It's hard to believe that 20 years has gone by since the first version of Life Extension MixTM was introduced.

Way back in 1983, Foundation members were clamoring for a comprehensive, high-potency supplement that would provide the most important disease-fighting nutrients. At that time in history, millions of Americans were learning about the value of dietary supplements through a best-selling book called Life Extension (Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw).

In response to the scientific data presented in this book, Life Extension Foundation members were taking dozens of different pills each day to obtain the potencies shown in research studies to be effective. With the introduction of Life Extension Mix, members were able to reduce the number of pills swallowed each day, obtain a wider variety of nutrients and save money.
Since its introduction 20 years ago, the Life Extension Mix formula has been updated 15 times to reflect new findings about preventing the degenerative diseases of aging.

Back in 1983, there were fewer than 3000 Life Extension members. Today, over 78,000 people are enrolled, representing a collective group of over 200,000 individuals (when family members are included).

We are proud of the fact that so many members are still with us, and in good health. For the benefit of newer members who are not familiar with Life Extension Mix, a summary of the scientific data relating to the nutrients contained in this formula begins on the following page.

People join the Life Extension Foundation to discover scientific methods of preventing and treating age-related disease. One of the most cherished benefits of Foundation membership is the opportunity to obtain pharmaceutical-grade and pharmaceutical-potency supplements at very low prices. Pharmaceutical-grade means the ingredients are of the highest standards of purity. Pharmaceutical potency means you are obtaining the actual dose used in published studies to attain a particular benefit.

Many commercial dietary supplements do not provide enough of the active ingredient for the consumer to obtain the expected health benefit. For instance, the Life Extension Foundation introduced a plant extract called lutein in 1985 to help protect against macular degeneration. The amount of lutein contained in a daily dose of Life Extension MixTM is over 15,000 micrograms, which is double the minimum amount scientists say is needed to protect against this debilitating eye disease. The most popular lutein-containing commercial supplement, on the other hand, contains only 250 micrograms per daily dose. Life Extension Mix thus provides 61 times more lutein than the most popular brand.

The importance of purity

A growing concern among physicians and consumers is whether dietary supplements contain all of the active ingredients listed on the label. This apprehension is based on well-publicized analyses of commercial supplements showing considerable variation in ingredient quality and quantity.

The Life Extension Foundation learned a long time ago that there were few ingredient suppliers who can be trusted to consistently deliver pharmaceutical-grade ingredients. That is why extraordinary quality-control measures were implemented in order to guard against the counterfeiting that has become so prevalent in the supplement industry.

Companies offering low-cost ingredients constantly solicit Life Extension's business. An assay of the ingredients from these discount companies, however, using HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) or mass spectrophotometry (mass spec), often reveals inconsistencies. This is why Life Extension restricts its purchases of ingredients to nutrient suppliers that take extra steps in their manufacturing process to ensure the active ingredients are of pharmaceutical quality and potency.

The Chinese have done the American vitamin consumer a tremendous favor. For decades, European and Japanese companies maintained a virtual monopoly that forced supplement users in the United States to pay inflated prices. The Federal Trade Commission even brought an anti-trust case against these companies that resulted in them disgorging huge amounts of their profits.
Free markets, however, don't need a government watchdog to protect against price fixing. The outrageous profits generated by the European-Japanese monopoly motivated the Chinese to copy just about every dietary supplement and sell them at sharply reduced prices.

While the quality of these Chinese knockoffs was considered inferior, it forced the Europeans and Japanese to slash their prices in order to remain competitive. The net effect is that the inflation-adjusted prices for dietary supplements have plummeted.

By selling raw materials at sharply lower prices, the Chinese were far more effective than the FTC in reigning in the spiraling cost of dietary supplements.
The Chinese are now inundating supplement makers in the United States with very low cost materials. The purity of these ingredients often fails to meet Life Extension's standards. For instance, Life Extension was offered a low-cost alpha lipoic acid ingredient made in China that assayed out at 95% purity. The European pharmaceutical standard, however, is 99.99%. Since alpha lipoic acid is a popular prescription drug in Europe, Life Extension restricts its purchases of alpha lipoic acid to European manufacturers. Pharmaceutical-grade ingredients are more expensive, but provide more of the active ingredient and are safer for the consumer to use because they do not contain impurities.

When members buy products from the Life Extension Buyers Club, they have assurance that the quality of the product is backed by the organization's commitment to achieving an indefinitely extended life span. Members receive large discounts that enable them to purchase premium-grade nutrient supplements at prices below those charged by commercial companies. Many commercial companies are now using lower-grade materials, but Life Extension continues to mandate pharmaceutical-quality ingredients. This enables members to obtain products they can trust and still obtain discounted prices.

The most popular life extension supplement

Health-conscious people often spend a lot of time and money taking many individual bottles of pills. To make it convenient and economical to obtain the nutrients you need, the Life Extension Mix formula was developed to provide optimal potencies of the most important dietary supplements.

Life Extension Mix provides pharmaceutical grades and potencies of important nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin E, complete B-complex and carotenoids, along with important minerals, amino acids and herbs. What clearly separates Life Extension Mix from commercial products are disease-fighting plant extracts that cannot be found in any other multi-nutrient formula.

Despite the fact that Life Extension Mix contains high potencies of pharmaceutical-grade nutrients along with exclusive plant extracts, members pay far less money for this 89-ingredient formula than if they bought these nutrients separately.

What's missing from commercial supplements?

Consuming lots of fruits and vegetables dramatically lowers the risk of degenerative disease. This fact has been documented in epidemiological studies showing that people are healthier if they incorporate more of the right kinds of plants into their diets.

The problem is that few people consistently eat enough fruits and vegetables to protect against age-related diseases such as stroke, cancer, macular degeneration and heart attack.¹ This is one reason why vitamin supplements are becoming so popular in the United States. The concern about multi-vitamin formulas, however, is that they do not provide all the vital plant components needed to maintain good health.

Scientists have identified many fruit and vegetable extracts that protect cells against the deleterious effects of aging. Life Extension Mix is the only multi-nutrient formula that provides these new disease-preventing agents from plants.

Moving beyond vitamins

Researchers have moved beyond traditional nutrients in their quest to discover additional ways of protecting against disease. One botanical extract that offers tremendous potential is D-glucarate. This extract appears to protect against cancer and other diseases via different mechanisms than antioxidants.

D-glucarate is found in grapefruit, apples, broccoli and brussels sprouts.^2,3 Consumption of these types of fruits and vegetables confers a protective effect against cancer, and D-glucarate is a component of these foods that has scientists very excited.

The body is bombarded with carcinogens on a daily basis. These cancer-causing agents include pesticides, overcooked food, alcohol, food additives, tobacco, fungal mutagens and industrial pollutants. While avoiding carcinogens is difficult, it may be possible to mitigate their lethal effects by providing the body with plant extracts that facilitate the detoxification and removal of these dangerous substances from the body.

D-glucarate protects against cancer-causing agents in a way that is separate from the effects of antioxidants (vitamins C & E and carotenoids) and methylation-enhancing agents (folic acid and vitamin B12). D-glucarate works by supporting the detoxification and removal of dangerous chemicals, and also by protecting against the mutating effects that these carcinogens induce on cellular DNA.³

D-glucarate is being used in a Phase I human trial at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in women at high risk for developing breast cancer. This study is in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health. Life Extension Mix provides 200 mg of standardized D-glucarate per daily dose, in addition to the naturally occurring D-glucarate found in the new vegetable concentrates that are included in the formula.

The DNA protecting effects of ellagic acid

Ellagic acid is a cancer-preventing compound found in red raspberries, strawberries and other fruits.^4,5 Ellagic acid acts as a detoxifying agent by binding to carcinogens and making them inactive.^6,9 Molecular studies show that ellagic acid prevents binding of carcinogens to DNA,^10,11 reduces the incidence of cancer in cultured human cells exposed to carcinogens, and has antimutagenic properties.^12-16 Epidemiological studies show that people who consume fruits high in ellagic acid have lower rates of cancer and heart disease.

Clinical tests conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) show that ellagic acid may help prevent cancer, inhibit the growth of cancer cells and arrest the growth of cancer in persons with a genetic predisposition to the disease. These studies show that ellagic acid induces cervical cancer cells to undergo apoptosis (normal cell death).¹⁷ Tests reveal similar results for breast, pancreas, esophageal, skin, colon and prostate cancer cells.^18-26 Life Extension Mix contains 50 mg of a raspberry extract that provides 97% ellagic acid.

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