Biotivia Blog
- Recent Articles
- Resveratrol in Wine Kills Cancer Cells
- Biotivia Bioceuticals Resveratrol to be Featured on Life and Leisure Television on 24th March 2009
- Red Wine Extract Resveratrol ‘Could Hold The Key’ To Weight Loss And Muscle Gain
- Urgent Health Alert Warning: A Resveratrol Supplement containing a compound called Tween is a possible health hazard
- Dr. Joseph Maroon’s new book the Longevity Factor is now available!
- Harvard Prof’s Ties to Supplement Maker Questioned
- Harvard Anti-Aging Researcher Quits Shaklee Advisory Board
- Astragalus
- Antioxidants for Young Age
- Natural Antioxidant Supplements
- Categories
- General Info
- Health
- Press Releases
Welcome To The Biotivia Resveratrol Blog
Harvard Anti-Aging Researcher Quits Shaklee Advisory Board
A prominent anti-aging researcher quit the scientific advisory board of a dietary-supplement maker after six months.
Since August David Sinclair a professor at Harvard Medical School lent his support to a Shaklee Corp. Drink called the Vivix Cellular Anti-Aging Tonic.
Following questions by The Wall Street Journal about his seeming endorsement of the product Dr. Sinclair resigned from the board last week and now says his name has been misused in connection with Vivix which contains the antioxidant resveratrol.
Dr. Sinclair’s resignation ends a short period in which Shaklee’s anti-aging syrup could claim the backing of a prominent medical-school researcher.
Dr. Sinclair remains co-chief adviser to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals now a division of Glaxo SmithKline PLC which is also studying resveratrol for use as a drug. Dr. Sinclair received more than $8 million when Glaxo acquired Sirtris and the company pays him $297000 a year as a consultant.
Shaklee’s grape-tasting Vivix concentrate costs $100 for 30 teaspoons, a month’s supply.
Roger BarnettShaklee’s chief executivesays the company doesn’t claim that Vivix extends life — only that it affects certain processes inside the body’s cells.
In obtaining the backing of Dr. Sinclair this summer Shaklee scored a coup. Dr. Sinclair knows resveratrol in 2006 he led a study showing the molecule could counteract the ill effects of overfeeding laboratory mice. One notable benefit: resveratrol let overweight mice live about 114 weeks on averagecompared with 102 weeks without the chemical.
In August Dr. Sinclair joined Shaklee’s Scientific Advisory Board, a paid position, and enthusiastically introduced Vivix to the company’s sales force in New Orleans. He joined Shaklee’s chief doctor in a joint radio appearance and his picture and name are often used on Vivix sales sites run by Shaklee’s salespeople.
Shaklee declined to say how much it paid Dr. Sinclair to be on the advisory board. Both sides say he didn’t receive Vivix royalties.
Dr. Sinclair — who has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular genetics but isn’t a medical doctor — now says he was misinterpreted. “I have submitted my resignation to Shaklee and exercised my right to terminate my agreement” he wrote in an e-mailed response to questions. “This decision was prompted in significant part by my recent realization as to how my association with Shaklee and my research have been used contrary to the intents and purposes of my agreement.”
“To my dismay I have found numerous uses of my name and reputation on the Web and in other media that implies endorsement by me of Shaklee’s Vivix product” he wrote. “I have engaged counsel to deal with this matter and have demanded that Shaklee cease using my name.”
A spokesman for Harvard Medical School said the school was also reviewing Shaklee’s use of Dr. Sinclair’s name and references to his Harvard affiliation which have appeared on its Web site and in promotional videos.
Shaklee sells its products through a network of 750000 “members” who work for commissions and recruit other salespeople — and handle their own marketing.
Shaklee says it forbids salespeople to claim Vivix affects any disease and refers noncompliant salespeople for “disciplinary action” which can include terminating their contract. “The vast majority of them are very circumspect” Mr. Barnett says.
Resveratrol Supplements- How Good are They?
The question that how the Frenchmen in spite of consuming a high lipid and high calorie diet remain healthy as well as have lower instances of heart ailment has long been unanswered. It was suspected that wine had a role to play in it but nobody was certain. But since the last two years, a pair of scientists at Harvard Medical Centre has discovered the fact behind it. The scientists are Dr Sinclair of the Harvard Medical Center and Rafael de Cabo. The secret behind all the above-unanswered questions is Resveratrol, the ingredient of the outermost layer of the red wine grape, particularly in the grapes from clod weathers. It is already proved that people who go for a low calorie diet live longer. An important role Resveratrol plays is lessening the demand for calories. Apart from this the other proved benefits of Resveratrol are:
- It restricts the uncontrolled cell division of malignant cells as proved by the Dept. of Science and Technology at the Ohio State University in 1997.
- It shows estrogen like activity and stops post menopausal osteoporosis.
- A certain measure of Resveratrol was shown to cure herpes lesions in hairless mice in an experiment conducted by the scientists of Department of Microbiology and Immunology at College of Medicine, Ohio University NE.
- It relieves symptoms of some inflammatory conditions by as much as 98%.
- In November 2006, Dr Sinclair and Rafael De Capo’s experimental findings detected that: the group of mice fed with calories and Reservatrol had a salubrious, longer life 30% more than the mice that were fed with standard food. On the other hand mice that fed on an uncontrolled fat diet died much earlier.
- It was also revealed in April 1998 that Reservatrol killed malignant cells of pancreas in vitro, a condition that till this date does not have good therapy.
- Is it similar to Viagra? Both stimulate blood flow but Reservatrol releases thrombosis and thus aids in blood flow. Viagra however is effective in case of small arteries.
- The most important genetic effect of Reservatrol it is it causes DNA replication in cells, which prevents your cells from aging and withering. It can even repair the vital nucleic acid. Thus it is earning a lot of popularity among youth.
The beneficial effects of resveratrol, nature’s gift still demands a lot of research, particularly about its effects on mankind. Taken in the purest form, it serves you more than a single glass of wine everyday. Because it is impossible to consume enough wine do obtain the benefits of resveratrol a quality supplement is recommended. Either Transmax or Bioforte by Biotivia will give you the same dosage used in the Dr. Sinclair Harvard study as published in the journal nature.
