You're clearly
a curious one.

Keep your brain switched on, stay health aware and tune into your body with more information about what we do. We also try to answer some questions about supplements that we wish we had the answer to when we were doing our research.

General

Zaag has been designed to look after the three most important things when it comes to your individual wellness. Protecting your body by supporting its immune system; keeping your brain sharp by improving focus, memory and calmness; and helping your spirit by ensuring your metabolism works hard to convert the energy and nutrients from food.

People use the word "stress" to describe a wide variety of situations – from your cell phone ringing while you're talking on another phone – to the feelings associated with intense work overload, or the death of a loved-one. But perhaps the most useful and widely accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S. Lazarus) is this: stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." i.e. There is more to do/handle than we have the current capability to do.

Our ability to cope with the demands upon us is key to our experience of stress. For example, starting a new job might be a wholly exciting experience if everything else in your life is stable and positive. But if you start a new job when you've just moved into a new house, or your partner is ill, or you're experiencing money problems, you might find it very hard to cope.

Stress is a natural physical and mental reaction to life experiences. For immediate, short-term situations, stress can actually be beneficial to your health as it can help you cope with potentially serious situations. Your body responds to stress by releasing hormones that increase your heart and breathing rates and ready your muscles to respond when they are needed. Yet if your stress response doesn’t stop firing, and these stress levels stay elevated far longer than is necessary for survival it can take a toll on your health. This can cause a variety of symptoms and affect your overall well-being including irritability, anxiety, depression, headaches and insomnia.

Your central nervous system (cns) is in charge of your “fight or flight” response. In your brain, the hypothalamus gets the ball rolling, telling your adrenal glands to release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones rev up your heartbeat and send blood rushing to the areas that need it most in an emergency, such as your muscles, heart, and other important organs. When the perceived fear is gone, the hypothalamus should tell all systems to go back to normal. If the cns fails to return to normal, or if the stressor doesn’t go away, the response will continue.

Under stress, your heart also pumps faster. Stress hormones cause your blood vessels to constrict and divert more oxygen to your muscles so you’ll have more strength to take action. But this also raises your blood pressure. As a result, frequent or chronic stress will make your heart work too hard for too long. When your blood pressure rises, so do your risks for having a stroke or heart attack.

Similarly, your liver produces extra blood sugar (glucose) to give you a boost of energy. If you’re under chronic stress, your body may not be able to keep up with this extra glucose surge which can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The rush of hormones, rapid breathing, and increased heart rate can also upset your digestive system. You’re more likely to have heartburn or acid reflux thanks to an increase in stomach acid

Stress can also affect the way food moves through your body, leading to diarrhoea or constipation nausea, vomiting, or a stomach ache.

There are no two ways about it. Stress is exhausting for both the body and mind and it’s not unusual to lose your sexual desire when you’re under constant stress. While short-term stress may cause men to produce more of the male hormone testosterone, this effect doesn’t last and if stress continues for a long time, a man’s testosterone levels can begin to drop. This can interfere with sperm production and cause erectile dysfunction or impotence. For women, stress can affect the menstrual cycle and can lead to irregular, heavier, or more painful periods.

Stress also stimulates the immune system. This stimulation can help you avoid infections and heal wounds, but over time, stress hormones will weaken your immune system and reduce your body’s response to foreign invaders. Typically people under long periods of stress are more susceptible to viral illnesses like the flu and the common cold, as well as other infections and stress can also increase the time it takes you to recover from an illness or injury.

This is another one of those slightly confusing points with a number of different schools of thought. Most supplements recommend taking with food to reduce the chances they’ll upset your stomach, stimulate digestion and improve absorption. At Zaag we take the hassle out of supplements by making great tasting gel shots that don’t need to be taken with water or food and include fibre to help your body digest and absorb the active ingredients better.

Yep. Take 1 shot every day for 6 months and we are pretty damn sure you will be feeling rather very good. Whilst we would like to make claims that you will feel out of this world, we're not into over exaggerated claims that can't be proven. We are however very happy for you to leave a review and tell us just how great you feel when taking our products.

Formulation

Our formula was created using only the most bioavailable, high-quality nutrients at therapeutic levels. Designed to support the body’s additional physiological and psychological demands during periods of adaptation, it also provides digestive and apoptogenic support for optimal assimilation, and to support a creative mind, spirit, endurance and recovery.

ZAAG is a unique, tasty gel shot combining essential vitamins, nootropics and adaptogens. The active ingredients have been expertly selected to deal with stressors on our body, brain and spirit during times of change.

Adaptogens like Tulsi and Astragalus are natural substances that help the body adapt to stress and promote mental balance. They’re also powerful natural immunity boosters with anti-viral properties – no wonder Tulsi (Holy Basil) is known as the Queen of Herbs.

Nootropics are also natural substances that specifically help our brains. Ingredients like Choline and L-Cartinine help boost focus, memory, creativity. Essential when you’re navigating big life decisions and challenges. 

Vitamins are essential to the healthy functioning of our major organs and metabolism. ZAAG takes vitamins from the most optimum sources and in the most therapeutic volumes – like Vitamin C from Amla Berry which is a highly stable form of Vitamin C thanks to its protection by tannins and antioxidants.

Ingredients

Whilst we know that the tools and methods of different vitamin manufacturers do vary, the basic process is roughly the same everywhere vitamins are made.

The first step is to determine what substances and compounds the intended vitamin product will need to be composed of. This includes not only the essential vital substance itself but also the substance or vehicle that binds the vitamin into a solid form. Unless you’re producing a liquid vitamin, which would err, be a liquid.

Solid vitamin pills must utilise an internal binding agent in order for the pill to keep its shape and retain proper dosing. This is why you often find chalk, bulking agents or benign fillers on the ingredients list. Yummy.


Often, the character and percentage of binding agents used in vitamins will go a long way toward determining how it can be marketed, and whether or not it can be considered organic, for example. Check out labels to look at what comes first to see whether you’re actually just chowing down on some talc.

Once the ingredients are measured out precisely, they are placed in a mechanical tumbler until they form a consistent blend. And after around fifteen minutes in the mixer, most formulas are ready to move on to the next stage. Encapsulation.

The powder is then injected into capsules or mould by their precise weight before the dry capsules will be polished in order to remove any remaining powder on the surface of the pill and liquid capsules are sealed, sometimes with a vegetarian gel, to prevent leakage.
From there, they are counted and dropped down a chute into a container. Each bottle then receives a sealed lid and is labelled according to its contents, recommended usage information, and the expiration date.

Et voila. The products are then scanned for accuracy, loaded into boxes and prepared for shipping.

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Unlike other brands we choose our ingredients by quality over cost. That means we select the best possible sources that we an find in order to ensure that your body gets maximum absorption. We then add the ingredients to apple and cherry juice before we mix with a highly functional fibre from citrus fruit to create a shear which binds and holds both water and fat together. It's then cooled befored it ready to be packed off into tubes and stored in our warehouse ready for you to place your orders.

All of our facilities are based in the UK.

Liposomal vitamins have enjoyed a bit of a moment lately. And it’s not without reason.

Liposomal encapsulation technology consists of microscopic healthy fat particles called phospholipids. Phospholipids are very similar to the membrane that surrounds each and every cell within our body.

Once upon a time many years ago, researchers discovered that these liposomes could be filled with nutrients. The membrane of the liposome would hold in the nutrient and would not release it until it reached the bloodstream. In plain speak, that means that the liposome would protect the vitamins from degredation as they pass through your digestive system and harsh stomach acid. Once they pass the intestines into the blood, the nutrients are delivered to the cells because the cell membrane is similar in chemical structure to the liposomes allowing the nutrients to enter the cells and replenish the body.

Now whilst this is beneficial compared to taking generic tablets, it is not as beneficial compared to taking a liquid (gel) because the substance is already ready for the body to assimilate quickly. There are a also a few considerations, such as the fact that the technology is not widely available.

In short, what you really should be doing is taking the most bioavailable supplements you can, which is why we spent time making sure we source our ingredients from the best sources we can.

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It’s actually not that complex. The main difference between water-soluble vitamins and fat-soluble vitamins is how they’re absorbed into and act within the body.

The majority of vitamins are water-soluble and as the name suggests, easily dissolve in water and as a result, are technically more easily absorbed into the tissues of the body and metabolized more quickly than fat-soluble vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins therefore dissolve in… Fats. These vitamins are absorbed by fat globules within the body and then carried throughout the bloodstream. There are four fat-soluble vitamins, which include vitamin a, vitamin d, vitamin e, and vitamin k and rather than being excreted by the body when you go for a pee, they are stored in the liver or fatty tissue for use later on.

(Water-soluble vitamins): vitamin b1 (thiamine), vitamin b2 (riboflavin), vitamin b3 (niacin), vitamin b5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin b6, vitamin b7 (biotin), vitamin b9 (folate), vitamin b12(cobalamin), and vitamin c.

Simply put, no. There are significant differences between synthetic and natural nutrients. Natural nutrients are obtained from whole food sources, whereas synthetic forms are made industrially. Now, where synthetic forms can be almost as chemically identical, they are said to be unlikely to be absorbed in the same way by the body.

Getting the right nutrients for your lifestyle from your diet should always be your goal, but if you can't do that, ZAAG is a pretty good place to get them from.

Pricing

Most brands do not go to the length that we do to ensure that you are getting the most optimal sources of nutrient in your daily supplement. Nor do they include beneficial ingredients like Tulsi, Alpha GPC or Choline which are in themselves expensive. Simply put, they manufacture for profit, not your health which is why the first ingredient is usually some form of cheap bulking agent like talc.

You could also think of it another way, which is that at £2.70 a day it's less than a morning coffee or green juice but with 29 ingredients designed to give your brain, body and spirit the support that it needs.

It's not a new debate. There are people that like to buy the cheapest items they can and there are those that prefer quality. We errr on the side of 'buy cheap, buy twice' which is why we have gone to the lengths that we have to select the best quality ingredients that we can. We also spent time trying to add more value by removing the wellness admin that comes with giving your body what it needs in one tasty shot that doesn't need to be taken with food or water.

Alternatively you could buy all of these ingredients separately and then spend half an hour each morning taking them all, but it would cost you over £6 per day.

Keen to understand more about which ingredients relate to what? Here’s a simple key

Tulsi, Astragalus, Highblush Blueberry, L-Alpha GPC, CDP-Choline, Snow Fungus, Creatine, DHA Omega 3 (Algal), GLA Borage Oil, Green Tea Extract, Iodine, Carnitine, Magnesium Citrate, Phosphatidylserine, Pomegranate, Resveratrol, Selenium, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Vitamin D3.

Tulsi, Astragalus, Highblush Blueberry, DHA Omega 3 Algal Oil, Ginger, Fennel, Cardamom, GLA Borage Oil, Green, Tea Extract, Hyaluronic Acid, Iodine, Carnitine, Maca, Magnesium Citrate, Phosphatidylserine, Pomegranate, Resveratrol, Selenium, CoEnzymeQ10, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Amla Berry, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K, Zinc.

Astragalus, Alpha GPC, CDP Choline, Snow Fungus, Creatine, DHA Omega 3 Algal Oil, Ginger, Fennel, Cardamom, GLA Borage Oil, Green Tea Extract, Hyaluronic Acid, Carnitine, Maca, Magnesium Citrate, Phosphatidylserine, Resveratrol, Selenium, Taurine, CoEnzymeQ10, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Amla Berry, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K, Zinc.

Want to read more about the science behind our ingredients?