Factor4: Superior to Protein Powders

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Factor4: Superior to Protein Powders
George A. Scheele, M.D.

When people compare the list of amino acids on the labels for Factor4 and Protein Powders, they appear to contain the same amino acids. Further when they compare the amount of total amino acids in grams, protein powders have more amino acids than Factor4. At first blush, then, the consumer would seem to prefer the protein powder to Factor4 given the increased quantity of amino acids. In a market brimming with numerous protein products why did Dr. Scheele formulate Factor4 as an amino acid powder rather than a protein powder.

The answers to this question lie in the 40 years of scientific investigation that Dr. Scheele conducted on amino acids and proteins at some of the most renowned institutions in the United States. The answers lie in the 1200 page book which Dr. Scheele conceived and edited, entitled The Pancreas: Biology, Pathobiology, and Disease, published by Raven Press in 1983 and in revised form in 1993. This book reviews more than 50 years of scientific research supported by the National Institutes of Health related to dietary intake, gastrointestinal digestion, and body metabolism. The answers are more fully developed in The Obesity Cure, Dr. Scheele’s recent book which will appear in bookstores in June, 2012.

The crux of the comparison lies in understanding the differences in how the body handles “free” and “protein-bound” amino acids.

This document is designed to provide the critical differences between amino acid products such as Factor4 Weight Control® and protein powders which appear in health-food stores. Once you review this document you will be astonished at the superior efficacy of Factor4 over protein powders.

PROTEIN-BOUND VERSUS FREE AMINO ACIDS:

Commercial protein powders may be obtained from plants (Soy, Pea, Rice) and animals (Whey, Casein, Egg white). Each of these products feature complete proteins, meaning they contain all 20 of the amino acids that are necessary to produce proteins in our body. Protein products, particularly Whey protein, have been used by body builders since WWII. Body builders and fitness experts typically take protein shakes twice a day and consume up to 100 grams of purified protein in this manner. All of the listed proteins contain a rich source of amino acids that build up muscle size and strength, especially in athletes who engage in strength training, and particularly those who “pump iron.”

Protein powders are excellent for building muscle and maintaining body health. However, protein powders have never been shown, in clinical studies, to work beneficially as weight loss products. This is why the FDA has never allowed any of the protein products to provide “hard” claims related to weight-loss health.

When proteins are consumed by the body they need to be digested to release their protein-bound amino acids for absorption into the body. The digestion process takes hours to days and relies on the secretion of pancreatic enzymes and the release of bile into the intestinal tract. Without stimulating pancreatic secretion and gallbladder contraction, most of the protein remains undigested and passes into the stool.

The International Nutrition Research Center has studied the utilization of protein-bound amino acids extensively. They report that the net nitrogen utilization (NNU) of protein powders average 17%. This means that 83% of the protein is passed as waste from the body. By comparison, free amino acids delivered in the diet are absorbed by the intestinal tract and utilized by the body at levels which approach 99%. Thus, free amino acids show NNU levels that are 6-times more efficient than protein-bound amino acids contained in protein products.

By further comparison, food products (meat, poultry, fish and eggwhites) appear to be utilized at levels between 35% and 50%.

What we learn from 50 years of research reported in The Pancreas is that protein by itself does not stimulate the pancreas to secrete its digestive enzymes or the gallbladder to release its bile. So these scientific studies would explain why protein powders are poorly utilized by the body. Furthermore, release of amino acids from protein takes hours to be absorbed into the body. This means that the beneficial effects of protein-bound amino acids in controlling satiety are greatly limited and in most cases, undetectable.

Furthermore, while the amino acid profile contained in commercial protein powders is optimal for building muscle, it is suboptimal for building regulatory proteins, including positive-charged metabolic enzymes and DNA regulatory proteins.

FACTOR4 WEIGHT CONTROL®

From the research of Dr. Scheele and others, summarized in The Pancreas, we learn that essential amino acids and fatty acids are powerful stimulants of enzyme secretion from the pancreas and bile release from the gallbladder. Both essential amino acids and fatty acids release the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) from the intestinal mucosal cells and it is CCK that is the potent stimulator of pancreatic secretion and gallbladder contraction. As such CCK is the most important hormone in the body to regulate the efficiency of digestive processes. CCK is also the most important hormone to signal satiety in the appetite centers of the brain and stomach.

Dr. Scheele discovered that essential amino acids had other beneficial qualities in weight loss health, in that they:

  • Act as neurotransmitters to signal satiety to the appetite center of the brain (Arcuate Nucleus)
  • Act as neurotransmitters to signal satiety to appetite centers in the stomach.
  • Optimize the release of the hormone cholecystokinin from the intestine to provide further satiety signals to the brain and stomach.

Dr. Scheele discovered that metabolites and analogues of essential amino acids exert even greater satiety effects on the brain and stomach, so he included satiety amino acids together with the essential and positive-charged amino acids contained in the Factor4 Weight Control®. These satiety amino acids begin to act within 5 to 10 minutes of ingestion and continue to act for hours to reduce appetite.

Dr. Scheele discovered, through his invention of 2D gel electrophoresis, that protein deficiencies, which accompany the high carbohydrate content in the Modern American Diet (MAD), lead rapidly to a profound loss in positive-charged proteins throughout the body. These deleterious changes lead to an imbalance in metabolic pathways that result in the metabolic diseases associated with the metabolic syndrome, including overweight disorders and obesity.

Because humans and other vertebrates do not produce essential and positive-charged amino acids, including the positive-charged amino acids Lysine, Histidine and, in certain cases, Arginine, which is conditionally essential, this constitutive deficiency in amino acids corroborated the loss of positive-charged proteins observed in his 2D-gel nutritional studies. In accordance with these new discoveries, Dr. Scheele created a proprietary blend of essential, positive-charged, and satiety amino acids that he trademarked as Power Amino Acids®.

To complete the formulation of Factor4 Weight Control® Dr. Scheele added 10-12 grams of protein to sustain the positive benefits of Factor4 Health overtime following the absorption of the free power amino acids. In the presence of essential amino acids to stimulate pancreatic secretion and bile release from the gallbladder, the efficiency of protein digestion can be expected to increase up to 20-times. Thus 10 grams of protein in a single serving of Factor4 provides amino acid utilization levels comparable to 100 grams of pure protein.

The successful formulation of Factor4 Weight Control® depended on Dr. Scheele’s unique understanding of the role amino acids, proteins, hormones and neurotransmitters play in feedback mechanisms which regulate digestive health, metabolism, and body weight throughout the animal kingdom. The science behind Dr. Scheele’s Factor4 formulation is so unique that it received patent protection (US Patent 7,982,066) in 2011.

Through the dedicated efforts of Dr. Scheele over the past 40 years, we now have a unique product in a new class of dietary supplements with imprimis credentials to tame appetite, satisfy food cravings, increase energy and optimize fat-burning potential.

This new class of dietary supplements combines a certain group of free amino acids (power amino acids®) with protein-bound amino acids (health plus protein™) to utilize the body’s hormonal and neural feedback mechanisms to optimize metabolic health and weight control. The combination of the two ingredients provides the synergy to achieve extraordinary results.

Factor4 Weight Control® is so effective in stimulating weight loss health that 24 out of 25 subjects lost significant weight over a three month period and continued to lose weight when the study was extended to 6 and 12 months. The table below summarizes the weight loss results as average values.

WEIGHT LOSS STUDY

Measurement

3 months

6 months

12 months

Weight loss in pounds

8.4 lbs

16.2 lbs

33.4 lbs

% body weight loss

4.5%

8.2%

16%

 

As the FDA requires a 5% reduction in body weight over 12 months to justify weight loss claims, Factor4 exceeds this threshold level by more than 3-times.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS OF FACTOR4 HEALTH

Based on Dr. Scheele’s discoveries which led to the unique formulation of Factor4 Weight Control® we may now summarize the multiple benefits of Factor4 Health. The rapid uptake of essential, positive-charged and satiety amino acids (Power Amino Acids®) which begins in 5 to 10 minutes and continues for 60 to 90 minutes (free amino acids) and 4 to 6 hours (protein-bound amino acids) provides unique results that may not be obtained with individual ingredients alone.

Thus Factor4 Weight Control® with free Power Amino Acids:

  1. Rapidly closes the food chain gap to correct deficiencies in positive-charged amino acids, proteins, and enzyme-driven metabolic pathways. By rebalancing metabolic pathways, Power Amino Acids stimulate fat metabolism.
  2. Tames (reduces) appetite to avoid addictive taste disorders and prevent food cravings, thus allowing reduction in caloric intake without hunger. Factor4 shakes provide feelings of comfort, satisfaction and well-being within minutes of ingestion and continue to control appetite for hours.
  3. Increases lean body mass (muscle tissue) which improves energy and helps burn fat.
    Increases body energy without the yo-yo metabolism of sugar, high-fructose-corn-syrup, caffeine or guarana. Increased energy stimulates the desire for exercise.
  4. Retains anabolic health at reduced caloric intake which prevents catabolic reactions including starvation and hibernation mechanisms.
  5. Improves the digestive process by stimulating Cholecystokinin (CCK) release which stimulates secretion of pancreatic digestive enzymes into the digestive track.
  6. Helps prevent formation of gallstones and associated gallbladder and liver disease by stimulating CCK-dependent gallbladder contraction.
  7. Helps promote a natural cleanse of the GI tract through gallbladder contraction which enhances ileal and colonic evacuation. Enhances regularity in bowel movements and prevents constipation through the same natural cleansing mechanisms.
  8. Improves health in all the organs and tissues of the body, including the brain.
  9. Improves dietary health in the 8 major health systems in the body which includes (i) Body Weight and Energy, (ii) Beauty Health, (iii) Mental Balance/Health, (iv) Digestive Health, (v) Metabolic Health, (vi) Immune Health, (vii) Sexual and reproductive health, and (viii) Aging Health.

Benefits 1 through 10 work synergistically to provide the following ultimate benefits:

  1. Helps to normalize body weight, improve body definition, and increase pep, energy, activity, stamina, endurance and performance.
  2. Promotes healthy lifestyles, including increased satiety, improved diet, exercise, sleep, attitude, and less dependency on sugar, caffeine and alcohol.
  3. Helps combat metabolic risk factors, including high blood pressure and increased levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and sugar in the bloodstream.
  4. Helps combat chronic degenerative diseases associated with the metabolic syndrome, including obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and gallbladder, liver and kidney disease.
  5. Helps combat inflammatory diseases, including autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disease.
  6. Helps promote anti-aging health with increased longevity and quality of life evidenced by reduced chronic degenerative disease and enhanced feelings of comfort, satisfaction, and well-being.
  7. Combats loss of productivity and accelerated aging.
  8. Helps combat alcohol dependency disorders and alcoholism.
  9. Helps combat stress-related disorders including depression, anxiety, anger, rage, aggression and post-traumatic Stress Disorders.
  10. Helps promote body repair and tissue healing.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

In the comparison between commercial protein powders and Factor4 Weight Control® we may conclude the following. Out of the 20 benefits observed with Factor4 Weight Control®, commercial protein powders are estimated to compete with only 3 of these claims (3, 4, and 9). In each of these three endpoints, the response to protein will be small compared to that of Factor4 Health. Among the synergistic endpoints (claims 10 to 20) commercial protein powders may be considered to show little if any detectable results.

Based on the comparison between Factor4 and protein powders, it is clear that NovaLife has introduced a new class of dietary supplement designed to optimize weight loss health. The Factor4 Health technology utilizes a unique combination of free and bound amino acid blends to achieve health benefits that far exceed the benefits observed with individual ingredients. Factor4 Weight Control® is unique in its ability to normalize body weight as well as improve metabolic parameters and risk factors associated with the Metabolic Syndrome. As such Factor4 Weight Control® has the imprimis credentials to provide first-in-class benefits for health and wellness programs around the world.

Weight-Loss Companies Charged With Fraud – 2014

Article by Edward Wyatt as printed in the NY Times, Jan 9th 2014

WASHINGTON — “Get a gym body without going to the gym” by sprinkling a powder on your food. “Significantly slim your thighs and buttocks” using an almond-scented cream. Lose up to one pound a day with just two drops under the tongue.

Such claims were too good to be true, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

On Tuesday, the commission charged four companies with deceptively marketing weight-loss products, asserting they made “unfounded promises” that consumers could shed pounds simply by using their food additives, skin creams and other dietary supplements.

The four companies — Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa — will collectively pay $34 million to refund consumers. They neither admitted nor denied fault in the case.

The case is part of a broader crackdown on companies that the government says “peddle fad weight-loss products.” Linda Goldstein, the chairwoman of the advertising and marketing division at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, said the settlements made clear that the commission would accept only double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to document the medical effectiveness of diet regimes.

The F.T.C. imposed a $46.5 million judgment on Sensa Products, but it will be able to pay only about half that sum. Federal Trade Commission

The commission is also proposing new guidance for media outlets to help them catch potentially fraudulent claims. The F.T.C. said it would urge media companies not to accept advertisements that make dubious weight-loss claims.

“Resolutions to lose weight are easy to make but hard to keep,” Jessica Rich, the director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “And the chances of being successful just by sprinkling something on your food, rubbing cream on your thighs or using a supplement are slim to none. The science just isn’t there.”

The weight-loss industry has exploded in recent years. Consumers are expected to spend about $66 billion this year on diet soft drinks, health club memberships, dietary supplements and other products aimed at weight loss, according to Marketdata Enterprises.

But that growth comes with potential pitfalls. Weight-loss products accounted for 13 percent of the fraud claims submitted to the F.T.C. in 2011, the most recent data available. That is more than twice the number in any other category.

The F.T.C.’s latest initiative, called “Operation Failed Resolution,” follows a series of enforcement efforts in recent years against unfounded weight-loss schemes.

In 2004, the commission announced “Operation Big Fat Lie,” charging six companies with false marketing. Among the fraudulent products that year was Himalayan Diet Breakthrough, a diet pill containing Nepalese mineral pitch, a pastelike material that “oozes out of the cliff face cracks in the summer season” in the Himalayas. The seller, AVS Marketing, claimed that users could lose as much as 37 pounds in eight weeks while still consuming unlimited amounts of food.

In 1997, “Operation Waistline” targeted seven companies that marketed the weight-loss properties of products like “Fat Burners” diet supplements, “Svelte-Patch” skin patches, and “Slimming Soles” shoe insoles. Separately, the F.T.C. has also pursued dozens of cases against companies operating fake news sites that promote the weight-loss characteristics of acai berries.

Over the last decade, the F.T.C. has also lobbied the media industry to stop accepting ads for weight-loss products whose claims are too good to be believed. That year, the commissioned announced its Red Flag education campaign for media companies to help them spot dubious weight-loss claims.

In that time, the commission has seen “a significant reduction in the number of ads appearing” in major media outlets that screen advertising content before use, said Richard Cleland, an F.T.C. lawyer.

As part of the recent spate of cases, the commission noted that one marketer piggybacked on the reputation of well-known media outlets as cover for their claims.

For example, one television commercial for Sensa noted that Dr. Alan Hirsch, the creator of the product and a part-owner of the company, had “appeared on ‘Oprah,’ ‘Good Morning America,’ ‘Dateline,’ ‘Extra,’ the CBS ‘Early Show,’ CNN” and in hundreds of magazines and newspapers around the country.

Sensa charged $59, plus shipping and handling, for a one-month supply of the powder. The powder was supposed to be sprinkled on food to make users feel full faster, so they ate less.

But the company failed to disclose that some consumers were paid for their endorsements, the commission said. The F.T.C. also took aim at Adam Goldenberg, the chief executive of Sensa, and Dr. Hirsch, who conducted studies on the product but whose findings “were not supported by scientific evidence.”

The commission imposed a $46.5 million judgment on the company, which sold $364 million of Sensa in the United States from 2008 to 2012. But the company will remit little more than half the settlement amount “due to their inability to pay,” officials said. Sensa officials did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Dubious weight-loss claims are not limited to fledgling companies that advertise on late-night television.

The commission also charged L’Occitane, a retailer with more than 2,000 boutiques worldwide, with deceptive marketing on two skin creams, Almond Beautiful Shape and Almond Shaping Delight. L’Occitane trumpeted that the creams, which cost $44 to $48 for about seven ounces, could trim inches from a user’s body in four weeks, resulting in a “noticeably slimmer, trimmer you.”

The company “takes enormous care in developing our entire line of products and we want our customers to make well-informed decisions,” L’Occitane said in a statement. “As a result of the F.T.C. inquiry, L’Occitane has implemented a set of even more rigorous policies and procedures that will guide future clinical testing and ensure that our marketing and advertising comply with F.T.C. regulations and guidelines.”

L’Occitane agreed to pay $450,000 to refund customers. An F.T.C. official said that amount would provide for a refund of “substantial portions” of consumer spending on the products.

The commission also settled claims against HCG Diet Direct, which sold HCG Diet Direct Drops. The product contains a form of a hormone naturally produced by human placenta that has been “falsely promoted for decades as a weight-loss supplement,” the commission said.

LeanSpa settled charges that the company and its principal executive used fake news websites to promote acai berry and colon cleanse weight-loss products. Consumers were charged recurring monthly payments after signing up for a supposedly free trial, the commission said.

(get real results with a real product – Factor4 Weight Control®, the healthy way to loose weight and improve your health by The Good Doctor)