Continued from part 4
Comment 10: Should The Moores Take a LMZ Supplement?
Looks like it would be of benefit to us since:
- We are not confident that our diets give us enough LMZ.
-
We don’t know if our macular pigment and level of carotenoids in the brain are sufficient, which is what this research has shown to be important in reducing our risks of both AMD and Alzheimer’s
Can’t We Just “Pop a Pill”?
Taking a supplement is NOT a substitute for eye- and brain-healthy eating. We will still be eating our leafy green vegetables and colorful fruits and vegetables and other eye-healthy foods to get the other nutrients we need such as Vitamins A, B, C, and E (we were found to be deficient in D so we each take a Vitamin D supplements) and the other essential nutrients. We eat healthy plant-based foods and wild-caught salmon 2 or 3 times a week to get our Omega-3 fatty acids.
First Things First
There are always 2 concerns when considering any supplement:
• Are the ingredients generally safe to take & specifically safe based on one’s medical history & use of medications?
• If they are, which product is the best one as verified by one or more respected, independent testing labs?
Are the Ingredients Safe for Each of Us?
You should ALWAYS talk to your medical doctor before starting a supplement, especially if you have other diseases and take medications. We have different GPs, and we’ve been in touch with them. No problem.
Here are the 2 things I always look for:
- Are there interactions with the medications we take and the diseases we have? I checked rxlist.com and drugs.com. I checked each of the 3 carotenoids. No interactions for either of us. There are very few issues for anyone, but check it out for yourself.
The 20 years of this research has shown these 3 carotenoids are very safe. There is research to back that up, but it’s beyond the scope of this post.
Comment 11. Which Brand?
I came to this stage in my research feeling confident that taking LMZ was safe for both my husband and me. I had also, to the best of my ability, gone through the research done by Dr. Nolan and his colleagues and felt confident that it met my criteria for solid, scientific research (according to the criteria I listed in Comment 4.)
The next step was to confirm which product was used in Dr. Nolan’s research. It’s what’s currently in the products MacuHealth (available in the US & Canada) and MacuPrime (UK & Europe).
If you watched the ‘Preventing Macular Degeneration Through Science’ video I posted last week (you did, right? ::smile::) you heard Dr. Kerry Gelb say he takes the MacuHealth product when he interviewed Dr. Nolan. Dr. Nolan said he takes it, his wife takes it, and his young daughter sometimes does as well. He and his family have since switched to MacuPrime.
Confusion
If you read the 2014 scientific paper from the CREST trials (you did, didn’t you? ::smile::), you’ll see the product listed as MacuShield. There’s a LOT of confusion about that! I reached out to Dr. Nolan who apologized for it (though it certainly was not his fault). At that time, the company that commercialized the formulation available to Dr. Nolan in the UK was MacuVision Europe, and they branded it as MacuShield. The company was then sold to Alliance Pharma who did not continue with the same formula that was tested. The company in the US that had the world rights to the formulation at the time of the study was MacuHealth (founded in 2006) and the product was then and still is MacuHealth.
Any research after this change in companies was with MacuHealth.
Clarification
Currently, MacuShield is a product only licensed in the UK and Europe. It is a TOTALLY different product than MacuHealth. I confirmed that in an email to the MacuShield company. They were very good and replied clearly & quickly. To be clear (again), MacuShield is NOT the product recommended here.
Bottom Line
MacuHealth products in the US and Canada and MacuPrime products in the UK and Europe are the products that contain the formulation used in Dr. Nolan’s research.
For those who are good candidates for an AREDS2-based formulation, there’s MacuHealth Plus and MacuPrime Plus. For everyone else, it’s just MacuHealth and MacuPrime.
For those who want an AREDS2-based formulation with 0 zinc, you can take MacuHealth/MacuPrime with LMZ and add 500 Vitamin C and 400 IUs Vitamin E separately. That’s the whole AREDS2 formulation.
Please remember my cautions for some of you who are or will be taking an AREDS2-based supplement – those of you with other diseases and who take medications. Please talk to your medical doctor before you start because the doses of Vitamin C and E in the AREDS2 formulation may be too high for you.
Comment 12: More Validation
I could have stopped there, but I wanted to make sure that I did everything for this product that I do for all supplements I choose to take.
Independent Testing
Of course, knowing that others take a product, especially if it’s the researchers themselves, is important, but so is independent analysis of a product.
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports, a U.S. independent, non-profit organization recommends that since the FDA does not regulate food supplements in the US, it’s important to look for independent labs that test the products to make sure that what is on the label is in it. https://www.consumerreports.org/supplements/how-to-choose-supplements-wisely-a2238386100/
Consumerlab.com
My ‘go to’ independent lab, one recommended by Consumer Reports, is Consumerlab.com of which I’m a member. THEY are confused, too! Even though they are a U.S. company, they tested MacuShield, but not MacuHealth! I emailed them, and they replied that they DO know of the confusion and are working to resolve and report in it. I’m watching for their update.
NSF International
Another source of independent testing referred to by Consumer Reports is NSF International (it was originally the National Sanitation Foundation). The NSF has tested and certified MacuHealth products (you can see what that means in the Consumer Reports Article above).
https://www.nsf.org/consumer-resources/articles/supplement-vitamin-certification
Supplement Certified
Another certification they have is ‘Supplement Certified,’ another independent lab that I referred to earlier. It’s a new project from Dr. Nolan’s Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI).
https://supplementcertified.ie/
Company Responsibility
If you listened to the podcast I referred to in Comment 3 (you did, didn’t you? ::smile::), you heard the story of how in one of Dr. Nolan’s clinical trials, when they used an early formulation with just lutein, they unexpectedly found meso-zeaxanthin in it. The trial was stopped, and the company stopped production and sales of the product for over a year. They did produce the new product and the trial continued.
Why Does It Matter?
So if a product has all 3 carotenoids (there are a few), what difference does it make which product you buy?
The lutein in ANY a product probably comes from marigolds. Where the marigolds are grown, what farming methods are used, and how it is processed is important. The processing creates the lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin that goes into the tablet or capsule that a person takes. The marigolds used for MacuHealth come from the same fields in Mexico and are tightly managed for specific best-farming methods.
In 2020, Dr. Nolan and colleagues did research (COAST study) to validate a new production method called Micro-Micelle(tm) that MacuHealth uses to make sure the LMZ has the highest possible bioavailability which means how well a substance is able to get into our circulation, to get to the target area, and to do what it’s intended to do. They confirmed that when they take the carotenoids in their ‘free’ form as in the original MacuHealth products, and enhance their stability plus use an oil base because carotenoids are oil solvable, this new technology gives you the best absorption of LMZ.
Read Reviews Online? Misinformation & Testimonials
I rarely do that (they are testimonials, after all), but out of curiosity I went to the Amazon listing for MacuHealth or MacuShield – can’t remember which, and found inaccurate information. Someone asked about MacuHealth and MacuShield: (paraphrasing) “are they the same?” and someone said “yes, they are. It’s the same company, but it’s called MacuHealth in the US and MacuShield in the UK.” WRONG! Yes, I told them that. ::smile::
Here’s another source of confusion. You CAN go to the Amazon US site and buy MacuShield. I emailed the MacuShield company about that since they’d told me they only have a license to distribute their product in the UK and Europe. The seller on Amazon US is a 3rd party distributor. If you purchase MacuShield through Amazon US, you will not get it right away because the 3rd party seller has to get it from the UK!
Got it?
Comment 13: A Beginning and The End
Whew!! Are you thinking, “All this to just pop a supplement? They’re ‘vitamins’ and as such, they can’t hurt!!”
If you’ve been with me long enough, you know how I react to that often-repeated opinion. They CAN and DO hurt SOME people.
However, having gone through this ENTIRE procedure which included talking to the researcher Dr. Nolan and others:
I CAN say that the research shows that taking LMZ in the MacuHealth and MacuPrime supplement is safe!
The Beginning
Change takes time. Making sure we’re getting the proper foods is work and a long-term commitment. We’ve only been taking MacuHealth for 2 months. We’ll be taking it for the rest of our lives.
As for us, I don’t expect to see quick improvements in our vision, but I certainly will be happy to have it be the best it can be as time goes on.
We both have issues with cognitive processing and memory (most likely due to medication), especially word retrieval which is a source of frequent ‘Charades’ (“You know, the thingie that you use for…whatever!”). Maybe someday we won’t have to spend so much time doing that! ::smile::
Not Pulling The Trigger
I started this with the sentence, “Genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger!”
What I HOPE and PRAY I can do is come back in 10 years to say that neither of us have AMD or Alzheimer’s Disease!
The End!
If you’ve read this far, thanks so much! Please let me know if you have any questions.
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