Vitamin B Complex - What Is It?

Continuing with my series, the next topic up for discussion is the Vitamin B Complex.  Many people just assume there is only Vitamin B, but actually it is broken down into several types of the vitamin...8 to be exact.  Some of which are very well known.  In general, the main purpose of them is to convert food into energy, so if you feel run down and out of energy, you may want to look into the B vitamins.  However, there are other benefits for each.  So without going into too much detail, here are those 8 types of the Vitamin B Complex:

1. B1 - Thiamine.  Research tends to indicate that B1 may strengthen the immune system.  It also appears to help the body handle stressful conditions.  There is no toxicity level of B1.
2. B2 - Riboflavin.  Not only does this vitamin help in the creation of energy, but it also acts as a powerful anti-oxidant.  It also assists in converting B6 into a usable form, and helps with the production of healthy red blood cells.  Some research indicates 400mg/day can cut migraine occurrences in half.  It can be found in several foods such as almonds, yogurt, broccoli, and spinach.  However, boiling foods can result in the loss of some of the vitamin.  Again, there is no toxicity level.
3. B3 - Niacin.  This one you may have heard of because it is often prescribed to individuals with high cholesterol levels.  Not only does it help reduce cholesterol levels, but it also improves circulation.  You can find it in such foods as liver, certain fish, and sunflower seeds.  There can be side effects with high dosages, so it's best to check with your physician.
4. B5 - Pantothenic Acid.  There is a long list of uses for B5, though more scientific research needs to be conducted.  The list includes:  acne, asthma, ADHD, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, enhanced immune system functionality, and chronic fatigue.  Just to name a few.  It can also be used on the skin to provide relief from itches, bug bites, mild eczema, and diaper rash.  There are no toxicity levels.
5. B6 - Pyridoxine.  Another one you may have heard of.  The main purpose here is to make neurotransmitters, but it also assists with healthy brain functionality.  And, it helps with creating certain hormones such as melatonin which helps regulate sleep.  It also works with B9 and B12 to reduce homocysteine levels in the blood.  If you are not familiar with homocysteine, I'll be doing a post in the future on this.  But for now, think of it as spurs which nick up the artery walls, allowing cholesterol to stick to the walls and create blockage.  It is also needed to help with B12 absorption, and some studies have shown positive effects with arthritis and inflammation.  Chicken, turkey, liver, milk, and spinach are just some of the food sources.  There may be side effects at high dosages, so again, check with your doctor.
6. B7 - Biotin.  Used for strengthening hair and nails, but it's use is not limited to this.  Some studies have shown benefits in eczema patients, and it is also extremely important with respect to fetal growth.  You can find it in egg yolks, sardines, nuts, and bananas.  No toxicity levels exist.
7. B9 - Folic Acid.  Yet another you have probably heard of.  Especially if you are expecting.  It plays an important part in brain function and development, and helps with the production of DNA.  Especially when cells and tissues are just developing, thus the reason it is so important when pregnant.  However, it also helps to control homocysteine levels and may help protect against certain types of cancers.  1mg/day seems to be the upper limit, so check with your doctor.
8. B12 - Cobalamin.  If you want healthy nerve cells, then this is the vitamin for you.  It also assists in the production of DNA and red blood cells.  A deficiency may cause fatigue in individuals.  Meat and dairy products contain B12, so vegans are at risk of becoming deficient.  There are no toxicity levels.

So as you can see, there are several uses for the B vitamins.  Everything from fetal development to cardiovascular health to energy production to healthy skin.  The complex is extremely important for normal body functionality.

I have listed several foods where you can receive these vitamins, but as my previous posts have shown...it is difficult to get everything you need simply from the food you eat.  Not to mention cooking many of these foods will reduce the amount of the vitamin you will receive.  As such, you may want to consider a pharmaceutical grade supplement to make sure you are getting what you need.  If you have any concerns about taking a supplement, just check with your physician.

If you decide to look into supplementation, you may want to give some consideration to these supplements, as they are both pharmaceutical grade and NSF certified.  Just click on the link.

To Your Health.

Vitamin A - What Is It?

In this new series of posts, I will be explaining what certain vitamins and minerals do.  Specifically, what are the benefits of certain vitamins and minerals and, outside of supplementation, how do you get them.

I thought the best place to start is at the beginning of the alphabet...Vitamin A.  So, what are the benefits of Vitamin A?  It helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, and skin.  In fact, people suffering from acne may see some improvement with increased levels of Vitamin A.

But what it is probably best know for is helping with eyesight, especially in low light.  Beta-carotene is a carotenoid which turns into Vitamin A.  You can find beta-carotene in certain plant foods...such as carrots.  Thus the old tale, rabbits have good eyesight because they eat a lot of carrots.  What are some more Vitamin A foods?  You can look to eggs, milk meat, liver, cod, and fish oil.  And sources of beta-carotene foods include:  carrots, pumpkins, sweet potato, broccoli, grapefruit, and spinach.

Vitamin A is also one of the very few vitamins and/or minerals you can get too much of.  It is possible to get Vitamin A poisoning, but you would need to receive over 100,000IU/day for several months before you ran the risk of reaching toxic levels.  As always if you have concerns, just check with your doctor.

In the next post, we'll be taking a look at the B vitamin complex.

H1N1 Vaccination May Contribute to Miscarriages

The National Coalition of Organized Women (NCOW) has released a report stating the H1N1 vaccine has "contributed to an estimated 1,588 miscarriages and stillbirths".  If that wasn't bad enough, the number of cases might actually be as high as 3,587.  They go on to accuse the CDC of failing to inform vaccine providers that there may be side effects related to fetal deaths, based upon data they had.

The actual study was performed on pregnant women aged 17-45, who were administered a H1N1 flu vaccine.  This is a staggering report, and will hopefully provide pregnant women something to consider.  And let's not forget, the vaccine has been banned in Australia because it was causing seizures.  There are safer alternates to the flu shot, as I recently wrote about in my Vitamin D article, found here. 

In that article, I provided a link to a study performed earlier this year in Japan, which showed that the flu shot was effective in flu prevention only 8% of the time in children; whereas Vitamin D supplementation was effective in preventing the flu in over 50% of the children studied.

In fact, Dr. Myron Wentz has stated that physicians are beginning to recommend supplementing with 5000IU/day of Vitamin D, rather than getting a flu shot.  So you can see, there are safer alternatives.

Should you decide to look into a high quality, inexpensive Vitamin D supplement, may I suggest you visit our website and see if our pharmaceutical grade Vitamin D supplement is what you are looking for.

To Your Health

The Top 5 Best Supplements For Your Health

What are the most important supplements to keep your health in check and fight off disease?  I have composed a Top 5 list of the best supplements which, in my opinion, are the most important when it comes to your health and protecting against free radical damage.

1. A Multivitamin.  Yes, I realize this isn't really a "specific" supplement like the others.  However, a high quality multivitamin is essential to your health because it creates a base.  When you look at a pyramid, the largest part of the structure is the base and everything is built on top of that.  The base is what makes the structure strong and gives you the ability to build up from there.  The same can be said of a high quality multivitamin.  Sure, you can skip it and simply take other supplements on their own, but the thing about vitamins and minerals is that they work synergistically with each other.  Meaning, they compliment each other.  For instance, you need magnesium to work with calcium in order to help get it into the bones.  Build your base with a pharmaceutical grade multivitamin to strengthen your body, and then "build up" from there with other supplements.
2. Vitamin D.  Odds are, you are not getting enough Vitamin D in your diet.  This is especially true if you live in a northern climate.  If you are taking a pharmaceutical grade multivitamin, you are ahead of the game.  However, during those winter months you may need to supplement in order to compensate for the Vitamin D you are missing out on from natural sunlight.  I won't go into too much more detail here as I have just posted a 3-part series on Vitamin D which you can check out here.  However, I will mention a study which was just done in Japan earlier this year which showed that Vitamin D supplementation was 42% more effective than the flu shot.  Vital information with flu season coming up.
3. Fish Oil.  Probably the supplement getting the most attention lately is fish oil.  Even physicians are seeing the benefits and are recommending fish oil to their patients for helping with cholesterol levels and general health.  If you read my earlier post, Fish Oil vs Statin Drugs, you saw two studies which showed that fish oil lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease.  Another study even showed fish oil was more effective than statin drugs (Lipitor, Crestor, etc).  But not only does it help protect your heart and cholesterol, it has also been linked to relieving arthritis, joint pain, and inflammation.  There has been evidence of fish oil helping with ADHD and depression.  It helps to prevent Alzheimer's Disease as this article from WebMD explains.  And it has shown to be very beneficial to both pregnant woman and their unborn child.  According to the Mayo Clinic, babies born to mothers who took fish oil show  an increase in verbal skills and motor skills, and less behavioral problems.
4. Grape Seed Extract.  Have you heard of "The French Paradox"?  Very briefly, it shows that the French suffer a relatively low incidence of cardiovascular disease, despite the fact that their diet is high in saturated fats.  And it boils down to their consumption of red wine.  Grape seed extract gives you an even greater benefit, though not nearly as much fun.  It can help with the circulatory system and protects against free-radical damage (even more than Vitamin C or Vitamin E).  It exhibits anti-inflammation characteristics as a natural COX-2 inhibitor.  And most importantly, it may induce apoptosis, or self-destruction, of cancer cells as shown in this Oxford study and a Med Page Today article.  Keep in mind, I am NOT touting grape seed extract as a CURE for cancer.  Your body actually creates cancer cells every day, but normally your body takes care of them.  Obviously in some cases it cannot handle all of them, and tumors develop.  These studies show that grape seed extract can support that function by causing cancer cells to die off; thus preventing the formation of cancer.
5. Olive Oil.  Again, this is another topic which I have recently reported on, so I won't go into detail.  If you would like to see the full article, it is located here.  Essentially, studies by the Mayo Clinic (found in my previous post) show that olive oil can lower your risk of heart disease by decreasing LDL cholesterol.  And there were significant benefits related to cardiovascular health reported in "The Seven Countries Study".

So there you have it.  The top 5 best supplements you can take to improve your health and protect your body against disease.  As always, you should consult with a physician to determine if nutritional supplements are the right choice for you.  For instance, Grape Seed Extract is a natural blood thinner and, as a result, could have negative effects with certain individuals.  Now that you have the information, ask yourself...how many are you taking?


Scott Huff is a professional marketer of pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  For more information on the specific products he markets, please visit our online store.  And if you are interested in seeing how easy it is to create a residual income simply by helping yourself and other become healthier, take our free video web tour where you can learn about this unique opportunity.  

Vitamins and Minerals in Food - Can you get what you need from eating?

I can get all the vitamins and minerals I need from the food I eat...as long as I eat right.  It is one of the most common objections you hear when it comes to taking nutritional supplements.  But is it true?

That depends upon how you define the word "need".  If what you need is to simply get the FDA's recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamins and minerals, then it is possible.  However, we also need to understand exactly what the RDIs are.  First of all, if you grab any packaged food and look at the Nutritional Facts on the package, you will see certain vitamins and minerals listed (depending upon the product you are looking at) and a percentage to the right of that ingredient.  This is the RDI.  Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT the maximum amount of that vitamin or mineral you should consume every day.

Instead, the RDIs (or RDAs) were designed to help prevent "classic diseases" such as scurvy, rickets, and beri-beri.  So, the RDI of Vitamin C is 60mg...the equivalent of (1) orange.  Researchers discovered 60mg of Vitamin C would prevent scurvy.  In fact, back in the 1700's British sailors would often take limes or lime juice on board to prevent outbreaks of scurvy.  Thus the term "Limey".  Getting the RDI of Vitamin D prevents rickets.  And the RDI of Vitamin A prevents beri-beri.

Now that we have the RDIs explained, we go back to the question of what you need.  If you simply want to make sure you don't come down with scurvy, then yes...the RDIs have done their job and you can do that by eating right.  However, if you want to obtain optimal amounts of vitamins and minerals, it becomes nearly impossible to obtain those amounts simply by eating right.

If you saw my previous post on Vitamin D you saw this first hand.  15-30min of direct sunlight gives you 15,000IU-20,000IU of Vitamin D.  To get that same amount by eating, you would need to consume about 30 cans of sardines, or 100-200 glasses of milk, or 500-1000 egg yolks.  Let's look at Vitamin E.  To get an optimal amount of 400IU of Vitamin E, you would need to consume 28.8lbs of spinach or 2.3lbs of almonds EVERY DAY.

Unfortunately, there is another factor at hand.  The food which is produced today has less vitamins and minerals than the food produced 100yrs ago.  This has been attributed to the processing of food today, as well as the amount of minerals which have been leached from the soil.

Due to these facts, many researchers are now recommending a multi-vitamin to "fill in the gaps" of one's diet.  Keep in mind, if you decide to take a multi-vitamin you should look for something which is pharmaceutical grade and NSF certified.  This way you are ensuring that you are getting those optimal amounts of vitamins and minerals, and that they will be absorbed into your body.  You may want to view my post All Supplements Are The Same to get more information on this.  Basically, if you are purchasing your vitamins from the local store down the road you may be throwing your money away.

If you are interested in seeking out a pharmaceutical grade supplement, you may want to click here and see if the supplements offered meet your needs.

To Your Health

Remembering 9-11

Taking a day away from my usual health posts today to remember 9-11.  Please keep all victims and heroes in your thoughts and prayers.  AND NEVER FORGET!!!

How Olive Oil Benefits Your Health

Did you know using olive oil in your diet may significantly decrease your risk of heart attack?  According to the Mayo Clinic, olive oil can lower your risk of heart disease by decreasing LDL cholesterol.  Furthermore, "According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consuming about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day may reduce your risk of heart disease.".

Back in 1958, a study called "The Seven Countries Study" was conducted by professor Ancel Keys.  Over a period of 10-years he studied the effects of diet and lifestyle on heart disease.  12,763 middle-aged men were selected from seven countries:   The U.S, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, and Finland.

When the results of the study were analyzed, some staggering results were found.  In areas where vegetables, grains, fruits, and olive oil were consumed, the risk of heart disease was rare.  In fact, the island of Crete in Greece showed a risk of heart disease 30-times less than those individuals in the U.S.

He also discovered that those same individuals in Crete obtained 40% of their calories from fat.  The main difference here, though, is that those fat calories came from fish oil and olive oil.  Lifestyle also played an important part in the differences as people from the regions where heart disease was rare were also more physically active.  However, he concluded that diet was the most important factor.

So if you want to decrease your risk of heart disease, you may want to consider adding the benefit of olive oil to your diet.  Or better yet, find a supplement which contains an olive oil extract.  Why?  Consuming 23g of olive oil (as the FDA recommends) not only would increase your daily calorie intake quite a bit, but it would also be quite costly and may be difficult to consume.  Imagine drinking a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Doesn't sound very pleasant.

To Your Health


Scott Huff is a professional marketer of pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  For more information on the specific products he markets, please visit our online store.  And if you are interested in seeing how easy it is to create a residual income simply by helping yourself and other become healthier, take our free video web tour where you can learn about this unique opportunity.

Vitamin D Benefits - Part 3 of 3 - Conclusions

In part 1 of this series, I showed you how deficient we are in Vitamin D.  How the sunlight significantly increases our vitamin D intake, and how the use of sunscreen decreases that intake by 90%.  We have seen how much food would need to be consumed in order to reach the same beneficial levels we receive via the sun.

In part 2 of the series, I gave examples of vitamin D benefits with regards to degenerative diseases such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and influenza.  In fact, I showed you a study from Japan which showed your risk of coming down with the flu was drastically reduced when supplementing with vitamin D vs. receiving a flu shot.  And I gave some examples of the negative effects of the H1N1 flu shot:  banned in Australia due to an increase in seizures and a 300% increase in narcolepsy in Finland and Sweden.

So where does that leave us?  The fact remains 40% of the population is deficient in vitamin D.  While it is possible to receive the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) every day, it is simply not enough.  Currently, the RDI is 400IU/day, and the FDA is currently looking at doubling that recommendation.  Compared to the 15,000IU-20,000IU we can receive from only 15-30min in direct sunlight when at its highest point in the sky.

So in order to receive these increased benefits, make certain you get some sun first before you put on the sunscreen.  After you have been out for 15-30min, then go ahead and reach for the lotion.  If you live in a northern climate, then it becomes important to supplement with a high quality, pharmaceutical grade vitamin D supplement during the fall and winter months.  Studies have shown that increased levels of vitamin D in the blood can help ward off the flu virus.  And given the apparent dangers of flu vaccines, this may be a better choice.  However, I want to make it clear that this is not my recommendation, simply my opinion.  You should make this decision for yourself.

I hope you received some benefit from this 3-part series on Vitamin D.  If anything, you have more knowledge to make better decisions now.

To Your Health

Scott Huff is a professional marketer of pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  For more information on the specific products he markets, please visit our online store.  And if you are interested in seeing how easy it is to create a residual income simply by helping yourself and other become healthier, take a free video web tour where you can learn about this unique opportunity.