Supplement Risk
Seth Isaacson • August 2, 2016
A Review of the Consumer Reports Article on Supplement Ingredients
You may have read the recent article in Consumer Reports, or heard the follow up from mainstream media outlets that raise strong concerns about 15 specific supplement ingredients (see link at the bottom of this article) . In light of this report, should you stop using supplements? The answer is “no”, if you want to attain optimal health. The real question is: which supplements should you take? The media attention is highlighting the inherent risks associated with the usage of nutritional supplements without the supervision of a licensed healthcare practitioner. Supplements are just that: supplemental to your daily dietary intake and they should be designed to support you and your individual needs.
Nutritional supplements are powerful tools that can have meaningful effects on the body, and many are tailored to support specific conditions and address individual challenges.
When we make a supplement recommendation, we are carefully considering the research on the quality of the manufacturer, dosage, potential to react with other medications, and duration of use. All of these factors play a role in the safe use of supplements and are part of our clinical management of your health.
I have been taking supplements personally for 20 years. I give my children daily supplementation to optimally support their health. I do not recommend any products in my practice that I would not take or give to my immediate family.
We carefully evaluate the safety and efficacy profile of the supplements we recommend. The supplements sold in our practice are professional grade—and they are designed for incorporation into a personalized nutrition protocol to achieve your health and wellness goals. As a healthcare provider, I have access to third party assessments of the quality of the professional grade companies that I utilize. Remember, companies that are selling directly to consumers (over-the-counter) are often competing on only one thing – price. Quality is not typically a priority.
I have visited the lab that formulates most of the supplements I use and recommend. I see the rigorous standards that every raw ingredient must pass as they come in. The manufacturers I use are GMP certified, meaning that they have passed a certification process that ensures good manufacturing practices. The company that formulates the majority of our supplements is triple GMP certified. This means they have three separate certification boards they must pass to attain this credential.
Another reason I trust the companies I work with, is that they are working with top universities to produce high quality, peer reviewed clinical trials for their products. It is easy to review the research and see for yourself the health benefits of the products. Of course, research is nice, but seeing results yourself is even better. With over 17 years of experience using supplementation in my practice, I see the results when the products are taken as recommended. I have daily feedback from my clients on the effectiveness of the products I use. This subjective improvement from my clients is great.
Even better is the objective improvements that we can measure through the science of our blood chemistry. When we measure outcomes of our nutrition by comparing lab results over a period of time, it’s hard to argue the benefits of the highest quality supplements.
As a partner in your health, it is my goal to guide you to products that are reputable, well researched, and safe. I feel a great responsibility with all the recommendations that I make. I always strive to recommend exactly what my clients need to reach their health goals. Nothing less, nothing more.
Here is the link: Consumer Reports Article
Click on the title below to see the full recipe: Herb Crusted Salmon Tuna Twist Eggs - Boiled: Soft, Gentle, Hard Eggs-traordinary Herb Roasted Turkey Breast Fast Salmon Turkey Talk Salmon Patties
Grains Quinoa - Basic Recipe Quinoa Berry Salad Fried Rice Quinoa Salad Forbidden Rice w/ Kalamata & Basil Black Rice Stuffing Forbidden Rice Pilaf Healthier Indugances - Savory Sausage & Sweet Potato Stew Chick Pea Snack Nuts Simple Hummus Waldorf Salad Stuffed Mini Peppers Spinach Pesto Kalamata Olive Bruchetta Topping Balsamic Reduction Healthy Indulgances - Sweet Detox Ice Cream Beet Smoothie Nut and Seed Brittle Spiced Baked Apples Berry Spiced Up Sauce Pumpkin Custard Avo-Choco Mousse Watermelon Salsa Lemon Drop Melon Martini w/ Blueberry Sorbet Frozen Desserts
Kale Salad Kale Chips Beet Green Saute Roasted Veggies Asparagus Roasted Cauliflower Warm Garlic Dressing Zucchini Noodles Alternative Veggie Smash Oven Roasted Tomatoes Roasted Brussels Sprouts Spaghetti Squash Riced Cauliflower Appetizers Crimson Slaw w/ Seaweed Roasted Cauliflower Soup Green Pasta Roasted Garlic Garlic Roasted Green Beans Caramelized Onions Butternut Bisque Braised Fennel Celeriac Bisque Herbed Greens w/ Warm Garlic Dressing Rosemary Skewered Zucchini Roasted Broccoli Root Veggie Salad Simple Baked Sweet Potatoes Refreshing Celery Salad Fennel Roasted Beets
Greetings SuperStars! Our goal is to help you stay aware of what is going on in the health world. We feel this is the best way for you to make the most informed decision for YOU and YOUR health*! Having said that, we are sharing some research which we hope will incite some thought and consideration. It is meant to bring awareness of changes happening in our world health leadership. Herd Immunity Will Help Us Avert the Next Pandemic As always, we appreciate you and are blessed by the opportunity to be a part of your health journey! *We do not stand on one side or the other with the vaccine decision. This is very personal and should be well thought out for each individual situation and based on many factors including health history, current health and immune conditions, and future health goals/concerns.
Always Working For You!! What have we done to improve our products and pricing for you? We have three great improvements to announce! First, our INHealth - Cal Builder ES . Microcrystalline hydroxyapatite is the most absorbable form of calcium and is a complete bone meal. This means the microcrystalline hydroxyapatite form of calcium has all the micronutrients necessary to make strong bones. We have always had this high quality form in our Cal Builder ES product. Now, we have an additional 5% in this product. That may not seem like a big difference, but we were able to do that all while reducing the price to you by 15%!! Yes, the price is reduced by over $7 a bottle! We first improved our Vitamin D options for you, and now we have improved our calcium. These, in combination, help to support the body to maximize strong healthy bones throughout our lives. The prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis are all too common in our country. Second, our INHealth - EPA:DHA 720 has been improved. High quality fish oils are not created equally. These products need to be of the highest quality. This includes every batch being tested after processing to ensure all the toxins have been removed and that the fatty acids themselves have not changed. Reports must be available for my review. The next important quality control piece is the shipping and handling of the product. We want to be certain of the freshness of every batch. We do not allow it to be shipped to our office over one of our hot summer weekends in Arizona! To help maintain the highest level of freshness, we recommend storing your EPA:DHA 720 in the refrigerator after opening. It is temperature stable, so having it a room temperature is not a problem, but do not leave it in the sun or in a hot car. Our EPA:DHA 720 contains 720 mg of EPA and DHA in every softgel. This is important! Many fish oils claim to have a high amount of omega 3 oils, that is great. But, how much is EPA and DHA? This is critical for our health. EPA in general supports cardiovascular health and DHA supports cognitive health. All are very anti-inflammatory. Best of all, we have the highest quality EPA:DHA currently available and have been able to reduce the price for you by over 11%! Yes, over $4.50 less per bottle! And finally, our B12 lozenges . We have switched brands to Tri B12 Synergy from Advanced Orthomolecular Research. This provides a pure product with three different active forms of B12. Active forms of B12 are necessary because many people have genetic differences which do not allow them to convert inactive forms of B12 to active forms in sufficient quantities the body needs to operate efficiently. Having three different active forms in one supplement ensures that regardless of your genetic differences we are able to support proper B12 levels. This, of course, also comes with a benefit in price of over 15% off the previous version. A savings of almost $5 per bottle! We are always working to provide you the highest quality products at the greatest value. This is made possible by your continuing support of our family owned small business. Thanks to you, our Super Star clients!
What can we do to maximize our health and minimize disease? How can we support our immune system so that it properly responds to potential infections, and diseases? These are ideal questions to be asking in the current health climate in our country. The answers are actually slightly different for each person, but there are underlying themes that apply to everyone. They come back to the basics that we need to support our health. First, we need to supply our body with what it needs to do its job! We need highly nutritious food that does not increase our inflammation. Inflammation, especially chronic inflammation that often accompanies poor food choices will cause our body to operate with less efficiency at the cellular level. This slows our immune response. What foods are the most inflammatory? Typically, simple sugars, alcohol, and dairy will cause significant inflammation in the body. Minimizing grains (many think of them as carbs, which is true), with the exception of the three major non-inflammatory grains is ideal. The non-inflammatory grains include quinoa, rice and oatmeal. Eat plenty of veggies, green veggies are the best anti-inflammatory foods we can eat. Fruits are good, but do contain sugar so we need to eat our veggies to fruits in a 3:1 ratio. This ensures we are not getting too much sugar. Clean proteins include fish, eggs, and turkey. Others can be eaten in small quantities and at less frequency. Sadly, our food supply is often limited in the amount of nutrient density it contains. This happens when we farm the same land for over a hundred years, but do not replenish all the nutrients necessary for our optimal health. This is where supplementation can benefit us. A good quality multivitamin with activated forms of nutrients, high quality EPA:DHA fish oil (there are vegan options too), and Vitamin D3 can go a long ways in supporting our basic health. All support the immune system and can help to minimize chronic inflammation. Specifically, Vitamin D modulates the innate and adaptive immune response. Deficiency in Vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmune dysfunction and increased risk of infection. Generally, we get Vitamin D from the sun, however I have never tested an adult to be in the ideal range on a blood test who was not supplementing. We need water! We often do not drink the proper amount of water in a day. The general guideline is to drink about half your body weight (pounds) in ounces of water. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, try to drink 75 ounces of water per day. This allows your body to operate efficiently at the cellular level. Even being slightly dehydrated has shown to reduce physical efficiency when exercising. The combination of proper hydration with exercise is a powerful way we can support the immune system. Moderate exercise has shown in the research to enhance the immune system. If you go beyond your limits, with prolonged or high levels of intense exercise, it can actually reduce your immunological response. Hormone changes are linked to immunosuppression through intense exercise, these same hormones are increased in a dehydrated state. The proper amount of water, coupled with moderate exercise is a great way to stay healthy. What about sleep? The proper amount of sleep is often overlooked. We try to get by on as little as our body will let us. If we have disturbed sleep in a night it can reduce our ability to process sugars by up to 30%. We have already discussed how sugar increases inflammation and reduces cellular efficiency, but it also provides a food source for pathogenic bacteria and other harmful microorganisms. This is clearly not supportive of good health and a strong immune system. However, if we do get the proper amount of sleep and our body gets to enjoy the proper stages of sleep through a night, we will produce Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and cytokines. HGH supports growth, cellular regeneration, and cell reproduction. Cytokines are a type of protein that targets inflammation and infection, supporting a healthy immune response. Chronic sleep loss has even shown to reduce the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. We need to support a healthy microflora in our body. Microflora?? What is that? These are all the healthy bacteria and microorganisms that live in our body and contribute significantly to our immune system and organizing a healthy immune response. Most of this is centered on healthy bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of our body, as this is a major way that pathogens can enter our system. However, healthy bacteria and other microorganisms can be found to play a role in the immune response in other areas too. This can include the mouth, the sinuses, our bronchial tubes and our lungs. If we have a respiratory challenge to our immune system, our microflora may be able to limit the potential infection in multiple ways. Possibly through limiting the ability of the pathogen to bind to a site and create a pathogenic colony, or by binding to the pathogen itself and staying bound until it passes out of the body. We can support a healthy microflora by doing all of the above listed things to support a healthy immune response. Sometimes, we may need to supplement proper probiotics which are the healthy bacteria themselves, or prebiotics that will be a food source for healthy bacteria. Either way, our microflora is critical to a healthy immune response. And last, but not least, we need to reduce our stress. Stress will cause our body to be chronically inflamed. As with other causes of inflammation, stress will reduce our body’s ability to mount a proper immune response. In a meta-analysis of over 300 research papers on stress and the immune system, depending on the type of stress we are experiencing, we will impact our immune system in different ways. Stress can even impact the health of our microflora. In summary, what can we do to support our overall health and immune system? Eat well, lots of veggies with some clean protein. Supplement your nutritional intake appropriately, this may include probiotics. Drink sufficient water. Get moderate exercise. Get enough quality sleep. Reduce stress. While nothing is a guarantee to maintain good health and never get sick. We can certainly optimize our health and support our immune system to respond appropriately when challenged with infection and disease. Links to products mentioned or associated with article: INH – Multi with Phytonutrients INH - EPA:DHA 720 INH – D3 5000 UF – Immune Booster Mushroom Immune Max UltraPotent C Powder Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/ https://ksi.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1222/2015/04/Immune-Function-and-Hydration.pdf https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-sleep-affects-your-immunity https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20020365 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056765/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/
Sugar! It is everywhere. Especially during the Holidays. Did you know: In 2011, beverage companies produced enough sugar drinks to provide an average of 45 gallons per American—or slightly more than nine 12-ounce cans a week?(1) WOW! How might sugar affect the brain? At what age might this pose the greatest risk for altering neurological development? Are our kids at risk for damaging their brain by eating too much sugar? Or, drinking it? There is a powerful connection between sugar and the brain. Let’s take a look first at when the brain develops. Then we’ll discuss critical matters pertaining to sugar and its effects on the developing brain. As a baby grows in the mother’s womb, there is significant neurological development. That is why healthy fat, specifically DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is an important part of the pregnant mother’s diet. This is also true during the first couple of years of life. DHA is a primary component in the structural development of the brain. DHA is required in all commercially sold infant formulas and should be part of a breastfeeding mother’s dietary intake. You would think that much of the developing brain would be maturing over the course of the young child’s life and that would be correct. What we understate with this view is the amount of brain development that occurs during puberty and adolescence. Different parts of the brain mature at different stages of development. In puberty and adolescence, the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are developing. The prefrontal cortex is a critical region for behavioral control and self-regulation. It does not reach functional maturity in humans until the early 20’s. During puberty and adolescence, the neurotransmitter dopamine is found in higher quantities regulating neuroplasticity (neurological learning) and aiding the brain to learn about reward behavior. This presents great opportunity and great risk in the life of a teenager. Their reward driven behavior will be neurologically established during this time of life. The hippocampus plays a significant role in memory, emotions and controlling the autonomic nervous system. In research, it has been shown that not only will diets high in saturated fat and refined sugars increase the risk of obesity, but it will also increase the risk for deficits in thinking, learning, and memory processing . This occurs through disruptions in neuroplasticity and altering of reward processing connections in the brain.(2,3) It is a fact that teenagers in the United States consume a high amount of sugar. In 2013, 27% of teens drank one or more soda a day, 19% drank two or more, and 11% drank three or more.(5) Results of research studies suggest that consumption of high levels of sugar-sweetened beverages by adolescents may impair neurocognitive functions affecting decision-making and memory, and may even put them at risk for developing mental health disorders.(2,3) The average American girl between the ages of 9-13 consumes an estimated 17.8 teaspoons of added sugar daily, slightly more than girls between the ages of 14-18 at 17.5 teaspoons per day. This represents the highest added sugar intake for females of any age group. For males the top sugar intake is estimated to be in 14-18 age range at 24.6 teaspoons of added sugar per day.(4) Added sugars are defined as any of the following: brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose.(6) While excess sugar clearly has a negative impact on neurological development, it is especially significant in the teen years. A healthy diet has shown to be beneficial to brain development. A systematic review of the clinical research on healthy diets in children and adolescence shows that higher quality diets improve executive cognitive functioning. This includes diets high in vegetables, fish, whole grains, and fruits. It also includes diets with proper macronutrient content. That means a balanced amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This information should be used to develop goals for healthy eating in children and teens. We do not expect perfection in our children and teens in regards to their eating habits. The goal is to minimize sugars, increase vegetable consumption, and eat healthy fats and proteins. This will serve to support proper neurological development, including memory function and behavior reward responses. Developing good habits as children and teens will ease the challenge of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for the rest of their lives. What a true gift to give for the holidays – something that will benefit them their whole life! Bibliography 1 Andreyeva T., Chaloupka, F. J., & Brownell, K. D. (2011). Estimating the potential of taxes on sugar sweetened beverages to reduce consumption and generate revenue. Preventive Medicine, 52(6), 413-6. 2 Reichelt, Amy C. “Adolescent Maturational Transitions in the Prefrontal Cortex and Dopamine Signaling as a Risk Factor for the Development of Obesity and High Fat/High Sugar Diet Induced Cognitive Deficits.” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 10 (2016): 189. PMC. Web. 28 Dec. 2016. 3 Reichelt, Amy C et al. “Impact of Adolescent Sucrose Access on Cognitive Control, Recognition Memory, and Parvalbumin Immunoreactivity.” Learning & Memory 22.4 (2015): 215–224. PMC. Web. 28 Dec. 2016. 4 NIH – National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Epidemiology and Genomic Research Program. Usual Daily Intake of Added Sugars. https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/diet/usualintakes/pop/2007-10/table_a40.html 5 Kann, L. et al. (2013). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States. CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6304.pdf 6 U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020. 8th Edition ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Accessed March 8, 2016. 7 Cohen, J.F.W., Gorski, M.T., Gruber, S.A., Kurdziel, L.B.F. and Rimm, E.B. (2016) ‘The effect of healthy dietary consumption on executive cognitive functioning in children and adolescents: a systematic review’, British Journal of Nutrition, 116(6), pp. 989–1000.
It’s the time of year when the holiday spirit touches all of us. We like to pass our blessings on to those who are in need. Thanks to you, our Amazing Clients, we have been able to team with one of our major suppliers of high quality supplementation and make a significant donation to Vitamin Angels. Vitamin Angels is a charitable organization that delivers nutritional support to millions living in at-risk and under served communities in 50 countries worldwide. Charity Navigator recognizes Vitamin Angels as an elite 4-star charity due to their financial transparency. More than 90% of their expenses go to bringing vitamins to those most in need. They facilitate safe births, aiding in the delivery of healthy babies, and provide vitamin A and tablets to children through age five. This gives developing young minds and bodies the tools to fight infectious diseases and parasites. As we know and teach at Isaacson Natural Health, the body must have what it needs in order to be healthy. Vitamin Angels is facilitating this around the world for the youth of tomorrow. We would like to thank you all for your support throughout the year. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!