October 2016 Newsletter Vitamins: Good for You or a Scam?

The most common questions asked of me by clients and the general public is: “Do I really need vitamins? I hear they don’t really work. Can’t I get everything from food?”  One of my clients even sent me the September 2016 article from Consumer Reports panning the vitamin industry. You’ll probably be surprised to discover that I actually agree with many of the points in the article. Yet you’ll see that the article omits other important information, thus it fails to provide the full picture. These issues (do vitamins work and can I get it all from food) are addressed in two new articles featured below.

I recently attended the 2016 Back to School for Doctors program in Denver, Colorado sponsored by Standard Process West. I’ve been attending for the past several years. Mark Anderson is one of the most knowledgeable speakers in the country regarding natural health and supplements. This year’s program featured heart health and I came away with new knowledge to help reduce cholesterol in a natural way which I have already applied twice today to clients!

As we head into fall and soon winter it’s time to be ready for cold and flu season. I encourage all my clients to have on hand two supplements for when they feel something coming on. These are Congaplex Chewable from Standard Process and Andrographis Complex from MediHerb. If you would like more information on these please call or send an email.

Good Supplements Bad Supplements

One of my most popular public talks is called “Good Supplements Bad Supplements.” The reason it is so popular is that most of the general public is very confused about whether or not to use nutritional supplements. “If vitamins are supposed to be good for us, why do I read in the paper and hear on television reports they are not?”

There are many articles written by “experts” such as the September 2016 article in Consumer Reports that pan the use of supplements. Two years ago I reported on another study that concluded that vitamin supplementation was not helpful (and in fact some suggested it could be harmful).  There were no significant differences in positive outcomes between people taking vitamins and those not taking them.  Another study specific to Vitamin E and “antioxidant” supplementation found that those taking the supplements experienced worse outcomes (more heart disease and cancer) than those not taking the supplements. 

For years we have been told by alternative health practitioners and the vitamin and supplement industry that Vitamin E and “antioxidants” are supposed to protect against heart disease and cancer. This appears to be counter-intuitive. Can they both be right?

For the rest of the article click here: http://brwellness.com/nutrition-news/?p=710

What They Ate What We Eat

“I eat very healthy.” “My doctor tells me I can get all the vitamins and minerals I need from food.” I often hear one or both of these statements from my clients. Here’s my response: It is great that you eat healthy because that is the foundation to build upon. However, it is very unlikely that you can get everything you need from your food. 

There are two main reasons for this. First, most people have not eaten “very healthy” all their lives, so therefore it is likely that they have some nutritional deficiencies. Second, and most important – what we eat today is very different from what was eaten not too long ago by our ancestors. To read the rest of the article and to learn the differences between what they ate and what we eat click here: http://brwellness.com/nutrition-news/?p=707.