Nutriex Health

Yes, glucosamine is safe for diabetics as well as for those with pre-diabetes. While there have been a few individual reports that glucosamine raised blood sugar levels and there have also been some animal studies suggesting the same, many well-designed studies on large numbers of people have shown otherwise. These studies are placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind and have evaluated various factors such as fasting vs. not and lean vs. obese. None have shown any negative effect on blood sugar.

No, none of our products contain MSM. MSM is a cartilage nutrient that is thought to work by providing a source of sulfur for rebuilding and repair. Instead, our Sport and Health products provide sulfur through chondroitin sulfate, which is backed by a lot more research and validation than MSM. Because chondroitin provides adequate sulfur supply, we have no need to include the less-validated MSM.

Sport and Health are unique in that they contain many different nutrients (43 in Sport, 40 in Health, to be exact) at quantities high enough to provide a health benefit (rather than just prevent disease). In 2012 we decided to buy an equivalent to Sport and Health from products available online and in retail stores and found that it requires the following:

¹Online price does not include sales tax or shipping charges
²Retail price does not include sales tax
³Prices reflect the cost for the quantities of ingredients contained in one bottle of our products

Which would you rather buy? Nutriex products are simple, safe (no overloading of nutrients that overlap when you buy multiple products), less expensive, concentrated,convenient, and highest quality.

Yes, a “new and improved” Sport is in the works. Every few years we do a major review of recent research to determine if we should: 1) add new ingredients, 2) remove ingredients, 3) change the quantities of any of the ingredients, or 4) change the source of any of the ingredients. We also review our proposed changes with our Science Panel, a group of experts in various fields of specialty like orthopedics, ophthalmology, cardiology and request their feedback and recommendations for any other changes. We have implemented the following changes to our Sport product:

• Increased Vitamin D3 from 800 IU to 1,000 IU
• Decreased Vitamin E from 400 IU to 200 IU
• Added two new forms of Vitamin K2: MK–4 and MK-7
• Added grape seed extract
• Added hydroxytyrosol (from olives)
• Removed the Sport text from the capsules

The reformulated Sport is currently available.

The quantity of Sport that you take depends on your body weight; one bottle can last nearly 2 months. The table below breaks out how many days a bottle will last:

Both our Sport and Health products contain glucosamine, which is derived from shellfish; our Basic product does not and is an option to consider. We fully understand the potential severity of a shellfish allergy, and would like to provide you with some additional information on how the glucosamine is processed so that you can better understand if our Health and Sport products are indeed an option for you.

During the processing of shellfish into glucosamine, the shells are dried, deproteinized, and demineralized before undergoing further processing (depolymerizing and deacetylating) to form glucosamine. The important step here, for anyone with an allergy, is that the shellfish are deproteinized, which is a process that removes the protein (which is what people are allergic to) from the shells. The information in the paragraph below comes from the National Institutes of Health; you may want to review it with your allergist before taking any product with shellfish-derived glucosamine. Here’s the link to the full content: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/807.html.

Shellfish allergy: Because some glucosamine sulfate products are made from the shells of shrimp, lobsters or crabs, there is concern that glucosamine products might cause allergic reactions in people who are allergic to shellfish. But allergic reactions in people with shellfish allergy are typically caused by the meat of shellfish, not the shell. There are no reports of allergic reactions to glucosamine in people who are allergic to shellfish. There is also some information that people with shellfish allergy can safely take glucosamine products. (Source: National Institutes of Health)

We include the allergy warning on our labels to let people know about the source of our glucosamine. Our glucosamine-free products are manufactured at the same facility, which has thorough allergen control procedures in place.

There are vegetable-derived sources of glucosamine available. We do not know the reputation or quality of the available products, nor do we know of any science that demonstrates that they are equally effective.