An Exclusive Interview with the researcher behind the foremost breakthrough in performance nutrition

Dr. Al Thomas chats with Gregory Ellis, PhD, CNS, developer of X-Cell-R8

In the dynamic world of the $7 billion nutritional supplement industry, outrageous claims abound. Promises, promises. We hear it all... to the point that our ears grow numb to the hucksterish claims that the "here today, gone tomorrow" manufacturers shout while thumping their chicken chests. Rarely does a supplement manufacturer actually side-step the money "gravy train" and subject his product to rigorous scientific evaluation, making darn sure it really does what he claims.

Well, fasten your seat belts because a breath of fresh air just gushed into the nutritional supplement industry, and not a moment too soon. The product is X-Cell-R8, a revolutionary energy-enhancing product. And its claims are backed up by lengthy scientific studies. Studies that found an increase in the swimming endurance time for laboratory animals of 100 to 250%! Its broad application is beyond anything ever produced by a nutritional supplement. And after years of research and clinical studies, X-Cell-R8 is finally available to you.

 The developer, Gregory Ellis, PhD, CNS, a research scientist and life-long bodybuilder, is proud as a peacock these days. I recently caught up with Dr. Ellis during a break at his busy nutrition practice near Philadelphia.

Al: Greg, first off, congratulations on the success of your tireless research on X-Cell-R8.

Greg: Thanks, Al. It sure has been a whirl-wind.

Al: Now, I know you're a "straight to the point" kind of guy and also very busy. So let me start by asking you about X-Cell-R8. What exactly is it?

G: Al, X-Cell-R8 is the cutting-edge of nutritional supplementation; today's products, such as X-Cell-R8, are called "nutraceuticals," and X-Cell-R8 is, literally, a bio-engineered product. Using new technological breakthroughs, I was able to redesign a simple, but ineffective, older nutritional supplement into the most powerful energy and endurance supplement available today, bar none.

Al: This sounds like quite a story....

G: Yeah, Al, it is quite a story. I unearthed a product, first discovered in the late 1950's, that claimed to increase energy and endurance. It was made up of the minerals magnesium and potassium and an amino acid. However, it failed to work when given to people. But I was able, through my research, to marry this failed product to a specialized, patented chemical process that overcame the reasons for its failure and ultimately developed the most powerful energy-enhancing supplement ever created. But, what makes it an exceptional formulation, unlike 99.9% of the supplements on the market, is that the results of X-Cell-R8, and the claims I make, are backed by loads of scientific studies performed at the Drexel University Department of Nutrition by Dr. Orien Tulp, and by me, and many other scientists. And, best of all, my claims about X-Cell-R8 passed the FDA litmus test, and I can legally, under the FDA guidelines of the DSHEA Act of 1994, claim that X-Cell-R8 "helps to increase energy and endurance."

Al: Greg, give our readers the details. You know, supplement users need to be sure that the products they use will really work for them before they dip their hands into their pockets.

G: The magnesium and potassium aspartate combo had been around for years, but there were conflicting research reports about the results. I discovered what the conflict was, and through the help of some outstanding researchers, I created a superior new nutrient with an unmatched delivery process.

Al: Take me back a little. How did you uncover the old formula, and what led you to refurbish it?

G: Well, I started off in the fitness and nutrition game when I was about 9 years old, and, Al, I'll tell you what, the bug really bit me. I became a tenacious researcher; I had to know it all. About fitness, about nutrition, about anything that had to do with increasing human performance. As I got older, I just kept digging deeper and deeper. I enrolled in graduate school at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Here, I dug into the depths of human physiology and biochemistry, all the way into the machinery of the human muscle cell. I chose to do my research for my PhD thesis on energy metabolism. And what I learned in the process absolutely blew me away. After acquiring this level of expertise, I wanted to use my new-found knowledge for practical, everyday applications. So I pushed aside further work in basic science and immersed myself in a study of nutritional energy supplements and how they would fit into the big picture.

Al: Ah, enter X-Cell-R8, stage right!

G: Well, it wasn't that simple. I came across a series of research papers by a French physician, Dr. Henri Laborit, who first discovered that the salt form of the minerals magnesium and potassium, combined with the non-essential amino acid aspartic acid, possessed anti-fatigue properties. During the early 1960's, Dr. Laborit published his findings about this anti-fatigue compound in French medical journals. Continued research through the late 1980's confirmed his research. But, there was a problem; there was also other research that refuted his anti-fatigue claims. 

These later papers, which found no endurance increase in humans, led to the belief that the product was essentially ineffective.

Al: Then what?

G: I continued my research and came across a paper on potassium aspartate by Dr. Zebulon Kendrick from Temple University. I was stunned to see Zeb's name on the paper because he was my own PhD thesis advisor! It was funny, I didn't know that his PhD research was on potassium aspartate. So I hot-footed it over to his office, pushed him down into his chair, and roared, "Zeb, tell me everything you know about potassium aspartate." The next day, with ideas and research papers swirling in my head, it became clear. The research showing that it worked was correct, and the research showing that it didn't work was also correct. This is what was going on: when the nutrient was injected, it led to an increase in swim time for rats. But, when it was given orally, no matter what the dose, the salt form failed to improve performance. This research made it clear: oral administration led to an inactivation of the nutrient. But now that I had solved the riddle of the conflicting research, I realized there was yet a bigger problem facing me: there was no way to market an injectible nutritional supplement!

Al: So you had an incredible nutrient, but you couldn't give it to anyone?

G: Exactly!  I hit a mammoth brick wall. I couldn't market an injectible. Now, Al, nutritional supplement companies had been, and still are, selling the old Laborit formula. In fact, a bunch of companies sell it. But I knew it didn't work. I had confirmation on this from both scientific research and from many users, all of whom told me the same thing: that magnesium and potassium aspartate just didn't work.

Al: Greg, how did you get rid of the fog surrounding your discoveries?

G: Several days after I hooked up with Zeb, and after some more research, it all jelled; the 1,000 watt light bulb blasted on in my head and illuminated the mess in front of me. As I sorted through it all, I formulated my theory: the compound was breaking down in the stomach. The product had incredible potential to become a revolutionary nutritional supplement, but it couldn't get into the cells of the body because it couldn't get through the gut in one piece. It's amazing, Al, Dr. Laborit's formula is the most-researched nutritional supplement in the world, with over 100 studies behind it, but there was no way people could take advantage of it.

Al: Wow, that's some hot piece of detective work! So what was the next step?

G: I started reading papers on the nutrient absorption process. You know, how a nutrient travels from the mouth, through the digestive system, and ultimately into the cells of the body where it can do its job. 

After this step, I sort of knew what was going on and what I needed to do to make this thing work. Then, I found a nutritional chemist who was working on special chemical techniques to increase a nutrient's absorption into the body. He had developed this unique bonding process for minerals because his work had shown that the mineral supplements used by most manufacturers are not absorbed very well. We merged our brains and theorized that the low pH in the stomach, caused by the highly acidic digestive enzymes, led to a breakdown of the chemical and caused the two minerals to "dissociate" or separate from the aspartic acid. Dr. Zeb Kendrick's research proved that it is the complete molecule that led to increased energy, not just the minerals and amino acid in isolation. Clearly, the stomach acids caused the breakdown and inactivation. Salts, such as in the Laborit formulation, have very weak chemical bonds that "dissociate" in acids similar to those found in the stomach. So, that was the key - Laborit's formulation broke down in the stomach. Well, now I knew what was going on. And because of my work with the nutritional chemist, I thought I might have a solution to the problem. My idea was to develop the product with a super-strong chemical bond between the minerals and the aspartic acid so that it would not break down in the stomach. This is the special delivery system I mentioned earlier: literally drive it right out of the stomach, in one piece, into the blood and on into the cells in high concentrations. And this is exactly what happened during our first research project. Al, it was so exciting to prove my hypothesis and even more exciting to know that I now had the nutritional supplement of the century.

And, Al, I could fill an entire issue of a health magazine with all of the science that followed from this realization, but the end result was a clinically-proven nutrient with a unique chemical bonding process and a patented manufacturing process.

Al: Wow, so you finally had the end result. What's happened since?

G: My research papers were published in several peer-reviewed scientific journals over the next several years. We also presented our results at the FASEB International Scientific Conferences. And for the last two years, I have continued testing the formulation where it counts most: in the trenches. Olympic athletes and other top-level athletes have used X-Cell-R8, along with hundreds of the everyday people from my nutritional practice, all with the same result: incredible increases in energy and endurance. Al, I have yet to meet a person who isn't looking for more energy! So it was the perfect end to a long, arduous process.

Al: So, now what? You're ready to introduce X-Cell-R8 into the nutritional marketplace?

G: The positive feedback from my clients nudged me to make the decision:  it's time to introduce X-Cell-R8 into the mass market. X-Cell-R8 is ready, and I am ready.

Al: That's great! Alright, Greg, I'm going for the jugular on this one: if nutrition-minded folks are wondering if they should be taking X-Cell-R8, along with all the other supplements they're taking, what would you tell them?

G: Look, you can take all the vitamin supplements known to mankind, but I'll tell you one thing: nothing, and I mean nothing in the world of nutritional supplements, can increase your energy like X-Cell-R8. You'll be able to exercise harder and longer, and you'll have more energy to tackle the day, every day. And it'll make all the other supplements you're taking work that much better.

Al: What about the other energy stuff on the market?

G:  What other stuff? In terms of energy improvement, there is no "other stuff!" There's absolutely no research showing Ginseng improves energy. Forget bee pollen. And, Al, I've got to tell your readers, forget any other magnesium and potassium aspartate; they're just the old Laborit formula. The only product to use is the one with the X-Cell-R8 name on the label. Nothing can give you the increased edge like X-Cell-R8. And nothing else has the scientific proof to back it up.

Al: Greg, as a researcher and practitioner, I think it's safe to say that you're well-versed on the supplement world. What are your thoughts on the maze of supplements out there?

G: Al, overall, I think you need to use the supplements that are the "tops." The best stuff at what they do. For example, CoQ 10 and alpha-lipoic acid are really hot right now. And people will benefit by taking these specialized nutrients. And they are great products, helping to improve the overall health of the body. But the reason to use X-Cell-R8 is that its action is laser-specific: it increases energy. And nothing else can match it! So what your readers want to do is pick the best product for their specific needs. And a specific need for most people is more energy. If you want more energy, X-Cell-R8 is the one to choose!

Al: Greg, thanks for your time and best of luck!

G: My pleasure, Al. It was good to talk with you again.