Nutrition Information

Health food supplements are one of the hottest selling products in the market these days. Their total consumption values billions of dollars in the U.S. alone. Recent surveys show that more than half of the adults in the U.S. consume health food supplements in different forms, such as tablets, capsules, powders, soft gels, gel caps and liquids.

The increased consumption of health food supplements can be attributed to public awareness of health issues and improved standard of living in our society. Many studies have shown that there is a close correlation between health and nutrition. Insufficient supply of nutrients can weaken our body defense mechanism, causing medical problems from common ailments to more severe illnesses in the long term.

There are different types of health food supplements, including macronutrients (amino acids, proteins, essential fatty acids), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), enzymes (digestive enzymes and antioxidant enzymes), probiotics (beneficial bacteria in the gut), and herbal supplements. These supplements have unique functions in our body. They are either essential for life and good health, modulate our immune system or help with liver detoxification, digestion, mental clarity, etc.

Many people argue that there is no need to consume health food supplements as long as you have a healthy lifestyle and eat a balanced diet. While this may be true, the fact is maintaining a healthy lifestyle and proper diet is difficult to achieve by many people.

Over the past few decades, the green revolution has changed the farming practices over the world. We use more chemical fertilizers, more pesticides to grow the food produce in order to increase harvest and shorten the growth period. As a result, soil nutrients and the population of beneficial soil bacteria are depleted rapidly, and the produce we grow today contain less micronutrient than before.

A stressful lifestyle, improper eating habits, imbalanced diet and increased exposure to chemicals such as environmental pollutants (air, water) and pesticides, drugs, hormones, heavy metals in foods also weaken our body gradually.

Although health food supplements can be beneficial to our health, consumers should still choose the products carefully. Currently, there is little regulation on the quality of health food supplements. Composition of some health food products may not match the label claims and the quality of raw materials and finished products is not guaranteed. Therefore, consumers should only buy from reputable health food manufacturers, read the labels carefully and read more related literatures.

Here are some general rules for buying health food supplements:

1) Supplements made from whole foods, natural sources are better than the synthetic ones. They are more bioactive, can be absorbed readily, and less likely to be contaminated by chemicals such as coal tars used in chemical synthesis.

2) Protein-bonded vitamins and minerals (vitamins and minerals in organic form, binding to amino acids) are more bioactive than the inorganic forms.

3) Buy supplements using safe extraction methods, such as cold pressed extraction or supercritical extraction. This can avoid the harmful residue from chemical extraction.

4) Herbal concentrate and extract are usually more effective than the raw herbs.

5) Organically grown or wild crafted herbs are less likely to be contaminated by heavy metals, pesticides and other chemicals.

6) Read the labels, do not consume more than the recommended dose.

7) Be careful when consuming certain herbal supplements, such as Ma Huang / ephedra, Kava Kava, comfrey, etc. Some studies have shown that these herbs may cause severe side effects to some people. Stop use if unusual signs appear after consumption.

Some health food supplements may interact with drugs, either by decreasing or increasing their effects. Consult your doctor if you are currently taking medications.

9) Pregnant and nursing women, people with specific medical conditions such consult the doctors when consuming health food supplements.

10) If in doubt, contact the supplement manufacturers or distributors for more information of their products.

11) Health food supplements are available in many places, such as grocery stores, health food stores, drug stores, pharmacies, supermarkets, department stores, online stores, etc. Be a smart consumer, compare the price and service before purchase.

To learn more about health food supplements, please visit http://vitaminstores.4reviews.net.

Kwan Lo
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/health-food-supplements-consumer-guide-17946.html

Proper anti-aging nutrition can seriously reduce most signs of aging. Wrinkles, memory loss, heart disease risk and osteoporosis to a certain extent can be prevented with the right diet. Find the secrets of anti-aging food and nutritional supplements.

Modern medicine offers many anti-aging treatments – special antiaging programs and clinics, creams and skin lotions, anti-aging food supplements and vitamins. But your diet is the first and most important tool to defeat age.

What are most important anti-aging nutrients?

As we age, our body slowly looses its ability to process vitamins. So to keep the right level of nutrition you need to consume more of the key vitamins than before. For example, vitamin D is essential in preventing osteoporosis. While we are young, our skin produces enough of Vitamin D when we are exposed to the sun, but with age its production is reduces by approximately 30 percent.

Vitamins of B group are also very important. It is responsible for keeping memory loss and heart diseases out. Most important B group vitamins are B 6, B 12 and Folic acid. You also need more of Vitamin B as your body ages.

How to achieve anti-aging nutrition

To get the right anti-aging nutrition is easier than you think. All you have to do is to increase the intake of vegetables and fresh fruit in your everyday diet. This will also help you to loose weight if you have any extra kilos.

Consuming vegetables and fruits gives you three anti-aging benefits at once. First, most fruits and veggies contain no fat or cholesterol. Second, they are full of important nutritients – most fresh fruits contain Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, beta carotene and folic acid. All of these are vitally important for anti-aging. And, third, vegetables and fruits provide a lot of fiber which helps keep your digestive system healthy and clean.

Foods that bring most anti-aging benefits are spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, berries, oranges and other citruses, apples, lettuce and onions. But this doesn’t mean that other vegetables and fruits should be excluded from your diet, because almost any fruit if it is fresh contains important anti-aging agents.

Most fruits and veggies don’t provide much protein for your body. As we all know good sources of protein are meat and fish. When it comes to anti-aging diet, lean fish is preferred. It also supplies Omega 3 fats, important for antiaging.

Antiaging diet or antiaging supplements – which is better?

It is better is to use both. As mentioned before, the ability of our body to process vitamins reduces with age. This means you will need to consume more vitamins as you age. It doesn’t make any sense to double your food intake, so antiaging supplements can be very helpful.

There are many anti-aging antioxidant supplements on offer. Some are quite pricy, others are more affordable. One thing you should know is that antioxidant complex is just a fancy name for vitamins and certain minerals. So a quality multivitamin would serve well as anti-aging supplement. Additionally, you can take vitamin C. Most multivitamin pills don’t include enough of Vitamin C, so unless you are in a habit of drinking several glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice every day, a Vitamin C supplement is necessary. According to the Alliance for Aging Research 1,000 mg is an adequate daily dose.

You should be careful not to overdo it with the vitamin supplements. Most Vitamins, with the exception of Vitamin C, are not water soluble, which means that they can accumulate in your body. Too much of vitamins can be toxic. This is the reason; you should not take any supplements without consulting a doctor.

That was anti-aging nutrition in a nut shell. There is no miraculous “anti-aging food”, just a balanced diet rich in vitamins and low in fat is your best anti-aging solution.

Tatyana Turner
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/antiaging-nutrition-how-food-can-defeat-age-63120.html

Many executives and business adults are so busy that they do not have the time to have a balanced dieting program. Therefore, turning to consuming multi-vitamins is usually a quick fix to many busy executives.

However, there is indeed a skill involving to choose good quality vitamin supplements.

When you want to choose a quality vitamin supplement, you should be totally informed about the product you’re taking. Vitamin supplements have many beneficial effects on your health.

However, some may be unnecessary for your particular condition or may even have some weird side effects. Before consuming, it is best to check with the labels and the sellers about the various side effects.

Not all vitamin supplements are the same. There are no standards requiring that the ingredients you find in the bottle are the same with what’s written on the label.

You should also know that the effects of vitamin supplements are not FDA approved. However, if you do your homework, you can choose a good quality vitamin supplement that will actually have some good effects on your body.

What are the types of health stuff many should be taking?

For the pregnant or nursing woman or having a specific medical condition, it is very important to go to a nutritionist before taking any kind of vitamin supplements.

A doctor will consider your medical history and current condition and may even run some health tests on you before prescribing a good vitamins.

With so many professionals out there, there’s no point in taking the risk of doing this on your own. However, if you’re just looking for a quality supplement to ensure your body has all the nutritional substances it needs, you can start with some simple vitamin supplements like these:

* Multi-Vitamin and Mineral
* B Complex
* Calcium and Magnesium
* Omega 3 Oil
* Vitamin C

Do follow closely the instructions on the bottle labels if you are not seeing an nutritionist.

Choosing a brand require certain skill

What to take into account when looking for a quality good supplement:

* Have to check with this vitamin has an organic source. This is in fact the best ingredients that a vitamin has to offer.

* Testing it for product contamination and toxic substances.

* No artificial ingredients should be allowed during the manufacturing process.

* If you have a sensitivity problem, get a hypoallergenic product and avoid corn, yeast and wheat.

* Fresh supplement makes the day smile. You can do that by reading the expiration date on the label. If there’s no expiration date, look for something else. Do not attempt to take any risk with near expiry date vitamins. You will regret buying it.

* The dosage written on the label may be different that what the pills contain. You could contact the lab that manufactures them to ask how they test the products. You could also ask at the store whether that is a quality vitamin supplement.

If you can’t find the necessary information on one or more of the points above or about the brand, don’t hesitate to call them for more details. Reliable brands should have all the information you need. You should also remember that some high quality vitamin supplements are not available in drug stores.

Is it sounds too good to be true?

If it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

Having the cautious mind is good and please use your common sense to detect exaggerated claims. You probably receive plenty of spam every day in your e-mail box with ads for miraculous vitamin supplements.

You should also remember that low-priced products may have a poor quality. In order to improve your chances of getting a high quality vitamin supplement, buy it from nutrition stores, health care providers or whole food markets.

After knowing how to choose a good quality vitamins may be vital to your overall health well-being. However, with this little information may be enough for you to choose your supplements more carefully and to consume moderately.

Therefore, before you are going to consume any type of vitamin health food, you need to first consult your medical doctor.

There are many people sometimes tend to forget the quanlity of popping these pills, without realizing the harmful effects of over-consumption of these supplements, level while various kinds of supplements can treat chronic diseases.

Without a proper understanding of using natural health supplements to treat many chronic diseases, there will not be much disease free lifestyle to craving for.

Applying this effective tips as being highlighted here, together with an thorough understanding of vitamin supplements is important so that you enjoy your life once again.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/what-skill-is-needed-to-choose-good-quality-vitamin-supplements-124431.html

Has your doctor told you that supplements are useless. Not true. In this weeks UltraWellness podcast, Dr. Mark Hyman discusses new research that shows the very real benefits of certain supplements – and shares with you the four supplements everyone should take. For more, see http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog

Duration : 0:8:52

Continue reading “How Dietary Supplements Can Save You Thousands” »

The use of condition-specific supplements more than doubled between 1999 and 2005. There are two possible reasons for this increase:

•Consumers could be switching from single-nutrient supplements to treat and prevent health issues to combination and condition-specific formulas
•Americans are more confident of their ability to take care of their own health

Consumers may be switching from single-nutrient supplements to condition-specific formulas because it is an easier and less costly route toward one-stop shopping for health.

Dietary supplements are a way for Americans to self manage and treat specific health issues.

The prevention of specific health issues and medical conditions has become the number one reason why 57% of consumers took a vitamin-mineral supplement for the first time over the past 5 years.

I personally had a rise in triglycerides for the first time. Instead of a prescription drug my doctor elected to try a dietary supplement, Niacin, in the hopes of reducing the triglyceride level. At my last exam, apparently this supplement worked for me. My triglyceride level was lowered after 6 months of taking the dietary supplement of Niacin. It has been more cost effective than a prescription drug.

Young people are specifically interested in improving physical performance as a motivator for starting vitamin and mineral supplements. The number one reason for adults aged 18 to 29 years to go on a vitamin-mineral regimen or make a dietary change is to enhance performance. Weight control is the second reason.

There continues to be steady growth of the belief in vitamin-mineral supplements as an effective means of treating and preventing health problems and conditions.

There is also a growing concern about vitamin-mineral supplements interacting with prescription medications. Some people are dissatisfied about the quantity of pills taken and other people have difficulty swallowing pills.

Condition-Specific Supplements

Condition-specific supplements are the fastest growing sector of the supplement business. The use of vitamins E and C have dropped since the year 2000. Multivitamin sales continue to grow at a modest rate. Consumers still take vitamin-mineral supplements because they believe their diets lack vitamins and minerals. Calcium and Vitamin C are the most frequently taken vitamin supplements.

For those people who used a condition-specific supplement in 2005, joint pain was the most frequently mentioned condition, after that was for heart health, osteoporosis and arthritis. Also on the rise are vitamin and mineral supplements for osteoporosis and memory concentration.

In 2005, nearly half (44%) of all US supplements sold were for a specific health condition, such as arthritis, joint pain, heart health, osteoporosis, weight loss.

There were 14 conditions that account for 84% of the condition-specific supplement sales in 2005. The top two conditions consumers took condition-specific supplements for was sports/energy/weight/loss and general health. Other conditions include:

•Sports/energy/weight loss
•General health
•Joint health
•Cold/flu-immune
•Anticancer
•Heart health
•Bone health
•Gastrointestinal health
•Diabetes
•Menopause
•Brain mental
•Mood
•Sexual health
•Insomnia

The trend toward taking supplements for condition-specific reasons is expected to continue to grow. Baby Boomers now aged 42 to 60 years and the 72 million Generation Y members who will be the audiences for supplement marketers. Those who are not currently using a supplement say they are most likely to do so to prevent/treat arthritis.

As baby boomers begin to experience age-associated conditions for the first time, they are most likely to opt for supplements directed at particular conditions such as arthritis, cholesterol, wrinkles, eye health, and hypertension.

Source: Nutrition Today, Volume 42, Number 2, March/April 2007

Disclaimer: *This article is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure any kind of a health problem. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Always consult with your health care provider about any kind of a health problem and especially before beginning any kind of an exercise routine.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box. Article written 4-2007.

Connie Limon
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-do-people-take-dietary-supplements-and-who-is-the-audience-for-supplement-marketers-139496.html

The term supplements have been bedevilled the world over especially when mentioned in the same breath as body building. Supplements are however not all bad although they have been abused to a very large extent. New trainees who are venturing into the body building industry need not panic out of ignorance every time supplements are mentioned. This article tries to give a basic introductory guide to body building supplements.

A novice body builder may easily fall into the trap of impatience. He may wish to build compact muscles as quickly as possible using supplements. The problem is that there are over 50 million products on sale claiming to be supplements. The internet is riddled with multitudes of advertising placards calling attention to miraculous body building wonders all of which claim to be amazingly the best. 

All this serves to create confusion in the industry, especially because most products assume names that sound familiar to something vaguely common. Beginners find themselves in a dilemma. They get junk e-mails and trunk phone calls from salesmen all the time giving unsolicited advice on hoe to choose supplements that can help them to gain huge muscles quickly.

The first point of note is that a body builder doesn’t necessarily need dietary supplements to gain huge muscles. The supplements however can help in increasing the rate of muscle growth and development. Simply put, diet supplements are body building tools that aid in increasing the potential of muscle building. It is recommendable for beginners to start out diet supplemented body building with a multi-vitamin dosage, then a protein prescription, before taking up a Creatine dosage.

So what types of supplements exist in the market today? There are many types of diet supplements capable of enhancing speedy muscle growth, recovery, and repair. The following is a basic list of the available supplement in the market, and which can be used in body building to produce the best results in muscle size, power and tone: Multi- Vitamins, Proteins, Protein Bars, Glutamine, Creatine, Anti-Estrogens, ZMA, HMB, Natural Test Booster, Growth Hormone, Nitric Oxide, Amino Acids, Methoxy and even Ecdy.

Most of the above supplements can be grouped into four different categories based on their function in the body. These four categories are: supplements that amplify development of new muscle cells and tissues, supplements that help improve repair of damaged cells after intense workout sessions, supplements that provide the body with raw material in form of nutrients vital for body builder’s health and finally supplements that aid in burning and conversion of body fats for a lean compact body.

All these distinct types of dietary supplements are available for choice. For a novice to make the right choice of supplement that will be an effective aid in the quest to build muscles, each product’s content, side effects and more importantly, dietary contribution to body building. These types should be reviewed based on their nutritional content. A better understanding should be sought from nutrition experts who will give a prescription detailing dosage and ratio of intakes.

Dane Fletcher
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/an-introductory-guide-to-body-building-supplements-736409.html