OVitaminPro

Are supplements necessary and are supplements safe? It all depends on the way you look at it.

It all depends on the way you look at it. For many people, supplements offer a higher quality of living and just, well, to put it simply, a way to feel better. Some people just have a difficult time absorbing certain nutrients and as a result, develop deficiencies. Supplements can sometimes correct these deficiencies as well as the side effects that come along with the lack of a particular nutrient.

Supplements can also enhance good health and create a positive environment within your body. What we mean by that is that supplements, such as probiotics, can cultivate positive environments for healthy levels of bacteria (also known as gut flora). Supplements that include enzymes can also boost certain enzyme levels in your body so that you can better break down the food you eat.

Some supplements are designed to deal with specific health concerns and are formulated with ingredients that are shown to be beneficial in helping with such problems. At OVitaminPro.com in particular, we include supplements that utilize natural ingredients because we believe that good health is a natural process that starts at the cellular level. Many of the supplements we provide in our store use Ayurvedic remedies, herbs, essential oils, minerals, vitamins, natural compounds, botanicals, and other natural ingredients to produce the intended effect. When used correctly, supplements can help us feel better, perform better, and live better.

There are No Shortcuts in Good Health

The important thing to bear in mind when looking at the safety and benefit of supplements is that there are no shortcuts in good health. Taking a particular supplement does not mean that you’re instantly healthier. Good health and total wellness is a lifestyle – it’s not something that can be gained through a tablet, powder, oil, or cream. By making smart decisions about our health and working with healthcare professionals to design a plan that works for us, we can live the best quality of life. It takes a lot of effort to be healthy and supplements are just one piece of the puzzle. When we look at good health, you need to take into consideration things like diet, exercise, hydration, how much sleep we get a night, our stress levels, our occupations, our hobbies, our physical activity levels, our genetics…the list goes on and on.

Supplements are not dangerous nor are they irrelevant. For most people, they can be a very good thing, especially when we’re concerned about the way we eat or take care of ourselves. When it really comes down to it, supplements are like a “boost” to what we’re already doing to maintain good health. When used in conjunction with other smart health practices, supplements can be a powerful ally.

But What About What The Media Is Saying?

We’ve seen this happen before. When a new study is released or the media picks up a tip on something, there’s almost always an intention behind it. Studies are funded with a purpose and if we were to look at every study or clinical report that gets released, we would find that we could connect the dots back to a particular organization, company, or group that tends to have a specific view. The key is to not take one study as the “end all, be all” source of quality information. There are new studies being performed every day and not all of them are correct or conclusive. If we take a step back and remember that one report or one study does not mean total truth, we can become more responsible consumers of health and wellness products as well as information.

So to answer the big question: are supplements safe? Absolutely. The vitamin and supplement industry is one of the safest in the world and we can say that confidently. We know from experience.

Glutathione has been one of the hottest topics in the health and wellness industry for years now.

In a recent interview with MedicineNet.com, one expert gave an excellent definition of glutathione: “Glutathione is a very interesting, very small molecule that’s [produced by the body and] found in every cell,” said Gustavo Bounous, MD, director of research and development at Immunotec and a retired professor of surgery at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “It’s the [body's] most important antioxidant because it’s within the cell.”

We know that this powerful antioxidant is essential for maintaining good cell health and we also know that it’s a great measure of overall health as we age. With more glutathione in our bodies, we’re able to boost immunity and longevity by caring for ourselves the right way at a cellular level. We really can’t say enough good things about the benefits of glutathione. If you’re suffering from a chronic condition or are concerned about your overall level of wellness as you age, it may be a good idea for you to supplement with glutathione.

Glutathione can be supplemented in a variety of ways. One way is through use of a glutathione recycler supplement, which supports healthy levels of glutathione naturally in the body. In this case, Glutathione Recycler by Apex Energetics would be your best choice. Another option is to wear a glutathione patch. LifeWave patches makes an incredible glutathione patch called Y-age that boosts your glutathione levels by encouraging your body’s natural ability to produce it. Thorne Research also offers a third option in the form of a traditional glutathione supplement, which comes in your basic capsule. Just take the recommended dose and you get an instant boost of glutathione in your body.

To further educate our customers on the effects of glutathione depletion, we’ve also put together two videos that can explain more about how glutathione works to support good health:

Glutathione Depletion: Part 1

Glutathione Depletion: Part 2

The media has been buzzing for the past few months about the effects of vitamins and supplements. We’d like to set the record straight and provide you with more information about the issues since we feel that much of the reporting done left a lot to be desired. Reporting on a health and wellness topic like the safety of supplements can be challenging and there are plenty of resources out there that we’d like to share with you to help you gain a better understanding of how important (and how beneficial) supplements can be in our lives.

Here are some articles to check out in regards to the safety of vitamins and how vitamins impact our overall health and safety. Unfortunately, when most media outlets were putting together their stories, they neglected to include some of this information:

• Will My Supplement Kill Me? Deciphering Fact from Fiction
• Iowa Women’s Health Study: Do supplements kill older women more quickly?
• Shame on AMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine

This is just a sample of resources out there that try to explain the dynamic of the vitamin and supplements industry. It gets very complicated when you look at competition between manufacturers, the influence of the big pharmaceutical companies, and a host of other factors.

If you look at the research and the safety record for the supplements industry, you’ll see that American dietary supplements are far safer than our food supply or even many FDA-approved pharmaceuticals. You can see this record of safety just by looking through the FDA’s own database of adverse event reporting for dietary supplements.

We’ve been in this industry for a long time and the one thing we can tell you for sure is that our manufacturers that we work with put safety and quality above all things. Products made by the companies we work with go through rigorous clinical testing, research, and a manufacturing process that ensures the safest, highest quality ingredients possible.

Just remember – supplements are not a magic solution to perfect health, but they are a powerful ally. You’ll see what we mean in our next post.