Category Archives: Nutritional Supplements

Vitamin D – Immune Booster???

Ever wonder why people tend to get more colds in the winter?  Well according to research coming from all over the world, the answer may be vitamin D.  Since humans need sunlight to produce natural vitamin D, and obviously winter is the time of the year we get the least amount of sunshine, it goes without saying that this is the time we are most likely to be vitamin D deficient (or at least suboptimal).

Vitamin D has long been known for its benefits relating to osteoporosis but it has been recent research that has focused on its immune benefits. Michael Zasloff of Georgetown University, Dr. John J. Cannell, Adrian F. Gombart of UCLA, dermatologist and immunologist Richard K. Gallo of UCSD, John H. White of McGill University, Mona Stahle of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and microbial immunologist Robert Modlin of UCLA, are among the many researchers that have published papers regarding the remarkable benefits of vitamin D supplementation and the human immune system. 

So how does this “wonder vitamin” work? One of the mechanisms thought to occur is the increase of the production of cathelicidin which seemingly punches holes in the external membranes of microbes thereby killing them. Also, vitamin D did more to stimulate the production of cathelicidin than any other substance. Not only was it helpful in protecting against colds, the flu and other minor infections, there is evidence that it may be highly beneficial in the treatment of tuberculosis. 

Further research into the use of topical vitamin D on skin wounds is continuing. Dr. Stahle’s research has already seen results from studies that suggest benefits.

One comment, made by Dr. Zasloff was, in my opinion, the most profound.  He states that the payoff from research into the positive effects of vitamin D “would be amazing. Imagine being able to block the spread of epidemic flu with appropriate doses of this vitamin.” Yes, imagine the value of a simple vitamin over the use of drugs.

After reading the review article in the November 11th issue of Science News (pgs 312 & 317), I am going out to the local health food store and buying extra vitamin D for the whole family.  Starting dose for the kids (four and ten) will be 400 i.u.’s and for my wife and I, 800 i.u.’s.

 

The China Study – Everyone Needs to Get This Book

The complete title of this book should be more than description enough to convince you to buy it today – The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health.

This book reveals information that came out of the largest study of its kind that should turn the medical profession on its head. A review on Amazon.com summed up what the book is about and why it is so important.  Howie Jacobson, “America’s Fit Family Coach” said:

The main point of this book is that most nutritional studies that we hear about in the media are poorly constructed because of what the author terms “scientific reductionism.” That is, they attempt to pin down the effects of a single nutrient in isolation from all other aspects of diet and lifestyle.

While this is the “gold standard” for clinical trials in the pharmaceutical world, it just doesn’t work when it comes to nutrition. Given that the Western diet is extremely high fat and high protein compared to most of the rest of the world, studies that examine slight variations in this diet (i.e., adding a few grams of fiber or substituting skim milk for full fat milk) are like comparing the mortality rates of people who smoke five packs of cigarettes a day vs. people who smoke only 97 cigarettes a day.

If you want to find the truth behind what really matters in nutrition, get this book today by clicking on the link.

 The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health

Is Vitamin C and Ascorbic Acid the Same Thing?

Every once in a while a debate rages on news group forums about whether Ascorbic Acid is Vitamin C or not. Purveyors of whole food supplements make a ridiculous argument that vitamin C is more than just ascorbic acid and must include bioflavonoids and other co-factors.  I just want my readers to understand that this is nothing more than a marketing scheme to get people to buy expensive products which have limited or no additional benefits.

In order to justify their higher prices, whole food supplement sellers have to concoct wild stories that sound good on the surface but in reality are hollow claims with little or no scientific basis to them. 

Having said that, is it beneficial to get your nutrients from a food source over a pill?  Of course it is. This is the absolute optimal way to get nutrients into your body.  Is buying supplements that are made from whole foods more beneficial than synthetic nutrients?  A qualified yes.  Is it worth the added expense?  Absolutely not.  In fact, if the whole food supplement companies were telling you the whole truth, they’d have to tell you that many of them use synthetic vitamins to bolster their whole food supplements because the cost of having pure food extracted vitamin C of say 500 mg you’d be paying 100 times the amount you are now.  It’s that expensive.

Save yourself some money and stay away from those whole food derived supplements and use synthetic when necessary.  But don’t forget to eat right as there is no way to make up for a lousy diet with pills no matter how “food based” they are.

Electrolytes and Athletes – A Discussion

One of the first things I always do when talking about electrolytes is to define them in a broad sense and then to refine the definition.  The reason for this will become rapidly understood.

An electrolyte in the strictest sense is any fluid that can conduct electricity. Using this definition, Coke® can be considered an electrolyte although a weak one.  Obviously, no real athlete, especially a professional would ever rely on that product to be their electrolyte of choice. So what would a “good” electrolyte be?

First off, a good electrolyte certainly wouldn’t be one laden with sugars.  Most everything on store shelves these days are just that, sugar packed soft drinks.  Did you ever really look at the label of Gatorade® ? It nothing more than sugar water.  They can’t even call themselves a balanced electrolyte.  The drink that is on the store shelves today isn’t the same as the one that the Florida Gators used all those years ago.

Just about all of the others are the same; glow in the dark sugar waters.  Not bad if you want to hydrate yourself (as long as you can stand the sugar) but as far as providing needed electrolytes used up in athletic endeavors, they’re a no go. When talking about what a good electrolyte is you need a balance of sodium, potassium, magnesium, chlorides, bicarbonates and phosphates.  The only one I know of, (here is where I pat myself on the back) is one I created about 9 years ago, Peltier Electrolytes which is now known as Synerplex Electrolytes.

Peltier is a balance of all of the aforementioned salts with no sugars, colorings or any other additives.  It has no calories and since it’s a concentrate, you can add it to pretty much any fluid you like. You can even cook with it in thinks like stews and soups.

Over the years, professional athletes from all of the major sports have used it with sometimes spectacular results.  Think about it, when you sweat you lose salts and not just sodium. So anyone who enjoys a good workout or is a professional athlete can benefit from it. 

Here comes the plug. The only way to get it is through Knowledge Through Solutions (a company I have a vested interest in) at 775.815.0867. To find out more about the product, go to www.kt-solutions.com or to call the number above and ask for me. Beware of imitations as a few of the ones who claim to be similar aren’t.  We sent a couple of our competitors products out for independent analysis of their electrolyte and what was on the label and what was in the bottle were wildly different.  One was so high in potassium that it had the potential of causing heart arrythmia’s in susceptible individuals.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – New Genetic Evidence Found

At a conference held in the UK last week, Jonathan Kerr of St. George’s University of London spoke about his looking into the genes of 27 people with CFS and 54 controls where he found differences in 100 genes out of the nearly 47,000 looked at. What came out of the study was a treatment protocol that will be looked at in more depth. It was the use of beta interferon to look into enhancing the immune system and natural killer cells.

An osteopath who also attended the conference claimed that most of the 1,000 cases of CFS he has seen appeared to have problems with lymphatic drainage issues that responded well to massage. Dr. Kerr said “There is a rationale for why it works.  It’s non-specific, but manual lymphatic drainage is a good thing.”

Dr. Basant Puri of the Hammersmith Hospital in London said that many patients he saw responded well to a combination of EPA and evening primrose oils.

The biggest thing to come out of the conference was that underlying causes are different from one person to another and that one solution is unlikely to fit everyone.  Captain Obvious pops his head up and laughs once again. Something I have been saying for about 2 decades is that we are all different biochemically as well as genetically and to try to use a one shoe size fits all model is ridiculous. Modern protocol medicine refuses to take this into account which is why so many people are suffering from side-effects of drug therapies. The idea of metabonomics must overcome this shortfall and force the health care community to treat people as individuals and not as homogenous reflections of population studies. It can be done. Carbon Based Corporation has been doing it for years with their CellMate reports.

Serotonin – More than a Neurotransmitter, Possible aid to Liver Regeneration

Serotonin (aka 5-hydroxytryptamine) has long been known as an important neurotransmitter with implications in depression and sleep disorders but according to research published in the April 7th, 2006 issue of Science; it is also an important hormone that may be very important in regenerating damaged liver tissue. The use of tryptophan or 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) although not prominently mentioned in the article (they only talk about drugs to improve platelet carrying of serotonin), may be crucial in helping people with impaired liver function (excessive toxicity) or alcoholism. 

While there was some evidence that mice injected with 5-HTP received benefits the focus unfortunately was more on receptor agonists than natural agents. Further study is necessary on the benefits of 5-HTP on liver regeneration.

Acai – Nature’s Most Powerful Antioxidant

Acai, pronounced ah-si-eee, is a recently discovered antioxidant berry found only in the Amazon.  It’s antioxidant potential is legendary and it contains a vast array of nutrients and fatty acids.  Still, not all acai is the same.  You can scour the internet for it and you’ll see a vase array of claims about the different forms of acai out there but not all what you read is true. 

Processing the fruit destroys much of its antioxidant power but some of the companies out there still make the claims.  So how do you find out what’s real and what’s not?  Ask the retailer to show you the test results, especially the ORAC reading (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). This gives you a measure of how powerful the supplement is.  Alaskan Blueberry has ar ORAC of approximately 250 per gram which is excellent. One brand of Acai, AcaiUltra™ has been tested to have an ORAC of 445 and up to 1100!!!

Others may claim to have similar products but only AcaiUltra™ has been tested by Brunswick Labs to verify its antioxidant punch. Why does KTS Products have the only Acai with these kind of readings?  It has to do with the way the berry is processed.  It is freeze-dried within 12 hours in the Amazon after picking to preserve its potency. To top it off, the area that their Acai is picked has the richest soil and highest quality Acai available.

Others ship the fruit thousands of miles before processing which causes the fruit to dramatically lose its antioxidant potential. KTS Products Acai is also picked in an environmentally friendly way making sure that the Amazon is protected from abuse.

According to numerous research studies, Americans don’t get enough fruit and vegetables in their diet which is where most of our antioxidants come from.  Even though this is the best way to get your ORAC boost, if you can’t get it that way, try adding AcaiUltra™ to your daily regimen.

It continues – Wall Street Journal Chirps In

In the March 20th 2006 issue of the Wall Street Journal, they continue their anti-nutrition ways with a vitriolic article against taking vitamins claiming that supplements are somehow dangerous because of recent research. This is another example of pro-big Pharma whoring that is perpetrating American media.  They cite research that is terribly flawed, but then again, what would you expect? Follow the money and you find the source. 

How does one fight this?  Not by crying wolf and claiming that the sky is falling, but pointing out the falsehoods and writing letters to the editors of the offending newspapers or other media outlets. Also, by blogging and passing the truth on to your friends and family.  It won’t be easy but it is possible and very necessary to protect our rights.

Blogging, Nutrition and the Truth

Today’s news media is no longer the independent, investigative force they were in the past due to the increasing pressure of advertisers.  This is no better illustration than the misleading reviews of medical research being publicized by radio, TV and news print.  The distortions of reality, the misquoting and downright dishonest reporting makes blogging, one of the most important parts of modern society in my opinion.

When my friend, Jim Larsen, sends me articles like the review of a Lancet paper from April 2005 where the authors tell their audience that they should abandon their calcium and other nutritional supplements in favor of pharmaceuticals I get my hackles up (my wife thanks you Jim. Wink The paper he sent me is so poorly done that my 9 year old would be scolded for writing it, I have to wonder whether some people’s drive for money has so clouded their thinking that any semblance of morality was dropped off somewhere far away from their homes. The participants in the study from the Lancet had a incredibly high drop out rate (over 1/3rd) which in and of it self should have thrown it out but it also did not look at levels of Vitamin D (critical in calcium metabolism), did not look at hydrochloric acid levels which are necessary for proper absorption of calcium and they use too low of a dose!  Many of the studies putting down calcium also used the wrong form, calcium carbonate which is a cheap but very poorly absorbed form. 

When you look at the advertising in journals like the New England Journal of Medicine (I commonly refer to it as the NEJ of Aggravation) and The Lancet, you can see why they consistently whore themselves to Big Pharma.  You may think my words are harsh but the distortion and lying is of such a catastrophic nature, that I should be accused of being too mild in my characterizations of these people.

Now to turn my focus to the other side of nutrition, the hucksters and sales sharks who tout things like horny goat weed as the solution to all male sexual dysfunction, or some self-proclaimed health truth tellers from some dark corner of the Amazon who claim they are the only bastion of truth yet when you disagree with them (with good cause), they call you Nazi’s (yes I have been accused by one such lunatic as having opinions reminiscent of the perpetrators of the Holocaust) and big Pharma shills.  These are the ones that allopathic medical practitioners point to as the model of alternative minded people. They do such a disservice to nutritional health that I feel some of them may really be the big Pharma shills.

While not all blogging is filled with truth sayers, by sharing our ideas and thoughts, we allow people to hear all sides of a story, not just the side that advertisers want you to hear.  We blog not just to see ourselves on the net but to allow you to see what the truth might be.  As for me, I will continue to blog as long as I see deceit, disinformation, falsehoods and shills.

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Nutritional Supplements – A few reality checks, part one.

Aside from big Pharma being on their anti-nutritional supplement kick, there is another dark side to the supplement business that needs to have a little exposure.  How often have we heard the comment “it’s natural so it’s safe?”  Well, deadly nightshade and poisonous mushrooms are natural but I wouldn’t eat either so that nonsensical comment about natural being safer should be thrown to the wolves.

There are other issues in the supplement industry that need to be exposed as well.  A number of the problems stem from multi-level companies which tout their products as being the best things in the world and that they will answer all of your health needs if you just sign up and buy their products.  One such company touts that they have over 90 minerals in their multivitamin/multimineral supplement and that this will bring incredible vitality to all who use it. Well, I’m here to give you the old, “buyer beware” warning.  If you think mercury, cadmium, aluminum, and arsenic are essential to health, then by all means buy the gunk.  If you know otherwise like most of us do, then you’ll avoid that overpriced toxic soup like the plague.

When I argued with one of the shills from this multilevel company and pointed out the fact that their product  contained poisonous heavy metals, he proclaimed loudly that “they were organic heavy metals and therefore safe.” When I pressed further and noted that the claim he made was absolute rubbish and total nonsense because organic heavy metals still posed a health threat he responded with the comment that “God put it on earth so it has to be safe.”  He then accused me of being anti-God which took me aback because the last time I heard that kind of reasoning was when I was in elementary school.

The other problem with many of these products is their incredible expense. You’ve got to pay all of those downline distributors so the retail price of the products they hawk have to be exorbitant to start with.  Best to go to your local health food store and buy a high quality multivitamin (capsules not tableted) and save yourself a lot of money and aggravating sales pitches from the salesmen.