Xtend Your Life

It seems like there’s lots of information in the media nowadays about how we have developed poor eating habits. Many people suggest that taking vitamin supplements is a good idea to prevent the development of various health conditions. So let’s take a look at some of the main reasons vitamin supplements are recommended, so that you can decide if supplementing your diet is something you need to consider.

Firstly, our lifestyle generally is bad for us. Habits like smoking and drinking can be changed, but even the air we breathe can contain toxins that affect our health. The problem is that by the time we realize our bad habits are damaging our health, it’s too late to do a lot about it. Vitamin supplements can only do so much repair work! Still, Vitamin C can have a positive counter-effect to habits like smoking and drinking too much alcohol. However this is only a short-term fix – the best way to improve your health and lifestyle is to make changes, not rely on taking a supplement.

Women also have specific health needs that can benefit from taking a vitamin supplement. These include osteoporosis and birth defects. A few months before you plan to get pregnant, it’s a good idea to start taking a folic acid supplement (one of the B vitamins). It has been proven in multiple studies that lack of folic acid can be responsible for birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. You should continue the supplement through the early trimesters. Calcium, too, is recommended for women, as it helps to build strong bones and teeth. Once women get older, the risk of osteoporosis increases dramatically. Factors such as hormonal changes, not enough calcium or lack of exercise help to contribute. By take a calcium supplement in the younger years, this risk is reduced.

Your arteries can also benefit from a vitamin E supplement. Many studies have shown that vitamin E protects against cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks. Studies have shown that taking vitamin E on an ongoing basis can improve your cardiovascular risk profile by up to 40%. How it works isn’t quite so clear, but it’s believed the improvement comes because vitamin E helps to lower blood pressure and prevent clogging of the arteries.

Vitamin E may also be beneficial in preventing certain types of cancer. This is also true of Vitamin A. Studies have shown a reduction in skin cancer thanks to vitamin supplements, as well as a lowered risk of oral cancer. One Finnish study even came to the conclusion that people with the lowest levels of vitamin E in their bodies were 50% more likely to develop cancer of any type. Which suggests that taking a vitamin E supplement could well lower your risk of developing cancer.

Finally, vitamin supplements can be of great benefit when you’re dieting and trying to lose weight. The problem with dieting is that we tend to become over focused on calories, and forget about eating a good balance of foods to provide vitamins and minerals. Taken to the extreme, such as anorexia, it’s far too easy to become vitamin deficient. Many teenagers, in particular, also suffer from vitamin deficiencies because they eat mostly junk food, instead of a healthy, balanced diet. This deficiency can affect the immune system, with the result that the sufferer gets ill far more easily. The best solution is to change your eating habits and introduce more good foods to provide the right nutrition, but in the meantime, vitamin supplements can be helpful to prevent vitamin deficiencies.

For more important and health related information on vitamins and our body please visit http://www.vitaminsupplementsguide.com where you will find vitamin resources, tips and advice to include information on what’s a good multivitamin [http://www.vitaminsupplementsguide.com/article-5-what].

Author: Tim Gorman
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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“Turbo-charge” your Energy AND Protect your Heart!

The special ingredient is called CoQ10. BUT not the ordinary CoQ10 that you are no doubt familiar with! It is a special type of CoQ10 called Ubiqui(nol) from Kaneka in Japan who were the original developers of CoQ10.

The type of CoQ10 found in most supplements which has been around for years is called Ubiqui(none) – oxidized CoQ10. But, if you are over 40 years of age you need to take very large doses to get the potential benefits and even then the results cannot be guaranteed. This is because your body has to convert the Ubiquinone to Ubiquinol for it to ‘work its magic’ and if you are over 40 the ‘conversion’ is not very effective…as a result you do not get the full benefits of CoQ10.

But, by using the ‘reduced’ form of CoQ10 (Ubiquinol) your blood levels of CoQ10 will stay higher for longer. And that’s what really counts. You want your ejection fraction to increase – that’s the percentage of blood that’s pumped with each heartbeat. Imagine your heart pumping with two to three times the power you had before!

Apart from the many cardiovascular benefits of Ubiquinol which includes hypertension, there are many more age related conditions for which there is good clinical research emerging showing Ubiquinol to provide benefits…example… reducing the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s as well as even boosting the immune system and helping to relieve migraines.

You must read more about Omega 3 / QH Ultra TODAY…  Especially if you’re on a statin drug!

Weary of all the sexual enhancement products that spam your email inbox?  Well, here is something that is natural and healthy for you that will help.

Cigarettes in Ontario are banned from all public places and even some private places. Cigarettes are sold but hidden behind metal curtains or doors so the public can not be seduced into buying them by visual exposure. Children under 19 years of age are not permitted by law to buy or smoke them.

Yet… children can freely walk into any corner store and buy an overdose of Caffeine “Energy Drinks” with ease. If a child smokes a cigarette, or even a pack of cigarettes it won’t kill him, but a six pack of Energy Drinks just might. How, why do we allow such a thing?

Taking too high a dose can lead to anxiety, headaches, sleeplessness and the jitters. And stopping once you’ve gotten used to it can actually cause withdrawal symptoms that can lead to those same headaches, muscle pain, irritability and even temporary depression. As if adolescence weren’t hard enough.

But the real danger comes when the drinks are mixed with alcohol at parties.

The combination of a stimulant (caffeine) with a depressant (alcohol) can be a recipe for trouble. Despite their liquid form, the energy drinks can actually lead to dehydration, a danger in places that may already be hot and enclosed.

Health Canada actually has four reported cases of teens either mixing the substances with booze or simply taking too many of them in a row. Among the consequences:

• Electrolyte disturbances
• Nausea and vomiting
• Heart irregularities.

Red Bull remains the only so-called energy drink labeled as a health product in Canada. But there are others on the market and they all have similar effects.

Source City TV

See the report from Health Canada

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Traditional sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade include water, salt, and sugars in proportions that help the body absorb fluids and salts lost in sweat and in the breath while exercising. The sugars not only help the body take in the water, but also provide fuel for muscles that need sugars to keep performing well during long walks, runs, or bikes. A small amount of salt helps protect the body from hyponatremia, (also known as water intoxication), which can happen if you drink a large amount of water without any salt.

Energy drinks are formulated to deliver caffeine and other stimulants, such as guarana or ginseng, to give the drinker a rush of energy. They are not designed to replace lost fluids during exercise. Some come in small cans that deliver a large amount of caffeine in a small amount of fluid. Many are carbonated, which can lead exercisers to experience burping, nausea and a bloated feeling.

Rollins notes that if you have already had a cup or two of coffee in the morning, adding a can of energy drink can put you over the amount of caffeine most dieticians think is a reasonable limit for the day. “You are losing body fluids through perspiration when walking. Caffeine compounds dehydration further,” said Rollins.

Source About.com

———————————————————-

Super-caffeinated energy drinks, with names like Red Bull, Monster,
Full Throttle and Amp, have surged in popularity in the past decade.
About a third of 12- to 24-year-olds say they regularly down energy
drinks, which account for more than $3 billion in annual sales in the
United States.

The trend has been the source of growing concern among health
researchers and school officials. Around the country, the drinks have
been linked with reports of nausea, abnormal heart rhythms and
emergency room visits.

In Colorado Springs, several high school students last year became ill
after drinking Spike Shooter, a high caffeine drink, prompting the
principal to ban the beverages. In March, four middle school students
in Broward County, Fla., went to the emergency room with heart
palpitations and sweating after drinking the energy beverage Redline.
In Tigard, Ore., teachers this month sent parents e-mail alerting them
that students who brought energy drinks to school were “literally
drunk on a caffeine buzz or falling off a caffeine crash.”

New research suggests the drinks are associated with a health issue
far more worrisome than the jittery effects of caffeine — risk
taking.

Source derkeiler.com

Shall I continue, or do you parents get the picture? Urge your corner store “not to carry” these products or at very least not to sell them to your children. They are harmful no matter what age you are. Certainly in the case of children and teens, they may be lethal. Who’s responsible for your children? You or the clerk at the corner store? Talk to your kids and let them know that these drinks can hurt them, more than cigarettes.

Here is one more that will push you over the edge… The American Journal of Medicine

Energy drink consumption has been anecdotally linked with sudden cardiac death and, more recently, myocardial infarction. As myocardial infarction is strongly associated with both platelet and endothelial dysfunction, we tested the hypothesis that energy drink consumption alters platelet and endothelial function.

Dr Whiting on The Dangers of Energy Drinks

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCJwBTNNid4

You’re probably using one of the market’s so-called super supplements since you’re reading this article!

If that’s the case then I guess you already know that the majority of the multi ingredient vitamin supplements out there are simply a waste of money.

They are contract manufactured, with the cheapest and sometimes useless ingredients of extremely low quality!

They are formulated by people who have no understanding of nutrition, nutritional science or health!

Unfortunately the regulations governing the manufacture of dietary supplements have allowed this to happen for years now. Even the recently revised (June 2007) Dietary Supplement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) FAIL to prevent a company from manufacturing a BAD SUPPLEMENT.

So, if you’re using one of the super supplements:-

Congratulations and Well Done!

That handful of market leading multi ingredient nutritional health supplements (aka vitamin supplements) are an elite group formulated using genuine nutritional science, and most are manufactured by the company promoting and selling the product, using the best and safest quality materials available including many ingredients that are not in the “run-of-the-mill” supplements.

These supplements are VERY GOOD VALUE and are the only ones savvy health conscious consumers should use to support their health and longevity.

But are these elite supplements all equal?

Absolutely not!

Some are far better than others even at this level.

Because the companies who sell super supplements are usually very large corporations with HUGE capital at their disposal they are capable of putting together clever marketing presentations which masterfully bend the truth, hide weaknesses in their products and ultimately present them as being far better than they really are.

Sure, they’re still way better than the multitude of ‘average’ supplements in the market, not to mention the cheap supermarket multivitamins, but since you’re spending real money on these supplements and you know they’re a lifelong investment in your health, you have a right to know just how much value for money you are getting and whether you are indeed using the best supplement for your supplement budget!

So the time has come to find out just how super your super supplement really is!

• Is it all it claims to be?
• Have you been sucked in and ripped off by deceptive marketing?
• Are you wasting your money?
• Can you get better value for your supplement dollar?

SUPER SUPPLEMENTS NEED SUPER INGREDIENTS

What are the key ingredients that absolutely should be in your nutritional health supplement?

That’s the question that most supplement users would love to know!

There’s too many of them to list here so I’ll give you the names of the absolute best, key ingredients which are the first ones ones I hunt for when reviewing multi ingredient health supplements.

And this is the first thing you should do when sizing up and comparing supplements!

That’s because most of these ingredients I’m about to name are missing – even in super supplements.

And that’s because almost all nutritional supplements are manufactured to a price so the scientists and chemists formulating them do NOT have a free reign when it comes to including all the key ingredients that they know should be there.

And if they are allowed to use some, or even a few, they are forced to include them with lesser potencies, dose amounts and sometimes in cheaper biological forms (meaning less absorption potential aka bioavailability).

Here’s a list of 8 absolutely key ingredients – highly efficacious (and very expensive) – that are required for a supplement to be in the running as a true super supplement.

• L-Glutathione ( ‘Reduced’ form ONLY )
• L-Carnosine
• Bilberry ( not less than 25% potency )
• Polysaccharides
• Resveratrol (‘Trans’ form ONLY, high potency = 50% )
• Turmeric ( high potency = 95% )
• Zeaxanthin
• Tocotrienols ( look for the word ‘Tocomin’ )
• Chrysin ( For Men’s formula’s – not less than 95% potency )

Now we come to medicinal herbal extracts.

These are powerful disease busters and also perform a preventative role in guarding against the onset of degenerative disease.

The super supplement my family and I use has over 2 handfuls of the most effective and clinically proven medicinal herbs.

To discover the names of the most effective medicinal herbs follow this link: nutritional supplements and herbs

Now what about the most potent immunity enhancer available: POLYSACCHARIDES ?

It needs to be there and be backed up by several other IMMUNITY NUTRIENTS (like Beta Glucan, Black Cumin, Olive leaf, Quercetin, Zinc, Manganese, Beta Carotene, and vitamins C and E).

Super supplements need a FULL SPECTRUM FORMULA with ingredients from ALL nutrient categories. So in addition to what’s been mentioned above we want to see:

• Amino Acids
• Standardized Enzymes
• Key gender support nutrients
• Vitamins, minerals and cofactors of course
• And other specialty nutrients

To effectively tackle all organs and body systems a large number of ingredients is needed yet the supplement must still be affordable. My supplement has over 80 ingredients and retails for about $38 – no more expensive than all the other market leaders (with far less ingredients, potencies and dose amounts)

WHO MANUFACTURES SUPER SUPPLEMENTS?

You may already know that 95% of all US manufactured vitamin supplements are put together by contract manufacturers.

This is NOT what you want!

Supplement quality is not only dependent on the manufacturer INDEPENDENTLY testing that the raw ingredients are what the Certificate of Analysis (COA) claims they are (Note: many manufacturers don’t bother testing for compliance with COA’s so they can reduce expenses) but also that they adopt (costly) PROFESSIONAL manufacturing procedures to ensure the finished supplement contains the correct dose amounts for each and every ingredient.

The incentive is simply not there for most contract manufacturers to do this as they are producing for a third party and therefore they are in a very competitive bidding situation.

Whenever I am asked to review a supplement the very first thing I do is to find out who manufacturers it.
What I want to see is that the company selling the supplement is also the manufacturer and controls every aspect of the manufacturing process.

SUPER SUPPLEMENTS NEED SUPER SAFETY PROTOCOLS

With all the negative supplement reports that regularly appear you’re no doubt aware of the fact that contaminated ingredients find their way into supplements far too often!

There’s way too many disreputable supplement manufacturers out there taking all kinds of short-cuts to decrease their production costs and increase profits.

So it’s very important to check up on the quality assurance measures of a company whose supplement you are interested in using.

Search the company’s website first and if you can’t find a detailed explanation of their quality assurance program then send them an email and request it.

Otherwise you are gambling with your health and what you don’t know about your supplement could very well hurt you!

Contaminated ingredients can be toxic and even though the dose amounts are small, in some case they can store and build up in your body over years. 20 years later the effects may become apparent!

WHAT IF YOUR SUPPLEMENT’S MANUFACTURER DOESN’T CHECK FOR HARMFUL COMPONENTS OF AN INGREDIENT?

Did you know that too much of the wrong component of an ingredient can effect the neurochemistry in your brain?

That’s how serious things can get!

The dietary supplement regulations I mentioned above have allowed unqualified and inexperienced people to set up shop and churn out poor quality nutritional health supplements that can definitely hurt you!

I highly doubt that these types of people know things like:

Peak X, a component of the popular supplement ingredient 5-HTP, was implicated in an outbreak of Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome some years back!

Do they know to check for this and if so do they actually go to the extra expense to do it?

Or what about Ginkgo Biloba extract! An extremely popular medicinal herbal extract for supplements.

How many manufacturers know to check, and/or have a limit on, the level of Ginkgolic acids that affect neurochemistry in the brain?

Do you see what I mean?

Manufacturing a safe, professional grade super supplement is a highly specialized skill consisting of many complex tasks. It needs to be formulated only by a highly qualified bio-scientist or chemist (definitely NOT by doctors or marketers) and then manufactured by the supplement company itself using state of the art processes and equipment.

Can you see the important need to check up on the supplement company that sells any nutritional health supplement you are interested in?

DO SUPER SUPPLEMENTS GIVE HIGH VALUE FOR MONEY?

Some yes others no!

It all comes down to what you want from a nutritional supplement and then knowing what to check for and what questions to ask!

Genuine super supplements have to be highly effective AND be capable of preventing, treating and even reversing chronic disease while also maximizing your health and wellness.

In other words super supplements help do far more than just act as routine ‘nutritional insurance for poor diets’ which is what most people think is the reason for taking multi ingredient vitamin supplements.

So if this is what you want from a supplement you need one whose formula is not primarily based on just vitamins and minerals!

Rather it should predominately consist of high potency phytonutrients, antioxidants (beyond the well know vitamins), amino acids, gender specific support nutrients, medicinal herbal extracts and other specialty nutrients targeting particular organs and body systems.

When I want to evaluate the value for money component of a given supplement the first thing I do is to check what percentage of it is vitamins and minerals.

So many supplements, including some of the self claimed super supplements, contain too much vitamin C! That’s because it just happens to be one of the cheapest ingredients available (at around $15 a kilo).

Those manufacturers will argue with all kinds of ‘evidence’ that large amounts of vitamin C are necessary under the ‘optimal’ amount banner. They don’t mention of course that if you take in more than about 400mg of vitamin C it turns into a Pro-Oxidant in your body!

That’s the opposite of antioxidant (and you’re talking it in the first place for antioxidant benefits)!

I know of several market leading multi ingredient vitamin supplements whose formula is a whopping 40% just vitamin C. And when you add all the vitamin and mineral content together you’re looking at a grand total of between 70-80% of the entire formula!

That’s extremely poor value for money!

If you’re taking a market leading super supplement to just take in enough vitamins and minerals which may be lacking in your diet then why pay a super supplement price?

There are many quality multivitamins available with much lower price tags.

My supplements has vitamin and mineral content of just 14% but the dose amounts are sensible for the majority of supplement consumers.
THERE’S MORE TO CHECK

So, there we have just 5 key details which you need to check on to determine if you’re truly using a super supplement!

But there’s another 4 equally important details that are a part of the formula for evaluating the real quality of supplements.

To discover what they are just follow the link in the author information below.

Good health always

Author: Brett Seagrott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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