Ever since the FDA updated the labeling guidelines for food and supplements back in March of 1999 [1], manufacturers have had to raise their games to sneak in some of their old evil ingredients. For example, when shellac fell out of favor as a coating for tablets, they simply renamed it Natural Glaze or Pharmaceutical Glaze. Wasn’t that clev-ah?

The “Supplement Facts ” panel is equally abused, by passing off Ascorbyl Palmitate (or palmitic acid) as a “Vitamin C source” when in fact its sole purpose is to act as a lubricant, to prevent tablets from sticking together.

Unfortunately, palmitic acid also slowed the dissolving of the tablet, and inhibited the absorption of the nutrient ingredients within. It is no wonder why they hide the names of these low-cost additives to reduce their manufacturing costs.

THE SHAKLEE DIFFERENCE: Shaklee solved the tablet problem for Vita-Lea by spraying them with Spirulina [2] and then air-drying them in a giant tumbler. I saw that process first-hand during a tour of the Norman, Oklahoma facility in 2002. While we were there we also saw the clinical labs where hundreds of purity tests were run before any raw materials could move from quarantine onto the factory floor.

That Norman tour really cemented my trust in Shaklee. Our tour guide, Master Coordinator Bob Ferguson introduced us to Shaklee’s Research Director and the Production Supervisors. It was their pride, commitment, and joy-in-what-they were doing that established my trust in them.

Because of that initial faith and trust, which has since been reinforced numerous times, I can assure you that the results that are described in the peer-reviewed journals ARE available to all of us because of Shaklee’s careful and rigorous manufacturing and quality-control procedures that are followed by Shaklee every step along the path.

And, as our friends at EDEN Earth Day [3] remind us, Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee shifted the spotlight away from “cures” and towards the Prevention Model, with the added emphasis of ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’.

Because we all lived through the Covid Pandemic, one that killed more than 1 million Americans, it may be hard to get worked up about colds and flu season, but once those aches and shivers hit you, you will not be happy, and neither will anyone that you live with.

So, why don’t we adopt Dr. Shaklee’s advice, and explore the prevention model?

So, What Goes Wrong?

There are 2 layers to a solid immune program. The first is to build-up and then support your natural immune competency. The second component is knowing HOW to respond when you are actively under viral attack and are starting to fall ill.

There are many vitamins and minerals that contribute to our natural immune potential, and 5-credit college classes and PhD programs are dedicated to a fuller understanding of all those interactions.

The participants in the Landmark I and II studies [4] were very remarkable people, because before Vitalizer came along, we all maintained vitamin chests, so that we would not have to open and close 10 (or more) vitamin bottles twice every day.

That is why Vitalizer was such a gift to the Shaklee Field, because

(a)   it reduced the pill count dramatically and

(b)   combined the water-soluble nutrients into natural
12-hour time release capsules.

This was a huge accomplishment because when water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and the B vitamins hit our blood stream, the body had to grab what it could, because over the next hour they were filtered-out and flushed from our circulatory system. [5] That was why, back in the 90s, most of us took our Vita-Lea, B-Complex and the Sustained Release Vita-C at least twice a day, with major meals.

Vitalizer’s patented B+C Complex not only extended the absorption of key nutrients for more than 12 hours, but also doubled the absorption of the B vitamins, as demonstrated within a clinical trial.

The Caroto-E-Omega caplet also combined ultra-pure omega-3 fatty acids, along with a spectrum of the carotenoids and the vitamin E family, delivered directly to that portion of the intestine where it would be best-absorbed.

Shaklee’s unique and multi-patented S.M.A.R.T. delivery system (Shaklee Micronutrient Advanced Release Technology) remains the envy of the nutrition industry.

This is why the new Life Strip was such a dramatic leap forwards for all of us, because it provided all 80 of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other phytonutrient packed into the Vitalizer strip, while ALSO doubling the dose of omega-3 fatty acids and adding a full dose of the unique polyphenols from the Vivix liquigel to help us to slow aging at the cellular level. [6]

A previous issue of HealthQuest (Welcome to Ageless) reviewed Vivix in detail, but the highlight from that review was that Shaklee conducted 6 clinical studies [7] while also enhancing the Vivix formulation twice, when they introduced the liquigel caplets to the Life Strip in 2015, and again when they developed the new Vivix Gummies in 2023.

In a nut shell, Vivix protects us from the cellular ravages of aging by blocking the formation of Advanced Glycation End products (aka AGE proteins, or AGEs). AGE proteins are formed when sugar interacts with (bonds to) proteins or fats in our bloodstream, or within our cells.

Proteins are 3-dimensional structures that the body uses to turn on (or off) thousands of chemical processes within every cell, and these specialized proteins act like a KEY to control those processes, such as energy production, hormone creation, and cell replication or repair.

As soon as a sugar attaches to a functional protein, be it a hormone or messenger RNA, that protein changes its shape, and can no longer act as the KEY to control the cellular function it was designed to manage.