What is 4 Herb Synergy Gold II?

4 Herb Synergy Gold II™ is a liposomal dietary supplement created by Dr. Vincent Giuliano and his colleagues at Aging Sciences LLC, designed to support a healthy body inflammatory response. It uses a highly standardized, concentrated preparation of four traditional medicinal herb extracts: Curcumin, Boswellia, Sensoril™ Ashwagandha, and Ginger.

What is the shelf life of both an opened bottle and an unopened bottle?

• Unopened bottles have a shelf life of 18 months from manufacture (date stamp on the bottom of bottle), assuming the product has not been subjected to intense heat such as being left in a car with closed windows on a hot sunny summer day.
• Opened bottles kept in the refrigerator are good for 45 days.
• These figures provided to us by the manufacturer who has much experience making liposomal supplements.

What form is your 4 Herb Synergy Gold in, i.e. liquid or powder form?

It is like an emulsion in the current Gold II batch, thin enough that you can flip the lid on the bottle top and you can squeeze it out into a tablespoon in a controlled manner.  Fill the tablespoon about 2/3rds full for a normal daily dose.

The 4 Herb Synergy bottle says Liposomal.  What does that mean?

Liposomal products, drugs or dietary supplements, have had their active ingredients encapsulated into extremely tiny hollow spheres – called liposomes. Using a liposomal delivery system expands the absorbability and bioavailability of the active ingredients, greatly enhance their biological impact on the body.

Curcumin and boswellia, two of the key ingredients in 4 Herb Synergy Gold, are known to have extremely poor bioavailability when consumed in pill or powder form. This limitation motivated us to use high-efficiency liposome encapsulation to ensure the potency of our supplement.

The history of liposomal drug delivery goes back to the 1960s and a number of liposomal drugs are now FDA approved and on the market. Liposomal dietary supplements are more recent.

• Liposome spheres are so tiny that you can’t see them even with an optical microscope.
• Liposomes are “natural,” In the case of 4 Herb Synergy Gold, they are made out of sunflower lecithin, viewed to be a health-promoting substance in its own right.
• Liposomes are used for remote delivery in various body systems. For example, mother’s breast milk contains liposomes, probably to enhance the bioavailability of its ingredients for tiny infants.
• Liposomes are capable of penetrating or avoiding a number of bodily systems that severely limit bioavailability, like the liver, kidneys, cell and cell component barriers, and even the blood-brain barrier.

4 Herb Synergy gold was specially designed to promote a healthy body inflammatory response and is particularly unique for its liposomal nature. Our product manufacturer is a pioneer in creating liposomal dietary supplements and utilizes their own proprietary process during manufacturing.

Can you use it for cooking like normal spices, i.e. will heat destroy the efficacy of the ingredients?

Absolutely yes, but don’t heat it up.  4-Herb synergy is mostly made up of exotic spices.  Three of the ingredients of 4 Herb synergy are extracts of ancient spices of the orient (curcumin, ashwagandha, and ginger) and the fourth (boswellia) is the source of the ancient tonic and incense frankincense, among the gifts the wise men from the orient brought baby Jesus.  To top it off the cinnamon flavor added is natural.  Rich people in medieval city-states such as Venice paid fortunes to get these spices.  They were conveyed to Europe via the Silk Road on the backs of camels, as those of us who have read about Marco Polo know.

On the other hand, 4 Herb Synergy is liposomal in nature. To enhance body absorbability of the herbal extracts, a high-technology process is used to enclose the herbal extracts in extremely tiny nanospheres (liposomes).  We think strong heat could break the liposomes up. So. I would not add 4 Herb Synergy to hot soup or coffee or add it to anything you are cooking. Don’t microwave anything you have mixed it into.  But it can be added to foods that have cooled down or cool or cold juices and sauces of all kinds.

It does spice-up what it is added too.  And I continue to learn new combinations where it acts wonderfully to enhance flavor.  I sometimes add it to cold breakfast cereals, along with blueberries for a little added punch.  I love it too in cold expresso coffee with cream or milk.

I invite you to experiment using 4 Herb Synergy as a spice, and report back here with comments and suggest recipes for its use in foods and beverages.

Will taking 4 Herb Synergy reduces the beneficial effects of exercise?

There have been a few papers showing that taking anti-oxidants or anti-inflammatory compounds after exercise blunts the hormetic adaptations due to reduced inflammation.  If there are such negative effects I have not observed them over a 4+ year period of taking the supplement.  Nor have they been reported to me by others taking the supplement.  I can report excellent wound healing during this time, for example, and wound healing always starts with and requires inflammation. The 4 Herb Synergy supplement is designed to temper down chronic non-resolving inflammation, such as that which accompanies many chronic diseases that occur with aging.  And not designed to impact short-term inflammation nor the natural resolution phase of short-term inflammation.  I continue to study the latest research on inflammation and inflammatory processes and will continue to report on it in my anti-agingfirewalls science blog entries.  If I spot any new implications for 4 Herb Synergy, I will certainly report on them.

Are there medical conditions which could contraindicate taking 4 Herb Synergy?

Possibly, even likely in certain highly specific cases.  So far, I know of no specific instances where taking 4 Herb Synergy has created a medical problem.  Some people may be allergic to specific herbs in the supplement or have particular medical conditions which contraindicate taking them, as can be the case with any dietary supplement.  The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center maintains a website Information About Herbs, Botanicals and Other Products that have possibly relevant interaction information about the specific herbs in our product.

Disclaimer

The information on this website is not a substitute for a licensed physician’s medical advice. If any advice, opinions, or instructions herein conflict with that of a treating licensed physician, defer to the opinion of the physician. This product is not represented to diagnose, prevent or treat any disease or medical condition.  It is the supplement taker’s responsibility to know his or her medical history and ensure that actions or supplements he or she takes do not create an adverse reaction.  These statements have not been reviewed by the FDA.