Interesting stats on HRT - and US warning text

Dr. Lars Hoye has spent more than 20 years researching soya. The recent years his studies have focused primarily on the effects on menopausal symptoms. In his findings are some quite interesting facts about the difference in Europe and the US when it comes to how HRT is promoted. The question is - why is there no statutory warning on HRT drugs in Europe?

Here are some interesting facts:

- The Food and Drug Administration in the US demands that a health warning pointing out the serious side effects is given out with each prescription of HRT treatment.
- American Doctors are not required to recommend HRT as the first option to treat menopausal symptoms
- The research results on HRT have resulted in a 70 % drop in use of HRT in the US since 2002
- With the reduced use of HRT in the US, the occurrence of breast cancer has dropped at the same rate!

Isoflavones are safe and effective

Isoflavones are safe and effective, say academics

Studies in isoflavones demonstrating the “modest but valuable benefit for menopause relief” presented at a symposium of almost 20 isoflavone experts in Italy should dismiss animal studies that have questioned the safety of the antioxidants, according to the US Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).

Read more at Food Quality News

The way to celebrate your Silver day!

Else Ekkelenkamp from the Netherlands did the right thing. The day she was told that our bonus run would be finished and we should be able to confirm her as a new Silver, she took her car, the ferry over the canal, and drove from the English coast to our office in Milton Keynes.

Having toured the office I met her and had a chat. The bonus run had still not been confirmed when she was downstairs in Customer Services. So we popped into my room, had another look and ... YES! There it was... proof of her having completed her Silver month. Just leaving my office Tony was walking by so... great chance to be pinned by our European Managing Director literally a few minutes after confirmation of being a new Silver!

I think she set a good example to follow. When are you taking your next pin? Why not come over and see us and be pinned at the office? Else is coming to the Copenhagen Convention of course... and will be recognized again on stage. Will you?

In the photo below two people are actually posing that were pinned on the same day, Monday 16 June. Anthony Chaplin, our MD earlier in the day received his pin for 13 years of service at Nikken! So congratulations to both!

Impressive Nutri5 start in Finland

Germany, expectedly, was the number 1 country in Europe when it comes to Nutri5 sales in May. More surprising was the fact that the second biggest Nutri5 sales came from Finland!

A lot of great preparation has gone into preparing the Finnish market for the introduction of the product and the volumes may have been helped by the fact that the focus has been on physical retail sales of the product.

Anyway - well done for a really strong start!

Nutri5 sales - top 10 - May 2009

1 Germany
2 Finland
3 France
4 Switzerland
5 Norway
6 Sweden
7 Belgium
8 Austria
9 Denmark
10 Hungary

The Menopause Ambulance

After great product launch meetings in Nürnberg and Budapest I return back to England with lots of new information, ideas, impressions and... amazement of the potential we have with Nutri5.

Dr Lars Höye did a series of marvellous presentations and I can appreciate our new product more fully now. Personally, I take it each morning, mixed in a hand mixer with some fruit juices, optimized water and a banana...

In Budapest we had many medical doctors in the audience, all seemed happy with the information they got and some very influential doctors decided to join Nikken after the meeting.

But how about this... In Hungary they have just launched a "menopause ambulance". There are TV ads about it, promoting a toll free phone number that you can call if you are having menopausal symptom attacks. They will connect you to the nearest hospital or centre with a menopause ambulance that will come an help you out!

Pretty cool, ha? But what an incredible amount of money this must cost. And all it takes is a shake or two of Nutri5 per day and the problems are history.

Another great start... this year's Conventions!

The Paris Convention on Saturday 16 March went really according to plan. It was fantastic to see the great culmination of many month's hard labour.

Can't tell you many details yet, since we want to keep elements of the event a big surprise to you when you attend in Copenhagen or Budapest. But it was brilliant, energetic, fun, colourful.

The the left - this is what it looks like when you put 30 Pi-Mag water systems next to each other. Below some other photos from our preparations on Friday before the big day.

Register for the Nikken Rhythm of Life in Copenhagen or Budapest today!

Great start on our Search Engine Optimization for Nutri5

The Nutri5 web sites rank very high on search results for "natural solutions for menopause" around Europe. In Sweden, Consultant and corporate Nikken sites completely dominate the first page of results. In Holland the results are equally impressive and in Germany our corporate Nutri5 sites rank at all positions between 3 and 8 and the top one is a yahoo video posted by one of our Consultants.

Network Marketing is changing

Well the headline could be applied to anything. Everything is changing. Nothing stands still. But sometimes people tend to think that there will be a new "normal" state of things. There won't.
The playing field has changed completely, will keep changing and we need to change with it.

Network Marketing. The name implies two basic functions that must be fulfilled. The "Networking" part and the "Marketing" part. This combination has huge potential.

But the generic view of Network Marketing has been different. The bad reputation that the industry has at times or certain places is partly due to obsolete high pressure recruiting methods. Traditional, old-school sales techniques have been applied to the recruiting process, leading to too many people being "persuaded" to join. That is not a good starting point for a long-term business relationship.

I think those of us in Network Marketing could learn a lot to learn from professional networkers in other fields. Networking is the art of expanding your circle of influence by people. People know people. We provide services. We offer products, solutions and a business. There are enough people that need what we have for us to find the right people without high pressure selling.

That leads to the other point. "Marketing" has not been emphasized enough in our industry in the past. Since direct selling / network marketing has acted as a direct channel to the customer, companies have seen Marketing as a support function in terms of production of catalogues and brochures.

But the world has changed. Competition is much more fierce than it was a few decades ago. Now we also compete for people's attention and time. This requires a much more orchestrated Marketing effort from the Network Marketing companies, since not all networkers can be expected to be marketing professionals on top of being the networkers.

Our Nutri5 launch has been an important journey in redirecting the company to focus much more on the retail customers and their needs. This journey will continue and we will keep developing strategies and materials that help our Consultants to build their businesses more effectively. You perform the networking function and we help with the marketing function.

Your ideas and feedback on how this should look like in the future are most welcome. We are building the future now.

The psychological effect of Shinrin-yoku proven

A study on "Shinrin-yoku", or forest air bathing/breathing, was published in Japan in 2006.

The study doesn't reveal anything that we don't already know. Science is often like that. Only a few years ago was it scientifically proven that stress has an effect on our health...

Anyway, in this study, the psychological effects of being in a forest and breathing forest air was measured. And surprise, surprise, people were considerably less stressed and more energized.

Self-evident maybe, but definitely a good reminder. I'm thinking when was the last time I was in a forest? Can't even remember. I'm sure there are some forests somewhere in the UK...

In 2007, a more detailed study was published in "Journal of Physiological Anthropology" where physiological as well as psychological effects were measured. They found that "sympathetic nervous activity was suppressed and parasympathetic nervous activity was enhanced in the forest area, and that Shinrin-yoku reduced stress levels." Blood pressure and pulse rate was significantly lower, and salivary cortisol concentration was significantly lower in the forest, among the measured criteria.


An earlier study done in Australia in 2001 covered the more abstract subject of "TRANSCENDENT EXPERIENCE IN FOREST ENVIRONMENTS". Quoted from the abstract: "The paper discusses broad classifications of transcendent experience in forest and considers the implications for understanding the spiritual meaning of nature. "

I don't visit a forest very often. But I plan to now, being reminded of their existence. So I will find some nice British forests for a weekend retreat.

But until then, luckily, I'm doing my shinrin-yoku every day, be it at work or at home. All it takes is an Air Wellness Power 5 Pro. And you have clean, energized, ion rich air.

Breathe!

Fake studies in the pharmaceutical industry

It is a well-known fact that fake studies have occurred in the pharmaceutical industry, since "profit at any cost" seems to be a philosophy among the medical mafia as I like to call them.

Here is the latest, Sven sent me this link:

Probe into faked studies rocks medical community