Wednesday, June 16, 2004

HealthiBetic Foot Cream was greeted at the recent American Diabetes Association meeting in Orlando with great enthusiasm. HealthiBetic is a transdermal L-Arginine cream and has recently been shown to improve blood flow and temperature in the feet of patients with diabetes with impaired foot circulation in an article published in Diabetes Care. Flow, measured by Doppler was increased 33% at the Metatarsal and 35% at the Achilles. Temperature increased 5 degrees at the Metatarsal and 8 degrees at the big toe. HealthiBetic is the first and only product for care of the feet of patients with Diabetes which actively improves blood flow, reversing the cause of foot complications in these patients.

L-Arginine, a naturally occurring amino acid is the biochemical precursor of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is the substance that controls local blood flow by relaxing the smooth muscle lining of the blood vessels. The research defining this function of nitric oxide was the topic of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine. L-Arginine is classified as a dietary supplement and has long been available in oral form. The transdermal delivery of L-Arginine has been made possible through application of patented new technology coved by US Patent Number 5,895,658 has been issued to Eric T. Fossel and licensed to Strategic Science & Technologies, Inc. of Wellesley, MA. This patented technology creates a hostile biophysical environment in the cream causing the chemical potential of the L-Arginine to be raised, resulting in transfer of L-Arginine from the cream to the foot tissue.

In addition to vascular disease itself, diabetics have abnormally low levels of L-Arginine and abnormally high levels of ADMA, an inhibitor of the enzyme that converts L-Arginine to nitric oxide. The transdermal supply of exogenous L-Arginine helps to overcome these biochemical defects, restoring impaired blood flow.

Impaired blood flow in the feet is a cause of major complications of diabetes. Among these complications are cold, painful feet and ulcers. Unfortunately, it is often impossible to control these complications and the ultimate remedy of amputation is required. In the United States alone there were over 87,000 amputations last year due to diabetic complications. It is thought that restoring blood flow in the feet of patients with diabetes may prevent ulcers and amputations. Further research is needed to support that expectation.

Until the current methodology was developed, there was nothing available to actively improve the health of the feet of patients with diabetes. Special socks and shoes as well as moisturizing creams are widely used to improve foot comfort, but, they do nothing to improve blood flow.

The transdermal L-Arginine foot cream used in the Diabetes Care study is called HealthiBetic Foot Cream and is available from Strategic Science & Technologies, Inc.

Contact information: Catherine Maker, Strategic Science & Technologies, Inc., 892 Worcester Road, Wellesley MA: cmaker@strategicsci.com. Phone 781-416-3777. Further product information is available at www.healthibetic.com and www.strategicsci.com.