After achieving continued success in Europe for over ten years in which thousand of people have benefited the exclusive patented rosehip power origina...
After achieving continued success in Europe for over ten years in which thousand of people have benefited the exclusive patented rosehip power originally sold as LITOZIN® is now available in the United States as i-flex®. i-flex® is the only joint health supplement in the United States that is natural, animal-free, allergen-free, effective, fast acting and safe for daily use.
The story behind i-flex®’s success began back in the early 90’s when Erik Hansen, an aging Danish farmer who grew rosehips, discovered while eating his rosehip jam that his specific rosehip powder alleviated his joint pain and improved his flexibility. When he gave this powder to his friends and neighbors they too were amazed with the positive results they obtained. So Erik decided to market his unique product but he first wanted to demonstrate scientifically that it worked. He met up with Dr. Kaj Winther in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Copenhagen County Hospital Gentotofte and asked him to test the product. Although Dr. Winter was skeptical this product would work he teamed with Drs. Rein and Kharzmi to conduct a small study in healthy volunteers for 4 weeks which demonstrated that the rosehip product possessed potent anti-inflammatory properties and to confirm the mechanism of action in a second study. Both studies were published in the journal Immunopharmacology in 1999. Since this early beginning, Dr. Winther and his collaborators as well as a Norwegian team have conducted three clinical trials in osteoarthritis patients with the specialized rosehips powder that conclusively demonstrate its effectiveness and safety. Erik Hansen even at this stage knew he had a winning product so he developed and patented a gentle drying process the preserve the products’ unique anti-inflammatory properties. Erik’s company, Hypen Vital, licensed his product to be distributed as LITOZIN® in Europe and more recently to DSM Nutritional Products to market is as i-flex® in the rest of the world. So i-flex® is the same specialized rosehip product as tested in the three clinical trials and marketed in Europe for over 10 years. The key findings of the three clinical studies are summarized in the next paragraphs.
The first clinical study by Drs. Rein, Kharazmi and Winther, which was published in Phytomedicine in 2004, demonstrated in a placebo-controlled crossover study that 66% of the 112 patients having osteoarthritis of various joints had a reduction in pain scores while taking the specialized rosehip powder compared to only 36% of patients when taking the placebo. Furthermore, while the patients were taking the specialized rosehip powder they experienced a significant reduction in joint stiffness and in the use of rescue medications compared to when they were taking the placebo.
A Norwegian study headed by Dr. Warholm independently conducted a 4 month placebo-controlled parallel study in 100 patients having osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. This study published in Current Therapy Research in 2003 confirmed the findings from the Denmark-based Winther team. Over 4 months, 65% of the patients randomly assigned to the specialized rosehip powder had a reduction in pain scores compared to 44% of the patients assigned to placebo. Passive hip mobility after 4 months was also significantly different from the placebo group as was the reduction in pain medication.
Winther and coauthors published in 2005 in the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology their second clinical trial, a placebo controlled crossover study in 94 osteoarthritis patients given the specialized rosehip powder for 3 months. Eighty-two percent of the patients had a significant reduction in pain scores within three weeks while taking the rosehip powder compared to only 49% while taking the placebo. The patients also had improvements in mobility and ability to perform activities of daily living after 3 months on the specialized rosehip powder compared to the placebo. These changes were accompanied by a reduction in use of pain medication while consuming the rosehip powder.
All of the three clinical studies with osteoarthritis patients consistently showed greater reductions in pain scores and improved mobility and flexibility when the patients consumed the specialized rosehip powder compared to placebo and they were able to reduce their normal use of pain medication. Furthermore, in the third study the patients had a significant reduction in pain after only three weeks. In all of these studies the specialized rosehip power was found to be safe with no adverse reactions occurring within the 3-4 months of consumption.
Persons suffering from sore and aching joints who want an animal-free, allergen-free alternative to glucosamine or glucosamine-chondroitin may do well to try i-flex®. Whereas glucosamine may take months to achieve relief and is generally effective in only 40% of the people taking it, i-flex® has been demonstrated in three high quality clinical studies totaling 306 subjects to soothe sore joints in as little as three weeks in up to 82% of those taking it.
For more information and to purchase i-flex® go to SupplementFirst.com.
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September 6, 2010
