Vitamin Supplements

METHIONINE

Like cystine, this is another sulphur-containing amino acid. Methionine helps in some cases of schizophrenia by lowering the blood level of histamine, which can cause the brain to relay wrong messages. When combined with choline and folic acid, it has been shown to offer protection against certain tumours.

An insufficiency of methionine can break down the body’s ability to process urine and result in oedema (swelling due to retention of fluids in tissues) and susceptibility to infection. A methionine deficiency has also been linked to cholesterol deposits, atherosclerosis, and hair loss in laboratory animals. Read the rest of this entry »

Other Amino Acids

GLUTAMINE & GLUTAMIC ACID

Glutamic acid serves primarily as a brain fuel. It has the ability to pick up excess ammonia — which can inhibit high- performance brain function — and convert it into the buffer glutamine. Since glutamine produces marked elevation of glutamic acid, a shortage of the former in the diet can result in a shortage of the latter in the brain.

Aside from improving intelligence (even the IQs of mentally deficient children), glutamine has been shown to help in the control of alcoholism. It has also been found to shorten the healing time for ulcers and alleviate fatigue, depression, and impotence. Most recently it’s been used successfully in the treatment of schizophrenia and senility. Read the rest of this entry »

Amino Acid Supplements

Free-form amino acids are now available in balanced formulas or as individual supplements, because so many have been found to offer specific health-enhancing properties — from improving the immune system to reducing dependence on drugs.

It’s wise, when taking amino acid supplements, to take also the major vitamins that are involved in their metabolism, for instance: Vitamins B6, B12, and niacin. And if you’re going to take an amino acid formula, make sure it’s well-balanced. Read the label! For protein synthesis to occur, there must be the balance between “essential” and “nonessential” amino acids, and the essentials in proper proportion to one another. (Lysine should be in a 2:1 ratio to methionine, 3:1 to tryptophan, and so on. Read the rest of this entry »

Lipotropics — What Are They?

Methionine, choline, inositol and betaine are all lipotropics, which means their prime function is to prevent abnormal or excessive accumulations of fat in the liver.

Lipotropics also increase the liver’s production of lecithin, which keeps cholesterol more soluble, detoxifies the liver, and increases resistance to disease by helping the thymus gland to carry out its functions.

Who Needs Them and Why

We all need lipotropics, some of us more than others. Anyone on a high-protein diet falls into the latter category. Methionine and choline are necessary to detoxify the amines that are by-products of protein metabilism. Read the rest of this entry »

In pursuit of your natural weight, optimum health is of extreme importance.

Having a body plagued by pain, allergies and food intolerances is not merely debilitating, it also tends to limit ones choices. And the unwise choices are, of course, eating indiscriminately and unwisely and succumbing to lethargy and inactivity

In this respect the ‘forgotten nutrient‘ is sulphur, or MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), a natural substance present in food and in the human body. Sulphur has a long tradition of healing and throughout history physicians have prescribed visits to mineral hot springs, rich in sulphur, to their infirm patients. Recently MSM surfaced once more as the number one natural pain-relieving nutrient - without side-effects - to be taken as a dietary supplement. Physicians are using it with phenomenal success to control pain caused by:

• degenerative wear-and-tear arthritis as well as rheumatoid arthritis
• chronic back pain
• chronic headaches
• muscle pain fibromyalgia
• tendonitis and bursitis
• carpal tunnel syndrome
• post-traumatic pain and inflammation
• heartburn

As a result of the changes in our eating patterns and cultivation methods of fresh produce, our bodies have developed a sulphur (MSM) deficiency. It often manifests in brittle nails and hair, cold and hot spots all over the body and hard, dry patches of skin on the torso. This deficiency could also be a forerunner of any of the painful diseases mentioned above. Read the rest of this entry »