Are Omega 3 Tablets Available On the Market?

By John Collins

Yes, there are many nutritional supplement manufacturers that provide good quality omega 3 tablets to their customers. These tablets are good for promoting health and can be consumed by people of all ages without any reservations.

These supplements are usually made from fish oil. An alternative to capsules are flaxseed oil and supplements. Both these dietary sources are good for the prevention of many diseases, particularly heart disease, high cholesterol and obesity.

Normal dosage of omega 3 tablets is 3 to 4 portions daily. They can be taken right after meals or after regular intervals giving 3 to 4 hours gap between two successive doses. Pregnant and lactating women might require more amounts of omega 3 fats but they should consume nutritional supplements only after checking with their doctor.

Liquid oil and related supplements are also available on the market which are equally effective. They are easier to consume and therefore are excellent for children and elderly people. However, it should be kept in mind that consuming liquid oil directly may lower blood pressure instantly and may cause some other infections as well.

For those who are allergic to fish, flax seed oil is available which provides an important fatty acid known as ALA. However, flax seed is not as much effective as fish oil as it does not provide DHA and EPA directly. It is good for people with a sensitive stomach and those who suffer from disorder of the thyroid gland.

It has been found that omega 3 tablets made from the oil of hoki fish are the most effective. This is because the hoki fish is found in the waters of New Zealand which are less polluted than other water regions of the world. As a result, the oil extracted from the tissues of these fish contains very low levels of heavy metals and toxins.
It is also advisable to buy only high quality capsules available out there. These tablets or capsules are made from pharmaceutical grade oil which is molecularly distilled to remove impurities and contaminants found in within.

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What are the Benefits of Using Nutritional Supplements?

By Andrew S

Does eating a healthy balanced diet alone provide all of the nutrients that the human body needs to function correctly?

There are many different types and brands of nutritional supplements available to the consumer, but what are the benefits of using these products?

These are just some of the questions people may have regarding nutritional supplementation and the purpose of this article is to answer these questions.

There are many different types of nutritional products available in the shops today and the health and wellness industry is one of the fastest growing industries at the present time. This is due to many factors including the huge increase in obesity and the increasing numbers of individuals being diagnosed with degenerative disease.

It is commonly believed (especially amongst older generations) that eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly is sufficient to maintain good health, but there is also the conflicting argument that without supplementation, many people’s intake of vital nutrients falls far short of their body’s requirements.

Before I discuss these issues, I would first like to give a brief overview of some of the vital nutrients that the human body needs to function correctly:

Firstly there are the macronutrients. Macronutrients include Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats. At the most simplified level, carbohydrates provide our bodies with energy, proteins are responsible for building and repairing muscle tissue and fats provide additional energy reserves and allow for the transportation of micronutrients around the body and are also necessary for the production of many hormones.

Secondly there are micronutrients. Micronutrients include vitamins (also known as anti-oxidants) and minerals. Each vitamin (A, B12, C, D, E, K, etc.) and mineral (Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Zinc, etc.) serves a specific function within the body and all of them are required for good bodily function. Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals have been identified as one of the primary factors in the development of degenerative disease, as vitamins in particular are responsible for the removal of free radicals within the body.

Free radicals are harmful molecules, which are produced by chemical reactions within the human body, as well as by factors in our external environment. They attack healthy cells causing them to break down (degenerate), in the long term potentially leading to the development of degenerative disease.

It has been suggested that in order to maintain human cells in a state of optimum health that 400 IU (International Units) of vitamin E should be consumed on a daily basis. This value is higher the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for a number of reasons:

Firstly, RDAs were established in the 1940s and were guidelines to prevent diseases such as scurvy and rickets and are considered to be considerably out of date. In addition, the external environment in which we live today contains higher levels of pollutants, radiation and other harmful substances, which significantly increases our need for anti-oxidants.

It is known that the levels of vitamins in fresh fruit and vegetables depletes over time, so in order to get the best anti-oxidative defence from our food, we would have to consume them immediately after they were picked. This is very difficult due to the nature of how supermarkets distribute their produce and the shelf lives of these products.

In addition, the process of cooking also reduces the levels of micronutrients in these particular foods.

Vitamin E is the most powerful anti-oxidant and is present in many vegetables, nuts, pulses, etc. To put this into context, an individual would have to consume 14.5 kg of spinach each day to achieve this dosage. Alternatively, 1kg or almonds would provide the optimum protection to the human cells. This example should highlight that it is very difficult to consume 400 IU of vitamin E without incorporating nutritional supplementation.

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Is Hoodia Good For Weight Loss Or Just Money Loss?

By Max Allen

I’m guessing you are looking for the answer . . . Correct? First off, did you know that billions of dollars are spent yearly on this reputed “miracle” diet pill? The manufacturers have produced enough hype to make you believe that Hoodia is the miracle cure for obesity and imperative weight loss. Wouldn’t it be great if it was as easy as that to lose weight?

Let’s probe past the marketing hype to see if these claims have any merit.

There are all sorts of advertisements on the radio and internet ads indicating many miraculous claims of Hoodia success! I’m bringing up the subject and it’s authenticity to be sure my readers don’t fall for this scam and waste their hard earned dollars in the process.

Before you get all upset, let me say that not all companies that sell Hoodia are dishonest. Some of these are legal and genuine and are really selling the real Hoodia. Unfortunately, because of the scarcity of federal regulations on nutritional supplements, it is very easy for questionable smaller companies to sell ‘blank’ pills that don’t have any Hoodia in them at all.

Please notice that I’m not saying anything on the subject of whether Hoodia (the real stuff) really does work or not for long-lasting weight loss.

Of course the Hoodia ads make it sound so fantastic . . . with no exercise required, knock down a couple of pills while watching TV and the fat will start melting away. Yea, right! I don’t think so. Let’s be clear on this one point . . . Quick fixes will NEVER work, and they NEVER will. Remember the great Fen-Fen, the so called easy way to weight loss? If there is ever a miracle pill for weight loss there will always be an adverse side effect somewhere down the road. The body is governed by the laws of nature.

It is really sad how many people are taken in by the Hoodia hoopla and end up blowing $50 or $100 and not seeing any loss of weight that they thought would happen. They were scammed again!

It may surprise you that an extensive percentage of what is designated and sold as Hoodia might not even have any Hoodia at all inside those pills. A lot of what’s being sold is fake.

The reason is that ever since the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, there is no regulation or testing to ensure that what their label claims is actually in the bottle! Even if they did put real Hoodia extract in the capsules, there is no scientific proof at this moment that the small doses that they put in the capsules will actually cause any type of weight loss in people.

The problem is that the supplement industry is NOT federally regulated in the US, and any scammer can put whatever they want in a capsule and market it for enormous profits.

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Labels: Hoodia, Weight-Loss

The Relationship Between Omega 3 and ADHD

By John Collins

Omega 3 and ADHD have been found to be linked together as omega 3 fatty acids cure this condition. ADHD is the name given to a condition of hyperactivity in growing children. It mainly occurs as a result of DHA deficiency in the body which is an important omega 3 fat.

Omega 3 acids are also known as essential fatty acids or EFA’s. This means that our body is incapable of manufacturing these fats on its own. We have to obtain them from food sources.

Mother’s milk is composed of adequate amounts of omega 3, especially DHA and EPA. This is because these fats are required in early development years and they also help to prevent diseases common in small growing children, which sometimes even prove to be fatal.

ADHD or hyperactivity is one of these diseases or health conditions which should be cured. In this condition, the child refuses to eat anything and becomes out of control. These children should be given sources of omega, particularly fish and fish oil to control this condition.

Doctors have also recognized the connection between omega 3 and ADHD. They advise pregnant women to increase their intake of fatty acids in order to ensure proper growth of the infant. Later on, mothers also need omega 3 in large quantities during lactation or breast feeding.

Fish is the richest known source of DHA and EPA. It is also a healthful source since it provides vitamin A and many other minerals and vitamins in large quantities. Health specialists advocate the use of fish oil capsules, since fish oil provides adequate quantities of both fatty acids sufficient to fulfill a day’s needs.

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Labels: Omega-3, ADHD

L-Glutathione Can Eliminate Toxins in the Liver

By Darrell Miller

L-glutathione is the reduced form of glutathione, and is a tripeptide synthesized in the animal and plant tissues from glycine, cysteine and glutamate. Commonly known as GSH, it contains thiol groups that are maintained in a reduced state, and is a very powerful antioxidant, considered to be the key antioxidant and protective substance in the body.

Glutathione can reduce any disulfide groups in the cytoplasm within the body of the cell, and ensures that the cytoplasm is a strongly reducing medium protecting against oxidation. It has a synergistic effect with other antioxidants to protect the body against free radicals and oxidizing agents that cause so much damage to the body through what is commonly referred to as ‘oxidative stress’. However, there is more to it than that and it attaches itself to toxic chemicals and drugs in the liver and renders them into a state suitable for elimination from the body.

These toxic materials include poisonous pesticides, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and chromium and many other substances that we come into contact with due to present day pollution of our atmosphere and foodstuffs. Glutathione can also help protect the body from the effects of chemotherapy and evidence is suggesting possible links with the control of some cancers, diabetes, atherosclerosis and many other degenerative conditions caused by free radical attack and the effects of pollutants.

The way that GSH acts in the cells is that the redox state of the glutathione-glutathione disulfide couple is critical to the health of the intercellular and intracellular fluid. GSH in the reduced state of glutathione reacts with an oxidative agent such as hydrogen peroxide to form the oxidized form, glutathione disulfide and water. It hence mops up oxidizers such as peroxides and free radicals within the cytoplasm of the body’s cells, and also in between the cells. The disulfide is then converted back to GSH by the combined action of the enzyme glutathione reductase and NADPH (the reducing agent nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate).

The cycle then repeats so that two molecules of glutathione continue to reduce damaging oxidizing agents without themselves being consumed. In so doing, the NADPH becomes oxidized. A continuous supply of NADPH is needed to allow GSH to undergo these biochemical reactions, and up to 10% of our blood glucose is used by the pentose phosphate pathway by which NADPH is synthesized.

Since this cycle consumes no glutathione, it would appear that a supplement is unnecessary. However, this is not the case since the molecule takes part in other reactions in the body, particularly in the elimination of toxic heavy metals from the body. Mercury is highly reactive with the thiol that GSH is, and so will bind to form a stable Hg-sulfydryl bond in the liver. This mercury-glutathione chelate is unable to bind to other proteins or gain access to the body cells, and is eventually harmlessly secreted. The same is true of many other heavy metals that are reactive with thiol’s.

In this way the body is protected from the harmful effects of these heavy metals. However, it results in the loss of the glutathione, and the pollution of modern day living can take a heavy toll of the GSH content of our bodies. For this reason a glutathione supplement is recommended, especially for city dwellers that may be exposed to more heavy metals than those residing in rural areas.

However, the form in which this supplement is taken is very important, because the human digestive tract contains a significant amount of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase. That is an enzyme which apparently destroys glutathione before it can be absorbed. However, it can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream by dissolving the pill between the teeth and inner cheek. It has also been suggestion that the supplement could be administered by injection.

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Labels: L-Glutathione, toxins

Taking Fish Oil Supplements to Increase the Baby’s Hand-eye Coordination

By Micheal Thomas

Many medical researches have proved the positive effects fish oil omega 3 fatty acids have on adults and children. People suffering from a long series of medical conditions (ranging from cancer, mental issues, and inflammatory diseases) are being prescribed omega 3 supplements. The richest natural sources of these essential acids are fish and a series of vegetables and fruits, but fatty fish are preferred because they contain the two types of essential fats the body can use (DHA and EPA), while fruits contain the ALA fatty acids, which has to be transformed into DHA and EPA.

A recent medical study has shown that fish oil supplements, if taken by pregnant women, increases the hand to eye coordination of their babies as toddlers.

The test was conducted on almost 100 pregnant women, who had been given 4g of fish oil supplements or 4g of olive oil supplements daily, from the 20th week of pregnancy until the babies were born. The babies and their mothers were monitored until they reached two and a half years of age. At this point, they were tested using a series of internationally validated tests whose purpose was to measure growth and development. Elements such as language, behavior and hand to eye coordination were measured. 72 children began the test, of which 33 belonged to the fish oil group, and 39 in the olive oil group.

When it came to language skills and growth, scientists have not witnessed any significant differences between babies belonging to the two groups. But there was a different story when it came to measuring the child’s eye to hand coordination. Children whose mothers had been given fish oil supplements scored significantly higher scores in hand-eye coordination than those whose mothers had taken the olive oil supplements.

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Labels: Supplements, omega 3

Risks of Prohormones

Since prohormones essentially turn into anabolic steroids in the body there are also some potential risks. There are many side effects of anabolic steroids and since the pro hormones can react within the body to create the estrogens that case these side effects users should be prepared. Since the enzymes in the body that cause these reactions and side effects is very limited the amount that occur will be as well. That is the upside to pro hormones because you get the benefits of anabolic steroids without too many of the risks of side effects. Nevertheless, they are still fairly new and so it is difficult to say what the true risk of side effects really is.

If you decide you want to use prohormones then there are some things you should keep in mind. First of all, these are not unlike other bodybuilding supplements you may be using or have used in the past. The ultimate results are based on the weight training program you are involved in as well as the weight gain diet. If you are truly dedicated to your diet and training then the prohormones will have the effect you want. If you are not then you should wait until you are before trying to use these. Since these supplements are not cheap you will want to be committed to a program so that they supplements will do the job you want them to. But you must do your part as well in order to get the results you are hoping for.

Before you begin using pro-hormones you should do some research and make sure you understand exactly what these supplements are and what they will do within your body. In order to have success with these supplements then you must know what they are and how they work. Otherwise, they could have some serious side effects that you were not anticipating.

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Labels: Prohormones, Risks

What Are Prohormone Supplements?

Pro-steroids, known as prohormones, were the legal form of steroids before they were banned in 2005. However, before then these pro hormones showed up in 1996. Many people considered these pro-hormones to be much like creatine or performance enhancers. Then, these pro-steroids really gained national attention when Mark McGuire announced that he had used andro, short for androstendione, to enhance his performance.

Once it was known that this amazing baseball player was taking these supplements people in sports and the bodybuilding industry were debating about whether these supplements were effective and if so should they be allowed. The first versions were quite expensive and nobody is sure if they actually worked despite costing an arm and a leg. However, the more recent versions certainly work and they help people add lean muscle mass all the while reducing gaining fat. When used safely and by educated people these pro-hormones are really effective.

Basically, prohormones are hormones but when they are swallowed and digested an enzymatic process turns them into anabolic hormones. This is basically taking a hormone and letting the body convert it to an anabolic steroid rather than taking the anabolic steroid outright. There really is no difference. The fact that natural enzymes are required to change these pro-hormones into anabolic steroids is what kept them from being illegal. However, eventually not even that could save them.

The way these hormones work is they increase the body’s level of anabolic hormones and in turn this stimulates androgen receptors that help people get bigger and build muscle. The cause a reaction in the body so that more nutrients are used to build muscle and reduce the availability to store fat.

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Labels: Prohormone, Supplements

Discover Why It’s Easier To Lose Weight With Creatine

Some people like supplements and some don’t. A nice truism right? Well if you can’t decide yet, or are pro supplements then read on.

Now, there are some facts to consider:

1. creatine doesn’t damage kidneys even when it’s used in super doses
2. creatine doesn’t even do any additional harm to people who already have kidney problems
3. there have yet to be discovered negative effects of taking creatine
4. it has been proven that creatine heightens mental capabilities
5. creatine enhances your strength
6. creatine doesn’t give you the so called bloated look
7. etc

The research has been done for you, it’s all over the internet and published in medical papers. As with all supplements there is always the problem when you think that it’s unnatural to eat powder or whatever form your creatine is.

And I agree, every-time that I take creatine it doesn’t feel natural to do so. But the effects are observable, you can see yourself being able to do just a bit more than naturally. Note that this is not the placebo effect as it has been discarded by research in double blind studies.

So how is this connected with losing weight?

Well think about it. Losing weight is not all about doing cardio exercises, but you are doing even more good for your body when doing exercises with weights. So if you are able to do just a bit more… Let’s just say that you’ll look just a bit more leaner in a few months.

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Labels: Creatine, supplements

Does Hydroxycut Live Up To Its Claims Of Being The Best Weight Loss Pills Ever?

Hydroxycut is one of the most advertised fat burning pills on the market. It is a supplement that claims to increase weight loss when used in conjunction with exercise. Like other supplements being marketed as fat burning pills, it claims to be the best weight loss pills available.

Hydroxycut made headlines for over a controversial compound that it contained called Ephedra. This compound is banned by FDA. Now you can get a Ephedra-free product that claims to increase your metabolism and energy while suppressing your appetite, therefore cutting caloric intake and hence causing weight loss. Claims made by there manufacturers are pretty bold. They say that Hydroxycut can decrease body fat by 8%, and increase norinephrine by 40%. Among the most important ingredients in this product are:

Hydroxagen™: This is a compound which has been shown to decrease the activity of the enzyme which is responsible for the conversion of excess carbohydrates into fat. This subsequently makes it extremely effective for low fat diets. There may some added advantage of it curbing hunger and cravings.

Guarana Extract: Guarana, is the herbal form of caffeine and this has been shown to stimulate fat stores and resulting in fat being utilized as energy. Caffeine also facilitates the effectiveness of ephedrine, thus making it a more potent.

L-Carnitine: This is an amino acid that has been reported to carry fats to the interior of cells where it can be metabolized as energy. The addition of L-carnitine is an absolute necessity to get fat burning.

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Labels: Hydroxycut, Guarana