Body Mass Index (BMI) is a mathematical formula used to measure your height/weight ratio. BMI equals a person’s weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (BMI = kg/m2).
BMI can be a useful tool for estimating overall body fat in adult men and women. It is not an appropriate tool for determining body fat in children.
When you look at a food label, you might be confused at the variety of different measurements used to indicate how much of each vitamin is in that food. You’ll find terms like mg, mcg, IU and more. Why are there a variety of different terms used, and how do you convert between these different units?
International Units (IU) are one of the standardized units used to calculate or measure vitamin potency and biological effectiveness. IUs are preferred rather than weight for many vitamins, because different vitamin forms can have different levels of potency. IUs provide a standardized way to calculate a vitamin’s potency across different vitamin forms.
IU = international unit
RAE = retinal activity equivalents
DFE = dietary folate equivalent
NE = niacin equivalent
mg = milligram
mcg = μg = microgram
The information below provides an approximate vitamin conversion from standardized units (IU, RAE, DFE, NE) to milligrams or micrograms.
1 IU = 0.3 mcg retinol
1 mcg RAE = 1 mcg retinol
1 mcg RAE = 2 mcg supplemental beta-carotene
1 mcg RAE = 12 mcg beta-carotene
1 mcg RAE = 24 mcg alpha-carotene
1 mcg RAE = 24 mcg beta-cryptoxanthin
Folate
1 mcg DFE = 1 mcg food folate
1 mcg DFE = 0.6 mcg folic acid
Niacin
1 mg NE = 1 mg niacinamide
1 mg NE = 1 mg inositol hexanicotinate
1 mg NE = 1 mg niacin
1 mg NE = 60 mg tryptophan
1 mcg ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2) = 40 IU
1 mcg cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) = 40 IU
1 IU = 0.67 mg d-alpha tocopherol (natural)
1 IU = 0.45 mg dl-alpha tocopheryl (synthetic)
“Vitamin B17” (also known as laetrile or amygdalin) is not a vitamin and does not play any known beneficial role in human health. Not only can amygdalin be potentially dangerous, but it has repeatedly proven ineffective when put through proper scientific testing and methodology.
If you ever come across an ingredient labeled as a vitamin and it is not in the CellSentials, it is not a true vitamin. USANA’s CellSentials contain all 13 known vitamins as well as choline (dubbed an “essential nutrient”).
At present, no USANA Nutritionals contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Preliminary research has examined possible roles of CLA in weight loss and muscle retention. However, current CLA research in humans is lacking (nearly all research involving CLA has been conducted in animals). If future CLA research demonstrates significant nutritional benefits for the general population, USANA scientists will reassess a potential role for it in appropriate USANA products.
At present, no USANA products contain creatine.
USANA does not produce or sell Human Growth Hormone supplements.
Human growth hormone (HGH), a substance secreted by the pituitary gland, promotes growth during childhood and adolescence. HGH therapy is useful for treating growth hormone deficiency in children and adults, and it may have other clinical uses.
Although growth hormone levels decline with age, there is no scientific evidence that maintaining HGH levels associated with youth is beneficial or even healthy. In fact, there are potential negative side effects associated with HGH therapy, including an increased risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and behavioral changes. Additionally, supplement companies cannot legally sell human growth hormone, so instead they market precursors (secretagogues) as dietary supplements, none of which currently have strong, scientifically-validated benefits.
Real HGH therapy requires a prescription and must be administered by a knowledgeable physician. It cannot simply be purchased through an MLM company, over the counter, or legally over the internet.
To maximize your health and growth hormone production it is important to receive adequate protein intake, participate in resistance training to improve muscle strength and function, maintain an adequate sleep cycle, and eat a healthy diet.
No USANA products currently contain policosanol.
Policosanol is an aliphatic alcohol (made from sugar cane wax) with HMG-CoA reductase properties purportedly similar to statin drugs. Unfortunately, properly done science on policosanol is inconclusive at the moment. As such, providing it in USANA supplements based solely on existing research would be premature.
USANA scientists will continue to monitor the science behind policosanol, and any product-related decisions will be based on the best available research.
USANA products do not currently contain pycnogenol.
The grape seed extract in Proflavanol C contains similar proanthocyandins to pycnogenol (plus other beneficial compounds pycnogenol may lack), while also being cleaner and more environmentally friendly to process and manufacture.
USANA products do not currently contain krill oil.
Although some arguments in favor of krill oil may sound persuasive, overall it doesn’t really stack up against a top-quality purified and concentrated fish oil. (For example, krill oil is much lower in DHA (9%) than USANA’s BiOmega product (23.5%), yet significantly more expensive to produce.)
For now, based on purity, potency, concentration, availability, and cost, using fish oil as the omega-3 source in BiOmega is a great choice.
Q. Is krill oil significantly more bioavailable than fish oil?
A. Proponents maintain that krill phospholipids are “significantly more bioavailable” than fish oil. The actual data says something else. There are differences in the absorption rates and total amounts of fat absorbed from different forms of fats, but those differences are minor. Even in the best head-to-head experiments comparing fish oil to krill oil, there have been no statistically significant differences. The main difference in absorption may be due to high levels of free fatty acids in the krill oil, not to the phospholipid content.
A study that looked at krill oil versus fish oil asserted that krill “could be more effective than fish oil” when comparing omega-3 levels in the blood. However, this is likely because the fish oil used in the study was not equivalent to the fish oil used in most supplements. The fish oil was diluted with corn oil, increasing the levels of omega-6 fatty acids in the oil, which would impact the way omega-3s are absorbed. The results likely would have been different if a properly balanced fish oil were used, such as BiOmega, which contains no omega-6s.
Q. Is krill oil better for supporting health?
A. As a source of omega-3 fatty acids, krill can theoretically be beneficial for our health; however, there is not overwhelming proof that it is any better than fish oil. Quite the opposite. There is substantial evidence that fish oil is good for our health, while evidence for krill oil is scant. PubMed, the US National Library of Medicine run by the National Institutes of Health, currently (as of 6 June 2016) lists 4,468 studies related to human health and fish oil, while only 29 studies are related to human health and krill oil.
Q. Have USANA scientists looked into developing a krill oil supplement?
A. Yes. Some krill studies showed promising results, so we followed up on them. The results of one particular study
that claimed krill provided significant cholesterol benefits looked very good, but there were questionable aspects of the research. So, USANA scientists decided to run the same study (on a smaller scale) in our own in-house lab, using a commonly available krill oil supplement. Unfortunately, we were unable to duplicate the positive results of the krill study. Until USANA can prove the beneficial health effects and the published research is fair and compellingly strong on krill, we stand behind the quality and effectiveness of fish oil, which has ample proof for supporting good health.
Q. What about the astaxanthin in krill oil?
A. Astaxanthin is beneficial. It’s a red-tinted carotenoid that helps neutralize free radicals, so an omega-3 supplement with astaxanthin will provide a little extra antioxidant protection. Astaxanthin provides similar antioxidant protection as other more well known carotenoids like lycopene, beta carotene, and zeaxanthin.
USANA® offers many products that are vegan or vegetarian friendly. You will find a list below that states which products are vegan, and if not, which animal by-products they contain.
*While some USANA Foods do not contain animal-derived ingredients, they may be processed on equipment that comes into contact with dairy ingredients or by-products.
