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Regular supplement reviews
can be as simple
as surfing the Web
or visiting your health food store
by Mike Danielson
Most of us who have passed our 30th birthday, and then were surprised by how quickly the 40th came up on us, may also have noticed that our conversations with friends tend to include personal health issues on a much more regular basis.
In the last five years my friends and family have developed more interest in their health. They’ll ask me, “Mike what is it you do again? Isn’t it something to do with supplements and marketing?” This is usually followed by, “What supplements do you take?” or “What do you think of (this or that) supplement?”
I really enjoy talking about what’s new in the industry, clinical research and my favorite topic—how the media decimates health and medical news. Most of all, I think it’s a great blessing that more and more people are feeling comfortable about educating themselves and taking responsibility for their own health care.
Recently a friend and client of mine (who does not work in the natural products industry) had a double bypass. It was diagnosed when he thought it would be neat to have “one of these body scans.” “What do I have to lose?” he thought. He believed it would just confirm that his healthy lifestyle of eating right and daily jogging was serving him well. After his surgery, he resumed his healthy diet and exercise program and added supplements to his regimen.
My friend has the luxury of shopping for supplements without concern for cost, so he found help in an individual who represented himself as a personal nutritional consultant (who also happened to have a custom line of supplements). He was assured that he was getting the highest quality, most complete and ideal mix for his current situation. Like most people, my friend then went on autopilot, thinking to himself, “I just add the pills to my daily program and all my bases are covered.”
Over lunch one day he told me with great pride about his daily supplement regimen. Although it incorporated many of the important supplements for his needs, most of them were incomplete.
Among other things, he was taking a natural vitamin E. Having reviewed the research on the topic, I suggested that he consider a natural mixed tocopherol and palm tocotrienol complex. I referred him to a couple of studies, along with a great Web site on the right vitamin E, www.tocotrienol.org. We then reviewed his carotenoid mix and confirmed that his was primarily made with synthetic materials. For example, the lycopene he was taking to help with his oxidized LDL was not natural so it did not contain the other phytonutrients found in the tomato-like phytoene and phytofluene. These phytonutrients need to be present in order to get the true benefits my friend had been reading about. I referred him to the only published human clinical trial suggesting he visit www.lycopene.com
We continued to review the balance of his supplement program, making a few additions like grape seed extract with 90 percent polyphenols and pantethine. After he explored the materials I suggested and did some additional Internet research on his own, he told me he was thankful for the advice. He now reviews his supplement regimen every six months, for his own peace of mind. I applauded his efforts, telling him, “At least you’ll know that the supplements you are taking actually work. And if you pass
some of this information along, who knows how much time you can save your friends.”
Mike Danielson is a marketing consultant to the natural health industry.
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