Introducing Sur Immunity
In our fast-paced world, training to perform in life and sport can put an incredible amount of stress on the body often leading to negative implications on performance and health. Here at Sur, we’re dedicated to creating clean, powerful, plant-based products that improve athletic performance while also supporting optimal health.
We’re excited to bring you our new product Immunity to support your performance, recovery, and optimal health. Immunity is designed to help stimulate antioxidant activity, inhibit free radicals, optimize cellular metabolism, and support immune system health. Using a combination of twenty-nine different fruit, vegetable, and herb extracts we’ve formulated a supplement that is scientifically proven to target the five major free radicals in the body in just one small dose. Here we’ll break down the science behind how Sur Immunity can help support you to becoming a healthier athlete.
Takeaways
- Exercise is a form of stress. While it has known health benefits, high training loads can create detrimental effects on immune health and performance.
- Free radicals are unavoidable and can be both harmful and beneficial. Having more free radicals than the body can get rid of or neutralize puts the body out of balance.
- Antioxidants act within the body to stop or slow cell damage by free radicals.
- Antioxidants can be obtained through foods and supplements.
- Immunity is designed to specifically target the five free radicals known to be detrimental to health.
- High training and competition loads of athletes can make it difficult to obtain adequate antioxidants to balance the amount of stress.
- Supplementing with Immunity can help promote a healthy immune response, inhibit free radicals, and promote optimal health.
Exercise is a Form of Stress
It is well-known that engaging in regular exercise can have a number of health benefits including reduced risk of chronic disease, improved mood, and strong bones among others. But when it comes to the training load of athletes, detrimental effects can occur if it is not properly balanced with recovery strategies. High levels of training can lead to illness and injury including oxidative stress, decreased immune system function, and higher levels of inflammation (1). For those undergoing rigorous training volume and intensity, it is critical to implement strategies to prevent or lessen these potential harmful effects (2). Adequate rest and nutrition strategies will allow the body to restore a state of balance, or homeostasis, needed for both health and performance gains. While some athletes may only consider physical stressors in their recovery and nutrition protocols, it is important to note that psychological or life stressors can also impact health and performance. The relationship between exercise and oxidative stress is complex but the use of nutritional and supplementation countermeasures can help to reduce the negative effects of heavy training loads (1).
Stress Creates Free Radicals
Whether you’re an elite athlete or recreational exerciser, the stress from your workouts will lead to the creation of free radicals. You might be wondering what exactly is a free radical? Free radicals are an unavoidable byproduct of cellular metabolism or from external sources including pollution, radiation, and medication. They can be both harmful or beneficial. Free radicals can be used for certain favorable physiological functions such as regulating cell growth or fighting infections. But when the amount of these free radicals exceeds the body’s ability to neutralize or get rid of them, they can accumulate and create a harmful imbalance. This imbalance is known as oxidative and nitrosative stress. This type of stress disrupts homeostasis and plays an integral role in the aging process (3).
How to Achieve Balance Within the Body
There are a number of components necessary to create a healthy balance of free radicals, oxidants, and antioxidants in the body. Not sure what exactly is an antioxidant? An antioxidant is a substance that can be either manmade or naturally occurring that may delay or prevent some types of cell damage (4). Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, making it important for athletes and non-athletes alike to have a diet rich in them. Some examples of antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione, selenium, and carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lycopene.
One component of achieving balance in the body includes having an appropriate amount of antioxidants along with fully functioning systems in the body that process them. This is attained through nutritional support. This support should be designed to maintain optimal levels of cofactors, a substance that is essential for the activity of an enzyme, and supportive antioxidants (5). Our goal is to make it easy for athletes to achieve balance in the most efficient and effective way possible which is why we designed Immunity.
What Makes Sur Immunity Different
All supplements aren’t created equal. There are a number of things to consider when choosing a supplement. The ingredients, bioavailability, and the amount of active ingredients in a recommended dose are all important things to consider when choosing a supplement. Knowing the complexities behind the relationship between free radicals and antioxidants, we aimed to find a way to create a scientifically validated formula with proven action not just potential. This is why we designed and rigorously tested this proprietary blend that has been shown to specifically target the five different free radicals found to be detrimental to human health in just one small dose (5). In addition to targeting free radicals to regulate oxidative stress, when studied in healthy and active individuals there was also found to be potential benefits including regulated inflammatory response, blood glucose levels, nitric oxide bioavailability, and optimal overall health (5).
While a well-balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables is important to maintain, the addition of Immunity can help high performing individuals take health and performance to the next level.
References:
- Buonocore D, Negro M, Arcelli E, Marzatico F. Anti-inflammatory Dietary Interventions and Supplements to Improve Performance during Athletic Training. J Am Coll Nutr. 2015;34 Suppl 1:62-7. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2015.1080548. PMID: 26400438.
- Soligard T, Schwellnus M, Alonso J, et alHow much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury British Journal of Sports Medicine 2016;50:1030-1041.
- Pham-Huy LA, He H, Pham-Huy C. Free radicals, antioxidants in disease and health. Int J Biomed Sci. 2008 Jun;4(2):89-96. PMID: 23675073; PMCID: PMC3614697. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23675073/
- https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/antioxidants-in-depth
- Nemzer, B.V., Fink, N. and Fink, B. (2014), New insights on effects of a dietary supplement on oxidative and nitrosative stress in humans. Food Sci Nutr, 2: 828-839. doi:10.1002/fsn3.178https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fsn3.178
Stevie Lyn Smith MS, RDN, CSSD, CDN
As a Registered Dietitian and Ironman athlete, Stevie enjoys combining her passions to help educate others on how to fuel for overall health and performance without sacrificing their health or happiness. When she’s not swimming, biking, running, you'll find her out hiking with her dog or creating simple but delicious recipes. Check out https://stevielynrd.com to learn more about how she helps athletes fuel a positive relationship with food and their training.
