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Advanced Orthomolecular Research (AOR) has an established reputation in Canada as the most advanced supplement formulator in the country - and likely, the world. Mainstays of the supplement market today - such as glucosamine sulfate for joint structure and S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) for support of balanced mood and thought patterns - were first brought to the Canadian market by AOR. And the company has continued to innovate over the years, making its line consistent in its record of putting science-backed natural health products into the hands of health practitioners and into the lives of patients years ahead of their secondary acceptance by the mainstream dietary supplement industry.

The Beginnings

Innovation has been central to the AOR philosophy since its foundation. AOR's origins lie in the pharmacy of the organization's Director, Dr. Traj Nibber, when he was contacted by People With AIDS (PWA) advocacy groups searching for a source of hard-to-find formulations for AIDS buyers' groups. His initial surprise at the lack of access to these nutritional supplements soon turned to empathic frustration, as he realized how many people were suffering from the failure of the dietary supplement industry to make available nutrients whose role in health were well-established by rigorous scientific investigation - and the simultaneous willingness of the same companies to promote supplements on the basis of only the most flimsy of evidence.

Dr. Nibber found a supplement industry which refused to evaluate new evidence or to hold their existing lines up to the light of clear standards of evidence; which was happy to keep selling yesterday's products when a superior, innovative supplement was better-documented by research. He also found that most companies were unwilling to develop genuinely novel orthomolecular interventions, preferring to respond passively to the marketing of supplement raw materials - new or old - by their suppliers. He also found that the industry was too willing to be cowed by government regulators and by bureaucratic red tape, and to skimp on quality control to lower prices even at the expense of clinical efficacy.

At first, Dr. Nibber simply sourced and compounded the specific formulations needed by his PWA contacts. Later, as word of Dr. Nibber's helpfulness spread and the need for his services expanded, Dr. Nibber began to develop standardized formulas that could be manufactured on a larger scale by contract manufacturers. And in the mean time, as his contacts with global pharmaceutical and natural health product suppliers expanded and as he began to immerse himself more in the literature on nutritional factors in health, he began to develop formulations of his own and to launch new natural health products into a wider audience of health-conscious individuals, life extension radicals, and health practitioners seeking a new generation of more effective natural solutions to the chronic health concerns of their patients.

The Innovation Track Record

In the short space of the intervening decade, AOR has risen become a leading provider of genuinely innovative nutraceuticals in North America and around the world, with their "Bottled Revolutions:" tm groundbreaking, research-backed orthomolecules and botanicals which are new to the nation and often to North America or to the world. AOR released Canada's first defined pollen extract for prostate health  (Prostaphil-2®), the only supplement documented in clinical trials to directly affect prostate structure by reducing the volume of the gland itself, rather than simply relieving symptoms as with saw palmetto and other conventional prostate herbals. It was the first company to bring a genuinely complete E-complex supplement in the form of "Total E" tocopherols and tocotrienols. And it brought Lyprinol ,® a source the rare omega-3 fatty acid ETA, which provides more potent support against inflammation than conventional fish oil (EPA) and flax oil (LNA) omega-3 sources, to Canada first.

But AOR's influence has extended well beyond Canada's borders. AOR brought the world its first R(+)-Lipoic Acid  supplements, containing the genuine orthomolecular form rather than the racemic hybrid of natural R(+)- and synthetic S(-)-enantiomers found in conventional "lipoic acid" or "alpha-lipoic acid" supplements. The company brought forward North America's - and now Europe's - first Menatetrenone  (under the name Peak K2), the mammalian-specific vitamin form of vitamin K2, documented to support bone health in multiple clinical trials and registered as a "drug" for osteoporosis in Japan. Benfotiamine, a lipid-soluble derivative of thiamine long used clinically in Germany to relieve the symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, has more recently been documented to reduce the burden of advanced glycation end products (AGE), and as experimental evidence came in to support its ability to maintain healthy protein structure in the nerves, retina, and kidneys in the face of a sugary assault, AOR became the first North American supplier of this key nutriceutical. And the first on Earth to deliver the revolutionary bone health mineral Strontium  at a clinically-tested dose was again AOR.

Research-Based Supplement Design

AOR's formulations have always been designed with an overriding emphasis on ensuring that the final results deliver as promised. This begins with a careful review of the primary science on a supplement, insisting on solid science and real-world outcomes. Ingredients whose only scientific support comes from surrogate outcomes, mechanistic speculation, in vitro studies, or experimental conditions that don't reflect the real challenges of patients are eschewed in favor of the results of high-quality evidence and clinical trials. The final formulation is then designed to reflect the clinical trials themselves, with doses, standardization, and forms of nutrients reflecting the original research.

Special care is taken with multi-ingredient supplements - a class of natural health product that is especially subject to shoddy formulation. Supplements with multiple ingredients can work, and work very well - if they're properly formulated. But many companies approach the formulation of their products as an unscientific game of one-upmanship, in which the object is to come up with the longest possible list of ingredients of interest to people with a particular health concern. In the process, basic issues around dosage, compatibility, stability, and mechanism of action are brushed aside in a rush to put out a pill which - from a quick glance at the label - appears to be the "broadest," most "comprehensive," most "all-inclusive," and most "synergistically complete" product on the shelf.

Some honest, well-meaning companies sit down to formulate effective products - and fail because they just aren't familiar with the underlying science, or don't know enough about the materials with which they're working. On the other hand, even if they understand the science, supplement companies can still make ineffective products. And if their only concern is their bottom line, then they will do just that, whenever they perceive that what good nutritional science demands isn't what the mass market will support.

So, consistently good formulation requires both the best science, and the best motivations. Something has to provide the impetus to keep a supplement company poring over medical journals, combing through new research in search of new discoveries, and questioning the market's common formulation clichés. AOR has built its line's reputation for efficacy one supplement at a time, diligently pursuing optimal formulation from the primary research up.

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