Vitamins and supplements like melatonin and fish oil offer health benefits but can cause side effects if misused. Learn about the impact of saw palmetto on blood pressure and find the best multivitamins for young women and adults over 50.
Your body needs small amounts of many different minerals to work properly. A lack of iron in your body can cause an iron deficiency, which can cause you to lose your appetite. However, low iron levels can also leave you feeling fatigued, making it harder for you to burn calories through exercise, hampering weight loss.
Read more →
When you hear the word calcium, bone health is likely your first thought. No doubt, calcium is a key component of strong bones but its presence in your muscles enables movement.
Read more →
Hemp protein contains healthy nutrients for the body. It contains significant amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. It also contains 21 amino acids, including all of the essential amino acids.
Read more →
Alfalfa is Arabic for “father of all foods,” and it was used by Arabs as food for themselves and their horses for many centuries. They believed that eating alfalfa or drinking its extract as a tonic made people and animals stronger and healthier.
Read more →
Evening primrose oil and omega-3s are different types of essential fatty acids. Evening primrose oil falls under the heading of omega-6 fatty acids, which, like omega-3s, are not manufactured by the body. You must get these essential acids from your diet.
Read more →
Arginine is a non-essential amino acid that is important to may different bodily processes. Arginine HCL is a synthetically manufactured form of arginine that combines the amino acid with a hydrogen chloride molecule, and can be found in either powder or capsule form.
Read more →
Vitamin C is a nutrient and antioxidant that your body uses for purposes that include protein processing, neurotransmitter production and the formation of a type of tissue called collagen. Use of this vitamin does not appear to raise the sugar, or glucose, content of your blood.
Read more →
Children's vitamins can provide extra nutrition and fill in the gaps in your child's diet, but they may not be best to take during adulthood unless your doctor recommends it.
Read more →
Children need to get enough zinc to grow and develop properly. The nutrient helps the body make proteins and DNA, and also helps the immune system fight off bacteria and viruses. While most children in the United States can get enough zinc through diet alone, supplementation may prove useful in some circumstances.
Read more →
Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that plays a critical role in the growth, development and normal function of the brain. Research also suggests that omega-3 can reduce inflammation and lower the risk of heart disease, arthritis and certain types of cancer.
Read more →
Wheatgrass, chlorella, spirulina and barley grass are all plants that can be taken as supplements, pills or in juice form. Incorporating these foods in the diet can be part of a healthy diet, but the purity of ingredients in supplements are not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Read more →
If the onset of a cold has you reaching for the vitamin C bottle, you may want to think twice. Vitamin C, an essential water-soluble vitamin not stored in the body, has a reputation as an immunity booster that can help fight off viruses. This may be true, but possibly only under certain conditions and at certain doses.
Read more →
Carnitine tartrate is the supplement form of carnitine, a substance that plays a role in energy production. Your body typically makes enough carnitine to meet its needs. Therefore, it's not necessary for healthy adults to take carnitine supplements, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements.
Read more →
Brahmi and gotu kola are popular herbal supplements used to treat Alzheimer's disease and memory loss. However, there is some confusion because some herbalists also refer to gotu kola as "brahmi."
Read more →
Zinc is an essential trace mineral and you must obtain zinc through your diet either from foods or supplements. In other words, your body does not naturally produce zinc. According to “Zinc in Adolescent Growth,” zinc is the most abundant trace mineral in your body and can be found in all of your cells.
Read more →
Your adrenal glands are small but important organs that sit atop your kidneys. They produce hormones your body needs to function properly, including dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, which is needed to produce male and female sex hormones.
Read more →
Look, if vinegar -- specifically apple cider vinegar -- was as beneficial to your health as suggested by the many claims you run across, it would have been marketed long ago by Eli Lilly instead of H.J. Heinz. That doesn't mean that all the claims are bogus.
Read more →
Folic acid, or vitamin B-9, is one of the water-soluble B-complex vitamins that is essential for numerous body functions, including DNA replication and repair as well as cell division and growth.
Read more →
Iodine is an essential mineral, and although practitioners often have differing opinions as to whether iodine supplements are necessary, a high percentage of people are iodine deficient, according to Dr. David Brownstein, author of “Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It.
Read more →
Vitamins and minerals are digested, broken down and absorbed similarly in your body. There are a variety of vitamins and minerals you need in your diet to support each and every function. Vitamins are organic compounds made by plants, animals and humans.
Read more →