Understanding Supplements

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, about 52% of adults in the United States reported using nutritional supplements in 2011-2012, among which 1 in 3 (31%) people took multivitamins.  However, there remains a lot of confusion about which supplements are of real value to our health.  At the Natural Health Solutions Center, we use Applied Kinesiologic Testing to confirm the benefits of various supplements for our clients prior to their use. This testing system is common to Naturopathic Physicians and many Herbalists.  Through this system, we have been able to confirm that well-made supplements from good companies do have many important benefits to health.  However, there are also many poorly made supplements that do not offer significant benefits.  Applied Kinesiologic, or Muscle Response, Testing allows us to tell the difference. 

Multivitamin & Mineral Supplements

For example, most vitamin-mineral supplements are made from chemicals derived in part from coal tar.  While the components of these supplements may fit the chemical description for Vitamins A, B, C, D, etc., these are not in a form that your body can use.  So, when we test our clients on them, they usually test slightly negative (commonly from 0 to minus 20% strength change) on these synthetic supplements.  When we test them on our whole foods base Vitamin-Mineral Supplement (Life Force by Source Naturals), it will almost always test between 50 and 100% positive strength increase.  This increase in strength is confirmation that your body will benefit from (i.e.: Needs) the ingredients in this supplement.  Unfortunately, the labels of these 2 supplements look very similar, so the label is not of much help in determining if a supplement will be beneficial.  This is why Applied Kinesiologic Testing, also called Muscle Response Testing, is so helpful. 

What are the most important Supplements to take?

At a minimum, we recommend taking at least the following 3 supplements

1. A good whole-foods based Vitamin/Mineral

• Provides an effective nutritional foundation
• Fills nutritional gaps of which you may not be aware.
• Helps avoid common health issues which can result from nutritional deficiencies.  Each component has a purpose, which, if not supplied adequately, will cause a health issue down the road. You can check out the benefits of each component at www.Healthline.com , using the search bar.
• Vitamin/Minerals Supplements, even effective ones, do not supply the optimum dosage of most of their components, only a minimal, basic level. This is your nutritional foundation; you build your nutritional house on top of this foundation though proper daily eating habits using nutritious foods.

1. Omega 3 Fish or Krill Oil (Weblink to more information: 17 Science-Based Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (healthline.com)

• Critical for brain and organ health.
• Improves mood.
• Reduces the incidence of dementia
• Lengthens Telomeres (the end caps to your DNA) to add years to your life.

1. Turmeric & Ginger Supplement (Weblink to more information: Turmeric and Ginger: Combined Benefits and Uses (healthline.com)

• Effectively reduces inflammation, the root cause of most health issues
• Boosts immune function
• Reduces discomforts 

How else can supplements help me?

In our experience, most health issues can be significantly benefited by effective supplementation.  Through Muscle Response Testing we can determine if a supplement should be helpful for a particular health issue or concern.  Here is a shortlist of health concerns for which we have been able to help our clients: