What’s the recommended daily dose for LifeGuard Essentials?

We recommend two capsules per day. This makes the subscription a wise choice, as we seek to ensure a continuity of supply so the benefits of taking LifeGuard Essentials is maintained.

Where can I buy LifeGuard Essentials?

LifeGuard Essentials is currently stocked by Hardy's Health Stores and Cherrytree, available both in their physical stores and online shops. You can of course order directly through us on this website. We aim to ship the same business day where possible, and the following business day in any event.

Where do you currently ship LifeGuard Essentials to?

At present, we ship within New Zealand with a flat fee of $10.00 for shipping and handling. We are presently exploring our international shipping options, but for now ship at a competitive rate per unit to Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdon. Please note that this is non-tracked. If you wish to purchase LifeGuard Essentials anywhere else in the world, please email us at info@lifeguard.health and we will see what we can do. Please note that while we take all care to get our packages to you, we accept no responsibility for customs and import issues in your country. If a package is returned, or we can verify it being an issue on our end, we will of course offer a full refund.

Can I pause my Subscription?

For occasional requests we can delay subscription orders for one or two months. Email us at orders@lifeguard.health with the date you would like the subscription to resume. If it's urgent or you wish to pause the subscription indefinitely the best thing to do is cancel your existing subscription and resubscribe later via the shop website. You can manage your subscriptions by logging in to your account portal (https://lifeguard.health/account) using the email address you provided at checkout. When ready, reactivate by purchasing your chosen subscription again. Your saved details should be filled in automatically making checkout quick and easy.

What’s the role of inflammation in dementia?

The brains of patients with Alzheimers (the most commonly seen form of dementia) consistently show the activated microglia and cytokines of inflammation. The mechanisms behind the onset of the various forms of dementia are still not clearly understood – but it is accepted that inflammation plays a key role in this progressively debilitating disease.

What’s the role of inflammation in blood vessel (heart) disease and stroke?

The health problem generally known as heart disease is better termed blood vessel disease – because it is caused by blockages in blood vessels. How do these blockages occur?  A lesion called atherosclerosis happens when cholesterol, a type of fat, slowly accumulates over many years inside an artery wall.  These fatty deposits are not passive lumps – they are active, smoldering centers of inflammation.  As these lumps age, cells in the middle die, and release the cholesterol they had absorbed. This process causes the fatty lump to develop a ‘soft center’ with a precariously thin shell.  Eventually, inflammation wears the shell away, and the soft ‘porridgey’ center erupts rapidly into the vessel.  This signals surrounding blood proteins to rush on to the scene to clump together to form a clot – which closes the channel, and causes a heart attack or stroke.

What’s the role of inflammation in cancer?

Cancers happen when genes or DNA get disrupted and no longer work properly – affecting cell division and growth. Most normal cells die when vital functions are damaged, but sometimes they manage to survive and uncontrollably proliferate instead – becoming cancer. Inflammation is thought to initiate and promote cancer at multiple points. Toxic elements in the inflammatory cascade over an extended period of time damage DNA. It also appears that most, if not all, cancers exist in their own inflammatory microenvironment – a protective shell of inflammation which assists the cancer’s ability to survive and spread.

If this is established mainstream science, why hasn’t my GP talked to me about it?

Probably because most patients aren’t so interested in delving into “what’s behind my symptoms?” so much as “what do I need to do to fix them?” It doesn’t help that time is always a constraint during medical consultations. Consider bringing up the topic of systemic inflammation levels with your GP if there’s an opportunity, and note what he or she can tell you about its potential impacts on your health over time.

Which conditions/diseases have been linked to inflammation?

Cancers, blood vessel (heart) disease/strokes, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, dementia, psoriasis, allergies, asthma, depression, to name a few. Anything ending in –itis by definition has inflammation at its core, but many others, particularly the diseases of the older years, have in recent decades been traced to it. Inflammation has emerged as the culprit lurking at the base of most major illnesses – full stop.

How is being overweight linked to increased inflammation?

Fat cells, particularly in deposits around the belly and organs, are not inert. They churn out inflammatory molecules called cytokines which initiate an inflammatory response. Taking action to reach a healthy weight will have a positive effect on minimising your body’s inflammation levels.

Is this yet another health fad to add to an already long list?

No – there’s nothing faddish about systemic inflammation and its proven links to ageing and disease. This is science-based and well-accepted by the medical mainstream.

How does inflammation affect how I will age and my risk of major disease?

The chronic inflammation fix-it crew are a well-meaning bunch, but they aren’t keen on down time and they prefer to keep busy! They also aren’t the least bit careful about ensuring that they don’t make a mess or break things around their workspaces. This effect, multiplied in many areas in the body and accumulated over extended periods of time, ultimately results in disease. Click on the “Age Better” tab for more details.

What’s the link between increasing age and inflammation?

Studies have shown that older people, in normal health, routinely have higher blood levels of the molecules that measure inflammation. These inflammatory markers no longer point to illness – they are simply a normal feature of older bodies. A word has been coined to describe the link between increasing age and increasing levels of inflammation – inflammaging.  Click on the “Age Better” tab for more details.

What can I do to avoid chronic inflammation?

It may be useful to think of foods or lifestyle decisions as being either broadly anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory, and strive to avoid the scales tilting too far over onto the pro-inflammatory side.

Diet, exercise, weight, alcohol, smoking, sleep, stress, and exposure to toxins and pollutants all play a part.

As an example, oily fish, olive oil, blueberries, 7-8 hours sleep a night and well-managed stress levels clearly sit on the anti-inflammatory side of the ledger.

Conversely, being overweight, sugary foods, takeaways, smoking a pack a day, 4 hours sleep a night and too much wine should be seen as pro-inflammatory stressors.

You may wish to consider regularly taking a high quality nutraceutical such as LifeGuard Essentials as a daily anti-inflammatory boost.

How do I know whether inflammation is occurring in my body?

Unfortunately, you probably won’t. There aren’t any reliable signs or symptoms of problem levels of systemic inflammation occurring within the body. Inflammatory markers are detectable, but unfortunately not in a reliable, diagnostic sense for the individual patient. It really is something of a ‘silent assassin’, although an examination of your diet and lifestyle habits will provide a fairly reliable indication of whether inflammation is likely to be occurring. In the same way that we don’t always directly see the damage that smoking or excessive alcohol intake is having on the body, we know through science that the toll exists. The science is now clear that the chronic levels of inflammation in the body linked to ageing, and exacerbated by our modern lifestyles, cause major pathology such as cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke.

Doesn’t inflammation just affect joints?

No. The inflammation you may have experienced within joints is a localised manifestation of the inflammation process. Inflammation can occur in any tissue in the body but can also operate chronically at a problematic systemic level – festering quietly at a low background setting all the time.

Is inflammation a good thing?

Yes and no. A short-term, localised inflammatory response is a very good thing when it attacks an infectious bacterium. It’s a very bad thing when chronic systemic inflammation smolders away on a low setting for extended periods constantly looking for work – and quietly burning off blood vessels and healthy organs in the process. Our body’s inflammation response switch can be set more or less permanently to ‘on’ due to a number of modern lifestyle factors.

Do you have a refund and returns policy?

Yes. We honour our obligations under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (NZ). Goods may be returned by post to 16 Ocean Parade, Pukerua Bay 5026, New Zealand. Due to the inability to re-sell returned goods, we do not offer returns for simply changing your mind, but any defects will be promptly rectified. All refunds are processed within 14 days. If you wish to try LifeGuard Essentials we sell the 30s specifically with this in mind.