Vitamins & Supplements
The supplement industry is going through a reckoning as consumers grow better informed about the products they’re willing to put into their bodies. Personal health and wellness is more of a focus now than perhaps ever, and many consumers are raising an eyebrow and reconsidering their approach to day-to-day wellbeing.
I recently spoke with Faraaz Jamal, Founder and CEO of Mikra, a science-focused biological wellness company. Mikra’s first product, an antioxidant-rich supplement that combats oxidative stress on a cellular level, is called CELLF. It’s making waves in the wellness space thanks to an advanced cell delivery system and short list of ingredients. Using data from over 150 human clinical studies while also conducting its own clinical trials of the supplement, Mikra’s formula for CELLF has proven to be incredibly popular among its rapidly growing user base.
Gary Drenik: Mikra is entering a very crowded supplement space, with lots of companies making claims that are rarely backed up by real data. What makes your approach different?
Faraaz Jamal: It’s easy for a company to spin up and declare that its product will help you feel better. Supplements are regulated by the FDA, but the claims that a lot of these companies make just don’t pass muster. Nobody is forcing these brands to actually follow through on their promises, so finding one that not only tests their own product for efficacy but that makes that data publicly available is virtually impossible, but that’s exactly what we’re doing with CELLF.
The formula we’ve chosen for CELLF — a blend of powerful antioxidants produced in an oxygen-free environment to preserve their potency — is backed by hundreds of pieces of third-party research. Beyond that, we’ve spent months putting the product through rigorous clinical trials to not only show that it works, but to inform any changes we might wish to make to CELLF in the future to make it even more powerful.
We’ll be publicly sharing all of that trial data soon. It’s the kind of information that a company would typically keep confidential, but we really believe in pushing the science forward.
Drenik: Your first product, CELLF, targets cellular health using antioxidants. Can you explain what it does that other off-the-shelf antioxidants fall short of?
Jamal: The biggest hurdle for any supplement is making it to the part of your body where it can be used. The stomach and intestines are a hostile environment. They break things down, that’s their job. Imagine taking an antioxidant and then hoping that it manages to make it through your digestive system unscathed, so that it can be absorbed in the lower part of your small intestine. We know that this just doesn’t work, and the vast majority of what you’re taking is going to be destroyed before it can be used.
CELLF works differently. The antioxidants are protected as they pass through the upper parts of your digestive system. They’re encased in a barrier that keeps them intact long enough that they can make it to an area of your intestinal tract where they are absorbed and used by your cells. That’s something that you just don’t get with the antioxidants you find on a drug store shelf.
Drenik: You talk about “healthspans” a lot. Can you explain what that means, and how it differs from lifespan?
Jamal: You can go to a doctor right now and get a blood test or a physical and receive a clean bill of health, but how you actually feel on a day-to-day basis might not match. Physical health and feeling healthy are sometimes two different things. Your healthspan is a measurement of how you feel, whereas your lifespan is a measure of how long you live.
According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 75% of adults in the US regularly take pain relievers. Over 50% of adults take antacids, and another 43% take fiber supplements or laxatives. That’s a lot of people who might be “healthy,” according to one measure, but are failing the healthspan test for one reason or another. In that same survey, over 75% of adults say they take vitamins or supplements. So, it’s clear that people are open to taking steps to make themselves feel better, but the choices they’re making might not be the right ones.
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What we know thanks to decades of research into antioxidants is that their ability to fight oxidative stress on a cellular level cascades into a whole host of benefits. They can reduce fatigue, clear up brain fog, promote heart health, and even slow biological aging. These are the kinds of day-to-day boosts that really enhance a person’s healthspan.
Drenik: When people talk about long-term health goals, they often bring up longevity. Is living longer what we should really be focusing on when we look at our day-to-day well-being?
Jamal: It’s natural to look at life and want more of it. Where I think people might stray from the path a little bit is when they see life as something to extend at all costs, even at the expense of day-to-day happiness.
Health takes many forms. Eating nutritious foods, getting physical exercise, spending time outdoors, and reducing stress are things we know we should do. If everything goes as planned, those things also help you live longer. But nobody is perfect, and over the years we’ve all slipped up, or indulged in bad habits.
Those bad decisions tend to pile up, and it’s important to address that. CELLF helps to peel back those layers on a microscopic level and revitalize the tiniest building blocks of who you are. The result is that you feel better tomorrow than you do today, and that effect is enhanced the longer you take it.
Drenik: People are rightfully skeptical of any new supplement that hits the market. What changes in the industry as a whole are needed to shift public perception and skepticism?
Jamal: As I mentioned before, the FDA doesn’t have the power to force companies to back up their claims with factual data. As long as a company notes that the statements have not been reviewed by the FDA, they can say a lot of things that might not be true. This isn’t something that is likely to change.
What I think can change is that consumers can become more aware of the science that goes into the products they consume. We’ve seen small shifts in thinking over the years, and people have decided that they want to avoid certain things. This is promising to see, because it means that people are taking an active role in their pursuit of health.
For us at Mikra, transparency is really what we hope to normalize. We tell you exactly what is in our products, what it does, what the studies show, and you know why we made the decisions we made before you ever put it in your body. That’s super important to us, and I hope it’s a trend that can continue to grow across the industry.
Drenik: Thanks Faraaz, for taking the time to shed some light on supplements and share your insights. As consumer skepticism around supplements grows, it’s clear that science-backed evidence will be what sets companies like Mikra apart.
