Review of Xtend Life Green Lipped Mussel Powder

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Welcome to this vitamin review of Xtend Life Green Lipped Mussel Powder page.

I've been using Xtend-Life supplements since May 2004. Thus, I feel I can give you an honest review of their products including their well received Green Lipped Mussel Powder supplement.

The green-lipped/greenshell mussel, which is unique to the pristine waters of New Zealand, is widely regarded to be a "miracle food." It isn't but it is biologically one of the most complete foods in the world with its nutritional profile rivaling that of bee pollen.

Clinical research confirms that it can be a formidable supplement IF it’s cultivated and processed right, which I’ll discuss in more depth in a moment.

What Are The Health Benefits of Green Lipped Mussel Powder?

Clinical research shows that green lipped mussel powder is great for its:

• Ability to relieve joint pain and its anti-arthritis capability
• Significant anti-inflammation properties

Those are not its only purported and clinically-researched therapeutic benefits, though. Other purported benefits are that it:

• Improves the skin, nails, hair, bones and teeth
• It lowers the risk of heart disease
• May help to strengthen arterial walls
• May help to improve circulation
• Improves immune system
• Improves nerve-cell functioning
• Improves fertility in both men and women

There is a problem, however. I alluded to it when I said "IF it’s cultivated and processed right."

In order to get the health benefits that the green-lipped mussel can provide, it has to be eaten fresh and raw or taken it in supplement form. (Cooking and high-heat destroy its nutrients.) And, making it into a supplement is difficult and this is where "the rubber meets the road."

Xtend Life uses their own proprietary method of preserving the green lipped mussel's nutrients for this supplement. This is noteworthy as all other companies use a traditional approach of freeze-drying processes, which severely destroys most of the nutrient value of the mussels through what's called enzymatic oxidation and chemical oxidation.

Briefly, enzymatic oxidation is when lipoxidase enzymes in the mussel flesh, which have been removed or "shucked," start oxidizing or deteriorating along with the surrounding lipids and other organic compounds that provide the green-lipped mussel supplement's therapeutic nutrients.

The truth is that it's almost literally impossible to prevent enzymatic oxidation from occurring.

Xtend Life, however, seems to be able to prevent this when compared to their competitors. They've managed to utilize a method of fast processing that doesn’t give these enzymes enough time to start oxidizing.

The company says it can take multiple one-ton bins of fresh green lipped mussels and separate the meat from the shells, liquify it to slurry, spray the dry liquid, and then package the powder while other companies are still in the blast-freezing process -- and they can do it all in just over 30 minutes.

The consequence to the consumer is that they get literally almost all of the nutritional potency of the mussel, which is the whole point of taking the supplement in the first place.

Why Is This Proprietary Process Important?

Compared to other supplement companies whose supplement-creation process can literally take several days to process their mussel powder, which results in only 8% to 10% nutrient life, Xtend Life's process seems to be head and shoulders above their competition.

Plus, they don’t do any cooking or blast the mussel meat with high temperatures that destroy the organic lipids or the mucopolysaccharides (MPS) during the manufacturing process.

Again, this is important for you and me the customer as it ensures we get the most nutrient dense green-lipped mussel possible and thus maximum therapeutic health benefits.

The end result of all this is that the critical nutrients, especially the critical MPS, are preserved. Thus, the quality of the mussel lipids with the Xtend-Life Green Lipped Mussel Powder product is equivalent to eating raw mussels due to their proprietary process -- this is highly desirable -- and provides maximum nutritional potency.

Xtend Life has done a great job with preserving the nutrients during the critical processing phase, in my opinion.

The company believes it has a competitive advantage not only with their processing standards but with their product sourcing as well.

What About Product Sourcing?

The company says it has "full traceability" for its mussels and can actually prove that they get their mussels from the pristine Marlborough Sound off New Zealand’s south island. They also source their mussels from only one mussel supplier who as part of the business arrangement with Xtend Life has agreed to the quality standards the company has demanded.

All told, when you consider material sourcing and processing, Xtend Life has produced a superb product. Their green-lipped mussel powder has more than double the amount of the mussel equivalent found in the oil product and is much more nutritionally potent, plus the MPS’ are preserved. This means you get a massive "shot" of the therapeutic benefits discussed earlier.

The MPS may be the most important nutrient in the green-lipped mussels as some scientists believe that a lack of MPS in humans is a major agent in aging.

What’s Included?

Each bottle also has 120 capsules. The company recommends that four a day be taken so one bottle is a month’s supply. In each bottle is a silica gel dessicant that will eliminate unwanted moisture, and the bottle is wrapped like an actual pharmaceutical product.

While the label has typical product information, one noteworthy part is the batch number, the manufactured and use-by-date section.

The reason this is important to us consumers is because it allows us to confirm the product's freshness. Plus, it allows you to know when the tablets or gel capsules have been created. Their endemic batch number is an internal number that represents when the supplement was made.

Xtend-Life also gives you a Certificate of Analysis (COA), which certifies the date the raw nutrients were certified as meeting set-forth standards.

The recommended use-by-date element is self-explanatory, and is typically two years in the future past the manufactured date.

How Much Should You Expect to Pay?

A one-month supply is $28.95 USD. That’s one bottle.

Does It Include a Guarantee?

Xtend Life offers a 6-month satisfaction guarantee. (I know of no other supplement company that offers such a guarantee.) You have to be supremely confident in the quality and efficacy of your nutritional supplements to offer such a sterling warranty.

And, while it’s hard to certify, they actually guarantee that 80% of the supplement’s nutrients are assimilated by the body as well.

Regarding their general product guarantee, Xtend Life says this in their promotional literature:

"Not 100% happy with your purchase from us? Send it back within six months of the purchase for a full refund or Product replacement - whichever you prefer. We do not want you to have any product from us which does not fully meet or exceed your expectations."

One thing I also like is that in this age of computer fraud and and security problems is that they have dedicated servers that have EV-SSL encryption. This is typically 256-bit encryption, which is very strong.

What this means to you and me is that you are safe when ordering. The company also has their McAfee SECURE online security protocol tested daily. Plus, they also are certified by TRUSTe as having buying procedures in place that ensure compliance with TRUSTe’s program rigid security requirements.

Their security standards are excellent and ensure a safe buying environment without fear of having one’s financial information exploited.

Consumer Reviews & Testimonials

While there are minimal customer reviews on their website, the company's preferred mussel farm has proven to be so successful that since 2002 the aquaculture industry with green lipped mussels is growing at a rate of 55,000 tonnes per year. That's a lot of product being sold!

That said, here are a few customer testimonials:

We love your products. I gave a bottle of Green Lipped Mussel to a friend who complained about pain in his joints. And he claims that a week after taking the supplement he has great improvements. But then his wife developed wrist pain from computer use, and she is taking now 4 pills of green-lipped mussel a day and [the] pain disappeared.

Immediately upon receiving my GLM on May 22nd I began taking 6 capsules per day along with 6 tablets of Arthrit-Eze per day. By the second day the pain in my knees from osteoarthritis began to diminish....As of Tuesday May 30th, US time, I have resumed walking the stairs of my school without leaning on the handrail and with no pain in my knees.
Eric, USA

Any Customer Complaints or Product Negatives?

If you're allergic to shellfish, you cannot take green lipped mussel powder. Another negative is that one can also get a "seafood burp" after taking the supplement, which has been my experience. However, one only gets one or two at the most and then it's gone.

Where Can I Buy It?

You can get the Xtend Life Green Lipped Mussel Powder supplement direct from the manufacturer. It's not available in health food or grocery stores. They will ship it to you directly. You can buy it here.

Also, in my experience with the company over seven-plus years, once the order is initiated, you get the products in about five or six days, which is always nice.

If you spend over $60, the company also gives you free shipping anywhere in the world. If you don’t, though, the company charges a flat $6.50 fee for shipment to anywhere in the world.

Where Can I Learn More About The Product?

If you are interested in this supplement, this link here will take you to it so you can read more about it. 

This page is also a good place, too. There, you can really get into great detail about the supplement and even check out some clinical studies regarding green lipped mussels and its therapeutic benefits to human beings.

Conclusion

I’ve tried to be as honest and non-partisan as possible with this review. I have to admit, though, that I really like Xtend Life. They are really committed to product quality. Their products actually meet U.S. FDA requirements.

In fact, some of their processing standards actually meet the exacting standards of British Pharmacopoeia. That is really impressive for a supplement or vitamin company.

All their supplements are also made in current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliant facilities further ensuring quality.

I therefore personally -- and I emphasize this is my personal opinion -- is that they deserve 5 out of 5 stars. If you want to learn more about it, go here.

I hope this review of Xtend-Life Green Lipped Mussel Powder has been helpful.

Yours in health,
Nutritional-Supplement-Bible.com