My patients frequently ask questions about vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements. Usually the questions center on specific problems such as arthritis or headaches. Many times they have heard about a certain product from a friend, the health food store, or from reading an advertisement. They want to know if these products will make them feel better. All of these questions have proved to be an inspiration to me to come up with a more simplistic approach to using nutritional substances to heal.
First of all it is important to think of nutritional healing in three basic steps:
1. Eat a healthy diet.
2. Take a multivitamin.
3. Take specific nutrients for specific problems.
You can think of this three step process in terms of a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid is step one; eat a healthy diet. In the middle of the pyramid is step two and at the top, step three. The idea is that each step relies on the others. For example, you will not get the best benefit from taking a multivitamin supplement without eating a good diet. Also, taking specific nutrients for specific problems will not work as well as when accompanied by a healthy diet and a multivitamin. Here is why this is important.
Your diet is your nutritional foundation. The constituents of food including carbohydrates, fats and proteins are needed to keep your body going. They provide the energy needed for all of your body's processes and provide the building blocks for your cells and tissues. The multivitamin works to help support your body's metabolism. In other words vitamins work by allowing your body to process food efficiently.
Why do you need a multivitamin? You need vitamins because the American diet is seriously deficient in many nutrients. It is very difficult to get all of the vitamins and minerals from your food. It is my opinion that virtually everyone should be taking a good multivitamin supplement. I do not personally endorse any one brand of vitamins here are some general guidelines:
1. It is standardized (meaning laboratory tested to ensure it contains what the label says).
2. It is all natural (no artificial preservatives, colorings, or other contaminating substances).
3. It contains at least 100% of the daily value (RDA) for the B vitamins, Vits C, D, E, and folic acid.
4. It contains 15,000 international units (iu) or less of beta carotene.
5. It is bioavailable (absorbed).
6. It contains micronutrients such as chromium, selenium and zinc.
Once you establish a good nutritional foundation you can consider taking specific nutrients for specific problems. Examples of these would include glucosamine sulfate for joint problems, vitamin B6 for nerve problems, or enzymes for pain control. These and many more supplements will work better if you follow the first two steps.
Bottom line is to avoid taking nutritional products without first establishing a good nutritional foundation with a proper diet and a multivitamin.
Dr. Bruce Forciea is an author, educator and chiropractor. His new book "Unlocking the Healing Code" presents a new paradigm for healing. His site:
http://www.informationalhealing.com contains more information, free newsletter, free guided imagery download and New Age music downloads.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Can Food Lose Its Nutritional Value Over Time?
Some foods can lose their nutritional value others cannot, let's take a look into this further.
You know if the label makes a claim on food value, let's say they manufacture some nutritious drink product and on that drink is some nutritional claim then let's say it has a shelf value of two years then at the end of the shelf life that product still needs to contain 100% of the vitamin C level.
It doesn't mean that when the product was manufactured it contained 100% of vitamin C and at the end of the shelf life it can contain half that level of vitamin C. What that means is that the manufacturer has to put an overage of that vitamin in the product because some of the vitamins will deteriorate over a period of time. Depending on the temperature of the storage of the product, usually the higher the temperature and the longer the storage time affects the rate of deterioration.
Vitamin C happens to be one of the most sensitive. The government does inspections on these products. They will randomly and routinely visit the food manufacturing companies. They will take samples and often times it is a surprise. What the food companies will do and the food scientist would do it when the product is formulated they will add an overage of vitamins and minerals but usually it's the vitamins. It protects the product during the shelf life.
What I am saying is that if they want the product to contain 100% of vitamin C at the end of the shelf life, then they may have to put in 200% to begin with because they know that 2 years later it will have lost half of its value.
Then what the food companies will do is have documentation on other food products that they have manufactured so they can protect the rate of loss. They can predict the rate of loss on similar products so that when a nutritional beverage is formulated they can base the level of any particular nutrient against historical values for similar foods.
Then that is the starting point and what they will do is enter the food into something called accelerated storage. That is a higher level of temperature so they can monitor the level of loss. They call that storage study. Most food companies will do that on their own accord but they do that in case there is ever a government inspection because they want to make sure they are meeting their label claim.
Companies that manufacture vitamins and minerals do the same thing. If it is a dry food like a vitamin tablet the rate of deterioration is usually much slower because it is a dry environment.
In a dry environment you don't get hydrolysis, which is the break down of a dry product compared to a liquid. The nutrients break down much faster in a liquid.
There is a whole host of different studies. When a product is placed in a storage study like that, not only do they access the nutritional properties of the food but also they have to know if the food is stable in other ways.
Like fats can oxidize. If you have ever had a bag of cake flour on your shelf in your kitchen and two or three years later it is full of weevils and you smell it and it has an awful smell, it is usually because the fat that is present in the flour has oxidized. The fat will break down into pre-fatty acids, which is not necessarily very good for you.
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get a great selection of health products at http://www.shop4betterhealth.com
You know if the label makes a claim on food value, let's say they manufacture some nutritious drink product and on that drink is some nutritional claim then let's say it has a shelf value of two years then at the end of the shelf life that product still needs to contain 100% of the vitamin C level.
It doesn't mean that when the product was manufactured it contained 100% of vitamin C and at the end of the shelf life it can contain half that level of vitamin C. What that means is that the manufacturer has to put an overage of that vitamin in the product because some of the vitamins will deteriorate over a period of time. Depending on the temperature of the storage of the product, usually the higher the temperature and the longer the storage time affects the rate of deterioration.
Vitamin C happens to be one of the most sensitive. The government does inspections on these products. They will randomly and routinely visit the food manufacturing companies. They will take samples and often times it is a surprise. What the food companies will do and the food scientist would do it when the product is formulated they will add an overage of vitamins and minerals but usually it's the vitamins. It protects the product during the shelf life.
What I am saying is that if they want the product to contain 100% of vitamin C at the end of the shelf life, then they may have to put in 200% to begin with because they know that 2 years later it will have lost half of its value.
Then what the food companies will do is have documentation on other food products that they have manufactured so they can protect the rate of loss. They can predict the rate of loss on similar products so that when a nutritional beverage is formulated they can base the level of any particular nutrient against historical values for similar foods.
Then that is the starting point and what they will do is enter the food into something called accelerated storage. That is a higher level of temperature so they can monitor the level of loss. They call that storage study. Most food companies will do that on their own accord but they do that in case there is ever a government inspection because they want to make sure they are meeting their label claim.
Companies that manufacture vitamins and minerals do the same thing. If it is a dry food like a vitamin tablet the rate of deterioration is usually much slower because it is a dry environment.
In a dry environment you don't get hydrolysis, which is the break down of a dry product compared to a liquid. The nutrients break down much faster in a liquid.
There is a whole host of different studies. When a product is placed in a storage study like that, not only do they access the nutritional properties of the food but also they have to know if the food is stable in other ways.
Like fats can oxidize. If you have ever had a bag of cake flour on your shelf in your kitchen and two or three years later it is full of weevils and you smell it and it has an awful smell, it is usually because the fat that is present in the flour has oxidized. The fat will break down into pre-fatty acids, which is not necessarily very good for you.
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get a great selection of health products at http://www.shop4betterhealth.com
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