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B-COMPLEX

Boost your B-12     Vitamin B-12 helps your central nervous system make myelin. This structure surrounds nerve fibers and insulates them from injury by antioxidants or physical stress (such as high blood pressure). Since vitamin B-12 is mainly found in meats and fish, a vegan diet usually does not provide enough. Without supplementation, there can be mood swings, memory loss, and mental fuzziness. If you are avoiding meat, take 3 to 100 micrograms of vitamin B-12 every day.

Fill up on folic acid.  Another frequently overlooked fact about vitamin B is that folic acid can enhance alertness and improve focus. Folic acid counteracts the amino acid homocysteine. If you aren't filling up with 12 servings of beans, fruit, green leafy vegetables, lentils, or whole-grain cereals seven days a week, take a supplement that provides 400 micrograms of this B vitamin every day.

Stir up your serotonin with vitamin B-6.  Vitamin B-6 helps your brain convert 5-hydroxytrytophan (5HTP) in the "happy chemicals" serotonin and dopamine. A basic fact about vitamin B-6 is that you can get enough from food alone if you eat bell peppers, cranberries, cauliflower, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, garlic, and tuna every day. If you don't, supplementing with 2 to 10 milligrams a day is enough.

Vitamin B-1 - thiamine.   Was the very first vitamin discovered by medical science. It is the famous cure for beriberi, the horrible paralytic disease of the legs and feet. Thiamine is an important part of the enzyme thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), which is essential for nerve cell function, energy production, and the metabolism of carbohydrate, fat, and alcohol. Deficiencies of vitamin B-1 are common in persons who suffer Alzheimer's disease.  An important fact about vitamin B-1 is that your cells can't use oxygen to store energy without it. Getting enough vitamin B-1 in your diet or from supplements is key to success in exercise programs and athletic activity.  It's hard to take too much vitamin B-1, but 50 mg a day is adequate for preventing deficiency. If you take a diuretic drug such as Lasix (furosemide) or if you take a drug for epilepsy such as Dilantin (phenytoin) , you may benefit from as much as 8 grams of vitamin B-1 a day. You should also be sure you get your B-1 if you eat a diet high in refined carbohydrates and sugars.

Vitamin B-2, also known as riboflavin, is especially critical to the mitochondria or "energy centers" of the cerebral blood vessels. Supplemental B-2 often relieves migraine. This nutrient is also a potent antioxidant and plays a role in the production of the brain's "pleasure chemical" dopamine. And if you don't get enough vitamin B-2, your body can't use vitamin B-6.

Vitamin B-3

In the 1930's nutritionists discovered vitamin B-3 was critical for preventing the "four D's," dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, and death.

Supplemental B-3 is used to lower cholesterol when statin drugs such as Lipitor, Zocor, and Mevacor are ineffective, and it also helps lower blood sugars in diabetics. The form of the vitamin called niacinamide has shown good clinical results in the treatment of hundreds of patients with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Results demonstrate improved joint flexibility, and reduced inflammation in those receiving supplementation over 12 weeks.

OMEGA-3

Recently omega-3 fish oil made headlines worldwide as scientists found it is more potent than statins like Lipitor or Zocor in reducing heart death, and that it may protect against Alzheimer's and reduce the need for medication for people with joint pain. This joins the many studies showing that omega-3 fish oil can boost children's IQ and focus, increase adult fertility, mitigate mood disorders, protect the aging retina, ease skin illnesses and reduce sunburns, thereby likely providing at least some protection against skin cancer.

With several decades and over 25,000 studies backing the benefits of omega-3s, it's recommended by the American Heart Association, the Arthritis Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the US Department of Health, among others.

What is omega-3?

Omega-3 is not just one substance but a family of several. Most common is ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), found in nuts, vegetables or flaxseed. The downside to ALA is that the body must take this basic alpha-linolenic acid and convert it to eicosapentanoic acid (EPA), nature's best inflammation fighter, and then to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is important for the correct architecture of cell membranes. Studies have shown that only 3% to 5% of ALA ingested is successfully converted to EPA and DHA; some people are disposed genetically or by serious illness or stress to be even less successful in this process. (Thus, if any of your patients insist on omega ALA substances such as flaxseed oil, you'll need to recommend that they ingest one to two cups a day to get a potentially proper dose of converted EPA and DHA.) The more potent and direct route is to ingest EPA and DHA directly, and these omega-3s are found only in fish and breast milk. Thus, everyone except nursing babies must get their omega-3 EPA/DHA from fish, either naturally eaten or taken as a liquid or capsule supplement.

How does omega-3 EPA/DHA work so well?

Most simply, it enhances the elasticity of the cell membrane, allowing cells to de-toxify and absorb nutrients more effectively. This elemental function allows all mammalian systems, nervous, skeletal, digestive, etc, to function at peak efficiency. In addition, omega-3 EPA/DHA is a strong inflammation fighter, counter-balancing the opposing effects of omega-6. While our ancestors probably ate nearly equal amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fats, most Westerners today consume 15 to 30 times more of the pro-inflammatory omega-6s from vegetable oils and processed food than they do the healthy omega-3s from sources like fish and nuts. 1 Since it's difficult for most people to reduce their omega-6 consumption, the omega-3 to -6 balance can most efficiently be restored by increasing the omega-3 intake. Chronic inflammation is now considered a main culprit of most chronic and debilitating diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer's, arthritis and macular degeneration.