Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney
When you are the leader in the natural food supplement
industry, people sometimes test your
products without you even knowing about it.
That was exactly what happen with a recent study comparing
the effects of Shaklee's Performance and Gatorade on the risk of kidney stone
formation.
This was the ultimate independent study.
Shaklee didn't initiate it. They didn't support it. And, in
fact, they didn't even know about it until it
was published a couple of weeks after it was published (J.W.
Goodman et al, Urol. Res., 37: 41-46, 2009).
Before I get into the results of the study, perhaps I should
start with an explanation of why you
would even want to do that kind of study.
Let's start with the problem - kidney stones. They are
extremely painful, and they can damage the kidney - particularly if they form
over and over again.
To a urologist the solution is simple - just drink two
liters of water a day.
The problem is that you have to really, really, really like
water to drink two liters a day, and most
people just aren't that into water.
In fact, previous studies had shown that even when patients
had a previous kidney stone and were told by their urologist to drink two
liters of water a day, the beverage result was an increase of only 0.3 liters a
day of water.
So this group of urologists asked what people were drinking
instead of water.
The latest trends show that soft drink consumption is
decreasing and consumption of sports drinks and energy drinks is increasing.
And, there was absolutely no information on whether sports drinks increased or
decreased the risk of kidney stone formation.
So they decided to look at two well-known sports drinks,
Shaklee's Performance and Gatorade, to see whether they would increase or
decrease the risk of kidney stone formation compared to the consumption of an
equivalent amount of water.
They looked at the effect of each sports drink on the amount
of citrate in the urine and by how much they increased the pH of the urine
because each of these decreases the risk of kidney stone formation.
They also looked at the effect of each sports drink on the
amount of sodium and calcium in the urine because each of those increases the
risk of kidney stone formation. Performance significantly increased the amount
of citrate and the pH of the urine, while Gatorade had no effect on either of
them.
Neither Performance or Gatorade had an significant effect on
sodium or calcium levels in the urine. Thus,
they concluded that Shaklee's Performance was superior to either Gatorade or
water alone at decreasing the risk of kidney stone formation.
Now you might be tempted to say that this study was of more
interest to urologists than the general public, but my guess is that if you
have ever suffered through a kidney stone this study is of great interest to you.
But to me the more important conclusion is that, once again,
independent clinical studies show the superiority of Shaklee products.
About The Author : Dr. Chaney has a BS in Chemistry from
Duke University and a PhD in
Biochemistry from UCLA. He currently holds the rank of
Professor at a major university where runs an active cancer research program
and has published over 100 scientific articles and reviews in peer-reviewed
scientific journals.
*For more information on health and wellness as well as our full
line of Sports Nutrition products including Performance – a great hydration sports drink, check out our website To Be Healthy – Sports Nutrition.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and
Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure
or prevent any disease.
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