Starting with Bios Life

The proper way to start using Bios Life depends on your previous efforts to control cholesterol. You may either belong to a group of people that has never taken anything to lower cholesterol, or you may be using statin medication right now. Different starting situations ask for different protocols to start using Bios Life.

Group 1. Persons that are currently not using any product for controlling cholesterol.

This group can start with Bios Life immediately. Since most people are not used to high fibre intake in their diet, it is advised to introduce the extra fibre in Bios Life stepwise. This means that it is best to start with one packet of Bios Life per day taken 10 minutes before dinner. After about 1 week, the dose can be increased to two packets a day. For faster results, people can take more packets per day, up to 6.

Group 2. Persons that are currently taking a product for controlling cholesterol, such as prescription medication, or dietary supplements, and want to switch to Bios Life.

This group of people has already interfered with cholesterol metabolism because they are currently taking a product. It is important to realize that our body does not like changes to our cholesterol level (or any blood level for that matter). This is called homeostasis, or keeping everything as it is. That is the reason when people are taking a statin drug that inhibits the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver, the body develops biological mechanisms to counteract this cholesterol lowering effect. It is known, for example, that when the liver synthesis of cholesterol is being blocked, the absorption in the gastro-intestinal tract will be increased and visa-versa. When a person suddenly stops with the statin drug, the effect of the statin on the liver production disappears, but the counteraction mechanisms are still there, because our body adopts slowly to any new biochemical situation. That will result in the well-known statin rebound. Cholesterol values will quickly shoot up; often to values that are higher than what the person started with. This effect also occurs with other products, such as dietary supplements. The best way to introduce Bios Life to this group of people is to add Bios Life to the currently used product for a period of 2 months. In the first month, the products are taken together at their normal dose. In the second month, the drug, or dietary supplement is slowly reduced in dose over a month's time, so that at the end of the second month, the person quits taking the original product. Never change any prescription medication without consulting your doctor. By introducing Bios Life this way, the body will adapt to the new cholesterol controlling mechanisms, and will not experience a rebound. In this way, Bios Life is expected to improve the cholesterol and lipid values even further, without an initial worsening of the values.

Group 3. Persons that are currently using statin medication for controlling cholesterol, and who want to combine Bios Life with their prescription drugs.

This group of people can introduce Bios Life in a similar way as Group 1. The mechanisms of Bios Life will further enhance the cholesterol levels of this group, and often it is seen that patients will need a lower statin dose, or may even completely quit using this medication. Never change any prescription medication without consulting your doctor. When reducing or quitting the statin drug, make sure it is not done abruptly, but slowly over time.

Group 4. Persons that have diabetes.

Bios Life has beneficial effects for patients with diabetes. The carbohydrates (sugar) from food will absorbed slower and the effect they have on the glucose levels in the blood will be reduced. This has implications for the medications that diabetics are using. Are you using Glucophage or insulin or both to control your diabetes? Then the glucose control effect of Bios Life is going to reduce the need for your medication. This is good, but needs to be discussed with your doctor, since he or she needs to be aware of this reduction in medication need, so that your prescription regimen can be adapted. You will also observe lower glucose values in your daily finger stick measurements. Another ingredient in Bios Life has this effect as well: chromium. This mineral is known to enhance the effect of insulin. In other words, the insulin will work better, and get the glucose values down faster in the blood. This is another reason why you and your doctor should be aware of the positive effects that Bios Life will have for your glucose control.

Which changes in cholesterol values can I expect, and how fast?

Everyone will react differently to Bios Life. That is because Bios Life alters cholesterol metabolism is four distinct ways, and since all these mechanism have an influence on one another, it may result in different responses in the body, depending on your own genetic and biochemical make-up. In order to make general statements of the efficacy of Bios Life, we look at the clinical study results of Bios Life. Results of clinical studies are given as average effects in the study group. This means that 50% of users will have a better result, while 50% will have a worse result. Also, clinical studies are done over a fixed period of time, e.g. 8 or 12 weeks. This means that results obtained by individual users over longer periods of time are likely to be even better.

A study that has been performed with people taking only Bios Life twice a day for a period of 8 weeks showed an LDL-cholesterol drop by an average of 31% and an HDL-cholesterol increase by an average of 29%. Triglycerides dropped an average of 40%. These are therefore the values expected for a person starting using Bios Life. Be aware that consistent use for a longer period than 8 weeks is likely to provide even better values. Also, if a person takes more than the advised 2 packets a day, results are likely to be reached faster.

A second study combined Bios Life with statin use. In this case, the cholesterol of the subjects had already been lowered by the medication, so the extra effects of Bios Life were expected to be less pronounced. The 4 mechanisms of Bios Life, however, further improved the cholesterol levels of these persons. This combination showed an average further decrease of LDL-cholesterol by 21%, and an extra 23% increase for HDL-cholesterol in a period of 6 weeks, on top of the statin effects.

For diabetics, the glucose control effects have been investigated in a clinical trial with type-II diabetics. Over a period of 8 weeks, it may be expected that the two-hour postprandial (after the meal) glucose values will be reduced by an average of 17%, which results in HbA1c level drops of about 10%.

How do I use Bios Life if I am also using prescription medication?

Bios Life contains ingredients that are components of normal food of people around the world. Therefore, the product is a food product. Any ingredient, being medication, vitamins, minerals, fish oils, and alike, that you would normally consume with food, can therefore be taken with Bios Life. Your total food consumption (meals, Bios Life, and other dietary ingredients) is going to determine the speed of absorption of prescription medication. If you did not take fibre with your food and now start using Bios Life, your absorption speed of prescription medication may be altered. This means that the total amount of medication absorbed will still be the same, but it may take a little longer for this amount to be fully absorbed. Usually this is not a concern. Should you worry about this, please discuss it with your doctor. If you want to separate your medication and Bios Life, then take your medication at a different meal then the ones with which you would normally take your Bios Life.

Can I expect side-effects?

Bios Life introduces new ingredients to your diet, and this may result in more effects than cholesterol lowering on your body. People that are not having adequate daily fibre intake (like most of us), may experience effects originating from the increase fibre intake due to Bios Life. These effects may be loose stools, abdominal discomfort, constipation, or flatulence (gas formation). These are all normal effects of fibre in your diet, and are nothing to worry about. Should you belong to the small group of people that have these effects, they are likely to disappear within days of starting using Bios Life. Always make sure that you drink adequate water with Bios Life. Some people have reported that using Enzygen Plus with the Bios Life may significantly reduce any abdominal discomfort or flatulence.

Measuring your cholesterol

Cholesterol can be measured using different ways: by a laboratory, at the pharmacy, or in your house using a hand-held device. It is important to realize that every method of measuring cholesterol has its own specific accuracy, stability and margin of error. A general advice is to stick to one method to compare cholesterol values over time. Measuring cholesterol at the beginning of using Bios Life in a lab, and then after six weeks using a hand-held device, typically will not result in accurate comparisons, and may show results of Bios Life that do not reflect the Bios Life effect.

In any case, do not measure your cholesterol too soon after taking Bios Life. Your doctor typically wants a second measurement after 3 months, because it is known that cholesterol values take time to change. Unicity recommends to wait at least 6 weeks before re-testing cholesterol, to give your body time to adapt to the new biological mechanisms.

What do I do if my cholesterol values do not improve?

Bios Life has been studied in clinical studies and has shown average improvements on total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose values, and HbA1c levels. This means you should get an improvement of your values after 8 weeks. Some people show negligible results, or even opposite effects, when they measure their cholesterol a second time. What do I do if the values do not seem to improve?

Do not re-check too soon.

It is very likely that people will test too soon after they have started Bios Life. Our body chemistry needs time to adapt to the new mechanisms to control cholesterol. Because of the homeostasis (see above), Bios Life needs time to overcome the counteraction mechanisms that are being developed. A good time to remeasure your levels will be 6 weeks after starting Bios Life.

Use the same lab or testing method.

A common mistake is that people use different methods of checking cholesterol, and this may introduce difference in the readings that do not reflect the actual cholesterol levels, but in fact originate from the different testing method (see above).

Make sure the test is performed correctly.

Any test performed may be done incorrectly, also by a respectable lab. When cholesterol values are very different over a short period of time, e.g. HDL-cholesterol going from 64 to 28 mg/dl in 4 weeks, something is likely wrong, and it makes sense to re-test. When using a hand-held device, such as CardioChek PA, or Cholestec, make sure that the test strips are handled correctly. The test strips have their own code, which should be matching the code used by the machine. If this code does not match, cholesterol values will be off. Also, the test strips are very sensitive to moisture, hence the desiccant in the bottle. When the bottle is left open over a period of time (often minutes or longer), the readings made with those test strips are likely off, particularly the HDL-cholesterol readings.

Make sure the person tested after a 12 hour fast.

LDL-cholesterol is normally not measured, but calculated when tested by a lab or hand-held device. This calculation of LDL is dependant on the triglyceride levels and these levels change dramatically over the day if food is consumed. So the LDL value of a non-fasted person will be off considerably. As a side-note, the CardioChek hand-held device now offers direct LDLcholesterol measurement strips, that do not require fasting of the tested person.

Make sure that the person has not changed their dietary habits during the periods between testing.

If a person changed to eating much more fatty food, or much less fatty food (e.g. because of a vacation, or holiday), the overall baseline triglyceride levels may change, even though a person is fasted before the test. This will result in different readings for triglycerides and cholesterol.

Make sure that a person has not switched from a statin or other product to Bios Life from one day to another.

This will result in the statin rebound effect, and will result in higher cholesterol levels the first weeks after switching. Make sure the statin or other product has been removed slowly over a period of 2 months (see above).

Make sure Bios Life is taken the right way.

Bios Life should be taken twice daily 10 minutes before the heaviest meals (typically lunch and dinner). When the product is taken on other times, effects will not be optimal.

Make sure that person has not started taking other dietary supplements.

Some supplements, such as OmegaLife 3 or CM Plex contain fat itself. Although the omega-2 fatty acids in these products are good fats, they still add to the fat content of the blood. This may change the triglyceride levels over time, and hence also the measured LDLcholesterol.

Make sure the person has not reduced intake over time.

Some persons start with Bios Life enthusiastically the first weeks and reduce their cholesterol quickly without knowing it, since they haven't tested. Some people lose their strict compliance over the following weeks, because they forget to take the product, or because of a change in daily activities. In such cases, the same effect may occur as with a statin rebound. The counteraction mechanisms that are formed in the first weeks when taking Bios Life, win again from Bios Life in the period that the product is not taken consistently. As a result cholesterol values will deteriorate right before the re-check. Customers sometimes overreport their compliance to you, because they don't want you to think that they haven't been taking the product.

Some persons have a genetic difference that results in very high cholesterol levels.

This difference is also known as familial hypercholesterolemia, and persons that have FH make much more cholesterol in the liver than persons without this genetic alteration. The result is cholesterol levels that are substantially higher than normal (often total cholesterol values of over 350 mg/dl). Bios Life is helping these people to get the values to a more normal situation, but it is unlikely that it will result in optimal levels. Even prescription medication is not effective enough to get the values low enough, and often a combination of different statins is used by these patients. These persons should strongly consider taking Bios Life together with their medication, so that there is better chance of reaching more acceptable and healthy cholesterol values.