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Important News...
7/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Today's newsletter is primarily directed to customers of Xtend-Life so if you are not a customer I apologize in advance. However, you may still wish to read it as some of the contents you may find of interest particularly the part about L-Glutathione.
Whether you are a customer or a long time subscriber to Xtend-Your-Life I am sure that you will know by now that our prime objective at Xtend-Life is to develop and manufacture for our customers the purest and most effective supplements in the world at the lowest possible cost.
We feel that we have been successful in this regard because if you take the time to compare our products on an 'apples to apples' impartial basis you will find that no other Company has been able to come close to what we offer. This is something that we are proud of and will continue to ensure that this remains the case.
Challenges...
Over the last couple of years we have faced some significant challenges in holding our prices. Apart from general increased operating expenses our biggest issue has been the continued weakening of the US currency against the New Zealand currency. The majority of our expenses are in NZ dollars because we manufacture in New Zealand. The net result is that we are getting paid less every time the US dollar weakens further.
If our product sales had remained static we would have been forced to have made significant and regular price increases over the last few years. However, thanks to the support of our many loyal customers who not only keep our 'foundation' solid but whom contribute to help strengthen it by the many new customers they refer to us; we have continued to maintain an average 5% monthly compound growth. (For 6 years now).
This growth has enabled us to absorb the increased costs in spite of ever diminishing margins.
New Generation Total Balance...
As you know we continually review our formulas to ensure that we remain 'unbeatable' in the market place. We are currently on our third generation Total Balance and are about to release our 4th generation. This will be 'rolled' out over the next few weeks. Although at a casual glance the differences are not particularly obvious the efficacy of this product has been improved by quite a lot.
The main improvement is the inclusion of a reduced form of L-Glutathione. It is called reduced because it is a special form of L-Glutathione which has a small molecule that enables it to pass through the cellular membrane. I won't go into the details of L-Glutathione at the moment except to say that it is one of the most important substances in your body.
In fact, some researchers feel it is the single most important substance the body can have. If your cells have a shortfall of Glutathione the death of the cell will begin with obvious ultimate results. Your body synthesizes Glutathione primarily from L-Cysteine which acts as a precursor. However, L-Cysteine is quite unstable which is why we have always used the more effective, expensive but stable form of Acetyl-L-Cysteine to help the body produce L-Glutathione.
Nonetheless, some people cannot effectively synthesize the precursors and they still end up with a shortage of L-Glutathione in their cells which leads to all sorts of health complications and premature aging. Researchers have found that most patients suffering from disease have lower than normal levels of L-Glutathione in their cells.
Because depletion of L-Glutathione has been noted in so many diseases many researchers throughout the world worked on ways of trying to figure out how to replenish L-Glutathione in the cells. This was a very difficult task as 'normal' L-Glutathione is ineffective when taken orally... for two reasons. One... the molecule is too large to pass through the cell membranes and two... it is useless if released into the stomach as per normal capsules and tablets!
Problem solved!
The scientists ultimately figured out how they could make the molecule smaller so it could pass through the cell membranes! That solved the first problem! This meant that there was only one outstanding issue... of how to get the Glutathione to the cells? They knew it could not be released in the stomach because the stomach acid would destroy it... but they knew if it was released in the upper intestine that it will work.
Fortunately the technology to safely deliver the active ingredient to the upper intestine has been known for some time so this was not a serious problem, but simply an economic one. The technology to achieve this has been used in the pharmaceutical industry for some time. It's called enteric coating. If you wish you can read more about it by clicking here.
Although it is a technology rarely used in the supplement industry because it is so expensive we have been using this technology on our Total Balance, Neurological and Arthrit-Eze formulas for some time.
So, the bottom line is... our Total Balance customers can now get the benefits of L-Glutathione... and have it 'delivered' effectively to where it needs to go.
OK... back to the pricing issue that I was talking about earlier.
As I said, we are continuing to absorb the increasing costs but in the case of Total Balance (and shipping) we have had no choice but to make an adjustment in the price, primarily to offset the increased cost of raw ingredients, with a small contribution to other increased costs. We don't like doing so but we have to.
So that we don't 'spring' this on our existing customers we will delay putting these new prices into effect until the 3rd August even though we will be shipping our 4th generation Total Balance before then.
Here are the new prices... before loyalty program discounts:
- Total Balance Unisex - US$36.75 an increase of US$1.80 per bottle.
- Total Balance Men's and Womens's Plus - US$36.75 an increase of US$1.80 per bottle.
- Cholesterol Formula - to be renamed Cholest-Natural - NO CHANGE
- Natural Energy - NO CHANGE
- Omega 3 DHA/Esters - NO CHANGE
- Arthrit-Eze - NO CHANGE
- Calcium/phytonutrients - US$36.75 an increase of US$1.00 per bottle.
- Neurological Formula - NO CHANGE
- Shipping - US$6.50 an increase of US$1.00. Shipping still remains free for orders of US$60 or more.
Will you get the new generation Total Balance in your next order? I can't say at this stage as we will simply be replacing the current generation with the new one as our inventory of our current product is used. One thing I can guarantee you, is that you will definitely be getting the new generation TB Men's and Women's Plus as from the 3rd Aug. The Unisex may be a couple of weeks later than that. If we are not ready to ship the new Unisex by the 3rd Aug we will delay making the price adjustment for that product until we do.
Please don't delay your orders in the meantime! Remember that the current Total Balance is still the best product of its type in the world and still the best value for money, it's just that the new generation will lift that to even a higher level! We may be shipping the new generation within a few days... .but if everyone holds off and waits it could be quite a bit later.
Think of it as a lottery! When you open your package it just may be the new generation version even if you were not expecting it!
In good health,
P.S. If you would like to see the labels for the new generation Total Balance please click here.