23/10/10
With the market awash with health supplements it’s hard to know what works and which ones to buy. What vitamins are going to work the best for you and what to look out for to ensure you get the best bang for your buck.
(1) Size that Matters:
Look closely at the back of the vitamin supplement label and you’ll see that some will say the contents listed are for each pill or capsule.
Others will use the word “serving”. Be careful of this approach – a “serving” is an unethical way of duping the consumer. So be wary when the fine print says:
“Each serving contains blah blah”. And then with an asterisk and often finer print at the bottom of the list of ingredients, it tells you: “* each serving
represents 6 pills” – or something similar. What’s stated as the contents on the bottle should be what’s in each capsule or if they recommend taking six
pills that should be their dosage and made very clear that the contents reflect the amounts and weights in the pill multiplied by six. That’s a lot to
swallow too and what paid for may end up being only one month’s supply, instead of the expected three months for instance – so check the ratio’s carefully.
(2) Country of Origin:
The back of the label also makes it clear where the products are made and manufactured. If it isn’t stated at all, then avoid purchasing this product.
It may contain synthetic vitamins, which can cause stress on your liver or be imported from countries without comprehensive manufacturing standards or GMP
certifications.
The flip side is the health supplements may come from another country and the vitamins are very well certified. But you are paying a premium for importing
the product. This means additional mark up in costs for exchange rates, freight and handling agents or middle-men before it gets to a retailer near you!
So the value of what you are actually taking may not match the actual cost of the contents in the bottle.
(3) Quality not Quantity:
It’s not about the quantities of various ingredients in a given vitamin, but the quality of the health supplement itself that matters most. Let’s face it,
you can only fit so much in a pill! More is not necessarily good for you and again, can cause stress on your internal organs by over dosing on certain vitamins.
It’s about getting the right balance between various ingredients to deliver the most effective outcome for your overall health and performance. The careful
blending of the right combinations of supplements is the key factor. It’s also about being in tune with your body’s needs and making sure that the active
ingredients are the ones you hope to get the most benefit from. You wouldn’t take a headache pill for a heart condition, similarly with vitamins. You don’t
take anti-inflammatory MSM if you wanting to raise energy levels and need to focus more on antioxidants and the full range of B vitamins.
(4) Quick Fix:
Because we are used to taking a few pills to “fix” everything from a headache to depression, we expect the same quick fix from vitamins.
It’s worth remembering that health supplements need to be regularly taken for at least three weeks so your body and brain, can adjust and respond to the
regular supply of potentially missing nutrients. Because these ingredients are natural and don’t have the chemical advantage of locking into your cells
for a long period of time, vitamins need to build up in your system before you really start reaping the benefits.
Vitamin supplements are naturally occurring ingredients already within your body but may be in very low ratio’s due to a range of lifestyle issues. The
efficiency and levels of vitamins in your body can be compromised by over indulgence in stimulants like alcohol and coffee, or smoking but one of the key
vitamin destroyers in your body is stress. This can burn through your normal vitamin levels and leave you exhausted, sleepless, and underperforming.
Managing stress levels can make a huge difference to your sense of well being, and have a greater impact than taking health supplements. But vitamins
will maintain a nutrient level you require to perform at your best, and choosing a supplement rich in all the minerals, antioxidants and amino acids that
you may miss in your regular diet, will help you cope with the day to day pressure of work and life in general.
(5) Fillers and Encapsulating Aids:
Be aware too, that some health supplements require fillers or excipients to keep the powders in capsules evenly distributed during the production process.
If you look at the fine print, again on the back of the label these are sometimes listed. I have even found a locally produced vitamin that that had “talc”
listed as an encapsulating aid – which I find unacceptable.
Some manufacturers, and I have noticed this with some high profile imported products too, use Calcium in various different forms to pump up the volume in
their pills. Just a word of warning here, recent research has indicated that certain types of calcium tend to sit in your bloodstream and increase your
risk of hardened arteries and can contribute to your risk of stroke.
Again, some of the elements in health supplements can overload your kidneys and cause undue stress on your body when trying to process them. It’s best to
stick to the recommended dosage on the bottles and not “self-medicate” with a range of different vitamins as you could be inadvertently causing toxicity
in your system. It’s always wise to seek the advice of your health professional if you are unsure or have a persistent ailment. When taken correctly,
vitamins are a support to preserve and enhance your health, not something to be taken like medicine and will not ‘cure’ specific illness.
(6) Product Credibility:
Any quality health supplement will have the necessary certifications and be a registered GMP manufacturer (good manufacturing processes). They will be
open and transparent in their dealings and communications with you, via email, telephone or on various social media (Twitter, Face Book etc). They will
also have a qualified Naturopath, Bio Chemist or Pharmacist, or similar, on their team who oversees and signs off the formulations. You can do a search
and check up on their background and qualifications if necessary. The products themselves should have clear readable ingredients both in names and weights.
Each product should also have a bar code and expiry date and batch number in keeping with GMP standards.
If you want a health supplement that meets all these quality standards, and more, consider the vitamins offered at www.healthscript.co.nz
18/10/10
Health Script Ltd, based in New Zealand, has launched its new customized range of vitamin supplements – with a difference.
“We’ve always taken vitamins, and are passionate about the industry but we were increasingly disappointed with the quality of some vitamins we were taking,” says
General Manager, Nicky Webber, “so we decided to design our own. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy. But today we have the Health Script AM PM Dual Pack,” she
explains.
In a saturated and very competitive market, not to mention the lingering recessionary blues – what makes a couple of entrepreneurs decide to tackle the vitamin
sector?
Nicky and husband, Hallam Webber, believed they could offer nutritional supplements with a difference. They decided to split the vitamins into a morning formula
called AM Feel Alive to boost energy and a completely different formula for the evening, called PM Relax & Sleep to promote relaxation and a good night’s sleep.
This resulted in 35 ingredients to boost your body and mind over a 24 hour cycle.
After undertaking exhaustive research over the past 12 months
to ensure that the latest nutritional research and scientific updates were taken into consideration, both Nicky and Hallam came up the morning and night formulae.
“We knew it was something different and we knew it would take some learning for consumers to understand that quality vitamins in the right combinations can have
very different effects on the body,” Nicky says. She explains how some imported brands cost three times the price and present the same combination of ingredients
in the morning and in the evening. “It just didn’t make practical sense to us. Why take energy boosting vitamins in the morning and the same again at night when
you want to unwind and sleep?”
Health Script then partnered with one of the largest vitamin manufacturing companies in New Zealand and signed up with Rob Martin, a very experienced Naturopath
to oversee the formulae they had designed. After several meetings and tweaking of the contents, the AM PM Dual Pack was born. “It was an exciting time for us.
Finally many months of testing and trialing out everyone else’s vitamins had resulted in something new. We had a unique approach to how people should take vitamins
and what worked best to delivery the best results at opposite times of the day,” she says.
When reviewing other products and brands they decided to really go for the mineral rich combinations and their products offer more than double the anti aging
antioxidants of many other leading brands. Health Script plans to roll out a range of targeted vitamin supplement products over the next six to 12 months.
“We will be applying the same focus on delivering the maximum benefit, at an affordable price and ensure the research backs up the efficacy of each new
Health Script product,” she says.
Health Script has a real focus on high quality and the Dual Pack offers gluten and dairy free easy-to-swallow vegetarian capsules made and manufactured to
the highest GMP quality standards here in New Zealand.
The next focus was on the brand design and marketing and that has been quite a journey too. Health Script hired marketing consultants, Sm4rt Services, to
deliver the trendy, contemporary look and feel of the Health Script brand. It certainly stands out from the crowd. “Everyone keeps saying to us to supply
retail outlets, as the deep indigo blue bottles and sharp label designs really attract attention,” says Nicky. “But we want to keep product costs down so
are focusing on selling our products online for now, and delivering a good customer experience too.”
9/10/10
What works?
There are various Antioxidants and anti-aging supplements on the market but which one is going to give you the most benefits? Added to the mix are health
tonics boasting potent Resveratrol or Grape Seed Extract. But check the quantities and where the ingredients in the formulae are sourced – if you can! Some
contents state in small print that the quantities relate to a “serving,” which can mean 2 pills and in some cases as much as six, in one brand we tested.
Quality Supplements
We were so disappointed with the quality and the quantity of some vitamins we were taking, we decided to design our own. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy.
But today we have the Health Script AM PM Dual Pack. Compare the amount of healthy aging antioxidants we have in
AM Feel Alive formula – 6,000mg of Grape Seed Extract
along with Vitamin C, Papaya Extract and Bioflavonoids, in a mineral rich combo to boost energy levels.
Being over 50 means I am concerned about getting my body to function at its best – which takes an ever increasing commitment these days. Do I get those
5+ a day of fruit and veggies? Do you? – and if you do, is your body still functioning at an optimal level to absorb all the nutrients you need from your food intake?
Average Diet Woes
Let’s face it - all is not well in the average diet and feeling tired, listless, lacking energy and just drained makes me head straight back to health supplements.
Of course you need to take them regularly every day to reap the benefits. I read some years ago that some vitamins will actually keep you awake at night – so if you
forget to take it in the morning – DON’T take them before you go to bed. Of course not all vitamins have this effect, but you need to be a pharmacist to really know –
certain vitamin B’s and some other key elements can add to a restless night’s sleep
Day and Night Formulae
So that’s why we developed a nutritional supplement that’s split across the day…..and night.
Health Script’s morning AM Feel Alive formula has all the get up and go vitamins
and the PM Relax & Sleep has the ingredients that encourage calmness, relaxation and a good night’s sleep.
You would’ve heard how some vitamins are just washed out of your body if you take too much. So we have worked very hard to deliver the maximum potency in each vegetarian
capsule to give you the best results. This also applies to the PM Relax & Sleep formula – the 11 ingredients have been selected to deliver the maximum efficacy so your
body can de-stress, relax and feel restored after a good night’s sleep.
For more information and research around each ingredient in these formulae see our Vitamin Guide at www.healthscript.co.nz and sign up here on Grownups to be in to win a
FREE Dual Pack AM PM of health supplements.
http://www.grownups.co.nz/read/health/health_wellbeing/adv-health-script
There’s a draw every 21 days up until Christmas so you have four chances of winning a Dual Pack with an online value of $80.00 for 120 vegetarian capsules.
7/10/10
Many people struggle to reset their body clock and get the sleep they need when they need it. This is particularly difficult for travelers on long haul
flights and night shift workers. Lack of sleep has really serious impacts on medical professionals who work nights and need shut eye while the rest of us
are up and at it. Without the right sleep routine, you’ll suffer from exhaustion, depression, anxiety, stress or that general brain fuzziness associated
with lack of sleep. Let’s have a look at a couple of areas more closely:
Jet Lag: This is such an appropriate phrase – your biological clock lagging behind the speed of a jet plane! The roaring pace of the engines is at lunchtime,
and body and mind are lagged back at 2am. That awful groggy time warped fog firmly surrounding the half asleep slug you morph into at 30,000 feet!
Long haul flights mean the problem is exaggerated – Zombie status in the custom queues – it’s a miracle of modern times that anyone manages to find their
connecting flights! It’s not just jet lag that’s a problem, but a complete time warp that lasts anything from 3 to 7 days after arriving at my overseas
destination. I want Wheetbix at midnight and a roast lamb dinner for breakfast washed down with a cheeky little merlot. Try ordering that from the stewardess!
Night Work: There is another whole world out there working long hours throughout the night, while the rest of us are fast asleep. Medical and rescue
professionals, those jolted out of bed for emergencies as well as various factory workers, newspaper publishers, hospitality or hotel industry staff.
So staying awake during the night to function effectively, especially when someone’s life depends on it, is as critical as ensuring you can get yourself
in to a satisfying sleep during the daylight hours.
There’s all those tricks too, of blacking out windows, wearing ear plugs, threatening the kids about noise when they return home from school…..but is
there something else that could take the edge off and ensure better functioning during the night and better sleep during the day?
How to Recalibrate? You can help your brain switch off and get to sleep in the right time zone after flying, or fall asleep during the daylight hours
after a hard night’s work, with some good health and herbal supplements that promote sleep during the daytime and others that are energy boosting at night.
This was one of the reasons Health Script designed the AM PM Dual Pack. The unique formula of PM Relax & Sleep promotes sleep in an easy, non-addictive
way, with no morning after chemical hangover. The combination of 11 herbs, minerals and vitamins are designed to help re-establish your sleep pattern.
In effect you are literally re-training your sleep routine, so you do need to take them for about a week to establish the new sleep pattern.
Sometimes 2 capsules to start with and after a week to ten days cutting back to one will allow your body and brain to recalibrate your sleep routine.
So if you take 1 to 2 capsules when going to bed for the day, at say 9am for instance, you will shift your body clock to this new routine. Then in the
evening when you wake and are eating your first meal before heading out for the evening’s work, try 1 to 2 AM Feel Alive with the 24 energy boosting
ingredients to help kick start your night! It helps with mental clarity too and gets you through a demanding busy night’s work.
Let Supplements do the Work: The key active ingredients in PM Relax & Sleep are Valerian which you’ll see in a lot of sleep supplements, but the real
action happens with the clever combining, of this natural sleeping herb with 5 HTP – a naturally occurring amino acid, that raises the serotonin levels
in your brain, acting like a mild anti-depressant, encouraging your body to relax and your mind to unwind.
Combined with the other ingredients, magnesium and calcium, as well as 600mg of B6, ensures you get to sleep and stay asleep. Glutamine and L-Carnitine
L-Tartrate help rejuvenate your body at a cellular level while you sleep, so those aching joints and muscles, after being concertinaed into a space fit
for a squirrel, (I don’t care what the airlines advertise, it is still too small), you body gets a chance to recover overnight.
I find vitamins useful when we go onto daylight saving too – that loss or gain of an extra hour really takes a week or so, to get used to. So I take them
temporarily to recalibrate my body clock for a good nights sleep!
How Much to Take: If you just need to take the edge off, take one PM capsule about 30 minutes before going to sleep. Avoid stimulants, including coffee
and alcohol, which will interfere with the delicate herbal formula’s effectiveness. But if you have a history of insomnia, or weigh over 80kg’s take two
at night, before bedtime with some water. Within about 3 days you should be experiencing improved sleep at the time you want it!
What Customers are Saying: But don’t take my word for it, see what people are saying in recent customer feedback: www.healthscript.co.nz/feedback
Sweet Dreams!