Complementary and integrative approaches

I have had good experiences with Nature's Made and Trader Joe's Trader Darwin's for women.  As far as I can see, they fulfill the list Luan published on how to choose a good product....and I have no idea why the lines jumped like that. Probably the smileys. 

Joan is right, dissovlability is an important issue with supplements. Some of them literally come out the way they go in, especially some of the low quality minerals. And some companies use petroleum as a binder. Yuck! Motor oil is for the car! One way to determine this is to put an apple slice in a glass of water with your supplement. Wait a day or two. If it turns black, it is motor oil. But they do not need to dissolve in a minute. They should however dissovle in 15-20. Usana uses tablets that are compounded with olive extract. They have a patent on this process and the amount of olive extract they use is equal to 30 mg of olive oil, adding to the antioxidants. They choose tablets because they maintain quality the longest and the olive oil keeps them from breaking down. Also, gel caps add another component to the digestion process and taking a lot of gel caps is not a good thing. The powders often break down quickly and use there potency unless they are sealed in serving size packs.

Merilee-According the Nutrisearch guide, Ortho Molecular gets great ratings 4-5 out of 5. Designs for health is unrated.

Athena-NatureMade products rate very low, 1-2 out of 5. Darwins is unrated.

There are only a handful of companies that manufacture supplements. Many stores have their brand made by the same companies, so essentially you get the same thing with a different label.

There are only 4 companies in North America that maintain pharmceutical standards for all their products. Two Canadian companies are Creating Wellness Alliance and TrueStarHealth. The US companies are Usana and Douglas Labs. I do not know anything about the Canadian companies or what brands they manufacture. Douglas Labs will manufacture private labels. Usana only manufactures under its own label.

You all really should invest in the Nutrisearch guide. I have learned so much from it. They explain how and why they rate each supplement on 18 criteria, from specific ingredients to viability, absorbability, etc.  The guide is also full of great info about why we need supplements and what they do for us. They do not charge companies for evaluations, so their conclusions are unbiased. Consumer labs charges companies so is not as good of a resource, though they also give Usana superior ratings.

USP is a good start, but they only rate on minimal food grade standards. The Nutrisearch Guide is a Canadian Publication that was started by a microbiologist and former member of the parliament, Lyle MacWilliam. He wanted to give athletes an unbiased way to judge whether their supplements were safe and would not result in their being dq'd, after Ben Johnson lost his medals. You can read about the guide at their website, but you cannot access the specific info there. You have to by the book. That is how they pay for their research. MacWilliam has also just completed a series of booklets on breast cancer prevention. I have not read them yet, but I am hoping to get around to ordering them. He supposedly did a ton of research and his guide has gotten raves from other cancer survivors on one of my forums.

Joan:

The vinegar in the water test is presumably to simulate the acidity of the stomach. But one expects food to stay in the stomach for probably 30 minutes to a couple of hours. How long is stays there depends on a number of factors. Anyway, unless you are taking your multivitamin alone on an empty stomach, it's hightly unlikely that it would make it's way through the stomach in one minute.

If your multivitamin dissolved in as little as one minute, there would be the chance that it would start to dissolve as soon as you put in your mouth as saliva is slightly acidic. Also if the tablet dissolves too soon, there is a likelihood that the bioavailability of vitamins will be affected due to damage from gastric juices and enzymes in the stomach. This is why many tablets have an enteric coating, the same function as the capsule body. This is to slow down the rate of breakdown until it reached the small intestine which is where most absorption occurs.

Also, the pH of the stomach is lower than that of vinegar. So I'm not sure what the idea is of diluting the vinegar for this test. I'm figuring no good multivitamin tablet would pass the test. So is this Russell Blaylock touting a multivitamin capsule or a low-quality multivitamin tablet without a coating?

Test sounds like pseudoscience to me. I searched for Blaylock and vinegar test and came up empty but this test doesn't stand up to basic science.

There is a place that does sensitivity testing in SoCal if your local oncs don't do it.  For me, it was unfortunately out of pocket, and it's pricey, but worth every penny, IMO.  They take a live tumor sample ... or ascites fluid if you have that instead ... and they divide it up and inject it with several different chemo cocktails then they can ascertain what YOUR cancer will, and won't, respond to.  Even if you don't want to stake your life on it, it's really useful info to know what WON'T work so you don't waste time with toxins that won't even kill your body's cancer.  It's called Rational Therapeutics and the onc there is Dr Robert Nagourney.

xxoo

Melissa

1Athena1 sez "I avoid the sun like the plague."

Why would you do that?  That's THE best source of Vit D3, hands down.  If you go out and expose as much of your skin as you legally can, for 15 minutes on each side if you're fair ... a little more up to 45 total if you're not ... it's so good and healing for you!  Then if you're gonna be outside all day, put on some sunscreen, but make sure it's not loaded with chemicals.  To be sure, go to the EWG website and check their Top 10 Sunscreens list.  I believe it's all this sunscreen hype that has our country in epidemic-proportions of low Vit D3.  Everything else on the planet ... and even the planet itselt ... depends on the sun.  Why should we be the exception that we don't need it and should avoid it?  The sun is life ...

xxoo

Melissa

Melissa, does one need a script for the ioderal ?

 when you are freckled and 55.... you wear a hat at least.  I am starting my D3 again.. Had to go off it for a while.. I was taking too many pills it seemed.

There is a lot of controversy about what an adequate intake of Vit. D3 is. There is agreement that the old 200-400 IU guidelines need revision, so doctors will generally recommend 1-2,000 IUs/day. HOWEVER, I believe those recommendations are more like educated guesses and that they do not apply to people with a history of BC. The problem is that there is no consensus on what the best dose for those of us who post here would be.

I don't go by dose; I go by blood tests. So after looking at all the research, which contradicts itself every second, I am opting to be at between 60-100 and my onc is fine with that. I have noticed that I have no muscle aches or cramps, which I used to have before I started supplementing and my levels were in the 30s. What being at 60-100 means for you or me in terms of how much daily D3 intake is needed could vary. If you go out in the sun, you will need less. But I, personally, need 10,000/day to stay at 80-95.

I take about 2000 IU/day Mon/Wed/Fri since last time I tested I was at 99 so the PCP said to back off a bit, since I live in FL.  I am testing again in another month so we shall see.

...Hence the wisdom of the vanity approach. It is simple and unambiguous (no sun = no wrinkles and good skin quality). Because in the health world, too much sun and you get skin cancer, not enough and you get BC. 

..."Because in the health world, too much sun and you get skin cancer, not enough and you get BC"

This statement depends on what resources you choose to believe/trust. 90% of sunscreen sold, IMO and based on the resources I trust, is toxic and cancer-causing.

Thanks Luan... And...think about it: when we were children, we didn't use sunscreen - never even heard of it. Back then I NEVER heard of anyone having skin cancer, asthma, AHD, autism, and the list goes on and on! And back then, cancer wasn't a national EPIDEMIC. In fact, a friend was recently dx'd w/throat cancer, non-smoker. (Sadly, he died 2 weeks ago at the age of 51.) His path report indicated his throat cancer tumor contained skin cancer cells! OMG... AND...there have been several articles in Science Daily that claim BC may actually be a form of skin cancer. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...definately makes me wonder.  

You'll appreciate this article pertaining to sunscreen (I call it deathcream):

http://products.mercola.com/summer-survival-kit/?source=nl

My father who is 85, has spent his whole life on his boat, no sunscreen for him or even sunglasses lol, is healthier than a bull !

Smoker, liked his scotch....