Where Nature meets Science

This past weekend I was super excited to be a guest at the Coyne Healthcare 2019 educational conference. I know Kevin Coyne personally and he is truly an inspirational, yet humble individual. He genuinely is trying to change the world for the better in his continuous search for top Nutraceuticals. Coyne Healthcare is successfully integrating the most modern technology with the world’s leading ingredients, to create products of the highest quality and yet at affordable rates.

I was skeptical at first when I met Kevin many months ago. He actually emailed me requesting a coffee meetup so we could discuss his products. I was super impressed that this very busy man would want to come to my neck of the woods for a chat. So we met at a coffee shop and it was like meeting an old friend again. We sat and spoke for 3 hours and could have spoken for longer. He is extremely passionate about natural health and helping everyone he can. He has such a vast amount of knowledge on many health subjects, although his core focus is Cancer. His humble and kind approach to wanting to help everyone shows in his demeanor and in his products. He endeavors to attain only the best quality ingredients for his products from all over the world and at the lowest prices to make it more accessible to everyone. Health is not a business for him, but a real passion. This is very evident when you meet him face to face.

Kevin also has a team of amazing individuals that work within his Company that are truly passionate and incredible in their roles. He has kept it in the family having his wife Vanessa and mother in law Maria as part of his team, they are experts in their respective fields and truly passionate about the business. This makes the company very relatable and authentic. The rest of the staff go over and beyond their duties to ensure that the patients and clients are given only the best. Then let’s not forget his most trusted security guard, his beloved Chocolate Labrador Bentley that comes to work each day with him. That pretty much says it all about the company!

The event itself was truly amazing. I was surrounded by many well-known natural and medical integrative practitioners and the speakers were in a league of their own.

I chuckled at a comment overheard when the camera man was speaking to Kevin, he explained that he was truly in awe at the collective IQ in the room. This was exactly how I felt!

It was a meeting of nature and science! When we can combine these two, anything is possible! Coyne Healthcare makes many supplements, but their focus is cancer, as that is where Kevin’s own personal journey started when he went on a crusade to help his own mother overcome and beat this dreaded disease. Now that focus is on constantly evolving his products to ensure that he has only the best on the market for his clients. A lot of thought, research and passion go into each product and it shows.

The event started off with Dr Kohei Homma Ph.D. Senior R&D Manager for Amino Up in Japan. Dr Homma received his PhD in 2003 from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, for research of protein crystallization in microgravity environment on a NASA space shuttle. Immediately after the PhD program, he started working in the United States as an academic researcher. His last position in the US academia was an Instructor at the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Centre. In 2010, Dr Homma joined Amino Up, one of Japan’s leading Biotechnology Companies. The company focuses in the field of nutrition, complementary and integrative medicine or, more broadly, integrative health, which is important approach for disease prevention and global health promotion.

His discussion was around a ground breaking product called AHCC®, it modulates the body’s innate immunity, and supports healthy immune function. The immune system protects us from germs and toxins by hunting down and removing them from our bodies. AHCC® is a mixture of nutrients extracted from a culture of Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) mycelia, with polysaccharides being the active component. He went into great depths to explain how this extraordinary product works incredibly well as a complimentary to conventional cancer treatments to manage symptom relief and ensure strong immunity throughout the treatments and even into recovery. The statistics he showed were incredible and many oncologists world-wide are seeing the benefit of this natural product in assisting their patients.

Coyne Healthcare is in discussions with Amino Up to bring this amazing new product to South Africa. So watch this space…

Next up was Dr Binu T. Kuruvilla who completed his medical graduation from Kerala, India before joining clinical practice. He has worked with various multi-speciality hospitals in medicine and oncology department prior to joining CureGarden. With an interest in clinical research and new drug development, he is keenly involved in protocol design, implementation and management of preclinical and human clinical trials, and works as co-investigator in various clinical trials. His area of expertise also pans collaborative research with both national and international universities and partners in oncology, cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders, and in the management and publication of international peer reviewed journals.

Dr Kuruvilla co-authored a study in which BCM-95® Curcumin was shown to be superior to prescription drugs in treating osteoarthritis. Arjuna’s BCM-95®, is currently the world’s largest selling bio-available turmeric extract helping to prevent a wide range of inflammatory diseases like arthritis, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The highly advanced R&D unit at Arjuna is a complete research facility for phytochemistry, pharmacokinetics, formulation and development, pre-clinical and clinical studies. Arjuna’s state of the art laboratory has been approved for in-house research by the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India.

He also discussed AKBAMAX® which is a uniquely standardized extract from the resin of the Boswellia Serrata tree. The tree resin naturally contains oils, gums and the medicinally active and fragrant, terpene group. The higher order terpenoids are collectively known as boswellic acids. They are the most active constituents of the gum resin, giving rise to its renown as a powerful remedy and cherished offering. Gracing the scenes of history, time and geography, Boswellia’s diverse application to modern day ails are of little surprise. Their raw ingredient is non-irradiated and its actives are safely extracted using ethyl acetate solvent and sensitively quantified using HPLC instrumentation. It harvests the wisdom of a nature, while staying close to science for optimal standardization. It is a safe, cost-effective and biologically potent healthy inflammatory response support nutrient with diverse clinical and formulation applications.

He showed a vast amount of statistical information on how the combination of BCM-95® and AKBAMAX® can not only manage inflammation, but manage the pain associated proportionally better when added with conventional medicines, thereby lessening their nasty effects and even the dosages.

Coyne Healthcare have already introduced this combination into the marketplace in the form of their Bio-Curcumin Advanced™ and it’s getting amazing reviews from my clients. It utilises BCM-95® the world’s preferred bioavailable curcumin extract along with AKBAMAX®, a specialised and clinically studied Boswellia serrata extract. BCM-95® has been proven to deliver up to seven times more free and bioactive curcumin into the blood stream than regular curcumin extracts which remains active for over eight hours.  Bio-curcumin is the most studied curcumin extract available today, trusted and recommended by health practitioners and used by millions of people across the world. AKBAMAX ® has been developed to deliver a clinically precise ratio of boswellic acids which have been shown to effectively reduce inflammation. BCM-95® in combination with AKBAMAX® has been demonstrated through clinical trials to offer a synergistic and potent natural anti-inflammatory effect.

Finally Dr Christine Houghton who has a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry-Nutrigenomics was up. Following 30 years in private practice as a Nutritional Biochemist, Christine is currently engaged in doctoral research at the University of Queensland, investigating bioactive nutrigenomic phytochemicals with significant clinical potential. She is an accomplished writer and an engaging speaker whose evidence-supported presentations may challenge accepted but often-outdated paradigms. Christine’s forte lies in taking complex biochemical concepts and translating their essence into concepts relevant to the needs of practising clinicians. She is a regular presenter at medical and nutrition conferences where her knowledge of and enthusiasm for the roles of Nutritional Medicine and Nutrigenomics in human health are very evident. She is the author of “Switched On – Harnessing the Power of Nutrigenomics to Optimise Health”. Her peer-reviewed publications include the Special Article published in 2013 in Nutrition Reviews: “Sulforaphane: Translational Medicine from Lab Bench to Clinic”. With a primary goal of translating validated research findings into clinical practice, Christine’s research takes her in directions that provide valuable and relevant background for clinicians. In 2006, she founded Cell-Logic, a company designed to provide a vehicle for making available to clinicians nutrigenomically-active nutraceutical and functional food products, supported by evidence-based data.

Research on Sulforaphane is growing rapidly, with more than 1000 peer – reviewed publications on this topic currently available on PubMed. With an increasing number of clinical trials being listed with the U.S. database alone (www.clinicaltrials.gov), there is growing interest in this versatile bioactive phytochemical. As the demand for this ingredient has grown, so too has the number of broccoli sprout products in the market. So unregulated is the entry of such products into the market that it is difficult if not impossible for a consumer, or even a clinician, to determine the worth of such products. The science which underpins Sulforaphane’s benefits in humans is generally more complex than for many of the nutraceutical ingredients which have gone before it. Consequently, unwary consumers can be buying products which have little if any beneficial effect on health because the manufacturer does not understand the chemistry and is not skilled in manufacturing a finished product which retains the Sulforaphane activity needed for enhancing the function in human cells.

Coyne Healthcare have introduced Bio-Sulphoraphane Advanced® which is a next-generation, highly bioavailable, concentrated source of broccoli phytonutrients. Rich in Sulforaphane to support the activation of the Nrf2 genetic pathway (a powerful detoxifying cascade), this product is a 100% whole broccoli sprout concentrate yielding cell-protective compounds. Its potent formulation has been produced using technology that optimises the Sulforaphane yield. This ability to produce high levels of Sulforaphane when ingested is what makes it capable of reducing inflammation, enhancing detoxification and stimulating the body’s antioxidant defenses at a cellular level.

At the end of the event I was left with a wealth of information, a great many connections in the integrative medical world and a fabulous goodie bag! Thank you so much to everyone at Coyne, this was truly a fantastic event.

The take home message I got from this event was inspirational! That if we can source the cleanest, most bio-available ingredients from nature and utilise science ethically to enhance its abilities to heal, protect and prevent disease… we truly are heading into the future!

Yours in health & love,

Lucy Kues (VitaSoul Founder)