I know you share my experience: You stand at the store in the vitamin aisle, and suddenly everything you thought you knew flies out of your brain. There are hundreds of supplements in front of you, vying for your attention and
your pocketbook. You read some labels. You compare some costs. And you choose something, not at all sure if it's exactly the right thing.
Maybe you decide on a multi-vitamin, or a nutritional supplement. Maybe it is an antioxidant, or something that's supposed to help your joints. Is it for your memory? Your energy level? Is it for your gender, for your age, your stage in life? There are so many questions and so many combinations possible that sometimes it takes an expert to cut through all the confusion.
Dr. Andrew Weil takes a multivitamin, Vitamin D, magnesium, Juvenon and Co-Q-10. He is an author of several books and the director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.
Dr. Christiane Northrup takes an antioxidant supplement, fish oil, calcium, magnesium, Co-Q-10 and Vitamin D. She is an author and an expert on menopause.
You can read their explanations of what they take and why, along with the choices of more experts, at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/11/13/ep.vitamin.primer/index.html
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Virginia, those are wonderful resources. I opened each of the sites up and searched for practitioners within 10 miles of my zip code and found several in each search, including a list of their specialties.
I was very interested to learn about functional medicine; this is something I haven't heard of before, but it makes SO much sense. For others like me who aren't familiar with it, here's the definition of functional medicine they give on the web site:
"Functional medicine is personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease. It is a science-based field of health care that is grounded in the following principles:
-- Biochemical individuality describes the importance of individual variations in metabolic function that derive from genetic and environmental differences among individuals.
-- Patient-centered medicine emphasizes "patient care" rather than "disease care," following Sir William Osler’s admonition that "It is more important to know what patient has the disease than to know what disease the patient has."
-- Dynamic balance of internal and external factors.
-- Web-like interconnections of physiological factors – an abundance of research now supports the view that the human body functions as an orchestrated network of interconnected systems, rather than individual systems functioning autonomously and without effect on each other. For example, we now know that immunological dysfunctions can promote cardiovascular disease, that dietary imbalances can cause hormonal disturbances, and that environmental exposures can precipitate neurologic syndromes such as Parkinson’s disease.
-- Health as a positive vitality – not merely the absence of disease.
-- Promotion of organ reserve as the means to enhance health span."
After reading about their whole-body approach to such things as hormonal imbalances, inflammation, the immune system, digestive and structural imbalances, it made me want to know more. What is a functional medicine checkup like? Blood tests, I am sure, and a patient history, but how else is it different than traditional medicine?
December 8, 2008 - 9:55amThis Comment
Diane P, you bring a great point. The nutraceutical industry is very profitable and as Americans contribute to that market share by purchasing more and more supplements to stay healthy, we also have contributed to producing the most expensive urine!
Selecting the right supplement and/or vitamin is not an easy task. It is important to understand the quality of the products but also to consult a healthcare practitioner such as a Naturophatic Doctor (ND) who more than likely has a better training on vitamins and supplements than your average physician. There are so many vitamin companies out there now and so many supplements, how do you know what you need? I suggest asking a well-trained practitioner to run a baseline test for supplements and minerals. This tests are not always covered by insurance but it is a good way to only take what your body may be lacking. Nothing replaces a well-balanced diet, exercise and stress management techniques. But unfortunately most people are not getting a lot of the minerals through natural sources as the soil is very depleted.
There are a couple of organizations that can help people find a practitioner trained on vitamins and supplements, who also understand the industry and knows which brands are better. Here they are: www.acam.org and http://www.functionalmedicine.org/
December 5, 2008 - 10:25pmThis Comment