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NO - Molecule of the year 1992 - they're having a laugh?

Each year Science, the prestigious science journal, awards a prize for the most significant development in scientific research. Originating in 1989 as the Molecule of the Year.

In 1992 Nitric Oxide (No, not laughing gas - that's Nitrous oxide N₂O) was awarded the prize.  So what's the fuss about Nitric Oxide.  Turns out it is produced in the body during biochemical processes in extremely small amounts but can be detected by cells and cell recognition processes to initiate and control important interactions - that is - an important cellular messenger molecule.  And it's important in maintaining the human species!

Some interesting and relevant functions

• Nitric oxide is also known as the endothelium-derived relaxing factor, or EDRF. The endothelium (inner lining) of blood vessels uses nitric oxide to signal the surrounding smooth muscle to relax, thus resulting in vasodilation and increasing blood flow.
• Nitric oxide (NO) inhibits vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium. Humans with atherosclerosis, diabetes, or hypertension often show impaired NO pathways.
• Nitric oxide is also generated by monocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils as part of the human immune response. 
• Nitric oxide secreted as an immune response is toxic to bacteria.  In response, however, many bacterial pathogens have evolved mechanisms for nitric oxide resistance. 
•  Nitric oxide may serve as an indicator for inflammation in conditions such as asthma. There has been increasing interest in the use of exhaled nitric oxide as a breath test in diseases with airway inflammation. 
• Reduced levels of exhaled NO have been associated with exposure to air pollution.
• Nitric oxide is elevated in populations living at high altitudes, which helps to avoid inadequate oxygen supply by aiding the cells in the lungs to dilate.

Check out this article HERE on how Nitric Oxide can be used to deliver more oxygen in the blood to tissue.

Materiabio: for Health and Vitality / Para Salud y Vitalidad

Hoy he visitado Materiabio en la Roca del Vallés.

La propietaria, Eva-Ruth González, no es sólo una entusiasta de las terapias naturales, sino también una experta en cómo el cuerpo reacciona ante las emociones. Eva-Ruth incluso ha creado un tratamiento novedoso llamado Terapia de alineación emocional (TAE) que centra la atención en cómo el cuerpo reacciona ante ciertos tipos de estrés y emociones. Su conclusión es que mente, cuerpo y emociones pueden ser tratados como un todo y que cada persona puede recibir una ayuda personalizada.

 Eva-Ruth utiliza determinados aceites esenciales sobre puntos concretos del cuerpo para desbloquear y reequilibrar a 3 niveles: emocional, físico y energético.

Tiene la suficiente información y pruebas como para explicarme cómo, gracias a su sistema único y novedoso, es posible sentirse en paz con uno mismo, y que las emociones y la mente pueden ser alineadas correctamente para poder vivir en armonía con nosotros mismos.

En su herboristería, Materiabio, en La Roca del Vallés- también pude ver una gran variedad de productos altamente nutritivos hechos con ingredientes tradicionales y naturales. Estos productos pueden ayudar a mantenerse sanos y a tratar una variedad de afecciones y desórdenes, gracias al consejo del experimentado equipo de Materiabio. El establecimiento está bien surtido de productos como aceites esenciales y tratamientos florales (Flores de Bach), entre otros.

"Materiabio también ha escogido las bebidas ayurvédicas de InnOrbit, y una selección y muestras de bebidas están ya disponibles"

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Today I visited Materiabio in Roca de Vallés.  

The owner, Eva-Ruth Gonzalez, is not only an enthusiastic practitioner of natural therapies but also an expert in how the body reacts to emotion.  Eva-Ruth has even developed a novel treatment called Emotional Alineation Therapy that taps into how the body reacts to certain types of stresses and emotions.  Her conclusion was that the mind, body and emotions can be treated as an integrated one and that every person can be helped in this respect on an individual basis.

Eva-Ruth uses determined essential oils on certain points of the body to unblock and re-equilibrate on 3 levels – emotional, physical and energetic.

She had plenty of evidence to tell me how, using her unique and novel system, it is possible to feel at one and that emotions and mind can be aligned correctly and we can learn to live in harmony with ourselves.

In her herbalist, Materiabio in Rocal Vallés, I also saw a wide range of highly nutritional products made with traditional and natural ingredients.  With advice from the team at Materiabio these products can be used to stay healthy and to treat a variety of ailments and conditions.  The shop is well-stocked with products like essential oils and flower remedies (Bach Flowers), amongst others.

Materiabio have also kindly selected InnOrbit ayurvedic drinks and a selection of drinks and samples are currently available.

Understanding some Heart changing terms

We recently have written articles about research taking place on the cardiovascular improving properties of certain traditional ingredients.  Traditional ingredients like Cardamom, amongst others, are key ingredients in the Ayurvedic beverages produced by InnOrbit and can have positive health benefits on heart and blood health.

There are a couple of terms that probably need some extra explanation and that are implicated in Cardiovascular health.


1. Fibrinogen is explained very well by Dr Jeremy Kaslow here and summarised below:

Fibrinogen is:

• a protein found in the blood that plays a key role in clotting.  
• a sticky coagulant that appears to significantly increase the risk of experiencing one of the leading causes of death and disability - stroke.
• a powerful predictor of a "stroke" (when measured in the blood).

"Fibrinogen's association with increased mortality is probably directly related to its ability to promote thromboses, or clots, by causing platelets to clump inside blood vessels.  This is one of the main mechanisms underlying ischemia and heart attack. Exercise, quitting smoking, and certain medications have been shown to lower fibrinogen in the short term." Dr J. Kaslow

2. Fibrinolysis is the  the process by which a fibrin clot (the product of coagulation) is broken down. The enzyme plasmin hydrolyses the fibrin mesh at various places, leading to the production of circulating fragments that are cleaved by other proteases and eliminated.

Fibrinolytic drugs are often given after a heart attack to dissolve the plaque blocking the coronary artery.

Antifibrinolytics, such as aminocaproic acid (ε-aminocaproic acid) and tranexamic acid are used as inhibitors of fibrinolysis. Their application may be beneficial in patients with hyperfibrinolysis because they arrest bleeding rapidly if the other components of the haemostatic system are not severely affected.

"There are a number of assay for measuring fibrinogen levels in plasma  although in practice most laboratories use the Clauss method - A functional assay based upon the time for fibrin clot formation"

Check out the excellent Khan Academy tutorial on how the heart works and how heart attacks and heart failure occurs...at THIS LINK.

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InnOrbit tries its Best to add value to the Small Family Farmers we buy our Herbs and Spices from …


They work hard and often its the younger members of the family who may suffer with a lack of a good education.




How:  Through sales of InnOrbit drinks and products we sponsor girls through 10 years of education.

If you would like to learn more, or can help us to place these young girls in schools any quicker, please contact us via the founder of InnOrbit:  Ketan Joshi at  Ketan@InnOrbit.com.

Alternatively, buy our products and tell your friends and families of these products so they too will want to buy them … and with everyone buying these products, we will be able to add more and more girls to our cause faster …

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All about Cytokines

Natural ingredients in functional drinks (like the ones InnOrbit produce) often have a profound effect on the human body and biochemical processes. Some of the ingredients can even effect programmed cell-death - apoptosis -  and we focussed on this recently.

In our sister blog we have reported the research that investigators are performing in this area.  Many of the ingredients can "control" biochemicals called cytokines.  Take a look at this article on Licorice for an idea of how natural ayurvedic ingredients work on the body.

Cytokines are the communication system of the body's cells of the immune system and beyond.  The cells communicate via cytokines.

 They can mediate long and short range communication between cells.
In many cases Cytokines are produced by one type of cell and have an effect on another type of cell.

The nomenclature has been adopted to simplify them.

Under the microscope: Leukocytes are the fuzzy irregular shaped cells.  The other cells are mostly Red Blood Cells

Any molecule that communicates between leukocytes (or white blood cells) is known as INTERLEUKIN and is given the prefix IL.  However, this has not been adopted universally and there are molecules which have retained their original name: IFNs (Interferons) and TNFs (Tumour Necrosis Factors).  Normal designations are used as follows: IL-1, IL-2, IL-3 etc.

"IL-1β is a major cytokine driving the inflammatory processes leading to the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis and other inflammatory diseases (see this article on Green Tea)"

So, the nomenclature gets worse.  Investigators soon realised that cytokines can be produced by a whole host of other types of cells!  Further it was shown that the same cytokines are muti-functional in a variety of different tissues.

Cytokines: regulate and coordinate cellular responses throughout the body and not just the immune system.

Example of Cytokine Activity:

As a way of an example on how Cytokines work we can look at TNFs (Tumour Necrosis Factor).
TNFs are multi-tasking cytokines that have several biological functions.

TNFs are implicated in the response to injury and/or infection, amongst other roles.
TNFs can:

• Mediate the killing of infected cells making them cells more susceptible to killing by other cells;
• Trigger the production of other molecules (e.g. prostaglandins) which can induce tumour necrosis (the breakdown or lysis of tumour cells);
• Augment the effect of leukocytes and other blood cells (i.e. their stickiness to other cells);
• Stimulate the resorption of bone by ostoclasts (basically part of the essential process of bone remodelling and reshaping);
• Immuno-regulation - play a role in the body's defense against parasitic, viral & bacterial attack.

Sweetness & Liquorice

Liquorice contains a compound called glycyrrhizin, which is known to be 50 times sweeter than sugar.  Due to its sweetness and flavouring properties, it has been used to make more unpalatable or bitter foods tastier. 

It can be used as a sweetener to sweeten foods, such as when cooking fruit like plums and other "tarty" fruits. Also, Diabetics have found liquorice useful for sweetening and flavouring other food items like drinks.  

Liquorice after a meal is a traditional way to help with digestion.

In InnOrbit drinks the effect of sweetness and the actual taste of liquorice can be very subtle and depends on the level of liquorice used.  

In Young&Fun the level of liquorice is physically higher, and our taste experts have found that the overall perception of aniseed flavour, or liquorice flavour is correspondingly higher.  In more lower doses the liquorice flavour is much less and almost disappears but the sweetness is higher.  It really does depend on the level of liquorice used and the balance of other components in the recipe.

"Liquorice flavour can have a subtle sweetening effect or a more pronounced aniseed taste in the InnOrbit drinks"

It is important that the levels of liquorice complement other flavours and can enhance other ingredients in certain cases.

In the InnOrbit drinks we get "2 for the price of 1" in the sense that we get a sensory effect (great taste!) and a bonus of a healthy ingredient (Click HERE for our sister blog which has more information on the health benefits of liquorice).

Click on the image for a video on the benefits of Liquorice: