I N NA T E RESPONSE FORMULAS®
Innate Response Formulas®: Vitamins alone are not enough
Humans are intended to receive nutrition from whole food sources. Unfortunately, the average American diet lacks sufficient whole foods. For decades, people have assumed if they took a “natural” multivitamin they would be getting all the nutrients they needed for optimal health. However, the vast majority of “natural” supplements available consist of pharmaceutically isolated nutrients. These pharmaceutically isolated nutrients do not contain the broad range of food compounds found in food.
Recently, studies have shown that the biological activity of pharmaceutically isolated nutrients is notably lower than nutrients combined with compounds as found in food. In order to compensate for the lost biological activity of isolated nutrients, higher doses are recommended. As scientists continue to discover the powerful health-promoting activities of food compounds and their interaction with other nutrients, research has made it clear that high potency vitamins alone are not enough for optimal health. Whole food supplements are the key to complete nutrition and wellness. Whole food supplementation is the core mission of Innate Response Formulas.
1. How is the Innate Response supplement line distinguished from other major professional lines in the industry?
Our belief in the healing power of nature drives our company’s mission to focus on whole food supplementation. For decades, the prevailing wisdom had been that there was no difference between vitamins from foods and high potency isolates. However, contemporary research continues to reveal that although the chemical structure of the vitamins may be similar, the vitamins in whole food act differently because they exist with their inherent food factors. Since 1972, BioSan Laboratories, makers of Innate Response Formulas, has crafted authentic nutritional formulas using the highest quality whole food nutrients with unparalleled bioavailability. Innate Response Formulas are crafted with BioSan’s proprietary TrueActive™ FoodState® whole food concentrates and botanicals to naturally nourish the body as nature intended.
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2. What are some of Innate Response’s most popular products?
Some of Innate Response’s best-selling products are our foundational multi-vitamins, including our Women’s and Men’s formulas. Innate Response foundational multi-vitamin and mineral formulas are crafted exclusively from 100% whole food nutrients. The vitamins and minerals in each formula are not in an isolated state, but rather, exist within a biodynamic TrueActive™ FoodState® whole food concentrate. TrueActive™ FoodState® concentrates not only deliver essential vitamins and minerals but also numerous other vital constituents, including bioactive peptides, enzymes, food compounds and macronutrients that inherently comprise whole food. The food constituents delivered with each whole food vitamin and mineral have irreplaceable roles as co-factors in key metabolic functions, and as bio-carriers that govern nutrient delivery to the cells. It is the bio-carriers that are considered to be the “intelligence” of whole food nutrients and other vital constituents being delivered. Therefore, TrueActive™ FoodState® nutrients have a higher rate of utilization and are also retained longer in the body compared to pure, isolated forms of nutrients.
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3. Does Innate Response manufacture their own products?
While most companies do not manufacture their own products and rely on contract manufacturers for their finished products, Innate Response not only manufactures the finished products, but the majority of the whole foods that go into our products as well. Being a vertically integrated company allows us to maintain the highest level of quality at each and every step of the manufacturing process. Creating whole food nutrients is our labor of love.
We recently invested in the creation of a new raw material and lab facility with the technology to test all of the materials that go into our products at the time of manufacture. Scientific instrumentation is crucial to providing raw materials with potencies that are validated and documented. No element or aspect during the manufacturing process goes untested. Our facility includes state-of-the-art testing equipment, including High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for testing our vitamins, and Inductively Coupled Plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP) for testing mineral content. We feel we have perfected the best methods for growing and drying raw materials. In fact, we utilize what is regarded as the best drying method for food extracts: the Refractance Window™ dryer. It is such a new technology, there are only 22 dryers currently in use.
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4. What is Refractance Window™ drying, and what makes it the best option?
We utilize Refractance Window drying at Innate Response, a method superior to other drying techniques used today. Although several drying methods for whole foods have been developed over time, none have previously been able to provide the high levels of nutritional content achieved through Refractance Window drying.
Spray and freeze drying are the two main methods most companies use to dry their foods and herbs and both of these methods use extreme temperatures. The most popular is spray drying, utilizing temperatures as high as 1,500 F. Freeze drying utilizes extreme cold with temperatures as low as -70F. With both of these methods, the nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables is largely lost.
Refractance Window drying equipment uses proprietary heat transfer technology to gently and efficiently remove moisture from delicate fruits and vegetables while also preventing oxidation of the raw materials. Because the process is self-limiting, it allows the fruits and vegetables to retain their inherently exceptional levels of nutrients, color, flavor, aroma and texture. Fruits and vegetables containing up to 90% moisture are placed on the upper surface of the dryer’s conveyor belt, floating on the surface of warm water. The Refractance Window patented principle of operation transmits infrared energy in the water directly through the conveyer belt into the fruit or vegetable to be dried, ensuring a gentle drying process. As the fruit or vegetable dries, the conveyor belts’ Refractance Window closes when the fruit or vegetable reaches 3% moisture. This bends the majority of the infrared heat back into the water, leaving only conductive heat as the drying means. Refractance Window drying protects the integrity of the fruits and vegetables by preventing degradation of nutrient content, color and flavor.
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5. What manufacturing standards does Innate Response meet?
All of our products are manufactured and bottled in our FDA-registered facility and are independently audited with a standing “superior” rating. The ability to create whole food supplements of consistent high quality has opened up many international markets. Healthcare practitioners in
As purveyors of whole food supplements, our manufacturing facility is also audited by, and in compliance with, the AIB consolidated standards for food safety. These standards are published strictly for food processors, and are based on the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the GMPs, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. The AIB standards require programs and techniques that protect food from adulteration during storage, transfer and handling of ingredients.
All incoming raw materials are tested to verify they are free from impurities, including microbes and bacteria. In addition, we test raw materials and finished products to validate potency and authenticity. If no testing standards exist for a particular botanical or whole food, BioSan Labs has the expertise and state-of-the-art facilities to develop objective and accurate testing methods. No element or aspect during the manufacturing process goes untested.
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6. What should healthcare practitioners know who have never tried Innate Response?
Our passion is whole foods. Our products are 100% concentrated whole foods. Our vitamin C is concentrated from oranges; our beta carotene is from carrots. Whole food supplements such as Innate Response are minimally processed whole foods. Our extraction process retains the integrity of the original whole food.
Most other companies offering whole food supplements have products that are only partially whole food (also known as food-based). Much of the recent research on long-term health issues show cause to support the consumption of whole foods. Whole food supplements are the perfect fit with any protocol on which a practitioner currently has her/her patients.
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7. Why does the supplement facts box appear different?
We are often asked for the chemical form of vitamin we are using, such as ascorbic acid or calcium ascorbate. The form that we are using is food, and our labels list the food concentrate we are using for each nutrient. None of the vitamins are isolated; therefore, they do not have simple chemical forms. They are extracts of the foods we are using.
Initially, when you look at an Innate Response label you will notice that the vitamin potencies are labeled differently than any other supplement company. All of our nutrients are listed with the amount of food extract and the quantity of the nutrient in the formula. For example:
Vitamin C... (From 1050 mg Citrus sinensis) 250 mg
These numbers are important to understanding the benefits of a 100% whole food supplement. In whole food, vitamins evolved as sets of interacting constituents working as a unified whole. The concentrate provides not only the nutrient, but all of the secondary food compounds, enzymes and phytonutrients needed for nutrient delivery.
In a recent study on vitamin C published in Nature, it was found that 5.7 mg of vitamin is equal to 1,500 mg of isolated ascorbic acid as a free-radical scavenger. The study points out that the majority of the activity is due to the phenolic compounds other than ascorbic acid that seem to significantly enhance its antioxidant properties.
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8. Since the potency of whole food supplements is lower than high potency isolates, what makes them effective?
We think of potency a bit differently. Instead of delivering 40 different vitamins and minerals in high potency, we believe in the broad range of compounds whole foods provide. The average tomato contains over 10,000 different vitamins, minerals and food compounds. With an Innate Response formula you may not be getting a high potency of 40 different nutrients, but rather a broad potency of all the food compounds that intrinsically work together. Our nutrients are the whole food answer for which many practitioners have been looking.
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9. What are the research trends in whole food supplementation?
When assessing the studies that have been done on vitamins, it is clear that whole food is the answer. When science was looking at vitamin E in the 80s, it was clear that it was an important nutrient. Then we learned in the 90s that d-alpha tocopherol by itself isn’t nearly as effective; it is much better to utilize a mixed tocopherol vitamin E. Today, we know that the tocotrienols are important as well. For years, people were taking forms of vitamin E that were less effective. As we discover more of the components of food we will continue to discover the other necessary compounds present in the whole foods. Whole food supplements contain not only the known compounds, but also the unknown compounds yet to be discovered, which make whole food supplements truly effective.
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10. How does the quality of Innate Response compare to other whole food companies?
Since whole food supplements have become a “buzz word,” it seems whole food vitamins are everywhere. Many companies are claiming whole food as the source of their nutrients. Upon closer inspection, most of these products are regular, isolated vitamins with very low amounts of whole foods added. In order to be sure that you are receiving 100% whole food nutrients, the product must say 100% on the label. Many people are familiar with this same problem when buying juice for their families. Many juice products are only about 10% juice, with sugar and sweeteners comprising the majority of the product. This is the same analogy for whole food nutrients: if it doesn’t say 100% whole food, then it probably isn’t.
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