PGX Benefits

PGX^® will help you change Your life!  
  
PGX^® Corrects Appetite and Supports Healthy Weight Loss
 
For almost everyone, the math behind weight loss is simple: your body has to burn more calories than it consumes. There are 3,500 calories in 1 pound of fat. If you can burn 500 more calories than you consume each day, you will lose 1 pound a week. While that may not seem like enough, it soon adds up. Be wary of any diet that promises fast results as the chance of rebounding is very high.

PGX can help you effectively achieve your long-term weight loss goals in two important areas: by correcting your appetite and by helping you decrease the size of your meals.

Correcting Your Appetite

Science has now proven that there is a link between blood sugar and appetite. Many overweight people suffer from blood sugar levels that rise and fall rapidly throughout the day. Everyone needs the right amount of glucose (sugar) in their blood to stay healthy. When blood sugar drops too quickly, the brain senses danger and reacts by telling us to eat, in order to return blood sugar levels to normal. In the graph below, the fluctuating blood sugar levels of an overweight woman were tracked throughout the day using a continuous glucose monitor. Her dropping blood sugar levels are indicated with an "x". This graph demonstrates the important role that blood sugar has on appetite and food cravings. Unlike many "diet’’ products that try to suppress appetite, PGX corrects appetite by balancing your blood sugar levels. This correction decreases between-meal and evening food cravings that add unwanted calories to our diets.

Reducing Meal Portion Size

How do you eat less, when you’re still hungry? How do you feel satisfied eating fruits and vegetables when they only keep you full for 30 minutes? By adding PGX to your meals!

The other aspect of calorie reduction is smaller meal portions, and PGX can help! When PGX is taken with food and a glass of water, it quickly absorbs the water and gently expands in your stomach to increase volume. This provides a feeling of fullness that allows you to feel satisfied with a smaller meal. But to truly keep you satisfied with less, you also need to feel full for a longer period of time. PGX is a highly viscous fibre complex and once mixed with food and water, it slows the digestion process, keeping you full for longer after meals.

Using PGX as a weight loss aid has been assessed in weight loss programs conducted at the Canadian Center for Functional Medicine in British Columbia. In each of these programs, participants received healthy eating guidelines and were encouraged to be more physically active, in addition to being asked to consume 5 grams of PGX two to three times per day. The weight loss consistently experienced on the PGX program translates into a healthy weight loss of about one-half to 2 pounds per week over 12-14 weeks¹. These results will be published in the near future.

Following graph: Levels rapidly rise and fall throughout the day. Every minute of every day your brain monitors oxygen and blood sugar levels to ensure your safety. When blood sugar levels drop too rapidly, the brain sends our powerful messages to eat, in order to get blood sugar levels back to normal. These messages or food cravings are almost impossible to ignore.

PGX^® Controls and Balances Blood Sugar Levels 
 
Most foods in the Western diet are processed and convenience foods ("fast foods") that contain highly refined carbohydrates. These foods are digested rapidly and cause excessive rising of blood sugar after meals. This rapid rise triggers the body to release insulin to bring it back down again. Coupled with a current blood sugar level imbalance, this creates a pattern of blood sugar alternatively rising and falling – the blood sugar roller coaster.

PGX is a highly viscous fibre complex that when taken with food and water slows down the digestive process. This slows down the absorption and conversion of carbohydrates and other food into sugar, causing it to be released into your bloodstream more gradually, preventing the rapid rising of blood sugar after meals and subsequent falling. As illustrated in the graph above, once PGX is incorporated into your diet and the recommended dosage achieved, blood sugar can effectively be controlled and balanced.  

PGX has been clinically proven to reduce the glycemic index of foods by up to 50%^2,3. The glycemic index measures the degree to which a food spikes blood sugar levels after eating.

PGX^® Lowers Cholesterol
 
PGX helps lower "bad" (LDL) cholesterol levels by increasing the excretion of blood cholesterol that is packaged into bile acids by the liver and arrives in the small intestine for fat breakdown. Soluble fibre, like PGX, binds with some of these bile acids (containing bad cholesterol) when they arrive in the small intestine, and moves them out of the body. This removal results in lower total and bad cholesterol levels.

In one published study involving healthy male and female volunteers, 10 grams of PGX per day over 21 days has been shown to reduce total cholesterol levels by 14% and LDL levels by 17%, respectively⁴. In males and females with a BMI ranging from 27 to 40, 10 grams of PGX over a 14 weeks has been show to reduce total cholesterol levels by 18% and LDL by 25%⁵. 

PGX^® is Safe and Stimulant Free
 
With all the benefits of PGX, one might expect that there has to be some side effects. However, PGX is made from natural products and has been proven to be safe in two published studies^6,7. PGX does not contain any stimulants that increase heart rate or leave you feeling anxious or jittery. In the clinical trials of PGX, some people reported side effects that are common with increasing the amount of fibre in your diet, such as gas or bloating. These side effects lasted 3-7 days and can be limited by gradually working up to the recommended dose and by drinking lots of water. 

PGX^® is High in Fibre
 
PGX is an excellent source of dietary fibre. According to current FDA recommendations, healthy adults should consume at least 25 grams of fibre (both soluble and insoluble) every day. Unfortunately, most North Americans are consuming less than half of the recommended amount due to their current diets. It is well-known that fibre is good for you, but the effectiveness of fibre is proportionate to its ability to hold water. PGX absorbs water slowly and maintains its gel-like viscosity throughout the digestive tract. As a result, a 5 gram serving of PGX is equivalent to as much as 20 grams of some other fibres. In fact, to achieve the same results you would have to eat 4 bowls of oat bran to equal one 5 gram serving of PGX! Of course, it is important to eat foods high in fibre, but adding PGX to any diet will allow you to reach the recommended daily amount easily.

References

1. Lyon MR, Reichert RG. The effect of a novel viscous polysaccharide (PGX^®) along with lifestyle changes on short-term weight loss and associated risk factors in overweight and obese adults: An observational retrospective clinical program analysis.Canadian Center for Functional Medicine, Coquitlam.
2. Jenkins AL, Vuksan V, Kacinik V and Lyon M. Glycemic index reduction by a viscous polysaccharide blend independent of food form: determination of the glycemic reduction index potential (GRIP). FASEB J. 2008; 22: 305.7.
3. Kacinik V, Jenkins AL, Vuksan V, Lyon M. The reduction of the glycemic index when a Viscous fiber blend is added or incorporated into commonly consumed foods. In Science Across Borders: 5th Annual NHPRS Conference; 2008 March 26–29; Toronto (ON), Canada.
4. Carabin IG, Lyon MR, Wood S, Pelletier X, Donazzolo Y, Burdock GA. Supplementation of the diet with the functional fiber PolyGlycoplex^® is well tolerated by healthy subjects in a clinical trial. Nutr J. 2009; 8 (1): 9. 
5. Lyon MR, Reichert RG. The effect of a novel viscous polysaccharide (PGX^®) along with lifestyle changes on short-term weight loss and associated risk factors in overweight and obese adults: An observational retrospective clinical program analysis. Canadian Center for Functional Medicine, Coquitlam.
6. Carabin IG, Lyon MR, Wood S, Pelletier X, Donazzolo Y, Burdock GA. Supplementation of the diet with the functional fiber PolyGlycoplex(R) is well tolerated by healthy subjects in a clinical trial. Nutr J. 2009; 8 (1): 9. 
7. Palma Ann Marone, Michael Lyon, Roland Gahlet, Claudia Donath, Hana Hofman-Huther, Simon Wood. Genotoxicity Studies fo PolyGlycopleX (PGX)^® : A Novel Dietary Fiber. Int J Toxicol 2009; 28; 318.