Vitamin Supplements

Who benefits from supplements?

The answer is simple: Everyone. Many of my colleagues will probably want to burn me at the stake for this but there is enough evidence to prove that most people today do not eat a balanced enough diet to get all the vitamins they need. In addition, the fast pace, stress and pollution of modern society result in a greater need for vitamins and other nutrients. Read the rest of this entry »

Food supplements are here to stay and can give you a kick-start when you need it, but the utter confusion they sometimes cause does more harm than good

One of the fastest growing sections of the health industry is that of vitamin preparations. However, there is still a great deal of ignorance among both the public and health workers as to their desirability and meaningful use. The budget that most people have for “luxuries” like vitamins and health literature is limited. Read the rest of this entry »

Although the trend in recent years has been toward low-fat diets, the truth is that fats are essential for health. Eating the wrong types of fat damages cells, causes cancer and heart disease, and speeds up the aging process. But eating healthy fats provides protection against cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases, and helps to keep you young.

Unhealthy fats include polyunsaturated oils, saturated fats, and hydrogenated oils. Polyunsaturated oils such as safflower, corn, sesame, soybean, and sunflower oils are extremely detrimental to your health. They quickly oxidize when exposed to oxygen and create free radicals, mutant molecules that destroy healthy cells. Read the rest of this entry »

How Much Vitamin B3 Do You Need?

The body’s requirements for vitamin B3 can be met in part by the conversion of tryptophan to niacin. Even so, most people need to consume additional niacin to meet the RDA guidelines.

Optimal Daily Vitamin B3 Allowance

To select an optimal daily allowance (ODA) of niacin, we examined the energy needs of men and women and chose a level to meet the needs of the most active individuals. We believe that 20 NE (niacin equivalent) per day—the highest RDA—is an optimal amount. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve read the ads in health magazines, you may have seen claims that large doses of B6 can alleviate depression, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), asthma, muscle fatigue, and even autism. But you shouldn’t take these claims too seriously: scientific evidence does not support most of them. Proponents of B6, for example, claim that doses of 50 to 200 mg can “cure” PMS. According to research studies, a placebo seems to be just as effective. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years, no other vitamin has received as much media attention, hype, and hoopla as vitamin C. Thanks in great part to its most prominent and outspoken advocate, Linus Pauling, millions of people religiously consume large amounts of vitamin C in hopes that it might cure them of everything from the common cold to cancer.

Despite all this attention, the average person isn’t sure what to believe about this highly touted nutrient. Furthermore, until recently, most physicians weren’t sure what to tell their patients. Research has now provided us with many of the answers. Read the rest of this entry »

Recommended Daily Allowances for vitamin D are given here in both micrograms and international units. The IU is a common unit of measurement among many vitamin supplement manufacturers. Remember that people who get enough sunlight do not need additional vitamin D.

Vitamin D Optimal Daily Allowance

We recommend an optimal daily allowance of 400 IU of vitamin D per day. Fewer foods are rich in vitamin D than in other vitamins and minerals, so you may need to take a vitamin D tablet to supplement your diet. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you decide that you need to take vitamin supplements or change the way you eat, you should know where you stand and how much improvement you really need. To help you analyze your current diet, we’ve developed a system you can use to calculate your approximate vitamin D intake. Following is a list of vitamin D food sources, arranged according to the percentage of our Optimal Daily Allowance of vitamin D contained in them. Since 3 ounces of tuna canned in oil contain 197.2 IU of vitamin D and the ODA for vitamin D is 400 IUD, we’ve listed tuna in the 50 Percent category. Read the rest of this entry »

Vitamin E Health Merits

Keeping up with all of the recent research into the potential health benefits of vitamin E is difficult. The impressive findings of the best of this research, however, are impossible to ignore.

Vitamin E against Cancer

A growing body of research indicates that vitamin E can provide protection against a variety of cancers, including oral, lung, cervical, and breast cancers. For example, an eight-year Finnish study of 36,265 adults concluded that individuals with low blood levels of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) were 1.5 times more likely to develop cancer than people with higher amounts. Read the rest of this entry »

Who is at the Risk of Vitamin K deficiency?

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you (or your baby) have an above-average risk of developing a vitamin K deficiency.

• Do you have a chronic illness (particularly a liver disease) or a disorder that interferes with the absorption of fats (such as ulcerative colitis, sprue, or Crohn’s disease)? These diseases can impair the body’s ability to absorb and store vitamin K.

• Are you a chronic user of mineral oil, anticholesterol drugs, or antibiotics? The nonabsorbable fats of mineral oil attach to vitamin K and carry it out of the body. Some anticholesterol drugs (cholestyramine and colestipol) inhibit absorption of vitamin K. Certain antibiotics, including tetracycline, neomycin, and cephalosporins, suppress bacterial production of vitamin K. Read the rest of this entry »