Multivitamin Necessity!

 

“Don’t stop taking your multivitamin.”

That’s the simple advice offered by board-certified family practitioner David Brownstein, M.D. in the wake of heavily publicized recent studies that concluded a daily multivitamin doesn’t have health benefits.

Of course we are all smart enough to figure out who is paying for the research, because it’s hurting their bottom line.   But I have good news and that is that:

After carefully reviewing the studies, Dr. Brownstein, one of the nation’s top practitioners of holistic medicine, concluded that they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

“I have been practicing medicine for more than 20 years, and I can assure you I have never seen a patient harmed by taking multivitamins,” says Dr. Brownstein.  “However, I have had many patients harmed from FDA-approved drugs.

“In the first place, one of the studies used a very low potency vitamins – so low that I don’t expect anyone would think that they could help anything.  Second, most of the multivitamins used I the studies were cheap synthetics, not natural vitamins.  Inexpensive vitamins are made with synthetics, and many of the substances are made from petrochemicals, which provide a sub optimal response and can even be dangerous.”

A study to determine the usefulness of multivitamins in cardiovascular disease was riddled with problems that made its findings useless, in Dr. Brownstein’s opinion.  “Half of the people stopped taking the vitamins during the study,” he said.  “That, in and of itself, negates it.  Even so, they still found an 11% decrease in cardiovascular risk – it just didn’t meet their criteria for statistics significance.”

The recent studies supposedly debunking the value of multivitamins were released less than 2 weeks after a Harvard study showed a multivitamin combined with selenium slowed deterioration in AIDS patients.  In fact, the scientists labeled their results “groundbreaking,” adding that multivitamins could save a lot of lives at a small price.  Another 2012 Harvard study found that multivitamins reduced cancer risk in older men.

Although the best way to get the vitamins and minerals your body needs is through a healthy diet, the typical diet lacks essential nutrients, according to Dr. Brownstein, and of course you’ve heard me say this on my online radio shows and in articles.  “I check my patients for nutritional imbalances, and the vast majority of patients, both sick and well, have nutritional deficiencies.”  And that is absolutely true also in my practice and others of like mind.

One of the answers is a daily multivitamin, but choosing the right one is essential.

“Not all multivitamins are created equal,” he says.  “There are many inferior vitamins.

 

“It’s bet to enlist the help of a healthcare practitioner who can guide you and test you and adjust your supplements depending on what you need.”  If you don’t want to visit me, just order my HealthTest© and you can easily complete your testing at home.  Check it out on my website:

http://www.drhenry.com.   We aren’t one-size-fits-all, so you must find out what your individual body needs are.

When looking for a good multivitamin, Dr. Brownstein suggests the following and I agree:

*       Choose a natural supplement that contains natural, bioidentical versions of nutrients.

*       Choose multivitamins that contain vitamin D3 – cholecalciferol.

The synthetic form of vitamin D is D2 or ergocalciferol – not good!

*       Be sure to choose vitamins containing natural vitamin B-12 – labeled as hydroxy-, methyl-, or adenosylcobalamin.

Synthetic vitamin B-12 is listed as cyanocobalamin.

This will not be an issue if you order my individualized HealthTest©, because not only will you find out where you are normal, low or very-low in each nutrients, but you will get a clear understanding of each deficiency, plus a list of foods in that category.

If that’s not enough – receive a personally designed food program based on the answers to the questions you submitted.  No counting calories, carbohydrates, fats, protein, fiber, etc., I do all that for you.  What could be easier?

My heart is to educate you, and give you proper health tools to help you, help yourselves.

Dr. Rhonda

Hoping that you’ve started to

Plan for Tomorrow’s Good Health – TODAY!™

 

Temporary website:          www.drhenry.com

Email inquiries:                 contact@drhenry.com

Las Vegas Office:              702-269-8120

PRENATAL DHA = HEALTH:

A simple, inexpensive nutritional supplement could increase American infants’ birth weight and gestational age closer to those found in other developed countries.

University of Kansas researchers found that the infants of mothers who were given 600 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA during pregnancy weighed more at birth and were less likely to be very low birth weight and born before 34 weeks gestation than infants of mothers who were given a placebo.

This result greatly strengthens the case for using the dietary supplement during pregnancy, leading to potentially improved neurodevelopment in infants as well as preventing hospitalizations for preterm birth and reducing the associated costs.

“A reduction in early preterm and very low birth weight delivery could have clear clinical and public health significance,” said Susan Carlson, A.J. Rice Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition at the KU Medical Center, who directed the study with John Colombo, KU professor of psychology and director of the Life Span Institute.

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) occurs naturally in cell membranes.  Infants obtain DHA from their mother in utero and postnatally from human milk.  The amount received depends upon the mother’s DHA status.  American women typically consume less DHA than women in most of the developed world.

“We believe that supplementing U.S. women with DHA could safely increase mean birth weight and gestational age to numbers that are closer to other developed countries such as Norway and Australia” said Carlson.

The results are from the first 5-years of a 10-year, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.  Researchers will follow up with the same group of babies to see if DHA supplementation benefits their intelligence.

Product to consider:                                          Contact@drhenry.com for availability.

#1021    DHA Omega

#490       EPA-DHA Super

Health Tips

BOSWELLIA:

Resin from the Boswellia serrata tree, an anti-inflammatory staple in Ayurvedic medicine, is now showing promise as a colorectal cancer tumor inhibitor, according to research carried out by Dr. Ajay Goel, director of epigenetics and cancer prevention at Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, TX.  Dr. Goel and his team have studied boswellia and its impact on colorectal cancer for the past 3 years and recently announced they have “multiple lines of encouraging evidence suggesting that in addition to its anti-inflammatory activities, boswellia is an important modulator of epigenetics in colorectal cancer, and very likely other human cancers as well.”

There are, as you know hundreds of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, herbs, etc. available today – many sound just like what we need – but, why not find out what you may really need and how to synergistically take those added nutrients, if necessary and of course the correct balanced food program.  STOP, The Food & Vitamin Guessing Game!™   Check out my individualized HealthTest© today, and if you have any questions: contact@drhenry.com

                                                                                                                                                           

LEUCINE:

In laboratory animals, supplements of the amino acid leucine (abundant in high quality proteins such as whey) reduced blood sugar levels and improved their ability to process fat.  In supplemental animals liver levels of fat and glucose improved.

“It had effects that improved insulin sensitivity improved their ability to metabolize sugar and fats and their overall metabolism improved.”

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MAGNESIUM:

Magnesium acts with and is essential to the activity of vitamin D and yet most Americans don’t get their reference daily intake (RDI) of this important mineral.  Extensive research showing that vitamin D deficiency plays a major role in the development of many diseases, including a variety of cancers (breast, prostate and colon) as well as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis and mental illness, has prompted many people to take vitamin D supplements.  However, their effects are greatly reduced if magnesium is deficient.

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 R-LIPOIC ACID:

R-Lipoic acid is a potent, water and lipid soluble antioxidant that, based on animal experiments, may prevent cataracts caused by oxidative stress in the lens.  Since R-lipoic acid is both water-soluble and fat-soluble, it can get deep into the eye tissues and destroy free radicals that cause protein changes resulting in cataracts.  Animals given chemicals to induce cataracts had a 60% reduction in cataract formation when treated with R-lipoic acid.

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DHA:

The omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is highly concentrated in the retina and supports the function of the light receptive retinal cones and rods.  The retina contains higher concentrations of DHA than any other tissue of the human body.  DHA is essential to the healthy functioning of the retina and macula.

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B VITAMINS:

Insufficient B-complex vitamins result in paralyzed eye muscles, itching, burning, light sensitivity, blood shot eyes and watering eyes.  Nearsightedness is often a result of stress.  The B vitamins are necessary for normal nervous systemfunction and may be the single most important factor for nerve health.  Pantothenic acid (B5) in particular is an anti-stress vitamin.  Thiamin (B1) is important for intracellular eye metabolism and riboflavin (B2) deficiency has been linked to cataracts.  B-complex vitamins with extra riboflavin are recommended for hyperopia (farsightedness).

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VITAMIN D:

The largest study to date on the link between vitamin D and common respiratory infections, shows that people with the lowest vitamin D levels report having significantly more cases of cold and flu than those with higher levels.

Since vitamin D is produced in the skin from sun exposure, that could explain why most colds and flu occur in the winter when there is less sunshine.  Vitamin D acts as an immune system modulator, preventing excessive expression of inflammatory cytokines and increasing the ‘oxidative burst’ potential of macrophages.

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OLIVE LEAF:

Olive leaf extract and its active component, oleuropein, appear to interfere with viral infection and/or spread by directly inactivating the virus or by preventing virus shedding, budding or assembly at the cell membrane.  It’s able to directly penetrate infected host cells and irreversible inhibit viral replication.  Since this effect seems to apply to both active and latent viruses, olive leaf extracts could prove to be a major weapon against the common cold and flu, as well as many other viral and bacterial infections.

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BOVINE COLOSTRUM:

Bovine colostrum is another useful supplement for cold and flu protection.  This thick, yellow substance, emitted by the mammary glands during the first 24-48 hours after birth, is rich in nutrients and immune factors that protect against invading organism and facilitate development of strong immune system.  By boosting a weakened immune system, colostrum’s immune factors can help prevent such conditions as colds, flu, diarrhea, sinusitis, asthma, allergies, herpes, viral bronchitis, candidiasis and ear infections.

                                                                                                                                                             

RESVERATROL:

Resveratrol may improve how the human body responds to insulin, the hormone responsible for sugar and fat metabolism.  Hungarian researchers report for the first time that a daily 10 mg dose of resveratrol is associated with reductions in insulin resistance in type-2 diabetics.  According to the researchers:

“The present study shows for the first time that resveratrol improves insulin sensitivity in humans, which might be due to a resveratrol-induced decrease in oxidative stress that leads to a more efficient insulin signaling via the Akt pathway.”

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POMELLA:

Pomegranate extract from Verdure Sciences has been granted two new patents.  This rich source of antioxidants, has been linked to improved heart health, but a growing body of science indicates the fruit protects against prostate cancer.  Studies also report a role in joint health by slowing cartilage loss in arthritis.  Ellagitannin compounds like punicalagins and punicalins, account for half of the fruit’s antioxidant ability behind the reported health benefits.

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ASTAXANTHIN:

Astaxanthin, the pigment that gives krill oil its colour, can boost the body’s defense against obesity-induced oxidative stress, according to South Korean researchers.  At a dose of only 5 mg daily, researchers saw a reduction in oxidative stress markers plus an increase in the blood’s antioxidant capacity … including a 193% increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels.

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WHEY PROTEIN:

Whey protein is a “functional food” with a number of health benefits.  The biological components of whey (including lactoferrin, beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, glycomacropeptide and immuno-globulins) demonstrate a range of immune-enhancing properties.  In addition, whey has the ability to act as an antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, anti-tumor, hypolipidemic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and chelating agent.

The primary mechanism by which whey is thought to exert its effects is by intracellular antioxidant.  A number of clinical trials have successfully been performed using whey in the treatment of cancer,  HIV, hepatitis B, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and as an antimicrobial agent.  Whey protein has also exhibited benefit in the arena of exercise performance and enhancement.

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SARCOPENIA:

Sarcopenia (skeletal muscle wasting with aging) is believed to underlie a number of serious age-related health issues.  While it may be seen as inevitable, decreasing this gradual loss of muscle is vital for healthy aging.  Elderly individuals are still able to respond to both resistance training and the anabolic signals provided by protein ingestion, provided specific amino acids, such as leucine, are present. 

Whey protein, a rich source of these essential amino acids, rapidly elevates plasma amino acid levels, providing the foundation for muscle mass preservation.  Several studies have shown whey protein to be effective in augmenting the effects of resistance exercise, particularly when taken in the hours surrounding the exercise training.  Simple dietary and exercise strategies that may improve the maintenance of skeletal muscle mass could reduce the incidence of many age-related health issues and improve the quality of life for many aging folks.

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