EnXtra™: Performance + Energy + Focus from AGG and Enovate Biolife

Danielle Lin CN: Hello and welcome, I am Danielle Lin, and this is Science of Your Life, a series created to educate and inform anyone who is entering or expanding in the dynamic growing nutrition and lifestyle industries. What we have done is creat one of the most significant libraries in the world of clinically based ingredients with proven efficacy, scientific substantiation, and (most important) sustainability. When I started this the idea was how do you go into the marketplace and know who you can trust? The idea behind that was to set a higher standard of awareness you would need to have knowledge. So, every podcast and interview that we do is talking about the emerging categories in the marketplace.

Today we are talking about one that is so interesting where you may be looking at developing a product or you’re offering the ingredients, or you are looking to find your way and navigate. It’s in beverages and nutraceuticals, addressing a life shift we are looking at, which is the need to have more energy. For the first time, I think both sexes are looking at multitasking. They used to say that the women were better at multitasking. In this case it has become such a struggle and so critically more important in everything from work to life now because we live in a 24/7 world and mental alertness has become a prominent buzzword in the beverage category for sure. It is beyond whether it is a stick-pack, or it is in supplement form. If you are developing or purchasing a product or looking for an ingredient in this category, there is one that I think (hands down) is important called EnXtra™.

We will talk in greater depth about it. The idea is that it is from a root called Alpinia Galangal and it is commonly referred to as Galangal. Joining me is Dr. Miller. He has a PhD and MBA professor at three different medical schools in both basics and clinical studies, and several years working in the pharmaceutical industry in drug discovery.

He is kind of an eccentric pioneer in some wonderful way and is best known as a Lead Biomedical Researcher. In fact, his discoveries and efforts have contributed to literally changing the way medicine is practiced and the ways in which we maintain our health today. Looking at his background where he comes from academia, to realizing that there was a fire burning in his belly even as a young chap. He had an interest in free radical research and it lead him into traditional medicine which then lead quite a journey into the Amazon. He left his academic career to bring to the consumer innovative products in the natural sector. I would say that you have a background where frustration created inspiration. That is my shortened observation of you.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: That is accurate.

Danielle Lin, CN: It’s been a pleasure and I’m excited that you are here and that we’re going to have a short time today but a long journey together. Just give us one quick story about your journey into the Amazon because there was quite an opinion about you coming in.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: I really enjoyed it. I went in with the mindset of instead of being the professor, that I was this famous sort of scientist coming in, I went where I was the student with all the people, the locals, who know how to manage their health with traditional medicines. They were the ones who were going to teach me. I think that attitude helped the most. All I did was ask lots and lots of questions.

Danielle Lin, CN: It occurs to me that the word might be humility. We see movies like Avatar and you think about how we go into the Amazon and we take the raw materials for a different purpose. In this case, you went into the Amazon for the right reasons. This is why we must protect these areas. It is so important. – Because “life” lives in them.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Yes, 16% of all the botanical species on the planet are in the Amazon. It’s a very fertile field.

Danielle Lin, CN: When I looked at EnXtra™ There are a lot of energy drinks out there and a lot of controversy around this category. The need for mental alertness and the idea of what they had discovered in a simple root, give a quick word on that.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: By the way, this is not an Amazonian product, this is from Southeast Asia. It looks like a ginger, it’s a rhizome. In the research they compared three different rhizomes and they picked Galangal because it worked.

 Danielle Lin, CN: We are going to spend this time talking about the double-blind studies, and the things that will bring to you (if you are looking to develop a product in this area for mental alertness) . I’m Danielle Lin with Dr. Mark Miller.

 

Segment Two:

 Danielle Lin, C.N: Danielle Lin here and we are joined in studio with Dr. Mark Miller. The series we are focusing on right now is around energy and sustaining energy (which is a problem). Dr. Miller, you are an expert in this. Talk about why this whole field of concern is growing.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: It’s a big area. 74% of all Americans say they lack energy. That’s 175 million people every day who say they lack energy. Only 20% of the population say they don’t lack energy. So, there is this huge gap. There is this massive need. It’s not going to get smaller because we are multitasking. We are trying to do so much. At the end of the day we have this sort of deficit which leads to poor brain function. How do I process all of the information? It’s a real strain. What we need to do is find something that gets you through the day but at the end of it doesn’t disturb your sleep patterns because then you get into a vicious cycle. When you are causing increased energy and brain performance at the end of the day you don’t want that bleeding into your sleep because if you have a lack of sleep then you wake up with less energy.

Danielle Lin, CN: So, what did they discover that was so unique in the Alpinia Galangal?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: They compared it to these two other rhizomes, which were Licorice and Lemon Grass. These are food-based products. The inspiration is from traditional medicine. They really understood it from their applications. The initial study looked at what types of extracts are needed in order to get this increased mental alertness. They found that none of them worked except a water extract of Galangal. That is the basic premise, it is a little more complicated than that and the process is patented.

Danielle Lin, CN: Different from the alcohol extract.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Yes, alcohol tends to pull out chemicals that are lipid soluble/fat soluble. The hot water extracts like as you would when you made a soup or a hot beverage which is the traditional approach, that brings an entirely different class of chemicals that you are extracting out of the plant.

Danielle Lin, CN: When you extract it out versus putting it in a soup are there different benefits?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Not really. It just depends on the technique. What you are trying to do is get as much as possible. There are marker molecules that you can track. One of the things I really like about the whole process here is that you are following traditional medicine and you are not going against the grain.

Danielle Lin, CN: When you look at the energy drinks that are out there that have had problems and have built a giant marketplace, what is the difference?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: The difference is: trying to get to a state of balance. What you are trying to do is optimize performance rather than bludgeon it. Most of the energy drinks out there have multiple components but primarily it’s caffeine. What we know about caffeine is that you get a crash. So, you may get some stimulation of mental focus and alertness and performance but after a few hours it goes the other way. The interesting thing about the research with Galangal is that you get a sustained energy. They did research of up to five hours and compared it to caffeine. Not only did the Galangal not have a crash but when you combined it with caffeine it prevented the caffeine crash.

Danielle Lin, CN: Now that’s extraordinary. When you look at just what is happening with the biochemistry. Again, if you are listening to this because you are developing a beverage or a nutraceutical product, EnXtra™ is for performance, energy, and focus. It is the branded raw material from Alpinia Galangal which is a DNA authenticated, stim-free energy ingredient. It’s fast, effective, and safe…being the key.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Exactly. You don’t have the negative attributes we normally attribute to caffeine. So, for example, you don’t have a crash, you don’t have a change in blood pressure, heart rate, and you don’t have a change in sleep patterns. So, there are a lot of positives based on the negatives that it lacks.

Danielle Lin, CN: What it looks wonderful for, to me, is you have got a generation that doesn’t want to sleep. They feel (in many ways) that sleep is irrelevant, or a student that has got to get the work done and is up all night. There are people working on time clocks because it’s a 24/7 world global communication. This is really a perfect model for that. What I do want to talk about when we return is what EnXtra™ does not do. I am here with Dr. Mark Miller, I am Danielle Lin.

 

Segment Three:

 Danielle Lin, C.N: Danielle Lin here with Dr. Mark Miller talking about a breakthrough ingredient in what we call the mental-alertness category. If you are developing a product for energy be it male, female, performance, being in the world of business or student. EnXtra™ is spelled EnXtra. The distribution company is Anderson Global Group which we have worked with and you have heard throughout this podcast series. Anderson Global has a stellar reputation, but you spoke about ENovate Biolife and you lit up in a unique way.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Yes, I’ve interacted with the founder for about 12 years now. I have interacted with him on the level of doing clinical studies on different products. There is someone that you trust and someone who does exactly what he says he is going to do and their standards are exemplary. So, for me, coming from an academic and professorial background I really want to make sure when I hang out with certain people that their ethics and standards match mine.

Danielle Lin, CN: This is incredibly important why we do what we do with curating this library. It is about establishing who has done the science? Where are those clinical studies? Where are these ingredients from? One thing that is important is that this is traditional medicine. The actual Galangal is grown in a pristine area, so one might ask if it is organic. If it has never been exposed, then you don’t need to say it is organic because it is by nature.

 Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: I guess it is organic, Bu really it is beyond organic because the fields have never been exposed to pesticides.

Danielle Lin, CN: Where is it grown?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Southern India. It grows all the way through Southeast Asia, but these particular plants are in southern India. They go to about three years before maturity and flowering. It’s certainly not-GMO, it’s vegan, and GRAS certified…

So, it’s check, check, check.

Danielle Lin, CN: Non-irradiated which is also very important with herbs and things that are coming through from other countries.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Another element, Danielle, is that this group follow the DNA patterns of the plants as well.

Danielle Lin, CN: What difference would that make?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Well, we have this problem where when you get a root is it really Alpinia Galangal or is it something that looks like it? Is it something that is quasi-related but doesn’t work? There’s a term called commercial adulteration which is where you are putting in some other look-like plant. That is avoided by following the DNA.

Danielle Lin, CN: So, in following the DNA, they also have a 53-person double-blind – double-dummy human clinical. Explain that further and talk about the commitment to research.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Love these guys for the commitment to research. Being an old professor, I love that sort of stuff. This was like a cross-over study, so every individual got each treatment, but there’s four treatments here. There are two controls. So, there is a placebo control and then you have a positive control which is caffeine (200 mg of caffeine). Big dose of caffeine. The Galangal is at 300 mg. That was a separate group. There was another group that combined the caffeine and the Galangal. So, there were four groups. Two controls and two with Galangal.

Danielle Lin, CN: So, you put the Galangal in to see the effectiveness of that and then you test it with the caffeine and with the caffeine you get that hard crash at five hours.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Exactly and that’s what the results showed. They looked at a baseline, they looked at one hour, three hours, and five hours. Caffeine produced some mental alertness (by about 20%) at one hour. Then it started to drop and at five hours you had this big crash. You get a 30% increase in mental alertness with Galangal and that’s maintained for the entire five hours. The group that combined the two (Galangal and Caffeine), it blocked that crash from caffeine.

Danielle Lin, CN: Which is so intriguing to think at a biochemical level it could do that. So, when you are putting it in a beverage you are getting an effect, but you are not getting the downside. As we continue in this podcast series this is the important part. When you start formulating, when you are working with companies with standardized branding which gives you consistency with the efficacy. Also watching the mechanisms and we will talk about that in the next segment, the mechanism of action and the efficiency of delivery, and the cost when you are delivering an efficient raw material. I’m Danielle Lin. We are talking about EnXtra™ for absolutely in the performance, energy, and focus categories with Dr. Miller.

 

Segment Four:

Danielle Lin, C.N.: Danielle Lin here. You are listening to Science of Your Life and I’m enjoying my time in the studio with Dr. Mark J.S. Miller. It is very exciting to me. When I looked and read about EnXtra™, I’m not an energy beverage drinker, my biggest problem is that I probably have too much energy. Although, I have found over time I do think about where I am going to get that little extra hit. The thing that was most fascinating with EnXtra™, and by the way let me give you the information, it is distributed by Anderson Global Group. You can find and locate if you are developing and looking for a raw material in this category, this is a top leader in it. You can go to AndersonGlobalGroup.com. We talked about the studies and the actual implications. The mechanism of action?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Yes, there are three multiple proposed mechanisms of action There could be more as you do more research. That is focused on how the nerves communicate with each other. So, there is an increase in an enzyme called Sodium Potassium ATPase, which regulates neuro-firing. There is an antioxidant activity as well (not surprisingly). But the other big one is that it also inhibits cholinesterase. When the neuro-transmitter citicoline is released from the nerve endings it hangs around a little bit longer. So, you get a more pronounced action based on that. There is also evidence that it decreases adenosine and raises dopamine levels.

Danielle Lin, CN: Is that what is sustaining the energy?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: We believe so, yes. It’s sort of optimizing the energy over a sustained period of time. The fact that it was effective for five hours without waning was impressive.

Danielle Lin, CN: Yeah, a healthy mental state without burning out. That was the thing that was key. I was looking at it because it was water soluble and it has a pleasant taste. They consume it in soups. It’s used as a food. It’s intriguing and it crosses over so many areas. It can go into an energy bar, even a tea. I love the idea of it in a sachet. If you are developing a product, how cool is it that? You could do a line of different products with the same one raw material.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Yeah, you could do a ready to drink, you could do stick packs. Hey, if you are absolutely addicted to your coffee you could add it to your coffee.

Danielle Lin, CN: Could it put it in like a creamer jar?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Absolutely. It’s only 300mg.

Danielle Lin, CN: So, the dose would be 300mg on a regular basis. What would that look like if you were say scooping at home and you wanted to combine it?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: It’s a brown powder and when you put it in water it easily dissolves and looks like a tea. There is no impact as it relates to a cup of coffee or regular tea.

Danielle Lin, CN: This is where it gets exciting. Do you think from your perspective coming from academia with a very staunch background in clinical work and research, why did you jump over and why do you get so excited about this?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: The frustration I had is how do you get consumers’ needs met? How do you solve those problems? I felt that some of the other approaches were just too slow. Some of the aspects related to natural products were through mechanisms that pharmaceuticals hadn’t developed yet. They missed the mark. So, I really wanted to make sure that innovation was delivered to the consumer.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: It’s going to be regulated as a supplement. I think it’s easy sailing because of the beautiful clinical trials that are out there.

Danielle Lin, CN: There are no contra-indications?

Danielle Lin, CN: EnXtra™ is definitely innovation. It’s innovation with purity when you think about a stability in a food that could be translated over to have an impact on something as critical these days as staying alert. It’s very important. What about the regulatory factor on it?

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: No. There’s no change in blood pressure. There’s not a change in heart rate that you probably would see with caffeine. Caffeine will affect heart rate before blood pressure. So, yes, it would be very appreciated, especially coming from a food background as it relates to traditional use. Danielle, one of the things about EnXtra™ is the clinical support is exemplary. It’s a low dose. It’s only 300mg. It’s water soluble. Comes out like a beautiful tea. It has a great flavor profile, and all of this adds up to R&D specialists just having fun looking at the whole range of applications. It’s transgenerational in application. You could go for a younger audience, you could go for baby boomers, there is going to be a lot of possibilities with this kind of product. The nice thing is that ENovate Biolife and AGG will work with you. With the flexibility of EnXtra™ you can make some fantastic commercially successful products.

Danielle Lin, CN: I think this is one of the reasons we are working to identify the leaders in categories. I honestly believe I haven’t seen anything quite when you look at the stem-free-energy category that really hits all markers at the same time. You’ve been listening to Science of Your Life. I am Danielle Lin. If you want more information, it is so critical to stick with scientifically based, raw ingredients. In this case it is called EnXtra™. AndersonGlobalGroup.com is where you will find it.

Dr. Mark Miller, thank you for joining us and being here.

Dr. Mark J.S. Miller: Thank you, Danielle, it has been great.