Welcome to the current edition of Health and Healing News. Here you will find useful information on current health topics from Integrative Medicine Practitioner.

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This month’s edition:
Are Your Supplements Safe?
Optimal Health & Longevity

Many of the ingredients found in discount lines of nutritional supplements come from India and China where regulatory controls are severely lacking. Independent laboratory analysis reveals significant differences in purity and potency between herbs and vitamins from sources like China and India vs. sources like Europe, Japan, and the U.S. Arsenic, lead, mercury, and bacteria are commonly found in herbal and vitamin products from poorly regulated countries. But even some manufacturers who purchase raw materials from dependable sources will then add manufacturing lubricants like stearic acid and magnesium stearate derived from beef, palm oil, or cottonseed oil. These lubricants are not soluble in our bodies and they can interfere with absorption and promote allergic reactions over time. Shellac is often used, listed as "pharmaceutical glaze" or "film glaze." Mineral oils or refined vegetable oils containing disease-promoting "trans fats" are often added. The list goes on to include potential allergens like zein, talc, Propylene Glycol (antifreeze), and dyes.

At Health Naturals, virtually all of the nutritional supplements and a herbs we sell are manufactured with the highest quality and safety standards in the world. This also applies to all of our aromatherapy products, shampoos, lotions, and oral hygiene products. Whatever you put on your skin or in your mouth can get into your bloodstream -- therefore chemical fragrances, petroleum byproducts, and potential allergens should be avoided.

Health Naturals owner and resident Integrative Medicine Practitioners have spent much research time sifting through the clever marketing tactics, media politics, and conflicting research findings that permeate the natural health product industry. Ongoing endeavors in this regard continue to ensure that the Health Naturals will remain the preferred choice for safe, effective, economical, and properly utilized nutritional supplements and natural health products.

Why take unnecessary risks in safety and efficacy just to save a few dollars? Ironically, many people think they are saving money by buying the cheapest vitamins but this is rarely true. For example, cheap forms of calcium from oyster shell and calcium carbonate can cost half as much as calcium citrate-malate but are 5-10 times less absorbable. Some of the less expensive calcium products have also had the most trouble with lead and other heavy metal contamination. Similarly, many people have wisely started using "probiotics" like acidophilus to promote intestinal health. However, an independent analysis revealed that only 3 out of 12 "probiotics" actually contained what their labels claimed. Health Naturals only recommends probiotics that have an independent certification of what their labels claim.

There are many other examples that indicate the importance of obtaining full disclosure about the supplements you use. Why not ask the experts at Health Naturals to properly advise you regarding your use of nutritional supplements? Whether you just want an excellent multi-vitamin formula or you have a cupboard full of supplements you want to simplify, we can help. Whether you order by phone, internet, or in person you will enjoy the same excellent customer service and integrity.

Contact us for advice or more information on the supplements you're considering and/or currently using.

Last year the World Health Organization ranked the world's health systems and found that the U.S. spent more money per person than any other country but ranked 37th in quality of care. Tens of thousands of Americans continue to die from pharmaceutical drug toxicity while preventable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease continue to prematurely rob tens of millions of Americans of their lives. Most Americans consider themselves to be "in good health" if they do not have a disease, yet they tolerate a myriad of warning symptoms such as fatigue, weight problems, headaches, poor digestion, allergies, depression, eating disorders, unhealthy skin and premature aging. People who complain to their doctors about these and other symptoms are typically given drugs that add to the toxic burden of the patient while ignoring the underlying cause.

What are the major underlying causes of sub-optimal health in America? Here is what my colleagues and I have noticed after many years of helping many people.

1. Poor Food Choices - 95% of Americans are not educated to practice optimal dietary nutrition. Most people have been unknowingly led to believe they are eating well by dieticians and doctors who are controlled by the food and drug industries. Even independent nutritionists are often covertly promoting mass-marketing schemes. At Health Naturals we succeed by individually tailoring nutritional counseling based on unbiased science. We also know that as our patients' health improves they become more intuitively guided by instinct to make optimal food choices. We believe that self-empowering people to take charge of their nutritional health at their own pace ultimately leads to the most rewarding level of optimal health and longevity.
   
   
2. Improper Digestion - About 80% of the people we test do not produce enough stomach acid, including many who are using antacid medications. Through dietary changes and short-term supplementation this imbalance can be corrected. Proper stomach acid secretion is vital to digestion of protein, magnesium, and chromium, and for protecting against intestinal overgrowths of parasites, yeasts, and bacteria. Many health conditions originate in the G.I. tract.
   
   
3. Yeast/Fungus Complexes - Past exposure to antibiotics, birth control pills, steroids, excessive alcohol, or high sugar/starch consumption will gradually encourage normal levels of intestinal yeast to become invasive overgrowths. This taxes the liver and the immune system and causes or exacerbates symptoms such as sinus congestion, fatigue, depression, insomnia, headaches, skin problems, constipation, loose stools, sugar and starch addiction, allergies, "brain fog", and many others. This problem is so pervasive that the practitioners at Health Naturals have evolved to specialize in treatments for controlling the many species of Candida and other fungi that have been slowly degrading the health of the general population.
   
   Read more about Yeast/Fungus Complexes, their contributing factors, and associated symptoms.
   
   
4. Inadequate Water and Air - Science has proven that drinking and bathing in chlorinated water is unhealthy. A high quality shower filter and drinking water filter should be used. Non-pressurized filters like Brita^TM are inadequate. If you use diuretics like caffeine, alcohol, and sugar your water intake must be higher. Typical indoor air quality interferes with optimal oxygenation of the bloodstream and taxes the immune system. High capacity ionizer/ozonaters such as the Flair should be used with professional guidance to maintain health-promoting indoor air quality. Air filters alone are often inadequate. Many of our modern building materials and paints can 'off-gas' or emit chemicals such as formaldehyde for years.

Read other editions of Health & Healing News
The Truth About Calcium and Coral Calcium
The Dangers of Hidden Trans Fats