PGX® is available as a softgel capsule or in granular form. It is taken just before meals with a large glass of water. As you eat your meal, PGX® absorbs the water and mixes with your food to become a gel-like matrix that gently expands and builds a viscosity that slows digestion and provides a pleasant feeling of fullness.
The volume and the viscosity properties of PGX® are unique to PGX® and are the result of its proprietary composition, including a high fiber content that was developed over years of scientific research. In fact, the volume and viscosity of the gel matrix is almost entirely responsible for the powerful benefits that PGX® is able to exert on your behalf.
PGX® is simple to use and can be incorporated into your daily meals and lifestyle with ease. Continue reading to learn how PGX® can correct your appetite to help you control weight, and support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels - all this while also being incredibly safe.
PGX® Helps You to Lose Weight
For almost everyone, the math behind weight loss is simple: your body has to burn more calories than it consumes. There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. If you burn 500 more calories than you consume each day, theoretically you will lose one pound a week. It is for this reason that all sensible diets focus on a combination of exercise and calorie reduction. PGX® does not burn calories, but it can make eating fewer calories each day much easier for you, helping to correct your appetite and helping you decrease the size of your meals. Read more…
Correcting Your Appetite
Scientific research has now proven that there is a link between blood sugar and appetite. When blood sugar levels go up and down many times throughout the day, it can signal the brain to eat many times.
Blood sugar is important for health. Everyone needs the right amount of glucose (sugar) in their blood to maintain energy and power bodily functions. In fact, too little blood sugar can be dangerous and the brain responds by creating hunger signals we recognize as appetite. By eating, the body restores its blood sugar to appropriate levels – at least until the next drop triggers hunger again.
PGX
® helps correct appetite by supporting healthy blood sugar levels.
The below graphs demonstrate the important role that blood sugar plays with regard to appetite. Figures 1 and 2 track the blood sugar levels of an overweight woman throughout the day, using a continuous glucose monitor - first without PGX® when she had a poorly controlled diet and no exercise, then with PGX® and diet and exercise. The "x" signifies how often her blood sugar levels dropped during the day. As the second graph shows, regular use of of PGX® smooths the spikes in blood sugar. Unlike many "diet" products that try to aim to suppress appetite, PGX® addresses appetite by addressing rises and falls in blood sugar.
Reducing Meal Portion Size
Another well-established approach to calorie reduction is smaller meal portions, and here again PGX
® can help! When taken with food and a glass of water, PGX absorbs the water and mixes with the food, gently expanding in your stomach to increase volume. This additional volume provides a pleasant feeling of fullness that helps you to feel satisfied with a smaller meal.
But, to truly remain satisfied as you eat less, you also need to feel full for a longer period of time. PGX, with its high-fiber composition, mixes with food to create a highly viscous fiber complex that reaches full viscosity 60-90 minutes after taking PGX with a meal. This gel matrix maintains its viscosity despite the influence of stomach acids, resulting in a slowed digestion process that helps keep you feeling full and satisfied longer after meals.
Research Results: Using PGX
® as a weight-loss aid has been assessed in weight loss programs conducted at the Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine in British Columbia. In each of these programs, participants received healthy eating guidelines and were encouraged to be more physically active, in addition to being asked to consume 5 grams of PGX
® two to three times per day. Over 14 weeks the people that took PGX
® lost between 4.93 and 20.55 lbs (2.24 and 9.34 kg) with an average of 12.74 lbs(5.79 kgs)
1.
The weight loss consistently experienced on the
PGX® programtranslates into a healthy weight loss of about one-half to 2 pounds per week over 12-14 weeks
1.
PGX® Supports Healthy Blood Sugar Levels Already within a Normal Range
Most foods in the Western diet are highly processed. Convenience foods and “fast food,” especially, are laden with highly refined carbohydrates. These foods are too rapidly digested by the body, causing increases in blood sugar levels after meals. This rapid rise triggers the body to release insulin to bring blood sugar back down again. Coupled with a current or chronic blood sugar level imbalance, this creates a pattern in which blood sugar erratically rises and falls – it’s the so-called blood sugar roller coaster. Read more…
PGX® counteracts the effects of carbohydrate-heavy meals to help support healthy blood sugar levels. control and balance blood sugar levels. The same highly viscous fiber complex created by adding PGX to your meals, the one that helps you feel full and retain that feeling of satisfaction longer, is also your source of assistance in supporting healthy blood sugar levels already within a normal range. The slowed digestion that you experience when using PGX also slows the conversion of carbohydrates and other foods into sugar, resulting in a more gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream.
PGX® has been clinically proven to reduce the glycemic index of foods by up to 50%2,3. The glycemic index (GI) is a scale that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods by how much they raise blood glucose levels after meals, when compared to a standard food (glucose or white bread). When blood sugar levels increases are minimized, it also helps to prevent blood sugar levels from falling.
PGX® Helps Support Healthy Cholesterol Levels Already within a Normal Range
PGX® addresses cholesterol by increasing the excretion rate of blood cholesterol. The liver packages the cholesterol into bile acids and sends them to the small intestine for fat breakdown. Read more…
From there, the cholesterol finds its way to the bloodstream and where health problems can occur. But soluble fiber, like PGX, binds with some of these cholesterol-containing bile acids when they arrive in the small intestine, and quickly moves them out of the body.
Research Results: In one published study involving healthy male and female volunteers, a dose of 10 grams of PGX® per day over 21 days was shown to help address total and LDL cholesterol levels.5,6
PGX® is Safe and Stimulant Free
With all the benefits of PGX® so far described, one might expect there to be drawbacks to using it, perhaps even unpleasant side effects. However, PGX is made from natural products and has been proven to be safe in two published studies6,7. Read more…
PGX does not contain any stimulants that increase heart rate or leave you feeling anxious or jittery. In the clinical trials of PGX, some people reported gas or bloating, both of which are commonly noticed when increasing the amount of fiber in your diet. When these symptoms were noticed, they tended to last 3-7 days, but can be easily limited – by gradually working up to the recommended dose, and by drinking lots of water with your PGX.
PGX® is High in fiber
PGX® is an excellent source of dietary fiber. According to current Health Canada recommendations, healthy adults should consume at least 25 grams of fiber (both soluble and insoluble) every day. It is well-known that fiber is good for you, but the effectiveness of fiber is proportionate to its ability to hold water. Read more…
PGX absorbs water slowly and maintains its gel-like viscosity throughout the digestive tract. As a result, a 5 gram serving of PGX is equivalent to as much as 20 grams of some other fiber sources. Of course, it is important to get much of your fiber from eating foods high in fiber. But adding PGX to any diet will allow you to reach the recommended daily amount easily.
References
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Lyon MR, Reichert RG. The effect of a novel viscous polysaccharide (PGX®) along with lifestyle changes on short-term weight loss and associated risk factors in overweight and obese adults: An observational retrospective clinical program analysis.Canadian Center for Functional Medicine, Coquitlam.
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Jenkins AL, , Kacinik V and Lyon M. Glycemic index reduction by a viscous polysaccharide blend independent of food form: determination of the glycemic reduction index potential (GRIP). FASEB J. 2008; 22: 305.7.
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Kacinik V, Jenkins AL, Lyon M. The reduction of the glycemic index when a Viscous fiber blend is added or incorporated into commonly consumed foods. In Science Across Borders: 5th Annual NHPRS Conference; 2008 March 26–29; Toronto (ON), Canada.
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Carabin IG, Lyon MR, Wood S, Pelletier X, Donazzolo Y, Burdock GA. Supplementation of the diet with the functional fiber PolyGlycoplex® is well tolerated by healthy subjects in a clinical trial. Nutr J. 2009; 8 (1): 9.
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Lyon MR, Reichert RG. The effect of a novel viscous polysaccharide (PGX®) along with lifestyle changes on short-term weight loss and associated risk factors in overweight and obese adults: An observational retrospective clinical program analysis. Canadian Center for Functional Medicine, Coquitlam.
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Carabin IG, Lyon MR, Wood S, Pelletier X, Donazzolo Y, Burdock GA. Supplementation of the diet with the functional fiber PolyGlycoplex(R) is well tolerated by healthy subjects in a clinical trial. Nutr J. 2009; 8 (1): 9.
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Palma Ann Marone, Michael Lyon, Roland Gahler, Claudia Donath, Hana Hofman-Huther, Simon Wood. Genotoxicity Studies fo PolyGlycopleX (PGX)® : A Novel Dietary Fiber. Int J Toxicol 2009; 28; 318.