As millions of Americans deal with the adverse effects of stress, including disease, obesity, and difficulties sleeping, the demand for products to alleviate stress is growing rapidly. A new patent-pending ingredient, called Relora, made by Irvine, CA based Next Pharmaceuticals, Inc., claims to do just that, its makers assert.
What is Relora?
Relora is a proprietary blend created from the plant extracts of Magnolia officinalis and Phellodendron amurense. The company claims that Relora helps to control occasional mild anxiety or mild depression and the associated symptoms; helps to maintain restful sleep; and helps in relaxation. In central nervous system receptor assays, the plant extracts in Relora bind to several important targets associated with anxiety. Meanwhile, says the manufacturer, it does not bind to the benzodiazepine receptors that would cause excess sedation, yet has the relaxing qualities of the benzodiazepine class of drugs in a validated anxiolytic animal model.
What does Relora do?
According to information obtained from relora.com, a website mounted by Next Pharmaceuticals, the herbal combination doesn't merely provide users with significant relaxation and more restful sleep, but also provides an all-natural alternative to losing weight. Because chronic stress can lead to cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods, stress can lead to dangerous amounts of weight gain. In fact, 60% of Americans are overweight due to stress-induced eating habits, and 20% suffer from metabolic syndrome, a stress-related condition characterized by a beer belly, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, says the website.
According to an article penned by Gina L. Nick, Ph.D., N.D., executive vice president of Longevity Through Prevention, Inc., a Brookfield, WI-based consulting firm, "Weight gain is the most common triggering mechanism for metabolic syndrome. Once this wagon starts rolling, it becomes increasingly difficult to arrest the vicious cycle that ends in blindness, renal failure, osteoarthritis, heart attacks, strokes and premature death for growing numbers of people."
Stress-induced weight gain?
Until recently, the cause of stress-induced eating was not known. However, Dr. Elissa Epel and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco have demonstrated that individuals who are high reactors to the stress hormone called cortisol, consume more calories and more sweet foods under stress. The study also showed that greater food consumption occurred in high cortisol reactors when they were in a negative mood, says the site.
Relora.com reports that Relora can help stressed individuals relax and normalize the hormones related to stress-induced eating. A study has shown that 80 % of adult subjects felt more relaxed after taking Relora. It also has been shown in a pilot study to normalize cortisol levels in stressed individuals. Preliminary findings suggest that Relora can decrease the cravings for high-fat, high sugar foods in stressed individuals, most likely due to its ability to normalize stress hormone levels that cause these cravings.
Material distributed by Emerald Labs discusses the findings of a trial completed in January 2002 at the living Longer Institute in Cincinnati, OH. The trial studied the effects of Relora on cortisol and DHEA, two hormones related to anxiety, and at least in the case of cortisol, also related to food cravings and overeating in stressed individuals.
Relora reduces cortisol
The patent-pending natural plant extract lowered cortisol levels by 37% and increased DHEA by 227%. "These findings are statistically significant and support the positive results we have obtained with this ingredient over the past year," said James LaValle, RPh., N.D., C.C.N., the institute's wellness director and principal investigator for the study. "More than 20% of Americans have metabolic syndrome, a type of obesity often characterized by increased abdominal and facial fat that is also associated with increased risk for heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. This stress-related condition is associated with elevated cortisol levels. The new findings with Relora are very exciting because it is the first natural product for lowering cortisol, decreasing stress and its associated increase in cortisol that has been shown to cause the excess fat deposits seen in metabolic syndrome," says LaValle.
In short, suggests LaValle, in a June 18 article appearing in Woman's World magazine, Relora has the ability to reverse metabolic syndrome. "Short of working out," he adds, "Relora is perhaps your best bet for controlling cortisol."
Nick, meanwhile, cites an open-label, in-home-use trial in which 50 adult users of dietary supplements took two to three doses a day of Relora for two weeks. At the end of the study, she reports, 82% agreed with the statement that "Relora helps control occasional mild anxiety or mild depression and the associated symptoms: irritability, emotional ups and downs, restlessness, tense muscles, poor sleep, fatigue and concentration difficulties." An independent research firm commissioned by Next Pharmaceuticals administered the study.
Relora evolved from 18 months of screening more than 50 plant fractions from traditional medicines used around the world, according to Bob Garrison, chairman and co-founder of Next Pharmaceuticals. "Relora is targeted for one of the largest untapped segments of the dietary supplement market today," he explains. "It will, be sold as a single ingredient by some major dietary supplement companies, while others will include it in their existing formulas for enhancing relaxation."
- www.relora.com
- www.solanova.com
- Material Provided by Emerald Labs
- "Shrink Your Belly Fat", Woman's World, June 18, 2002.
Provided Courtesy of Whole Foods Magazine
