Nutritional Health Supplements Guide

Archive for January, 2008

Here at the Nutritional Health Supplements Guide, we will be adding a regular feature where a guest, usually a doctor or some other form of nutritional supplement expert, will share what supplements they take for health, nutrition, or other reasons.  The guest will explain which dietary supplements they take and why in detail.  Today, we have the pleasure of hearing from Dr. Billy.  Dr. Billy is a general practice physician in North Carolina, and is a self described health and nutritional supplement enthusiast. 

Hello all, Dr. Billy here.  Thanks for having me here at the Nutritional Health Supplements Guide.  I do firmly believe that nutritional supplements can be very useful in helping many of us maintain our health and fight off disease.  With that said, I also believe that there is a lot of empty marketing hype involving some supplements.  Today, I’m going to share with you all some of the supplements that I take for my personal health and that I believe are very useful, healthy, and well worth the money. 

1. A Multi-Vitamin Supplement.  I believe that nearly everyone should be taking a daily vitamin supplement.  While we get many essential vitamins and nutrients from what we eat, most of us do not get adequate amounts of these vitamins every day.  Understand that taking a vitamin is not a replacement for a good diet, but that it can help you bridge the gap.  Nearly everyone should take their vitamins every day!
2. Whey Protein.  No, I’m not some bodybuilder.  But I do workout regularly and maintain an active lifestyle.  Protein is crucial to building lean muscle, which in turn can help you burn off body fat and become a leaner, healthier person.  You don’t have to be a bodybuilder trying to pack on bulk to benefit from protein.  Even if you are trying to lose weight, a protein supplement may be of help to you if you take the proper amounts in accordance with your diet. 
3. Creatine.  Like I said, I’m no bodybuilder, but I do take creatine supplements because I do try to keep a muscular build.  I do not take creatine constantly, but I cycle on and off of it.  However, I do not recommend creatine supplements to patients.  With creatine, you have to be careful about dosage, how long you take it, and you have to absolutely drink adequate amounts of water.  I hesitate to even put this on the list because I don’t like to recommend it, but I was asked to list what nutritional health supplements I personally take, so here it is.
4. Omega 3 Fish Oil Supplements.  That’s right, I’m on the fish oil bandwagon.  More and more studies are showing the importance of omega 3 fatty acids and the numerous health benefits they have.  They are crucial to heart and cardiovascular health if nothing else, and that is the main reason I take omega 3 supplements.  I also recommend these to most of my adult patients. 
5. Ginseng.  Ginseng is purported to increase energy, perhaps prevent cancer, and has been used to boost libido since ancient times.  Studies have proven ginseng to be effective regarding many of these claims (although it has yet to be proven to prevent cancer in humans).  How could I not add ginseng to pill popping routines?  

So there you have it, the 5 nutritional supplements that ol’ Dr. Billy takes.  And other than creatine, these are taken daily.  If asked for my professional opinion, I would probably recommend that nearly everyone take a vitamin supplement and that all active, regular excercisers (of at least moderate intensity) supplement with a protein shake.  For those at risk for heart or cardiovascular trouble, I would recommend the omega 3 fish oil supplements along with a strict, healthy diet.    I do take other health supplements on occasion, but these are my top 5, regularly taken nutritional supplements.

Among the many benefits people seek from taking various nutritional health supplements, increasing or maintaining memory and cognitive function (i.e. “brainpower”) is one of the most sought after reasons for taking nutritional supplements.  Nearly all of us would like to increase our memories and mental abilities, so let’s take a look at which health supplements are touted as food for the brain. 

• Antioxidants, especially Vitamin C and Beta Carotene.  Antioxidants protect cells throughout your entire body from oxidative stress and free radical damage.  Basically, this means that antioxidants protect your cells from premature damage and death, including those all important brain cells.  A natural antioxidant supplement may help protect your brain and, consequently, your memory and cognitive ability. 
• B Vitamins.  While it is generally a good idea to take a good multi vitamin supplement for your general health, your B Vitamins, particularly B6, folic acid, and choline, have a significant impact on your mental ability and memory.  Some studies even show that choline may be helpful in preventing memory loss to due the natural aging process.  If you are not getting these important B Vitamins with your multi-vitamin, you may want to make sure you get them from a seperate nutritional health supplement.
• Omega 3 fatty acids.  Omega 3 fatty acids are the trendy supplements today.  They are attributed with a wide variety of benefits, especially with cardiovascular benefits and preventing heart and stroke problems.  Omega 3′s also have been shown to boost mental abilities and cognitive function, perhaps through its cardiovascular role and improving bloodflow to the brain.  Omega 3′s are most commonly found in fish.  Since it is difficult for many people to get adequate omega 3′s from diet alone, many people turn to omega 3 supplements or fish oil supplements.

While many brain boosting nutrients are found naturally in the diet, very few people are able to get adequate amounts of these nutrients naturally.  If you are looking to boost your brainpower, taking nutritional health supplements with these nutrients would be a smart bet. 

Do you sometimes wonder if you can really benefit from taking nutritional health supplements?  Many people wonder if they really do need a nutritional supplement, or if their regular diets adequately cover their health and nutritional needs.  Admittedly, I used to fall in this camp:  I thought that since I consumed a reasonably healthy diet and got a decent amount of exercise, health supplements would  simply be a waste of my money.  However, I have since come to see the error of my ways.  The fact is, there is a large and growing body of research that shows that nearly everyone could benefit significantly from taking natural health supplements.

Supplement Your Diet

In today’s hectic, fast paced culture, very few people are able to consistently eat a well varied, healthy diet that consists of proper portions from all of the different food groups.  In fact, you would probably have trouble naming even one person in your life who is able to even come close to sticking to such a diet.  Without consistently eating such a healthy diet, we are already shortchanging ourselves from getting the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants we need for a healthy lifestyle.

To make matters worse, many of the foods we do eat today are highly processed.  While we love these foods for the convenience factor, particularly with our on the go lifestyles, these highly processed foods are generally stripped of most of their nutrients and have many harmful additives and preservatives added to them.  This gives us all the more reason to supplement our diets with natural, healthy nutritional supplements.

Nutritional Health Supplements for Stress and Disease

Even if you manage to eat a healthy, well varied and well balanced diet, you still may possibly need a nutritional supplement to maintain your good health.  If you suffer from certain conditions such as high cholesterol, asthma, diabetes, or high blood pressure, or if you are at risk for any of theses conditions, then a nutritional supplement may be crucial to your health.  Also, if you suffer from stress (and who doesn’t?), you may need to take a health supplement.

Finally, even if you eat a perfect diet and are disease and stress free, you may still want to consider taking a nutritional health supplement.  Why, you ask?  Chances are that if you do take the time and effort to eat a perfect diet and to perfect stress management in your life, then you probably also exercise regularly as well.  People who exercise, whether aerobically or through weight training or bodybuilding, need excess vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to replenish and rebuild their bodies after workouts.

Nutritional Supplements Help You Maintain Health

If you have read through this article then, chances are, you realize that you could benefit from taking nutritional health supplements.  If you feel that none of the above reasons apply to you then congratulations:  you are the healthiest and luckiest person in the entire world!  However, nutritional health supplements can help most people to maintain health, prevent disease, build a healthier body (more muscle and/or less fat), recharge the mind, boost energy, and even slow the signs of aging.  In my mind the choice is clear: I’m regularly taking natural  health supplements.

One of the hottest selling nutritional health supplements today are fish oil supplements, which are also known as omega 3 supplements.  But why is everyone going crazy about fish oil and omega 3 fatty acids?  Well there is a whole laundry list of reasons why.  However, this much is definitely clear:  if you are not currently taking fish oil capsules, you need to get on board and pick up some omega 3 nutritional supplements right now!

While the popularity of health supplements in general continues to grow, the sales of fish oil supplements is exploding at an even faster pace.  Fish oil supplements are important because they contain omega 3 fatty acids, a type of fat that has all kinds of great benefits for your health.  Recent research has uncovered several possible benefits of omega 3′s, accounting for the popularity of these nutritional health supplements.

Benefits of Omega 3 Fish Oil

Omega 3 fatty acids are actually a type of fat that is necessary for your survival.  However, most of our diets include very little omega 3 fats, and way too much other types of fat (omega 6′s, etc.).  Recent research has shown that supplementing your regular diet with fish oil capsules can lead to some of the following health benefits:

• Lower Cholesterol.  Omega 3′s work to lower your “bad” cholesterol.  If you don’t know what this means for your health, let me just say this.  A healthier cholesterol basically means much less chance of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, hypertension or high blood pressure, and a much longer, healthier life!
• Less Inflammation. Omega 3 nutritional health supplements act as anti-inflammatories.  This means less pain and can help fight inflammation related disorders such as rhumetoid arthritis.  Reduced inflammation also promotes circulatory, or vascular, health.
• Better Mental Health. Fish oil has been shown to help alleviate symptoms of depression and to boost overall mood in many studies.  Another possible benefit uncovered by research is more focus and mental energy.
• Prevent Cancer. Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to help prevent several types of cancer.

The evidence is clear: omega 3 nutritional supplements can help you feel much better and lead a much healthier life.  If you are not already, you should start supplementing your diet with omega 3 fish oil as soon as possible.  Fish oil capsules are definitely a do it all, essential nutritional health supplement.

Most people who are bodybuilding, weight training, or training for any type of sport use nutritional health supplements to help them train more effectively and efficiently.  In this article, we will primarily focus on bodybuilding supplements for those who are trying to get stronger, get bigger, and gain muscle in general.  Nutritional supplements are absolutely crucial if you are doing any kind of weight training.  These supplements are nothing like steroids and are, for the most part, totally safe and healthy.  However, you will not even come close to getting the results that you want from your training efforts unless you take at least a couple of these weight training supplements.  Let’s take a look at some of the most common supplements taken by your average weight trainer.

• Protein.  Protein is a basic nutrient that is required for human life, but it is also essential to building muscle.  While we all ingest protein with in our daily diets, we need much larger amounts of protein when trying to build muscle.  Most experts recommend ingesting between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.  So, if you weigh 100 lbs, you would want to intake between 100 and 150 grams of protein per day.  However, too much protein can be hard on your kidneys, so do not go overboard and be sure to drink plenty of water. I will add a full article about protein eventually, but generally why protein is the most effective type. 
• Creatine.  This is probably the most popular bodybuilding supplement in history, and for good reason.  Creatine is proven to quickly and effectively promote gains in muscle size when combined with a weight training regimen and proper diet.  Studies have shown that creatine can increase energy, strength, and muscle mass and also reduces recovery time.  A pretty amazing supplement!  Creatine occurs naturally in the body in small doses.  Side effects of creatine supplements could include dehydration and cramping, and it is also speculated that creatine may be tough on the kidneys.  It is important to drink plenty of extra water while taking creatine and even after you stop taking it, since it builds up in the body.  Avoid excessive heat and use caution when performing extensive aerobic exercise: be sure to drink extra extra extra water and fluids!

If you are new to weight training and/or do not want to spend a lot of money right away, a protein supplement would be the one product you should definitely get.  If you do not get enough protein, you simply cannot build and maintain muscle.  After protein, creatine is the next must have bodybuilding nutritional supplement.  The effects will speak for themselves.  After these two, you may want to consider some of these other bodybuilding supplements as well. 

• Nitric Oxide.  Also known by its chemical symbol NO, nitric oxide has recently become quite popular among bodybuilding and weight training supplement enthusiasts.  NO is a gas that has many, many functions in the body but, essentially, can work to increase the flow of blood in the body.  Increased blood flow translates to more nutrients and energy being delivered to the muscles, resulting in less fatigue and longer, more effective workouts, and longer muscle building phases in the body. 
• Testosterone Boosters.  Testosterone boosters are easily the most controversial nutritional supplement mentioned in this article.  Proponents claim these products boost the natural production of testosterone in the body while, unlike steroids, staying within the “normal” range of testosterone.  Some critics claim these products are largely ineffective while, on the other end of the spectrum, others claim these products are practically legal steroids.  Despite these criticisms, testosterone boosters such as ZMA continue to be best sellers for manufacturers of nutritional health supplements.