supplements

[kmr321]

Hey i know just about 80% of supplements are useless ..

But can anyone who has taken supplements list some supplements they feel they cannot go without and their effects ...

Im doing a 30 day trial of a few ..

pill form
magnesium - muscle spasms from too much sport
Korean ginseng 2500 - apparently more energy
Salmon oil 1000 mg. - everyone keeps mentioning the benefits.

[skydust]

im taking cod liver oil and i think its helped with my skin, and my hair is shinier.

i hope you dont mind me asking this here, but do you or anyone else know of any supplements that increase focus and concentration? my brain feels foggy and slow nowadays.

[radeldudel]

Originally Posted by skydust

im taking cod liver oil and i think its helped with my skin, and my hair is shinier.

i hope you dont mind me asking this here, but do you or anyone else know of any supplements that increase focus and concentration? my brain feels foggy and slow nowadays.

Am not sure if this applies, but have a look at Seth Robert's writings about Omega-3 and arithmetic

Love you!

[kmr321]

Hay, yeah omega 3 has a good write up for increasing brain development. A recent study here in Aust found that young children who took omega 3 over a certain period developed 3 yrs of brain development within a 3 month period. Its meant to assist people with ADD and ADHD as well to focus and concentrate.

Omega 3 may improve your energy and mood since it claims to resist the effects of depression. But the catch is you need to take it for more than month. No biggy its relatively cheap anyway. The only thing if your buying omega 3 - salmon oil make sure it has been mercury tested. Health food stores are probably the best place to buy supplements, i think.

[escapee]

I'm taking Alpha lipoic acid (for blood sugar control and its "possible" universal antioxidant effect) and Fish oil.

As for traditional herbs, i take panax pseudo ginseng and Jiao gu lan tea occasionally

[Thomas Jensen]

This depends on your definition of supplements, and whether you mean any kind of supplement/tablet or medicine you can take (perhaps with a meal or with your first drink in the morning).

Antioxidant vitamins — E, C and beta carotene (a form of vitamin A) — are thought to have potential health-promoting properties, but scientists aren't really in agreement as to how much of an effect they really have.

In fact, the American Heart Association doesn't recommend using antioxidant vitamin supplements until more complete and conclusive data is made available.

For a while, I took selenium, which is supposed to slow down cell breakdown dramatically. Of course the main drawback with these supplements is that you can never really tell whether it's working. You don't necessarily feel any different.

My dad, who is about 65, reckons cod liver oil has helped him. I don't know if it's something you are supposed to take when younger though.

[escapee]

I really think Fish oil / cod liver oil is one of the best "supplements" that has ever made. The pills basically halt my brother frequent epilepsy problem that no amount of conventional medication could even help and also aid my grandmother in healing her athritis problem and preserve her cognitive ability. I guess our commercial based animal products (mostly grain fed) are simply too deficient in omega 3 fatty acid.

[Ibanez]

Fish Oil and Green Tea Extract is good.

You also need to look total fat, more specifically the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3. Most western diets have a 15:1 ratio where a healthy ratio would be about 4:1. Some research suggests this is the reason for the short life span and disease in western diet.

[John Hill]

It is about the most common vitamin supplement available but many people overlook the advantages of vitamin C. Vitamin C is the ultimate antioxidant and your body cannot manufacture C like it can other vitamins, you need to take it every day either in supplement form or in food. Without enough antioxidants in your system eventually your body will break down.

I wrote an article about the necessity of antioxidants in the health and fitness section of my site, the link is below.

John

[Marywang]

Medicinal mushrooms
Sea cucumber
Sprulina
Acidophilus
Rg3 (extracted from ginseng)
If you take on a daily basis, 5 to 15g of Agaricus Blazei Mushroom plus 1 sea cucumber are a must for a strong immune system. In fall and winter, Cordyceps Sinensis and Rg3 may be added to the list. Sprulina and Acidophilus need to be taken every day life long.

Note, for people under 40 years old, any types of ginseng supplements can not be taken for more than 3 months in a year, and people above 40 not more than 6 months in a year.

[namitsu]

Originally Posted by Marywang

Note, for people under 40 years old, any types of ginseng supplements can not be taken for more than 3 months in a year, and people above 40 not more than 6 months in a year.

Hmm, now I'm wondering why this is? Is it perhaps because it loses effectiveness after that period?

[stanmrak]

First off, no one can accurately state that 80% of all supplements are useless. Where did you get that number? If supplements didn't work, peple wouldn't keep using them all these years. Research studies can't verify their effectiveness accurately because nutrients don't work on their own - they work together. So you can't say that vitamin e does anything on its own, because it needs other antioxidants to be fully effective. This is what almost all studies leave out, making them invalid, IMO.
I've been taking supplements, lots of them, for 32 years. I'm very pleased with my results, especially since I'm not an exercise fanatic. I'll tell you one thing: a 30-day trial may not tell you anything, but it doesn't mean that you aren't getting benefits. I personally don't ever recall noting a profound difference after adding a new supplement onto my regimen over those 32 years, but I was in very good health when I started. And I just trusted that supplements do make a difference, and now I can see that I was right.

It's impossible to say which ones are the most important for any one individual; everyone has different needs. But here's my list, in no particular order:
Vitamin D - over 60% of us in America are officially deficient
Vitamin C with bioflavonoids
Vitamin E complex
Coenzyme Q-10
Omega 3 fats
chlorella or spirulina
astaxanthin
curcumin
garlic
acidophilus
ginkgo
green tea extract

These are just about half of the ones I take personally.

[eden22]

Supplements are not useless

and I would not take them personally
without consulting my physician

especially if one is on other RX

Myself, I do take a fair amount


Best to all


Eden )

I take CoQ10
and the B vitamins
C
E
Sel
Chrominum
but only under homeophathic supervision

[ginkgo]

Whole food supplements are good for you. They are food and will not kill you. Vitamin and mineral supplements and other chemical concentrates can kill you.

Example: carrots contain cyanide that can kill you! But you would need to eat a hundred pounds of carrots and that would burst your stomach killing you.

But you can chemically extract the cyanide out of the carrots (just with like other things) and a tiny bit of that will kill you! Nutrition for Optimum Health