How We Formulate
Our formulation standard
How we formulate
Most supplement brands ask you to trust them. We would rather you checked. This page sets out how our formulas are decided, what goes on the label, and what we will not say about any of it.
The four rules
1. An ingredient earns its place, or it is not in the bottle
Every ingredient has to have published research behind it in adults broadly like our customers — middle-aged and older, eating an ordinary diet. Popularity is not a reason. Neither is the fact that a competitor uses it. Where the evidence is thin or contested, we say so rather than dress it up.
2. The dose is the one that was studied, not the one that markets well
A long ingredient list at token amounts looks impressive and does very little. So does a single mega-dosed ingredient. We set amounts within established safe intake levels and, where a standardised extract exists, we use it so the active content is consistent from batch to batch. Fat-soluble nutrients are kept to everyday amounts rather than pushed.
3. Everything is on the label, in full
No proprietary blends. No “complex” hiding four ingredients at unstated amounts. Every active is listed with its quantity, its form, and — where it is an extract — its dry-herb equivalent and standardisation. You can compare us to anything on the shelf, which is rather the point.
4. The range stays small
Three products. A daily base, an immune formula and an evening formula. We would rather make three things properly than fifteen things adequately, and we would rather you took one thing consistently than owned six half-finished bottles.
What full disclosure actually looks like
This is every active in Lifeguard Essentials, at the amounts in two capsules. Not a summary — the whole thing.
| Ingredient | Amount | Form and equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Turmeric | 250 mg | Meriva curcumin phospholipid complex, equivalent to 50 mg curcuminoids |
| Olive leaf extract | 200 mg | Equivalent to 2,000 mg dry, standardised to 20% oleuropein |
| Red grape seed extract | 75 mg | Equivalent to 9,000 mg dry Vitis vinifera |
| Red grape skin extract | 75 mg | Equivalent to 1,500 mg dry Vitis vinifera |
| Boswellia extract | 62 mg | 30% boswellic acid, from Boswellia serrata |
| Baical skullcap extract | 30 mg | Equivalent to 1,500 mg dry Scutellaria baicalensis |
| Black pepper extract | 5 mg | Equivalent to 250 mg dry Piper nigrum — included to aid absorption of the turmeric |
Recommended adult dose: two capsules daily with food. The same level of detail is published for Lifeguard Immune and Lifeguard Sleep.
Who formulates them
Every Lifeguard Health formula is designed by a registered New Zealand doctor, and has been since the company started in 2014.
That tells you who made the decisions. It does not tell you the product will do anything for you, and it is not a medical recommendation — no supplement brand can honestly offer you one. It is a statement about process, not about outcome. Judge the formulas on the table above.
What we will not claim
This part matters as much as the rest, and most brands leave it out.
- Our products are dietary supplements. They are not medicines, and they are not a treatment for any condition.
- We do not claim they will prevent illness, relieve symptoms, or change the course of anything you have been diagnosed with.
- We do not publish before-and-after stories, and we do not use customer reviews to say things we could not say ourselves.
- We do not compare our products to medicines. If you are deciding between a supplement and a prescription, that is a conversation for your doctor, not a marketing page.
- Supplements sit alongside sleep, food, movement and proper medical care. They do not substitute for any of them.
If something is wrong, see your doctor. Persistent fatigue, poor sleep, joint pain or repeated infections are worth investigating properly. A supplement is not the place to start, and we would rather say so than sell you one.
Where they are made
Made in New Zealand, from local and imported ingredients. Short supply chains, local accountability, and products formulated for New Zealand customers rather than a generic global market — which matters more than it sounds for nutrients like selenium, where our soils are genuinely poor, and vitamin D, where our latitude is genuinely unhelpful through winter.
How to check us
Compare any Lifeguard product against anything else on the shelf using four questions:
- Are the amounts stated — actual milligrams, not a blend?
- Are extracts standardised, with the dry-herb equivalent shown?
- Are the amounts within established safe intake levels, rather than mega-doses chosen to look impressive?
- Does the brand tell you what its products cannot do?
