Address both stress and your immunity with Balanced ResponseTM
Welcome to the 2023 Holiday Season! There are so many wonderful aspects to this time of year: gatherings, family, and the promise of a new year. On the flip side, those gatherings, that family, the reminder that another year has passed can be STRESSFUL. And, much like your outspoken uncle and your in-laws, holiday stress and the immune system do not mix well.
In fact, there is not much that can mess with your immune system more than too much stress.
This holiday season, we are proudly offering a nutritional boost to benefit both your peace of mind and your immune defenses. This is our new product, Balanced Response.
In addition, we’ve got some great suggestions for other supplements that can help keep your mind and body peaceful through the stress of this holiday season.
What is Balanced Response?
Balanced Response is an Elderberry and Ashwagandha multivitamin, designed to address both stress and the immune system.
When we feel stress, it weakens the immune system [1]. It reduces the absorption of necessary nutrition from the diet and negatively impacts our ability to find calm [2]. The intention behind the design of Balanced ResponseTM is to bolster your body’s immune and stress response systems. Balanced ResponseTM provides essential balanced nutrition so you can bounce back quickly from whatever surprises life throws your way.
By providing both essential nutrients and supportive herbal extracts, Balanced ResponseTM is sure to be a popular one-a-day answer to a full spectrum daily multivitamin/mineral supplement with extra reinforcement in the stress, mood, and immune categories of health.
Shoden® Ashwagandha
Balanced ResponseTM contains Shoden® ashwagandha, standardized to 35% withanolides and delivered at a dose relevant to efficacy in clinical trials [3].
Elderberry (Extract of Sambucus nigra L.)
Yet another powerful herbal extract is that of elderberry (Sambucus nigra). The potent antioxidant pigments it contains, called anthocyanins, deserve all credit for elderberry’s benefits. They belong to the flavonoids class of naturally-occurring chemicals [4]. These compounds also support healthy inflammatory responses in the body [4]. Our elderberry extract has been standardized to 15% anthocyanins.
Like ashwagandha, elderberry has a long history of use as a medicinal plant for immune health. Modern science has provided data to support these applications.
Numerous clinical studies have investigated the effectiveness of elderberry in promoting healthy immune systems [5]. Elderberry extract substantially supports a return to health in the upper respiratory system [5]. There are no reports of serious adverse events after elderberry extract consumption in any of those studies [5].
Together, these findings all suggest elderberry extract is an excellent herbal supplement for immune support, especially in the face of stress.
Multivitamin/Mineral Blend
A daily multivitamin does not negate the need for a healthy diet. There are countless physiological processes occurring constantly throughout the body, and each of them requires certain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other chemicals found in food to function properly. When those nutritional puzzle pieces are missing, your physiology can suffer.
This is where your multivitamin/mineral formula comes in to serve as a nutritional safety net or insurance policy. By providing potent doses of the nutrients often lacking in the diet, a multivitamin can ensure your body has what it needs to respond to the physical and mental demands of the day.
In addition to their general benefits to homeostasis, taking a daily multivitamin can benefit your mental health. A recent study concluded that those who took a daily multivitamin were less likely to suffer from feelings of excessive worry than those taking a placebo [6]. Vitamins play a role in the synthesis and signaling of neurotransmitters necessary for mental health, but stress states quickly deplete these vitamins. It follows that extra nutrition circulating the body can benefit this mental aspect of well-being.
Metabolic Maintenance offers numerous multivitamin/mineral blends, each slightly different in their potency or formula, with the intent to support a certain aspect of health.
Balanced ResponseTM is an elderberry and ashwagandha multivitamin and mineral formula. Aside from the two herbal extracts, it also includes vitamins A, C, D, E, and K, B-complex vitamins (including folate as L-methylfolate), and zinc. These are some of the most important nutrients for proper immune function.
Vitamin A
Innate immunity depends upon vitamin A, for the normal maintenance of mucosal barriers, and for proper function of immune cells such as neutrophils, macrophages, and natural killer cells [7].
Vitamin C
The immune system requires a balance of healthy immune cell activity and antioxidant protection. Vitamin C is a nutrient that supports both functions. It is a highly effective antioxidant that protects cells from damage by free radicals and supports the healthy function of phagocytes and T cells [8].
Vitamin D
Recent experiments have shed a brighter light on the immune-enhancing properties of vitamin D, specifically its role in innate immunity and vitamin D-dependent proteins that provide a first line of immune defense [10]. Although vitamin D can be made in the body in response to sun exposure, supplementary vitamin D may be most important during the winter months when there are fewer hours of sunlight and colder temperatures, keeping people indoors or limiting the skin’s exposure to sunlight with warm clothing when outdoors.
Zinc
Optimal immune function requires adequate zinc status [11]. Zinc is a mineral required for several specific immune functions, including healthy T lymphocyte and natural killer cell activity. Balanced Response provides a daily dose of 15 mg of this essential mineral in support of immune health.
Ashwagandha Plus with L-Theanine
If you are already taking a multivitamin for immune support, and just need a little extra boost in the relaxation sector, Ashwagandha Plus is a great choice. Not only does it contain the calming power of ashwagandha, it is formulated in combination with L-theanine and magnesium. Of course, L-theanine and magnesium can each be taken as stand alone supplements as well.
L-Theanine
A non-protein amino acid, and a naturally occurring structural analogue of glutamate found in green tea, L-theanine is the chemical responsible for balancing the effect of caffeine. It’s why caffeinated tea leaves us feeling alert, but focused instead of jittery.
L-Theanine binds glutamate receptors, regulating the signaling of glutamate, and is able to pass the blood-brain barrier to exert its relaxation effect. L-Theanine modulates neurotransmitters, including reducing glutamate release, promoting activity of the calming neurotransmitter, GABA, and enhancing glycine and dopamine release [12]. Glycine is another calming/inhibitory amino acid and dopamine is the classic “feel good” neurotransmitter.
L-Theanine also promotes the functional integrity of neurons, thereby providing additional support to cognition, mood, and feelings of well-being [12].
Magnesium
Magnesium is a cofactor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions within the body; and thus, it is essential for many crucial physiological functions, such as heart rhythm, vascular tone, nerve function, muscle contraction, and relaxation [13].
The form of magnesium found in Ashwagandha Plus is magnesium bisglycinate. In this form, magnesium is bound to glycine, a non-essential amino acid involved in protein synthesis and transmission of chemical signals in the brain. Glycine has been shown to shorten the time it takes to get to sleep as well as improve sleep quality due to its calming effect on the central nervous system [14].
References
- https://www.cell.com/trends/immunology/fulltext/S1471-4906(03)00173-X?large_figure=true&code=cell-site
- https://altmedrev.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v9-2-180.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945720301246
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11101-021-09757-1
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540105.2021.1978941
- https://www.proquest.com/openview/84fe26de720364270fa27a1f52dedf9a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
- https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.nutr.21.1.167
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614697/
- https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2018/5813095/
- https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(10)00108-3/fulltext
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/147323001204000104
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213453021001324
- https://academic.oup.com/ckj/article/5/Suppl_1/i3/447534
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2007.00262.x