The conversations around dietary supplements can be confusing. Which ones are safe? Which ones are effective? Any to avoid? Here are some resources you may find useful.
There is also the question of say, a supplement based on food fragments (curcumin and piperine) which is then passed off as turmeric. The supplement is likely to have negative (secondary) effects due to the extracts used rather than the whole foods from which they came.
The anti-inflammatory action is not only due to the extracted component as what remains of the turmeric root powder and the black pepper fruits provide synergistic and even protective activity such as antioxidant and adaptogenic qualities. Ingesting too much of the whole foods is practically impossible and highly unlikely.
Interesting too that a whole food turmeric product I brought onto the market (Karuah Activated Turmericâ„¢) and which includes seriously nutrition Indigenous Australian wild foods in freeze-dried form, addresses metaflammation, not just pain in joints. All my customers once took the chemical supplements but tell me that my formulation is far superior to their previous choices.
My simple 4-product range is based on the scientific research into the phytonutrients in wild foods and the fact that these foods supported the World's longest living culture in near ideal health. Traditional 'bush medicines' typically treated basic illnesses such as burns, headaches, cuts, wounds, irritations and gut ailments. Multiple studies on the paleoethnopathology of traditional, pre-agricultural cultures in Australia, Africa and the Americas reports "extremely rare" incidences of ischaemic heart disease, mental diseases, Metabolic Syndrome conditions and gout. This supports a significant protective role from their respective wild foods.
Another interesting area of supplement misuse is that of adding mineral calcium to synthetic vitamin D concoctions. The whole area of calcium being essential for healthy teeth and bones is a classic mis-direction by the dairy industry. Calcium is actually less essential than magnesium, vitamin K2, phosphate and the energy molecule ATP. Too much calcium has the negative effect of increasing magnesium excretion and reducing its absorption resulting in most of us in the developed world consuming 20 times more calcium than we do magnesium.
The net result is that cramped muscles, low energy (chronic fatigue), susceptibility to a host of mental and immune dysfunctions, osteoarthritis, gout, stones in different organs and ducts, various cancers and more, all have calcium calculi (granules) as the initial trigger to the condition.
Fortunately, a whole food nutrient booster exists that addresses these conditions too and again, has 65,000 years of use in Australia and less but still long histories of use in Asia, the sub-continent and the Americas.
Thanks so much for sharing this, Vic. I see your point here. The traditional use of plants in their whole form (chemically complex with hundreds of unique molecules) differs greatly from some dietary supplements that feature only one or a few isolated chemical compounds derived from plants. There is so much variation in the product market and much still to learn about safety and efficacy of both the ingredients and their different preparations.
I spend a small fortune on supplements, and as you know, the good ones are costly. I'd like to narrow my list down but don't know which ones I would give up.
This is such a great point, Paul. And you are not alone! Across the board, it is difficult to access information on which ingredients and which specific product formulations can give you the greatest benefit, or which could have a potential to harm depending on what other health conditions one has or which medications are taken. I wish I had a simple answer, but as with everything in science and medicine, nuance is key. There are a growing number of MDs who are being trained in integrative medicine and I'd recommend maybe a consultation with someone with this background.
There is also the question of say, a supplement based on food fragments (curcumin and piperine) which is then passed off as turmeric. The supplement is likely to have negative (secondary) effects due to the extracts used rather than the whole foods from which they came.
The anti-inflammatory action is not only due to the extracted component as what remains of the turmeric root powder and the black pepper fruits provide synergistic and even protective activity such as antioxidant and adaptogenic qualities. Ingesting too much of the whole foods is practically impossible and highly unlikely.
Interesting too that a whole food turmeric product I brought onto the market (Karuah Activated Turmericâ„¢) and which includes seriously nutrition Indigenous Australian wild foods in freeze-dried form, addresses metaflammation, not just pain in joints. All my customers once took the chemical supplements but tell me that my formulation is far superior to their previous choices.
My simple 4-product range is based on the scientific research into the phytonutrients in wild foods and the fact that these foods supported the World's longest living culture in near ideal health. Traditional 'bush medicines' typically treated basic illnesses such as burns, headaches, cuts, wounds, irritations and gut ailments. Multiple studies on the paleoethnopathology of traditional, pre-agricultural cultures in Australia, Africa and the Americas reports "extremely rare" incidences of ischaemic heart disease, mental diseases, Metabolic Syndrome conditions and gout. This supports a significant protective role from their respective wild foods.
Another interesting area of supplement misuse is that of adding mineral calcium to synthetic vitamin D concoctions. The whole area of calcium being essential for healthy teeth and bones is a classic mis-direction by the dairy industry. Calcium is actually less essential than magnesium, vitamin K2, phosphate and the energy molecule ATP. Too much calcium has the negative effect of increasing magnesium excretion and reducing its absorption resulting in most of us in the developed world consuming 20 times more calcium than we do magnesium.
The net result is that cramped muscles, low energy (chronic fatigue), susceptibility to a host of mental and immune dysfunctions, osteoarthritis, gout, stones in different organs and ducts, various cancers and more, all have calcium calculi (granules) as the initial trigger to the condition.
Fortunately, a whole food nutrient booster exists that addresses these conditions too and again, has 65,000 years of use in Australia and less but still long histories of use in Asia, the sub-continent and the Americas.
Thanks so much for sharing this, Vic. I see your point here. The traditional use of plants in their whole form (chemically complex with hundreds of unique molecules) differs greatly from some dietary supplements that feature only one or a few isolated chemical compounds derived from plants. There is so much variation in the product market and much still to learn about safety and efficacy of both the ingredients and their different preparations.
I spend a small fortune on supplements, and as you know, the good ones are costly. I'd like to narrow my list down but don't know which ones I would give up.
This is such a great point, Paul. And you are not alone! Across the board, it is difficult to access information on which ingredients and which specific product formulations can give you the greatest benefit, or which could have a potential to harm depending on what other health conditions one has or which medications are taken. I wish I had a simple answer, but as with everything in science and medicine, nuance is key. There are a growing number of MDs who are being trained in integrative medicine and I'd recommend maybe a consultation with someone with this background.
Thanks, Cassandra! That's a great idea.