September 1, 2011 at Verve Wellness Spa & Salon 360

For roughly 10,000 Pittsburgh residents with psoriasis, a chronic, genetic, noncontagious disease of the immune system that appears on the skin, trips to the hair salon can be daunting due to the public discrimination many people with psoriasis face. To help combat this stigma around psoriasis, Pittsburgh resident and National Psoriasis Foundation volunteer Kymberly Harper, teams with Verve 360 for a Cut-a-thon on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, which will raise money for the National Psoriasis Foundation to help find a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

The event will be held in conjunction with an ABC television show titled "Everyday Health Heroes," which airs Saturday mornings after Good Morning America for ABC's fall season.

Verve 360, located at 142 6th St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, will donate a portion of each haircut scheduled on September 1st for the Cut-a-Thon to the National Psoriasis Foundation.

The cut-a-thon will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Call 412-471-1575 to schedule your haircut, support a local cause, and have a chance to be on national television!

In addition, local Pittsburgh area residents living with psoriasis, their friends and families, and anyone who wishes to know more about the disease are invited to attend the filmed presentation portion of the fundraiser, which will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. also on September 1st in Verve Wellness' 3rd floor studio.  Light refreshments will be served.

Susan Merenstein will be at the Cut- a -Thon between 1:30pm and 5:30pm featuring unique skin care specifically for psoriasis, information on psoriasis, and a NEW specially compounded topical treatment...

Hope to see you there!

By: Leah Trimble, Community Outreach, Internet Marketing and Communications Intern

If health is a priority for you, chances are you’re that taking at least a multivitamin, or maybe a larger slew of supplements. Common sense tells us that vitamins and minerals are beneficial to our bodies, filling in the gaps of nutrition that we are missing. Yet, lately, reports of laced supplements are being sold on a regular basis, and as consumers, we must all pay more attention to what goes into our systems, demanding only the best from manufacturers and suppliers.

In fact, a recent article in Men’s Health called “Who’s Spiking Your Supplements?” outlines just how easy it is for someone to alter your drugs from effective to deadly.

“Products most likely to be spiked are those sold for weight loss, bodybuilding, and erectile dysfunction.” They, among other types of “natural” medicines, can be threaded with illegal steroids, wrongly formulated compounds, and anything else you can imagine. The scientists that create these mixtures modify the structure by adding or removing atoms, and by doing that they almost always avoiding exposure.

Because of the global market and ordering via the web, no one can be certain how many supplements are out there with illegal or phony ingredients. Most come from international websites, but realistically, this can and does happen to products within our borders.

That’s why it’s so important to know where the products you consume come from. Even supermarkets or GNC, who, according to their website, “sets the standard in the nutritional supplement industry by demanding truth in labeling, ingredient safety and product potency, all while remaining on the cutting-edge of nutritional science,” show no proof of true safety. There is no evidence, at least in plain sight, of double-checking the product. We just trust that, because they are such well-known companies, they are using the best ingredients and using legitimate manufacturers.

In fact, back in March of this year, it seems as if GNC, along with both CVS and Rite Aid, went completely against this philosophy when Omega 3 fish oil pills were tested and the lab results came back with toxic levels of PCBs, a cancer-causing chemical banned back in the 1970s.  The San Francisco ABC station reported that GNC still claimed that their products were “safe and appropriate for use.” Meanwhile, some products from these companies have 70 times the amount of PCBs than that of others. Clearly, with results such as these, most corporations don’t really care what we put into our system. 

At Murray Avenue Apothecary, though, we demand to be different. We only accept products from manufacturers that only live up to the highest of standards. We require certificates of analysis, which prove that the supplement has gone through testing and is, in fact, exactly what the label claims. It verifies the potency, which is often embellished on the bottles of suppliers that want to save a few bucks.

Also, we only buy from those that are certified through the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). Although the FDA does not “approve” supplements as medications, they do verify the companies that produce drugs in the correct way, with correct mixtures and the best production criterion.

The companies that we buy from also conduct their own studies instead of using outside sources. They provide all of their testing results. In addition, they “guarantee” the product, making sure that the consumer is happy with the finished result.

We care about what we put into our bodies, and therefore only distribute the highest quality supplements to our customers. Unlike other websites or large corporations, we follow every step in the manufacturing, and we know exactly what is in the Vitamin D or fish oil that is being swallowed, for example.

In addition, the Apothecary does not carry “designer” supplements, or those that promise what other vitamins and minerals are already providing. Only the most pure, essential products are sold on our shelves.

It is important for us to get involved in your choices, and therefore, we provide premium information while you are shopping. The pharmacist is always available for reference or asking questions. We, unlike other places, can crosscheck your current medications and see what is safe for you to take with them. We can give you a schedule of which supplements to take at what time of the day to receive the best results. It’s vital that you get the greatest effect.

At Murray Avenue Apothecary, we have unmatched standards, and so should you when it comes to your nutrition. Don’t let supplements do the opposite of what they’re intended to by taking away from your health instead of enhancing it.

 


References:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7306625