Why Do I Recommend Pharmanex Nutritional Supplements?

My name is Eric Schendel, M.D., and I am both a medical doctor and a Pharmanex Medical Representative.

Why do I, as a medical doctor, recommend that everybody should take a good multivitamin formulation such as Pharmanex's LifePak? And, more specifically, why do I personally use, recommend, and sell the Pharmanex line of nutritional supplements?

If you are like most people, when you've mentioned vitamins or nutritional supplements to your doctor he probably looked at you a little strangely. Historically, most of us physicians have been extremely skeptical of nutritional supplements and herbal medicine. You've probably been told that all you have to do is eat a balanced diet.

There have been several reasons for this skepticism. First, of course, is the fact that we weren't taught much about nutrition in medical school. Second, except for the original research describing major vitamin deficiency syndromes, until recently there has been little good scientific research documenting the benefits of herbal products or mega dosages of vitamins. And third, the dietary supplement industry has been notoriously rife with fraud.

For example, the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition analyzed eight major brands of dietary supplements. They found that only three of the eight brands consistently delivered in their products what was promised on the labels!

One of those three top-ranked brands was Pharmanex, the brand that we sell on this website.

Pharmanex was founded by Dr. Michael Chang. Dr. Chang, who was formerly Deputy Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Merck and then went on to become Director of Medical Chemistry at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, two of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, resigned his position in order to form a new company that would apply modern pharmaceutical standards of research and quality control to the haphazard nutritional products industry. He assembled a highly professional team of scientists from the pharmaceutical industry's top minds. The first investor in the new company was Dr. Carl Djerassi, the inventor of the birth control pill and winner of both the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology. Dr. Djerassi now serves as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at Pharmanex.

Pharmanex has a staff of over 50 scientists and researchers dedicated to developing the best nutritional supplements available anywhere. Another 150 medical scientists from top institutions around the world are collaborating with Pharmanex on various research projects, including scientists from UCLA, UC Berkeley, Tufts, Purdue, Columbia, the University of Kansas, Scripps Research Institute, Beijing University and Shanghai Medical University.

For example, the Purdue University scientists who are studying the ability of green tea to prevent cancer selected Pharmanex's TeGreen to use in their research because of its reliably superior quality. The nonprofit Prostate Cancer Research Institute recently stated: "We have suggested that Tegreen be used at a dose of one capsule 3 times a day in patients with active prostate cancer and perhaps once a day as a prevention against prostate cancer." (Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to read their discussion.)

Policosanol, the active ingredient in Cholestin has been shown in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to not only lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, but also to raise HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol). James Rippe, M.D., an internationally renowned cardiologist who is Director of the Center for Clinical and Lifestyle Research and Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, is using Cholestin in his research on nutritional approaches to cardiovascular fitness.

CordyMax, a proprietary Pharmanex product derived from a rare Chinese mushroom, has been studied extensively both in China and more recently here in the U.S. These studies have included both animal and human subjects. The human studies have looked at both senior citizens and elite endurance athletes (including Navy SEALs). These studies have shown that CordyMax reduces fatigue and improves energy levels, aerobic capacity and exercise performance.

Varro Tyler, Ph.D., Sc.D., is one of America's foremost experts on herbs and plant-derived medicines. Dr. Tyler, who is a renowned pharmacologist, Dean Emeritus of the Purdue Univeristy School of Pharmacy and author of Tyler's Honest Herbal, reviewed "Sex Herbs" in the July 2000 edition of Prevention magazine. In this article, Dr. Varro suggests that people with sexual difficulties try Venix, a proprietary Pharmanex product that is formulated to promote healthy sexual functioning. One of the ingredients of Venix has been found to be particularly helpful to those who suffer sexual difficulties as a side effect of taking antidepressant medication.

In summary, Pharmanex products are manufactured to pharmaceutical standards of purity and strength. Their efficacy is backed up by scientific research.

Returning to our first question, the reason why we recommend that everyone take a good multivitamin is that recent studies have confirmed that most people are not eating a nutritionally adequate diet. In fact, in a US government survey of 21,500 people, not a single person was consuming 100% of the recommended dietary allowance for the ten most important nutrients (USDA National Food Consumption Survey, 1977-78). That is why we recommend that everyone take LifePak, the comprehensive multivitamin from Pharmanex that comes in different formulations for different ages. Take the LifePak Challenge and compare your current multivitamin with LifePak. Then choose the one that's right for you—regular LifePak for men under 40, LifePak Women for pre-menopausal women, LifePak PreNatal for pregnant women, LifePak Prime for men over 40 and post-menopausal women, LifePak Teen for children between 9 and 18, and Jungamals for younger children. Of course, as always, we recommend that you consult with your own physician.

Browse the rest of the links in the "Wellness Center" section for more health and wellness information. For technical information on specific herbal products, you may consult the online version of the reference manual published by the Institute for Natural Products Research, Natural Dietary Supplements: A Desktop Reference.

Pharmanex provides a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee to retail customers. After you have tried these products and have satisfied yourself of their value and quality, you can save money by getting on an automatic delivery program. To get on automatic delivery, or if you want additional information, please call me or send me email.

Eric Schendel, M.D.
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