Herbal Health Solutions

At Nature’s Sunshine, I firmly
believe that original basic science
research is of paramount
importance. I feel that this belief is
shared by my colleagues because
everyone recognizes the important
correlation between company prestige
and research that supports the
products that we sell. We ask fundamental
questions about product
benefits and then design experiments
that provide the answers.
This approach separates Nature’s
Sunshine from the competition.
After considerable thought, I have
listed below salient points that
define the importance of original
basic science research:
• Verifies and/or establishes
the identity of
actives from an ingredient
• Correlates benefits
with identified actives
• Substantiates the science
behind ingredient
claims
• Establishes ingredient
value
• Confirms Nature’s
Sunshine as an industry
leader through publication
in peer reviewed
scientific journals
• Honours the scientific
integrity of defining and characterizing
the highest quality products
available
• Instills a high degree of consumer
confidence
Again, recognizing, embracing,
and pursuing these points distinguishes
Nature’s Sunshine as a first
class nutritional supplement company.
I have known Professor Doug
Kinghorn for 30 years. He is a
world class scientist in the discipline
of natural product chemistry
(Pharmacognosy). Professor
Kinghorn occupies an endowed
research chair at the prestigious
Ohio State University.
Professor Kinghorn and I
have collaborated on many
projects that focus on
Nature’s Sunshine’s high
quality products. Zambroza
has been a major research
effort for the past four
years. Mangosteen
(Garcinia mangostana), the
core fruit of Zambroza, has
yielded some fascinating
research results.
Xanthones are a class of
plant chemicals that are
found abundantly in mangosteen.
Not only are
the xanthones powerful
Some Of The Science
Behind The Benefits Of
Zambroza™ And Paw Paw Common cold meets
its match in ancient herb
A University of Western Ontario
and University of Alberta team
found that ginseng extracts
"have been found to have the
potential to modulate both natural
and acquired immune
responses." The four-month test
involved 280 subjects between
18 and 65 years of age. At the
conclusion of the test 10% of
the ginseng group reported only
experiencing two or more colds
during the cold/flu season. More
than double that percentage
reported having caught colds in
the placebo group.
In another study from the
Journal of the American
Geriatric Society, 2004, 200 elderly
subjects were given either
ginseng extract or a placebo during
flu season. At the end of the
study, researchers found the
incidence of influenza was considerably
higher in the placebo
group than the ginseng group.
Hand washing best
prevention
According to Health Canada the
best prevention against catching
a virus is frequent hand washing.
Most germs are caught
through hand to eye, face and
mouth contact.
Healthy Bits
Nature’s News
News and information from the world of herbs and nutrition science
by William J. Keller, Ph.D.
Vol. 1/No. 1.
antioxidants, but we also believe
that they possess many other beneficial
effects. Our first scientific
investigation of mangosteen resulted
in the isolation of ten different
xanthones in chemically pure form
and three of these were new from
Nature. Once we determined the
chemical structure of these three
xanthones, we knew that no one
else had ever isolated them. These
pure xanthones were then shown to
have outstanding antioxidant activity.
Further evaluation of these isolated
xanthones suggested cancer
chemoprevention potential. These
data were first published as an
abstract and presented as a poster
paper at the Annual Meeting of the
American Society of
Pharmacognosy in 2005 and then
published as a full paper in the peer
reviewed Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry.
A follow-up study on mangosteen
xanthones was recently published
as an abstract, presented as a poster
paper, and a manuscript has been
accepted for publication in the peer
reviewed Journal of Natural
Products. In this work, five additional
xanthones were isolated in
chemically pure form and two of
these had never been isolated from
Nature before. These isolated xanthones
showed powerful cancer
chemopreventive activity in our
quinone reductase induction bioassay
which suggests an inhibition of
cancer initiation.
Focusing on another benefit of
the mangosteen xanthones, several
researchers have published on their
anti-inflammatory properties. For
example, it has been shown that by
neutralizing free radicals, the
polyphenolic xanthones relieve
oxidative stress which, in turn,
reduces inflammation. Other
researchers have demonstrated that
mangosteen xanthones reduce the
production of pro-inflammatory
prostaglandins by inhibiting COX
(cyclooxygenase). My collaboration
with Professor Kinghorn recently
revealed a new
mangosteen xanthone
mechanism.
We found that by
inhibiting a
nuclear factor
called NF-KB, the
xanthones block
the production of
pro-inflammatory
proteins
(cytokines) and enzymes (COX) to
afford a powerful anti-inflammatory
effect. We now have three mechanisms
that can be used to explain
how the xanthones suppress inflammation.
I am sure that many of you