If you’ve ever popped in to our store, then you may well have heard one of us recommend an old style tonic called BioStrath. Find out why manager Angela thinks it’s much more of a SuperHero SuperFood than just a tonic…
For many years BioStrath was simply a blue box on our shelves that we’d recommend if someone was a little under the weather or looking for a tonic that was a bit different to Floradix (a traditional iron tonic that’s great if your iron levels are low or as an iron support during pregnancy). Then I visited a tiny shed next to a house on a hill overlooking Zurich. Very pretty, but I’ve seen many manufacturing facilities over the years and this didn’t look all that exciting. I was definitely wrong! Inside was the heart of a true, family venture. Whilst on the outside it looked pretty small and dare I say boring, this was just the start of the magic of BioStrath. When expansion was needed the family didn’t want to move away from their roots but knew that a big plant would be out of place in such an area of beauty. So a bit like Mary Poppins’ bag, it was small on the outside but on the inside they’d hidden their expansion away into the mountain. This dedication and gentle approach underpins all that is great about BioStrath.
When Fred Pestalozzi looked for a cure for his ill health following Meniere’s disease in the 1950’s he discovered Dr Walter Strathmeyer’s yeast based remedies. After some years of friendship he gave the recipe and licence to Mr Pestalozzi and Bio-Strath was born. Now run by his son, David, the company is still small with only a handful of employees and still makes just this one product. Not any fancy spin offs, they just make Bio-Strath (allbeit in liquid, tablets, drops and granules for animals) but wow, do they make it well!
In the last 55 years, Bio-Strath has had numerous trials and studies completed to show the wide range of uses, but for me, perhaps the most interesting discovery of all stems from the plasmolysation process which ensures that the yeast is inactivated. When placed on a petri-dish with candida albicans, the candida dies within hours as it was unable to utilise the Bio-Strath preparation as a food source. Pretty neat, really.
Trials have shown that BioStrath:
- helps the white blood cells of the immune system fight bacterial infections more positively.
- improves short term memory, physical and mental performance, general well-being and convalescence in a study of 184 patients over 50 with premature ageing.
- helps to keep haemoglobin levels stable in pregnancy in a Canadian study without taking any supplements. The trial also showed that BioStrath acted as a catalyst to increase the uptake of dietary and supplementary iron into the bloodstream.
- strengthens during convalescence. In a study of cancer patients, BioStrath improved physical activity, appetite and haemoglobin concentration whilst undergoing chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy.
- combats fatigue and poor concentration in children. A trial of 24 healthy schoolgirls showed that their grades improved over 10 weeks by a greater level than those not taking the BioStrath. They also had lower absences due to their improved immune system.
- helps children with ADD / ADHD too. An open study of children with ADD / ADHD saw a 100% improvement in fatigue and resistence to illness, with 65% showing greater interest in homework, better team spirits, increased stamina and improved fine motor control along with better integration at home and at school.
So what’s in this tonic to make it so good? Well, it contains a secret blend of herbs, a little honey and malt. This blend gives BioStrath a total of 61 natural vital substances:
- 11 Vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, biotin, folic acid, inositol, vitamin C and ergosterol (provitamin D2))
- 19 Minerals / Trace Elements (calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, germanium, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, silicic acid, sodium, sulphur, tin, vanadium, zinc)
- 20 Amino Acids (alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cystine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, histidine, proline, serine, tyrosine and the 8 essential aminos – isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine)
- 11 Important Building Substances (lecithin, lecithin phosphate, choline, mannan, glucan, glutamthione, nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) ATP, L-carnitine and ubiquinone)
I often recommend it to customers who are undergoing great stress or unable to shake off the end of a virus. It makes a great gift strangely, for that friend who simply feels rotten or down and can’t get the old “me” back, or for those about to face long term medical treatment to aid their convalescence.
So, simply if you think you can feel better, feel healthier and benefit from some extra get up and go, why not try BioStrath. It might be made in what looks like a teeny shed on a hill, but believe me, something quite magical leaves there in its distinctive blue and yellow bottles!”