Health Information

Boost To Strength & Recovery From Deer Velvet

March 6, 2007 on 6:39 pm | In Fitness | 3 Comments

The New Zealand Game Industry Board and AgResearch are working hard to prove scientifically - that New Zealand deer velvet may have a positive effect on athletic performance.

A joint venture between the New Zealand deer industry and AgResearch directs investment of over one million dollars per year into research on deer velvet to understand what makes it special.

The latest round of human clinical trials conducted by the Otago University Human Performance Centre has produced statistically significant results. The trials indicate a possible link between New Zealand deer velvet and improved athletic performance on two fronts; improved strength and endurance in response to training, and improved recovery from muscle tissue damage associated with exercise.

“In fact we have seven athletes at the Sydney Olympics who are taking New Zealand deer velvet,” says MJ Loza, General Manager Marketing at the New Zealand Game Industry Board, “including 1998 Commonwealth Games champion cyclist Glen Thomson, and Olympic bronze medalist Gary Anderson.

The first health care claim of deer velvet antler to be substantiated by scientific evidence, in compliance with US Food and Drug Administration dietary supplement regulations, was announced by the North American Elk Breeders Association (NAEBA) recently. Executive Director Ben Coplan said the determination, made by two consulting firms hired by NAEBA, Nutrinfo of Watertown, Massachusetts and Tradeworks Group, Inc. of Brattleboro, Vermont, is a significant breakthrough for the nation’s 1,400 breeders of farm-raised elk.

According to Coplan, the Nutrinfo report states there is a reasonable basis to claim that velvet antler helps relieve the symptoms of arthritis. However, a disease claim may not be used for a dietary supplement in the US; therefore, the acceptable statement for product labels and advertisements of a dietary supplement would be “provides nutritional support for joint structure and function.”

Velvet deer antler is named after the soft, velvet-like covering that deer antlers have before they turn bony. Antlers are organs of bone which regenerate each year from the heads of male deer. In addition to bone, support tissues such as nerves also regenerate. Nerves grow up to 1 cm each day. Deer antler velvet contains many substances including amino acids, minerals, proteins, anti-inflammatory peptides, hormones, gangliosides and glycosaminoglycans, and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1. The composition of velvet supplements depend on the diet of the deer, climate, time of year, age of stag and the various concentrations of substances in different regions of the antler velvet itself.

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Hoodia Gordonii

March 6, 2007 on 6:30 pm | In Weight Loss | 4 Comments

When the question of weight-loss arises, people always favor awkward methods. People don’t want to learn Dietary Fundamentals they don’t want to pursue healthy food habits. In fact many of you are still looking for overnight results. And that is the reason for hundreds of diet-pills and weight loss supplements on the market. The latest arrival on the Weight Loss circuit is an unbeatable African luscious product known as Hoodia Gordonii.

There are various species of hoodia, but the Gordonii variation is the only one that contains the all-natural appetite suppressant. This type of hoodia contains a molecule that has similar effects on nerve cells as glucose, and tricks the brain into the sensation of fullness. Results of human clinical trials in Britain suggest that hoodia may reduce the appetite by hundreds of calories a day or more.

Hoodia is a natural appetite suppressant, which is gaining attention as a powerful weapon in the struggle against weight loss and obesity. Hoodia was introduced in the market very recently in year 2004.

The South African Hoodia Gordonii Cactus is known by many names. It is called xshoba or xhooba by the San Bushmen who have used it to treat indigestion, minor skin infections and as an appetite and thirst suppressant during long hunts. The scientific name is Hoodia Gordonii. It is actually a succulent so the names Hoodia cactus and South African desert cactus are actually misnomers, but they are commonly used. The plant resembles a cactus when seen growing wild in the Kalahari Desert.