5 Criteria For Your Vitamin To Be Effective
Are Your Vitamins Effective In Protecting Your Health?
Are your vitamins effective in promoting optimal health? Or are you spending money on expensive urine? That is what your vitamins are doing If they are not effective in providing the necessary nutrients to your body.
A nutritional supplement does not replace a healthy diet. It can only help to bridge the gap between what our body needs in optimal nutrition and what most of us actually get from our food.
When we are considering which nutritional supplement to take, there are 5 important criteria to consider before deciding which particular brand to buy in order to get the quality we need.
How Do I Choose The Best Vitamins
There are 5 factors to consider in order to know what vitamin I should take to provide me with all the necessary nutrients for me to be in good physical health.
# 1. Complete Vitamin
A little bit of every nutrient is better than lots of just one or two
Does it have the complete range of nutrients?
A good supplement provides the full range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants such as bioflavanoids, alpha lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10. Many "multi formulas" do not have the more expensive nutrients like Coenzyme 10. Antioxidants work in different areas of the body and act to neutralize different kinds of free radicals.
# 2. Balance
Nutrients don't work alone but rather in SYNERGY
Does the vitamin have the nutrients in the correct ratios and amounts?
A good supplement provides nutrients in balance so that they can work in synergy. Too much of one nutrient can sometimes hinder the absorption of another. Don't choose a supplement like a buffet meal a where you go to the local pharmacy to buy different supplements and then putting them together yourself.
Vitamin E and Vitamin C are two potent antioxidants but they don't work alone but rather need other antioxidants and also the Vitamin B cofactors and minerals to do their job properly. Vitamin C also replenishes Vitamin E so that it can be used again. So when you provide all these antioxidants together the effect is not just one plus one is two, but instead adds up to ten or even twenty.
# 3. Bio-Available
What doesn't get absorbed is wasted
Does the vitamin dissolve easily? Is it easily absorbed by the body?
Some vitamins and minerals are more readily absorbed and used by the body than others. A good supplement always uses the most bio-available form. Chelated minerals are better absorbed by the body then the mineral salts. A mineral is chelated when it is bonded with an amino-acid.
# 4. Potent
Too much of a nutrient may be harmful but too little may be ineffective
Are the amounts of each nutrient at optimal or RDA levels?
We need only a very small amount of each micronutrient. A good supplement provides sufficient amounts for optimal health. These amounts are often higher than the RDA levels. RDA or Recommended Dietary Allowances are the minimum nutrients needed to prevent acute deficiency diseases like scurvy, pellagra, rickets, etc. RDA levels are not optimal levels of nutrients needed in our diets to reduce the risk of degenerative diseases.
A good supplement should then provide the nutrients we normally get from our food but at levels we cannot obtain from our foods.
# 5. Vitamin Is Safe
Most importantly, do no harm
Does it have iron and preformed vitamin A ? These are cumulative in the body and can be harmful to the body.
A good supplement avoids nutrients like iron and preformed Vitamin A which can be harmful on long term use. A good supplement is also manufactured to more exacting standards to ensure purity and uniformity in every tablet. Products that are made to pharmaceutical standards are best as opposed to those manufactured according to food standard.
NSF International is an independent not-for-profit organization committed to making the world a safer place for consumers. It helps to certify a wide range of products ranging from food, water, different consumer products including dietary supplements.
NSF does not just evaluate the data submitted by manufacturers or analyze just a sample of the product. They conduct product testing in their own accredited laboratories to ensure that the actual contents of the product match those printed on the label. If you consume a dietary supplement that has been certified by NSF you can be confident that the contents are being regularly checked by one of the most respected certifiers in the world. NSF conducts annual audits and periodically retests each dietary supplement product to ensure continued compliance against the toughest testing standard in existence.
What Is Optimal Health?
Choose the best vitamin for optimal health
Everyone will have different opinions about what contributes to optimal health. Optimal health is certainly more than just free of disease. It is not just physical health but also mental, spiritual, emotional and social. Together they make up the well being of a person as he goes through life.
A nutritional supplement which helps a person overcome deficiencies in today's toxic world contributes towards optimal health. So it is wise to choose a supplement which will provide the minerals and vitamins we need.
Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements - More than 1500 US and Canadian supplements are scientifically rated and compared
Discover recent scientific evidence showing that supplements can optimize health and slow down the aging process.The individual recommendations for daily nutrient intakes from 12 independent nutritional experts are pooled together to construct The Blended Standard. It is the yardstick by which every product is compared.
The Best Supplements
Best of the Best in Nutritional Supplements - The Top 4 Stand-Alone Products
Creating Wellness Alliance - available at Creating Wellness centers in USA , Canada and New Zealand
Douglas Laboratories - available at doctors' clinics in US and Canada
True Star Health - available at True Star Health Fitness centers
Usana Health Sciences - available in USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Caribbean.
Usana's Essentials
A combo pack of Mega Antioxidant and Chelated Mineral
The Mega Antioxidant and Chelated Mineral give maximum benefit when taken together. The Mega Antioxidant is a daily vitamin and antioxidant supplement for adults. The vitamins include the natural form of Vitamin E which has the greatest nutritional value, Vitamin C in the form of mineral ascorbates to prolong its activity in the body. Coenzyme 10 and Alpha Lipoic Acid are also included in the Mega Antioxidant together with complete Vitamin B complex.
The Chelated Mineral supplement provides the essential minerals in forms readily absorbed by the body and at safe and effective dosages. The minerals include zinc, selenium, magnesium, chromium, manganese and other trace elements.
