THANKS to our eating habits, environmental conditions and modern lifestyle, we often have to rely on food supplements in order to get our body in tiptop shape.

But with so many nutritional products on the market these days, Dr. Edmundo Lalusis warned a lot of people may be relying their buying decision on marketing, testimonials from store employees or even price tag.

The medical director and CEO of Growrich Manufacturing Inc. explained that a food supplement?s true value often depends on hidden factors, such as what ingredients are present.

?Nutrition is not about filling our stomach with proteins, vitamins and minerals. As with any recipe, the quality depends on the ingredients and why they were chosen,? he explained.

Challenge

The challenge for Lalusis was how to formulate something that could effectively aid the body?s Krebs cycle.

?It?s one of the most basic processes happening inside our body that without a smooth running Krebs cycle, different sorts of our bodily functions will slow down if not stall, making us prone to exhaustion and susceptible to diseases,? Lalusis explained.

Krebs cycle happens in the cellular level and without it our cells won?t be able to produce the energy needed to maintain the many metabolic activities of the body.

The cellular process got its name from biochemist Hans Adolph Krebs who in 1937 succeeded in explaining how living cells convert the potential energy of a variety of nutrients into the readily available energy.

In developing the Kreb-C food supplement Lalusis teamed up with his wife Purisima, one of the country?s leading chemists.

?The amount and the type of vitamins and minerals chosen for Kreb-C are specifically designed to enhance Krebs cycle and thus, will ensure that every cell in the body will continue to run in tip-top shape,? she explained.

Keeping one energized

She added that they have chosen only the needed vitamins and minerals ? and in right amounts ? to optimize Krebs cycle, and thus keep one energized all the time.

?Most vitamins and minerals supplement in the market had formulation that did not directly benefit Krebs cycle. A lot of them contain too much amount of one vitamin or mineral, which is almost always excreted by the body afterward. It?s a waste of money, if you come to think of it,? Edmundo said.

He added that having Kreb-C approved by the Bureau of Food and Drugs and made available in all Mercury Drug Store is a perfect example of Filipino ingenuity.

?It should be noted that Kreb-C is proudly Philippine-made, having developed and manufactured [in capsule and syrup form] at our laboratory in Caloocan City,? he said.