Nutrients have many different functions in the body. They provide diverse roles in human health, oftentimes more than what can be put on a product label description or in a short product write-up. We often create short “sound-bite” snippets of information to help remember the basic function of nutrients, but this can often miss the diverse layers of product benefits. For example, “carrots are good for eyes,” “fish oil is brain food,” and  “feet stink, need zinc” help you remember well-known functions, but each nutrient used has so many more functions. At Wellness Resources, we devote hours to researching the details that make our products special. This article is an opportunity to explore, in depth, the nutrient blend in the amazing product Leptinal.

Leptinal® consists of marine lipid oils – omega-3 DHA and EPA, plant-based omega-6 borage oil which provides GLA, and plant-based antioxidants - tocotrienols, pomegranate extract, tangeretin and nobiletin. Each nutrient supports a number of metabolic actions of their own value. In the supplement market, these nutrients are available as a single ingredient supplement or maybe a combination product with one or two other nutrients. However, 20 years ago, Wellness Resources put all of these nutrients together into one product. The result is a unique blend of synergistic nutrients that encompass a wide variety of daily cellular activities and needs.

Leptinal® was originally designed and named for its impact on leptin hormone function. It certainly does support leptin hormone function, but it also supports many other hormones, signals, functions, and structure.

Leptinal® can be used by individuals of all body sizes and metabolic needs. It may be used by those who have a healthy body weight, but may have other areas of needs. It does not contain stimulants that force things to work. Below is a description of the vast impact that each of the nutrients provides.

Omega-3 Marine Lipid Oil

Omega-3 oils DHA and EPA are essential to human physiology and must be obtained daily in the diet. Dietary sources of DHA and EPA omega-3 oils are found in cold-water fatty fish like tuna, salmon, herring, and mackerel, and plant micro-algae.

Plant-based omega-3 oil ALA is found commonly in soybeans, canola, flaxseeds, chia, and walnuts, etc. Plant-based omega-3 oils are converted into DHA and EPA, which requires magnesium, vitamins C and B6, iron, and zinc to do so. A lack of any of these nutrients can substantially impact your tissues levels of EPA and DHA. Impaired gene signals can also alter this conversion process.

Grass-fed animal products and fortified products can also contribute to a small amount of omega-3 fatty acid. Omega-3 marine lipid/fish oil is the best source of DHA and EPA.

Systemic Need for Omega-3 Fish Oils

Omega-3 oils DHA and EPA are used throughout your body. They impact your heart muscle function and rhythm. They affect cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL numbers and cholesterol particle size, along with blood vessel protection, blood flow and viscosity, and blood pressure management.

DHA and EPA support blood sugar, insulin, leptin management, liver metabolism, and cell membrane integrity and function. These fats are needed to help your liver activate and process hormones like thyroid T4 hormone into T3. DHA is especially critical for vision and retinal health and eye moisture. DHA is absolutely required during pregnancy and is critical for childhood brain development.

EPA, and especially DHA, is needed throughout your entire lifespan for cognitive function, thinking, mood and emotional control, memory, movement, nerve stability and function, circadian rhythm, sleep management, brain stress and glial cell support and repair. DHA helps leptin function and metabolism within the hypothalamus of your brain.

Omega-3 fatty acids help keep cell membranes and the alveoli (air sacs) in your lungs pliable and flexible. They also manage and modulate inflammatory chemicals in your respiratory passages. Cartilage, bones, and dental health require omega-3 oils for structure and repair. Your skin needs them for moisture, integrity, and its cell membrane building blocks. Even medication/chemotherapy tolerance is supported by beneficial omega-3 oils.

DHA and EPA affect men’s health with sperm quality and fertility. Omega-3 oils support healthy menses and prostaglandin balance that aids in menstrual cramps, blood flow, hormone signals, fertility, ovarian function, and management of night sweats related with hormone fluctuations.

Marine lipid oils affect healthy balance of T-helper cells (Th1 and Th2), which helps your immune system stay in balance, reduces immune cells attack on self and monitors inflammatory responses. They support innate and adaptive immunity which helps immune tolerance and management of exposures to germs.

Omega-3 oils have a substantial impact gut health. Gut lining integrity, intestinal immune function, microbiome/gut flora balance, oxidative stress, and numerous other gut mechanisms are positively impacted by omega-3 fatty acids. They also provide protective effects for food tolerance and help manage sensitivities. The list could go on.

Your body’s normal physiology, structure, and function require these essential omega-3 oils. If you don’t regularly consume fatty fish, lack adequate iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin C or B6, or have impaired gene signals that affect the conversion process of ALA into EPA and DHA omega-3 oils, then imbalances occur. Prostaglandin-inflammation management, pain signals, tissue repair of all types, insulin management, and all of the normal functions listed above are adversely challenged.

You can learn more about prostaglandins in these articles.

Natural Support for Menstrual Discomfort

Injury Recovery and Soft Tissue Support

Omega-6 GLA

Omega-3 oils have a teeter-totter relationship with omega-6 plant based oil. In the last 100 years, dietary intakes of omega-6 oils have increased dramatically with a reduction in omega-3 oils. This shifts the direction of prostaglandin metabolism into a pro-inflammatory state rather than anti-inflammatory and tissue protection. The Western diet is often 40:1 or even as high as 60:1 omega-6:omega-3. A healthy dietary ratio of oils is generally 4:1 omega-6:omega-3.

Beneficial forms of omega-6 oils like GLA are essential to health. GLA is found in borage oil and black currant oil. GLA is a highly-valued beneficial omega-6 oil because it uniquely helps promote a favorable balance of prostaglandins compared to other omega-6 oils (vegetable, corn, soy, safflower, sunflower, walnut, canola, etc). It helps modulate or shunt pro-inflammatory prostaglandins (PgE2) into anti-inflammatory prostaglandins (PgE1, PgE3).

Borage oil and GLA is often used to support joint comfort because of its ability to deter PgE2 prostaglandins from build-up, which contributes to pain signals and stiffness. It helps offset build-up of excess arachidonic acid along with intake of EPA and DHA omega-3 oils.

GLA with omega-3 DHA integrates into blood vessel walls and cell membranes to help with tissue flexibility, cell signals, and receptor site function. It supports brain development in infants and children and supports adult brain function. Animal studies show that it helps support heart muscle health from strain. 

Omega-3 and omega-6 oils are polyunsaturated oils (PUFAs). These unsaturated oils are highly sensitive to free radical stress and damage. High dietary intake of PUFAs requires vitamin E to protect the oils and the structures that hold them from damage.

Tocotrienols

Leptinal® contains highly potent forms of vitamin E, tocotrienols, from rice bran and palm fruit. Tocotrienols excel at protecting cell membranes and unsaturated fats from free radical damage, or lipid perioxidation, which address the concern with dietary PUFA intake mentioned above. Here are a few additional benefits of this super vitamin E.

Tocotrienols provide proven superior antioxidant and inflammaging support compared to tocopherols for heart and brain health and more. Inflammaging refers to age-related changes associated with chronic cell stress and irritation. Tocotrienols support and protect HDL cholesterol and provide antioxidant protection to blood vessel walls. They aid in the reduction of cell adhesion molecular activity and build-up of advanced-glycation end (AGE) products from excess blood sugar and free radicals. These compounds make capillaries, blood vessels, and nerves stiff from stress and damage cholesterol. Tocotrienols protect the inner endothelial lining of blood vessels and cholesterol from oxidative stress.

Tocotrienols, support autophagy and apoptosis. These actions help regular house keeping duties to remove debris and old, damaged cells that can interfere with normal function. This is especially helpful for heart, brain, and mitochondria function and healthy aging. They extend telomere length providing anti-aging effects. Its antioxidant effects reduce the production of damaging matrix metalloproteinases and C-reaction protein (CRP).

Tocotrienols helps protect cells and nerves against the stress of blood sugar management throughout the body, but also the stress of high fat diets. New research with obese animal study models demonstrated that tocotrienols are helpful in protecting the brain against oxidative stress induced by a high-fat diet and obesity.

Sytrinol™

Sytrinol™ contains a standardized blend of tocotrienols from palm fruit and citrus-derived compounds known as polymethoxylated flavones. These special flavonoids, tangeretin and nobiletin, are highly biologically active antioxidants with excellent absorption. Tocotrienols provide up to 70 times more antioxidant activity than regular vitamin E and is also highly biologically active.

Sytrinol™ has been shown in clinical studies to support cardiovascular health with modulation of LDL and enhancement and protection of HDL cholesterol metabolism. The flavones nobiletin and tangeretin subdue the function of a protein called apolipoprotein B and a liver enzyme, which are used to make LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Tangeretin and tocotrienols inhibit another liver enzyme, HMG CoA reductase that is involved with cholesterol production. The HMG CoA reductase enzyme also affects bones, cell division, blood sugar, and brain health.

In addition to heart and cholesterol health, nobiletin and tangeretin provide powerful antioxidant protection for the brain and nervous system. Research has shown these bioflavonoids help attenuate choline/acetylcholine deficits. They provide potent antioxidant protection against build-up of damaged proteins and other toxic compounds that deposit in brain cells.

Tangeretin is readily absorbed and bioavailable for cell protection, longevity, and anti-aging effects. Like tocotrienols, it activates apoptosis and autophagy mechanisms which help remove damaged, broken cells from tissues and inhibit uncharacteristic cell growth.

Nobiletin  targets circadian rhythms that affect metabolic activity. Dysregulated body clocks are linked with metabolic dysfunction. Studies with obese animals demonstrated that nobiletin enhanced Clock genes and circadian rhythm expression which helped support healthier metabolic activity. Nobiletin also supported body clocks for cholesterol and bile acid metabolism, skeletal muscle metabolism and mitochondria for healthy aging.

More information about body clocks may be found at

Body Clocks and Weight Management – It’s All About Timing

Disrupted Gut Clocks Linked with IBS, GERD, Obesity, and Other GI Concerns

Pomegranate Extract

Just like the other nutrients in Leptinal®, pomegranate extract provides remarkable support. Pomegranate is an ancient fruit used for centuries for nourishment and health. Pomegranate extract research has explored its antioxidant, cell protective benefits in heart and cholesterol health, blood sugar management, circulation and blood pressure, brain health, dental health, men’s prostate health, immune system support, and cellular mechanisms.

Skin cells use antioxidants to protect against free radical and oxidative stress induced by UVB-radiation and sun exposure. A randomized control trial showed that pomegranate extract helped protect against skin irritation and redness from UVB-radiation from sunlight.

Our pomegranate extract contains the antioxidant power of the punicalagins found only in pomegranate. This important antioxidant is degraded in juice products and lost almost entirely by pasteurization. In Leptinal,® it is preserved and standardized, wherein it helps to maintain healthy circulation and protect the cardiovascular system from free radicals.

In addition to the functions listed above, these nutrients support the hormone leptin. Our website contains vast amounts of information about leptin in the Health Topics and News sections. If you desire in-depth information about leptin, function and physiology, read the book Mastering Leptin or if you prefer a quick overview of leptin, read The Leptin Diet book.

Learning about nutrients and their various functions allows you to make informed choices in ways to support health, vitality, and well-being. Leptinal is powerful blend of multi-functional nutrients that affect your entire body’s metabolism, structure, and function. It is a premier blend.