicine alone has caused its share of problems. Surging medical costs and an aging population have put many nations’ healthcare systems on track to insolvency, so things may very well get worse.

“The current cost to develop a new drug, for example, is approximately $800 million, and virtually every new drug is more expensive than the one it was designed to replace,” Dr. Boyd says. “If something is not done to change current trends, health care as we know it will one day be unaffordable.”

Clearly then, consumers should not just wait to fall ill and then hope that physicians and insurance companies will come to their rescue, Mannatech’s leaders say.

“The only thing that really makes sense is staying healthy,” says Mannatech CEO Sam Caster. “There’s an international movement urging people toward nutrition that supports a healthy lifestyle. As part of this movement, Mannatech has discovered a new class of vital nutrients known as glyconutrients that are changing the landscape of wellness.”

“The baby boom generation is making wellness one of its top agendas,” he adds. “An entire generation is saying, ‘We want to maintain our quality of life, we want to keep our vitality, and we’re not willing to accept the traditional aging paradigm.’”

To that end Mannatech’s supplements enlist technology to provide the body with natural, plant-based nutrients and help maintain a solid foundation for lifelong wellbeing, Mr. Caster says.

“Consumers are increasingly concerned about taking charge of their health,” he adds. “New advances in vitamin and mineral technology, skin care and DNA prognostics are just a few that distinguish Mannatech within the new, burgeoning wellness industry.”

“I see this industry exploding,” Mr. Caster says, “and we will continue being a leader, helping to provide products.