Relief Factor, the Good and the Bad
Relief Factor is a decent nutritional supplement that certainly includes a lot of the best ingredients out there. This allows Relief Factor to be a great supplement for joint support, but when you put it next to others of its kind, but is it the best joint supplement on the market?
This Relief Factor review will dismantle exactly what makes this joint supplement tick, and give an honest answer on whether or not it’s going to be worth your time and most importantly, your money.
Let’s dive in.
Relief Factor Highlights and Drawbacks
Relief factor has some drawbacks that we’ll get into in a minute, but ultimately you should first see the positive effects from the ingredients here. Fish oil and the omega-3 that comes with Relief Factor is known as one of the most effective forms of pain relief. Resveratrol is another amazing ingredient, alongside turmeric and it’s potent curcuminoids.
When compared to similarly priced brands such as FlexAgain, however, you see that it is not under-dosing of ingredients, like some of the cheaper alternatives. FlexAgain actually contains everything (and more), and each ingredient is dosed properly. For example, FlexAgain contains Ginger and Blue Galangal Extract which is a well documented and powerful natural anti-inflammatory and as a result fantastic for joint pain relief.
There’s a lot more and we’ll get into it but between FlexAgain being significantly cheaper and much more accurately backed by scientific evidence, we’d recommend you divert your attention that way.
That said let’s look under the hood and see how exactly Relief Factor will provide pain relief for stiff joints.
Relief Factor Ingredients
Icariin 200mg
Derived from Epimedium, a traditional herbal medicine, Icariin has been discussed for a long time about its potential for treating issues related to joint health including knee osteoarthritis. There have been many in vitro and animal studies that have indicated that Icariin is a safe and effective natural drug with anti-inflammatory properties intervention with pro-inflammatory cytokines (small proteins crucial in controlling our cells inflammation responses)[1].
The thing is, despite the numerous studies and a lot of data collection on the efficacy of Icariin as a joint pain relief supplement, we were unable to find any human trials. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t work or won’t be safe, but it serves as a gap in the scientific evidence for its use in any supplement. Essentially speaking, it’s not the best support for an ingredient if it lacks proper human clinical trials.
The most we can give relief factor for this inclusion is a cautious thumbs up. There’s evidence that it’ll be effective, and honestly we’re quite optimistic as the evidence that is there seems to have a lot of potential for a positive clinical effect, but that’s really as positive as we can be until human trials prove that it is helpful.
The reason we have to be so cautious with Relief Factor is because without testing we don’t know how it’s going to react with our digestion. We can use collagen as an example, as sometimes it’s included in dietary supplements and is claimed to help treat cartilage and bone degradation because of the roles collagen plays for general bone and joint health. When orally supplemented, these effects do not take place, and the reason for that is because our body breaks it down to it’s component parts and doesn’t repurpose them to create more collagen. This is why we need human clinical trials in order to determine whether or not the mechanisms we’ve observed in vitro and in animals will be replicated within our bodies.
Turmeric 667mg
Turmeric is a common inclusion for a modern joint dietary supplement. There’s great reason for that, as it’s been understood and proven to be very effective in treating joint pain. This is because of curcumin, a compound found in turmeric that has similar medicinal properties to pharmaceutical joint pain relief medicines such as Celecoxib.
There was a review of randomized controlled trials that found curcumin was able to reduce inflammation and provide pain relief to the same degree as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen [2].
The dosage here is unfortunately on the lower side of helpful, as you can see on the label it’s said to be 18% Curcuminoids. If we do the math this gives us around 120mg of curcumin present, and the studies we’ve referenced here will show you that the results reported were from a dosage of 500mg of curcumin. Hopefully there will still be some positive effect from the 120mg found inside relief factor but it’s usefulness at such a low dose is not supported by clinical trials, and isn’t a positive as far as our relief factor review is concerned.
Resveratrol 70mg
Resveratrol has been proven many times over for its ability to reduce pain, relieve swelling and otherwise provide therapeutic benefits for the aches and pains associated with joint discomfort. It’s potency as an anti-inflammatory is just the tip of the iceburg for this therapeutic agent, having been shown to have a multitude health benefits, including cardiovascular health. As a result this really is a great ingredient for relief factor.
The mechanisms that cause resveratrol to help with the healing process of non healthy joints lay in it’s protective capabilities, mainly mediated by decreased production of pro-inflammatory and pro-degradative soluble factors [10].
The dosage here is close but still a little lower than we’d expect, with the results in clinical studies coming from a dosage of around 100mg. It seems to be a running theme here, great ingredients but just not quite enough of them.
Omega-3 fatty acids 900mg
Omega 3 fatty acids are absolute A-list ingredients when it comes to joint supplements, and the manufacturers are fully aware of this. It’s a shame then that it’s often wrapped up in silly debates about its source, just caused by competitive marketing with everyone claiming their source has the most optimum ratio possible. It’s an easy rabbit hole to fall into that will ultimately have no discernible effects on your joint pain relief supplements.
We all know Omega 3 fatty acids are useful in helping to keep our joints healthy, and this is thanks in no small part to the modulatory effect on disease activity, such as the number of tender and stiff joints [4]. Omega-3 supplementation has been shown to result in less pain relief requirements for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis as listed on the national institute of health’s consumer guide [5].
One of the surprisingly lesser known facts about Omega-3 is just how much we need in our diets, and dietary supplements of it are typically under-dosed. Unfortunately relief factor is one of the dietary supplements, though to provide due credit they’re not so far off the target 1,000mg. Omega-3 isn’t so plentifully available either, though that is of course dependent on lifestyle. If you enjoy fish and eat it daily then this 900mg will be enough for you, but for a lot of us (especially more inland) a high omega-3 dietary supplement is kind of our only solution. If this relates to you then you may want to further supplement omega-3 just to make sure you’re getting enough. All in all this is a good ingredient in relief factor, and should work to help with chronic pain.
Price and Effectiveness
All in all we quite like Relief factor and think it has a lot of great ideas and potential, just maybe let down by a bit too little of the good stuff.
Pros
- Well chosen ingredients
- A focused formula
- Lubricates and protects against joint discomfort
Cons
- Under-dosed
- Takes time to work
- Inconvenient (3 pills and 3 capsules a day)
Relief Factor is priced at $93.95 for one month’s supply, or $79.95 for monthly subscription.
Who is Relief Factor For?
It mean seem an intuitive simple answer of “Well duh, people who suffer with their joints” and you’d be right there, but more so we’re looking at the clientele that might benefit more from picking Relief factor up instead of something else.
We believe the clientele for Relief Factor to be more of the older generation looking for something to help relieve pain more than they’re getting from their medication.
Relief Factor Side Effects
There shouldn’t be any serious side effects as a result of taking relief factor, although some negative relief factor reviews do suggest that it causes nausea. This is a known issue that some people have with turmeric supplements, so it isn’t unrealistic for this to be the case. Although generally relief factor reviews are mixed, some people say it helps although they have had a lot of negative feedback for overhyped marketing promises.
Relief Factor Review Conclusion: Our Recommendation
To summarize Relief Factor has a lot of good ideas and ingredients that are very effective useful but just falls short of greatness with the doses, limiting this effectiveness. With the premium pricing as well we can’t help but compare it to more favorable products such as newcomers FlexAgain, which gets our full recommendation.
FlexAgain brings you the highest dosed, scientifically formulated joint support supplement, designed to contain the best ingredients that could be fit into a 4 capsule a day product.
The whole branding around FlexAgain is a breath of fresh air, as where other supplements might catch your eye with outlandish claims and cheaper prices FlexAgain stands tall and lets its formula speak for itself. They’ve even gone so far as to state they’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for supplemental and nutritional research to see if any of their ingredients end up debunked or disproved, and will amend their formula in such a way as to ensure they always have the most scientifically proven ingredients available at all times.
For a good example of this we can see their listing for MSM, which has a lot of potential but similarly to Icariin lacks reputable human trials to help prove its efficacy. On their own product page FlexAgain state this, which is near enough unheard of transparency, and it’s here that they claim they’ll change it should evidence state otherwise.
A month’s supply will set you back $69.47 currently and for larger purchases you can save even more. Feel free to check out FlexAgain.
References
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4 – Kostoglou-Athanassiou I, Athanassiou L, Athanassiou P. The Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Rheumatoid Arthritis. Mediterr J Rheumatol. 2020 Jun 30;31(2):190-194. doi: 10.31138/mjr.31.2.190. PMID: 32676556; PMCID: PMC7362115.
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