An interesting question has been posed on the blog from a reader wanting to compare our Total Balance Children’s with a liquid children’s supplement.  Her concern is about having her children swallow tablets.  I acknowledge this issue and we do understand that this is a valid point but we wanted to make the very best supplement possible and as such we had no choice but to use a tablet.

In order to explain the reasons clearly I have turned this Q & A into an ‘article’.  I hope that you find the explanations helpful.

Question: from ‘ZZ’

I'm very much interested in your product Total Balance for Children. I'm currently in search of a good children's supplement and I'm currently leaning towards ‘Focus Formula for Children’ by Vitabase. 

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Question: from Brad

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Question: from Gayle

By the way, I see that Jordin Rubin, of Garden of Life has just come out with a whole food vitamin.   Don't know anything about it, but his products sell well here in FL.  I  don't know if it's because they are really good or because he is FL based.  I do remember you saying that a product like that would require a lot of ingredients (I think you said that) and would be expensive.  I wonder how it will do.  He seems to write a book every time he brings a product out, very prolific.

Answer: from Warren

I am pleased that you raise this Gayle.  Dr Mercola claims the same for his Multi.

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Question: from Gayle

Why don't you list the ingedients for the skin care products?  I mean the source, not the chemical name.

Also, are you using nano technology in the products?  I have a concern about that since products made with this technology haven't been tested on humans.  I recently read that people have reacted to tennis racquet handles made from a nano product as if it was asbestos.  Sunscreens have been made smooth and colorless by making the zinc oxide molecules so small through nano technology.  But that is not the natural state of zinc oxide and who knows how the body will handle those particles?  I guess you can tell I'm very concerned.  It seems like GMOs in that they haven't been tested.  Perhaps your perspective and knowledge will put me at ease

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Please bear with me/us during this period of the last couple of months during which my blog entries have been minimal and we have not been sending out our regular newsletters.

Our admin resources have been stretched in dealing with the implementation of our new website and the inevitable 'bugs' that came with it partly by introducing the new online customer accounts.  Added to this has been the introduction of the new skin care range and the 'settling in' of these, and further, the need for us to prepare for the release of the new generation Total Balance which includes three new versions for adults plus a  childrens Total Balance.

Included with the release of the new generation Total Balance will be a new Multi-Xtra product that we have developed (which is an advanced Multi Vitamin/mineral tablet) for those people whose budget cannot stretch to the Total Balance.  In other words we have manufactured and will be releasing 8 new complex products.  This has been a major exercise.

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"Performance enhancer maker linked to Olympians, including O.C. swimmer".  This is the headline in a recent article on the MSNBC website.

It goes on to suggest that the banned stimulant drug clenbuterol which was discovered during a drug test on swimmer Jessica Hardy probably got there inadvertantly through her taking performance enhancing supplements.  Her coach David Salo goes on to blame the supplement industry as being out of control etc, etc.

Ironically the company her coach is accusing has been actively promoted through Jessica's website for some time now through which she has heaped praise on their supplements.

Supplement companies who produce performance enhancing supplements for athletes are sometimes convenient scapegoats when an athlete gets tested positive.  But, are they really guilty?

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Since we released the new skin care range last month we have had a number of customers ask us about what some of the ingredients are that are listed on the tubes.

This is because these ingredients are listed using their INCI names which is an international scientific classification for all ingredients.  Unfortunately some of these names sound pretty scary and certainly sound very 'chemical...but, most countries require them to be listed using this code.  INCI is short for  "International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients".

So, in order to better answer these questions we have prepared a table that explains what each of these ingredients are.  What their common name is and what the scientific INCI name is and what they are derived from.

It is also important to keep in mind that the INCI name does not differentiate between an ingredient that is derived from petroleum and another which is derived from plant source if the end product broadly has a similar structure. 

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I discontinued buying fruit juices or any liquid 'health' drinks years ago.  The reason?  Well, many of them simply are not healthy as they may have all sorts of stuff in them that you are unaware of.

All drinks which have natural fruits in them either have to have preservatives and other additives included or, they have to be very fresh with a very short shelf life.  This is simply not practical for most products that have long supply and distribution chains.

Additionally with this market being so competitive many companies do not actively test their raw ingredients (most of which are imported) to ensure that there is no adulteration. 

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