Posts Tagged ‘vitamins’
Are You Taking Your Vitamins?
It’s a morning ritual for a lot of us. Wake up, hit the snooze, wake up again and take your vitamins. Vitamins are critical because they provide your body with important minerals and nutrients that we often do not get during the course of our busy days.
Which vitamins should you take? There is a full alphabet of vitamins touted to treat maladies ranging from the common cold to providing energy and even to slow down the aging process. There are gender specific vitamins, vitamins for average joes and vitamins targeted toward athletes.
Vitamins for Males
Opti-men is a complete daily muli-vitamin with over 75 distinct ingredients that provides overall heath, performance and vitality. If you are involved with weight training combined with a cardiovascular routine then opti-men would be an ideal multi-vitamin for you to try.
Opti Men HighLights:
• Comprehensive NUTRIENT OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM
• Free-Form AMINO ACIDS
• Botanical Extracts
• Fruit and Vegetable PHYTOCOMPLEX
• Digestive enzymes
• HIGH-POTENCY vitamins & minerals
• 350+ Milligrams B-Complex Vitamins
• Five GENDER-SPECIFIC Blends
Vitamins for Females
Opti-women is the sister product of Opti-men that combines Vitamins and Essential Minerals with Ostivone, Soy Isoflavones and much more to create our all-inclusive women’s formula. For the active woman this is an ideal multi-vitamin that will provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to supplement a woman’s diet and exercise.
Opti-Women Highlights:
• 23 Vitamins and Essential Minerals
• 100% DV for Iron, Zinc and Other Minerals
• 150mg of Calcium
• 17 Specialty Ingredients Including Soy Isoflavones, Chasteberry Extract, Dong Quai and Uva Ursi
• Easier-to-Swallow Capsules
Vitamins For Everyone
Ultra4 by Beverly is one of the most complete and sophisticated combinations of biologically active forms of vitamins and minerals available anywhere!
Each tablet is carefully processed into a unique, sustained-release formulation of vitamins and minerals in ratios that actually act synergistically to help you build a better body!
You can get every nutrient you need in only 4 pills a day. This is an advanced multi vitamin formula at a very reasonable price.
Vitamins for the Athlete
The Animal Pak is dedicated for serious nutrition for the serious athlete. For hard-core bodybuilders and strength athletes, nothing beats Animal Pak for maximizing gains in muscle mass, strength and performance. There is no better nutritional weapon available to fuel intense workouts. Animal Pak consists of a perfectly balanced, time-released formula that is easily assimilated by your body for perfect bioavailability and optimum performance
Vitamins For Those Who Do Not Like Pills
Do you have trouble swallowing pills but still want to get all the advantages of a multi-vitamin? First Step Liquid Multi Vitamin is a great solution. Normal pill form multi’s take 20-25 minutes to break down in the stomach. A liquid multi vitamin is already dissolved so minerals and vitamins are absorbed almost immediately. If you don’t like pills this is a convenient, potent alternative.
No matter you gender or athletic level there are vitamin choices out there for you. A recent study indicated those who took a daily multi-vitamin lived up to 6 years longer. Are you taking your vitamins? You can find all of the great products listed above online at WorldClassNutrion or give them a call at 1-800-338-0139.
FTC Wants to Impose Stricter Rules on Advertising of Dietary Supplements
World CLass Nutrition wants to keep supplements users aware of how the government is trying to take away your freedoms. Over the last week or two, a joint House-Senate conference committee has been considering ways to reconcile two competing federal Wall Street reform bills and turn them into a single bill that both chambers can support. The US House’s Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (HR.4173) and the US Senate’s Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S.3217) differed in cost and content, most notably for us in that the Senate version did not give the broad new regulatory powers to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the House version would. By removing limits on its power that are enshrined in current laws, the FTC could impose harsh new requirements on all businesses, even those completely unrelated to Wall Street, banking, or the financial sector; including dietary supplement manufacturers.
How do we expect that the FTC would act if given such new power? The agency has indicated that it wants to impose stricter standards on any advertising of dietary supplements. Past consent decrees that settled disputes with supplement companies have required strong disclaimers and much more evidence to support any future promotional claims. Consumer advocate organizations have urged the agency to require that multiple clinical trails be done on any advertised product, not just on its ingredients, to support advertising claims. However, such trials take many months, are very expensive, and are not required by current law allowing claims to be based on the body of science backing the active ingredients in a product. If the FTC and anti-business consumer advocates have their way, label claims and advertising will be far more restricted than is presently allowed. Of course, ads already have to be truthful and not misleading, so that’s not really an issue. But the FTC still wants more power so it can unilaterally impose a new regulatory scheme that bypasses today’s requirements for hearings, public comments, and due process before it can change the rules that we operate under.
Now the good news: despite strong efforts by certain committee members, the FTC provision has reportedly been stripped from the joint committee’s version of the bill. In other words, WE WON THIS BATTLE! For those of you who spoke up for our rights, thank you. But this was only one battle and industry critics have not given up on their crusade to over-regulate vitamins and other safe dietary supplements. It is still important to be ready for the next attempt to have the federal government take over the dietary supplement industry, as has been done in other countries where there are far fewer choices for consumers. .
Be prepared to tell your Senators and Representative in Congress that you want to continue to have access to safe dietary supplements and honest marketing claims without excessive government restrictions. Public action may be needed on short notice to head off tricky legislative maneuvering. Go to http://www.csofh.org/ to sign up for action alerts and learn how to Take Action! Protect your rights to have access to vitamins and stop the gov from taking control of everything you do.
Dietary and Nutrition Supplments are a Neccessity.
The USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion released a draft report for its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans last week. This report that ultimately form the basis for 2010’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Within the report’s language, dietary supplements receive mixed approval. While highlighting the benefits of some dietary supplements “…if needs cannot be met through whole foods.” This statement has prompted a public response from the Natural Products Association (Washington, DC). “When less than 25% of the U.S. population eats the recommended serving of five fruits and vegetables daily, how are Americans to get the vitamins and minerals they need?” said NPA executive director and CEO John Gay. “Advice to cut off a reliable and safe nutrition source, such as a daily multivitamin, doesn’t seem logical or responsible.” Aside from dietary supplement coverage, much of the report focused on addressing obesity issues and expanding access to nutritional products for Americans. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (Washington, DC) applauded such discussions, stating, “The report wisely recommends that USDA and Health and Human Services develop a national strategy to help people eat better, including ramping up nutrition education, expanding access to fruits and vegetables, and getting industry to provide more healthful products.”
COQ10 effective against Vomiting
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an important nutrient in the human body. It is a fat-soluble vitamin-like compound that is also known as ubiquinone from the word ubiquitous, which means “everywhere.” Coenzyme Q or ubiquinone compounds are synthesized in the cells of all living organisms including plants, animals, and humans. There are 10 coenzyme Q compounds that occur throughout nature, but only coenzyme Q10 is synthesized in humans. It is probable that many people with health problems are suffering from a coenzyme Q10 deficiency due to inadequate dietary intake of the necessary nutrients and/or ingestion of one or more drugs that interrupt the synthesis of coenzyme Q10. The symptoms of coenzyme Q10 deficiency include: congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, angina, mitral valve prolapse, stroke, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, lack of energy, gingivitis, and a generalized weakening of the immune system.
Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a condition of recurring attacks of intense nausea, vomiting and sometimes abdominal pain and is associated with migraine headaches and mitochondrial dysfunction. There are not very many studies on Co-Q10’s effectiveness in treating CVS so researchers decided to investigate Co-Q10 and CVS. They used an internet-based survey completed by patients with CVS or their parents for efficacy, tolerability and patient satisfaction of Co-Q10 or amitriptyline. Of the 22 subjects receiving Co-Q10, 68 percent reported at least a 50 percent reduction in the frequency, duration, or severity of episodes as well as of the 162 subjects, 72 percent also had the same outcome. However, the patients taking Co-Q10 did not have any side effects where as one half of the patients taking amitriptyline reported side effects and 21 percent of the patients discontinued treatment because of these side effects. The researchers concluded that their data suggest that Co-Q10 is effective and tolerable and should be considered as an option in the treatment of cyclic vomiting syndrome.
Dietary Supplements Are Safe!
On March 25th, 1999, I was part of a live television debate on FOX-TV’s “Good Day New York” with a drug industry attorney on the topic: “Are dietary supplements regulated?”
Needless to say, with all of the facts showing how well regulated dietary supplements were then, winning the debate was not a difficult accomplishment; I even had the host, Jim Ryan, on the side of supplement consumers about midway through the segment.
In fact, the regulations and laws governing nutritional supplements today are even more stringent than they were in 1999, when I did that TV segment.
According to attorney Peter Barton Hutt, the “bedrock food safety requirement that has been the foundation of the American food supply since 1906—the prohibition of poisonous or deleterious substances in food—applies equally to dietary supplements and conventional food.”
Supplements: A Super-Regulated Category
Today, dietary supplements have the following requirements and controls over them:
- Pre-market notification to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—not required for drugs or medical devices
- Labeling
- Mandatory adverse event (side effect or reaction) reporting to the FDA (not required for foods)
- FDA Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)
- Facility registration (for the FDA)
- Advertising (by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
In fact, broadly speaking, the laws governing supplements under the umbrella of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C) are: the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA); the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA); the Bioterrorism Act of 2002; the Food Allergen Labeling an Consumer Protection Act of 2004; the Dietary Supplement and Non-Prescription Drug Consumer Protection Act of 2006 (AER Law); and Federal GMPs.
Regarding dietary supplements, the FDA has significant powers, including (but not limited to) the authority to:
- Stop a company from selling any dietary supplement that is unsanitary or unsafe
- Stop the sale of any dietary supplement that makes false or non-substantiated claims on its labeling.
- Stop the sale of any nutritional supplement that poses “a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.”
- Block a new dietary ingredient (NDI) from being marketed if the agency does not receive enough safety information in advance.
Likewise, the FTC has a great deal of surveillance and enforcement powers that it uses for dietary supplements, including the ability to:
- Challenge and stop advertising that is not sufficiently substantiated,
- Negotiate a consent order for a company to change or fix its promotional, marketing or advertising practices, and
- Seek substantial civil penalties for violations of trade regulation rules or violations of cease and desist orders.
So Why Do We Keep Hearing About Supplements Being Unregulated?
Part of the problem is the media.
As I noted way back in 1999,1 despite powerful and authoritative research underpinning many of the most popular supplements today, the mainstream media appear to be on a planet where this research is unavailable or incomprehensible.
The FDA itself has been stoking the misinformation fires about the supplement regulations that it is mandated to implement and enforce. As I noted in July 2009, “The FDA should cooperate with the responsible core of the natural products industry rather than criticizing the very laws that the American people saw fit to pass and which the FDA is sworn to uphold and enforce.”3
Dietary supplements have “always been regulated as a category of food in this country, and DSHEA did not change that,” according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).4
“Dietary supplements are not regulated as drugs because they are not drugs,” added Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, FACN, director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, at Tufts University.3
According to Hutt, it is “apparent that FDA has adequate statutory authority to assure the safety of both dietary ingredients and conventional food ingredients.”2
In fact, Hutt adds that the “safety provisions under the FD&C Act applicable to dietary supplements would appear to be stronger than those applicable to conventional food.”2
‘Supplements Are Safe, Healthful and Well-Regulated’ may not be a very “sexy” story as news stories go, but it is one that really should be front-page.
Gormley Take-Away: Given all of the recent drug recalls and food contamination outbreaks, I would be much more concerned about the safety of pharmaceuticals and conventional foods than about dietary supplements if I were the average consumer advocate, legislator or reporter. Looking at the powerful safety record of dietary supplements, now officially demonstrated via the AER Law, I would consider beating a different drum than the one associated with unwarranted and uninformed attacks on supplements.
About the Author: James Gormley is an award-winning journalist, published author and member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). He is a senior policy advisor for Citizens for Health, an advisory board member of the National Health Research Institute (NHRI), editor of a medical journal and an industry consultant
Healthcare Reform Includes Alternative Medicine, Dietary Supplements
Healthcare Reform Includes Alternative Medicine, Dietary Supplements
The landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act forced on us by President Obama on March 23 includes several provisions that address complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and dietary supplements.
With the goal of educating Americans about preventive care, the bill stipulates the creation of wellness plans to be carried out through community health centers, typically in lower-income areas as if people in the middle class don’t need to be healthy. This seems to be just more item in the long line of racist provisions in the new law, much like the tax on tanning beds. In addition to providing wellness assessments and education, the programs will provide participants with a selection of dietary supplements that have FDA-approved health claims.
These supplements include folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, omega-3, and multivitamins. Supplements will be targeted at “at-risk” groups, such as folic acid for pregnant women.
Provisions have also been included to ensure that insurance plans do not discriminate against CAM practitioners. These practitioners include acupuncturists, chiropractors, and naturopath doctors who prescribe may prescribe dietary supplements.
Industry members were pleased with the provisions. Some say that it may open the door to CAM and dietary supplements in mainstream medicine in the future.
Daniel Fabricant, PhD, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Natural Products Association (Washington, DC), said that he was glad that the government’s focus on prevention and long-term healthcare cost savings included dietary supplements and nutrition in its approach. “Prevention means a lot of different things to people. It could mean vaccination, but it also looks like it’s also going to mean nutrition, the way that the final bill is written,” he said.
“If managed properly, the greater inclusion of alternative practitioners in healthcare should open a pathway for increased acceptance of the dietary supplement products they provide,” said Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (Silver Spring, MD).
It has only taken a few 100 years but is it possible that the government finally understands that health supplements are healthy?