Supplements
Ideally, we should get all the nutrients we need from food. The reality typically looks very different. Let's face it, how many people really eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day? Not only that, the vegetables actually should be dark leafy greens and broccoli rather than french fries. Food triggers a lot of reactions and hormonal responses in the body, so eating an unhealthy diet and taking vitamin and mineral supplements to make up for eating junk, will not work. Even if with healthy diet, it would be prudent to take a high quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement to make up for any potential shortfalls. A lot of the nutrient content of produce depends on the soil conditions in which it was grown. However, anybody looking for nutritional supplements at any supermarket will notice that the available choices far
exceed your run-of-the-mill mutli-vitamin. Do you need extra B-Vitamins, mega-doses of vitamin-C, supplements that claim to help you more fat, energy-boosting supplements and drinks, protein shakes or cleansing teas? Unlike drugs, supplements do not require FDA approval. The Wall Street Journal reported in an article "What's Really in Supplements?" on September 7, that "Since last December, the FDA has issued warnings about more than 70 weight-loss supplements that included potentially dangerous ingredients. The ingredients included prescription drugs, and the agency said the side effects could include seizure, heart attack and stroke. In July, the FDA warned consumers to avoid bodybuilding supplements that claimed to contain steroid-like ingredients, but actually included steroids. The agency, which issued a general warning but also named some specific brand names, said it had received reports of men with serious liver injuries, stroke, kidney failure and pulmonary embolism potentially linked to such products."
There are a lot of benefits to be derived from properly using nutrients and research keeps identifying more and more benefits. It is very important to make sure that the supplements you do decided to have the quality and ingredients you expect. The due diligence starts with carefully reading the label (including the"other ingredients" section). It is hard to go wrong if you couple a diet based on whole foods with plenty of fruits and vegetables with real-food based supplements.
Real food and superfoods that we like:
Goji Berries Superfood
Sacred Chocolate Bar
The following websites can provide you with more information on specific supplements:
www.fda.gov: FDA website with warning letter or consumer alert information
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html : effectiveness and safety of herbal products from the National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus
www.ConsumerLab.com: Paid access to reports from ConsumerLab
www.informed-choice.org : HFL Sport Science's list of tested supplements for inadvertent contamination with substances prohibited by WADA (the World Anti Doping Agency).
