Vitamin Water is one of the brands that is owned by the Coca Cola company. It is a sweetened, flavored and fortified water that, as per the manufacturers is a very healthy alternative to other soft drinks and sweetened beverages. In our health crazy world this kind of marketing has made so much of an impact that bottled water is the fastest growing segment in the beverages category in the US.

Although it is the carbonated beverages that still dominate the industry, bottled water is the one showing the fastest growth. Over the past decade bottled water has shown double digit growth percentages consistently and although the growth rate has flattened over the past couple of years, this is because of the overall damper on growth.

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And it is the VitaminWater brand that dominates this segment. With all the hype surrounding how vitamin water is so much more healthy to drink than plain water, it is no surprise that they are growing so fast. Yet everything does not seem to be hunky dory.

There are a number of complaints that vitamin water is nothing but a soft drink and in fact an NGO called the Center for Sciences has brought a suit against Coca Cola because they say that marketing vitamin water as a “healthful substitute” is very misleading.

So let us examine exactly what this vitamin water is and if it really is healthy for us or not.

What is vitamin water?

Well if you are to believe Coca Cola, vitamin water is nothing but plain water, but full of vitamins, minerals and everything that is supposed to make you healthy. It is in fact supposed to be much more healthy than drinking the cola itself. A glance at their ingredients list however says something very different.

The first thing that everybody looks at when they take any food or beverage is the calorie count and vitamin water says that it is only 50 calories. This may not be the zero that you would expect from plain water, but it is still ok because you know that other things have been added to the water which is where the calories come from.

And then if you are a little more persistent you will find at the other end of the label that the calorie count is for a single serving, and that one bottle has 2.5 servings. This means that the total calories from one bottle is 150 calories, completely different right?

Then take the actual ingredients itself. The first thing of course is water, but the next largest ingredient is crystallized fructose. To the uninitiated, fructose is a different kind of sweetener than sugar and is derived from corn. And although all kinds of sweeteners except maybe honey are not good for you, fructose has been linked to fatty liver disease, heart disease and obesity.

And most beverage manufacturers use fructose because it is sweeter than sugar, but is much cheaper. So more profits for them.

If you hunt around the web you’ll find that a single bottle of vitamin water has more than 33 gms of fructose. This is more even than what the ordinary Coke has. A normal bottle of coke gives you only 110 calories.

If for some reason you want to overlook these two glaring issues, and instead look at the supposed bright side, that VitaminWater has a lot of vitamins that we need, you’ll be sorry to know that we’re going to put a damper on that too.

Firstly Americans are not deficient in anything. If we are starving, it is by choice because we are watching our weight, not because we aren’t getting enough to eat. Also as per a survey Americans are actually not deficient in most vitamins and actually get more of it. The only vitamin that they fall deficient in is Vitamin E because vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin and with more and more Americans cutting down on anything fatty, the vitamin is not being absorbed by the body.

In fact even a vitamin E tablet if taken on an empty stomach will just pass through our system. Only if it is taken with some meal that contains a little bit of fat will it be absorbed.

This being the case we really don’t need any of these vitamins. And the negative of so much fructose far outweighs any benefits that you will get from drinking vitamins that you don’t need anyway.

And the kicker?

Coca Cola’s response to the suit initiated by the Centre for Science. They called the suite “ridiculous” and that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitamin water was a healthy beverage”.

It means that by their own admission vitamin water is really not a healthy drink and that you are a fool if you believe the advertisements that they are paying so much of money to develop and air.

Put that in your sandwich and eat it.

Related articles

• Goodbye Vitamin Water (laviesimple.org)
• Vitaminwater’s exaggerated claims backfire: PR lessons learned(epicpr.wordpress.com)

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Nutella is a spread that is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. In 1944 Pietro Ferrero invented a new product made from 50% hazelnut & almond paste and 50% chocolate. This product was sold under the brand name Gianduja. Pasta Gianduja was solid, but in 1949 Pietro invented a creamier version of the same product and sold it under the name Supercrema.

In 1963 his son, Michele changed the name to Nutella and started retailing it throughout Europe. It was an instant hit and sales have only increased since then.

Nutella has always had a very good advertising strategy. After all, advertising is half the sale and with the amount of competition there is in the market, nobody could fault Ferrero for placing so much importance in advertising. Most of these advertisements however show nutella as a very healthy choice and many people take issue with this portrayal.

Everybody loves nutella. Whole generations of families have grown up on nutella, but how accurate is their claim that nutella is really healthy? Let’s find out.

What is Nutella?

A glance at the ingredients list in nutella shows that it has sugar, modified vegetable oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk powder and other flavoring and emulsifying agents. Considering that most of us know that nutella is made of hazelnuts and chocolate, and even nutella advertises that this is so, it seems that nutella is indeed a very healthy choice.

In fact there are advertisements that say that each jar of nutella contains about 50 hazelnuts, and that the calorie count is actually much lower than most other jams in the world.

The only problem is that the advertisements are not entirely truthful about what is in their product and some of them are blatant falsehoods. Let us examine this a little more in depth.

Why is nutella really not what it says it is?

By law manufacturers are supposed to list their ingredients in the order of quantity. This means that there is more sugar and modified vegetable oil in nutella than there is hazelnuts and cocoa. In fact many advertisements do not even mention that nutella has sugar, they just say that it is made from hazelnuts and cocoa.

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If you were to convince yourself that this is only advertising and that almost all marketing stretches a point here and there, then let us look at the percentages. The made for US and Canadian markets do not mention quantities, but assuming that nutella is the same everywhere, it is reasonable to calculate that it will be the same as for the European markets.

Well as per their own labelling, nutella has 13% hazelnuts, 7.4% cocoa and 6.6% skim milk. This brings it to a total of 27%. This means that the remaining 73% of nutella is nothing but sugar and modified vegetable oil.

Not so good right?

And then comes up the question of what exactly this MODIFIED vegetable oil is. We all know what vegetable oil is, and nutella generally uses palm oil, which is in itself not as good as other vegetable oils with its only claim to popularity being its low price. The only modification that is done to vegetable oils is hydrogenation (not at all good as hydrogenated oils is what gives you trans fat) or interesterification which is not as dangerous except for the fact that most of them come with some amount of hydrogenated oils mixed with them.

And Ferrero is not telling us exactly what modification they are doing to the oil which is very suspicious to say the least.

So what’s the verdict?

Well it’s easy for us to say “Stay away from nutella”, but we know that this is not going to happen. Nutella has become part of our daily diet, so much so that many people actually just eat it straight out of a jar. This is what we would like to recommend against. Everything in moderation is ok, and even if it is packed with sugar, there is no difference between nutella and having chocolate for breakfast.

The fact that most of us do not have chocolate for breakfast is just testament to the fact that we are able to understand that everything that is good for the palate is not necessarily good for our bodies. And this is especially true if we have children at home. All parents want their children to be healthy, and they are not going to be healthy if they keep loading themselves on chocolates.

This does not mean that eating nutella is bad. It is no different from any other sweet stuff you eat, mostly sugar with a little bit of other stuff thrown in to give it a different flavor. It is only when you think that you can actually make a meal out of nutella that things go wrong. There’s just too many calories in nutella, and unless you are expending all of them with some form of physical exercise, eating too much of nutella is not a good idea.

Bottomline? If you are going to have a couple of teaspoonfuls of nutella a day, it’s ok. If the jar is going to last you less than a week, you are just asking for trouble.

Nutella is tasty food, but is definitely not healthy food.

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• Nutella: The most magical spread, EVER. (eatleansavegreen.wordpress.com)

The hookah is an Indian or Persian “appliance” that is used to smoke tobacco. Tobacco smoking is not native to the Indian subcontinent and was introduced by Europeans when they came to trade. The hookah however was invented by the Indians because it was considered a better way to smoke tobacco than in the form of cigarettes or cigars.

There is some confusion as to who exactly invented the Hookah, and that its origins could either be Indian or Persian. Be that as it may, the bottom line is that the hookah system is native to India and Iran and the region in-between. The hookah was considered a better way to smoke because the water in it was supposed to ‘purify’ the smoke. Also other flavous could be added to the smoke by mixing fruit juices, mint etc to the water.

Although the hookah died down in popularity and was used only in small, traditional pockets, it is now once again becoming popular, and there are a number of ‘hookah parlors’ where people come to relax and smoke. The common belief is that the hookah is not as harmful as the cigarette.

Before we go into that, let us first look at what exactly the hookah is.

What is the hookah?

The hookah is actually quite a simple contraption. Most of the complication comes from the design of the elements to make it look better. It consists of a bowl or water jar at the bottom that contains the water. The upper part of this jar contains the outlet for the pipes from which the smoke is drawn out. The ‘body’ or the stem which brings the smoke down into the water jar also comes down into the jar so that it opens out under the level of the water in it.

The upper part of the stem is shaped into the form of a bowl into which the tobacco is placed. There is a metal mesh or perforated plate that is placed above the bowl where the heated coals are kept. Lastly the coals are covered by a cap that prevents wind from going in and increasing the rate of burn of the tobacco.

The outside is usually very elaborately decorated and the construction can be out of anything, starting from clay to metal or even ceramic.

Is smoking from the hookah better than smoking cigarette?

Most people think that this is fact. Actually the statement is both true and false. This is because volume for volume, the hookah has much less nicotine in it than cigarette smoke does. It is also totally false because other things such as tar and carbon monoxide are much higher.

What most people think is that it is the nicotine in the cigarette that is bad for you. While it is the nicotine that gives the ‘pick-me-up’ that is associated with the cigarette, the cause of all our health problems are the tar and carbon monoxide that we inhale along with the nicotine.

Also most people don’t seem to realize that when we use the hookah we inhale much more smoke than we do when we smoke a cigarette. Research as showed that most average cigarette smokers inhale between 8 and 12 puffs per cigarette each puff translating to about 50 ml of smoke. The total volume of smoke inhaled is therefore between 400 ml and 600 ml.

A hookah however lasts much longer, from anywhere between 35 min to a hour. Also the volume of smoke that is inhaled per puff is much larger and studies show that a hookah user inhales about 500 ml of smoke per puff. And considering the duration for which a hookah is smoked this can be between 150 – 200 puffs. Work out how much more smoke you are inhaling with a hoohak.

Smoking one cigarette usually gives about 1.74 mg of nicotine, while one puff of the hookah gives about 2.96 mg of nicotine. Considering that one puff of a hookah is equal to one whole cigarette, the difference in the volume of nicotine is not that high which is what gives rise to the myth that the hookah is safer. What is not calculated is the total number of puffs on the hookah that is taken which means that the total volume of nicotine inhaled is much higher in a hookah.

Then comes the tar and carbon monoxide. One cigarette gives about 22.3 mg of tar while one session with a hookah can give more than 800 mg of tar. The tar that you get (and it is the tar in the cigarette that is carcinogenic) from the hookah is equal to about 36 cigarettes, and most of us don’t smoke that much every day.

The amount of carbon monoxide that you get is also 8 times more than you get from a single cigarette.

And the hookah is just as addictive as a cigarette because it gives you so much nicotine in one session. Most cigarette smokers do not smoke so many cigarettes within a span of 1 hr.

So while ml for ml, hookah smoke may contain less nicotine, considering the amount of smoke that is inhaled the hookah actually gives you more of everything that a cigarette gives. And this is without taking into consideration the heavy metals that are vaporised from the coal and from the use of metal plates. Although there is not much research on what exactly the effects are of these heavy metals on our health, most heavy metals are considered carcinogenic to us.

So in short, the hookah is just as bad if not worse than smoking cigarettes. In fact we will go one step further and say that any kind of smoking is bad for health.

Related articles

• Understanding Nicotine Addiction (everydayhealth.com)
• The “New” Cigarette We’re All Smoking (Myself Included) (fancyayancey.wordpress.com)
• Are Herbal and ‘Natural’ Cigarettes Safer? (everydayhealth.com)

Hummus is a native middle eastern food that is eaten by almost all cultures that are in the region. In fact it is considered a staple in many of the countries where it is natively eaten. Lately however in the west, hummus has caught the fancy of diet planners because it is a very healthy food and is supposed to be low in calories. Also it is available in stores pre-cooked, which makes it all the more easy to eat.

Most serious weight watchers though understand that there is really no “free” food. Everything we eat has calories in it and it is basically up to our diet plan to ensure that we get the right amount of calories without sacrificing any of the essential nutrients that we need. In this light, how good is hummus really?

This is what this article is about.

What is Hummus?

Hummus is a dip that is made from chickpeas and tahini which is nothing but sesame seed paste. There are other ingredients too like ginger, garlic and olive oil, which are added for taste and flavor. Also because it is so widely consumed there are minor variations and additions to this base which results in geographical differences in the taste of the hummus.

Most of the ingredients that go into hummus, apart from the chickpeas, tahini and the olive oil are so sparingly used that they are of no consequence in calorie counts. Unfortunately though, all three of the important ingredients are also very high in fat content.

Yet it is still a very healthy food because of its nutritive nature. Chickpeas for example is very high in protein and fiber apart from giving you unsaturated fats which are much healthier than saturated fats. The same is the case for the olive oil and the tahini. So there is really nothing unhealthy about it.

What is the calorie breakdown of hummus?

If you are serious about including hummus in your diet, then the best thing that you can do is to make it yourself. It’s not that difficult and will also ensure that you can mix and match to get the taste you want with the lowest amount of calories. This is because one scoop of a canned hummus will give you roughly about 25 calories. Considering that most people liberally spread the hummus on their crackers, bread or chips just 4 scoops can give you 100 calories which is not that good.

Most of these calories come from the proportion of the ingredients. For example one half cup of hummus will give you about 9.5 gms of protein and 17.5 gms of carbohydrates. It also gives you 7.5 gms of fiber that makes you feel full for much longer by slowing down the digestion of the carbohydrates. This means that you get about 30% of the daily required dose of dietary fiber, quite a bit of protein and only about 200 calories from a half cup of hummus.

And this is with normally prepared hummus with a liberal inclusion of both olive oil as well as tahini. If you are going to reduce the amount of tahini, or even cut it out altogether you can reduce a lot of the calorie content in the hummus. You can also reduce the amount of olive oil used. The oil only gives the texture, and if you are ok with plain water, you will be cutting a lot of fat and calories from your meal.

So is hummus good or not?

Well, the simplest answer is that hummus is a very good, healthy food to eat. As to whether it is fattening or not depends a lot on where you get your hummus from and how much you eat. If you are an average person and you are trying to cut down on your intake to reduce, then you are probably looking at about 1500 calories a day. So if you are going to use hummus sparingly, or are going to use it as a dip or spread and are not going to use more than a half cup of hummus then it integrates very well in your diet plan.

If on the other hand you are using store bought hummus, even if you use the same amount of hummus, the calorie count will be higher. And the more of it you eat, the more calories you get. This puts pressure on your diet plan because you have to eat food that gives you other nutrients too without going over the target calorie count.

Hummus is very good food, but when eaten in large quantities may not be all that good for you, especially if you are trying to cut down on your calorie intake. If you are relatively fit and work out regularly however, it can be very beneficial to you because it gives you so much more nutrients than most other food. Especially for vegans, this is a very good thing because finding a good source of protein without eating meat is not an easy thing.

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• Hummus in 10 Minutes! (foodsventures.wordpress.com)
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• Spicy Garlic Hummus (spicesandspackle.com)

Yet most of the world consumes black tea. This is an anomaly because in China, where tea was first discovered, it is green tea that is very popular. In fact drinking green tea is an acquired taste, and even black tea is very rarely drunk black, but is mixed with milk, cream, sugar etc to make it more palatable.

Over the years however other drinks have almost replaced tea in everyday use, with carbonated beverages becoming more popular. In fact tea drinking took a big impact and it worldwide consumption fell drastically a few decades back before rallying once again after the health benefits of tea were discovered.

And tea is good for us. There are a number of polyphenols and catechins that tea is full of and they are being studied for their potential health benefits because they have been found to be much more potent anti-oxidants than any other product known to man. This has a lot of implications in cancer treatment today.

How is green tea beneficial to us?

A number of studies have been conducted to scientifically access the health benefits of tea. Most of these studies are either ongoing or have yet to be validated, but there is a lot of information that has been released due to this research that gives us a few pointers as to how good tea really is.

1. Animal studies have showed that drinking green tea reduces cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, dental cavities and even cancer while improving bone density and cognitive function. Human trials are currently underway to verify these findings.
2. Some studies have showed that green tea has the ability to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood. These tests have however not been proven to be conclusive because the tests have been conducted on too small a study group and larger and more streamlined testing is currently underway.
3. Green tea also has the unique ability of being able to slightly increase metabolic rate without increasing the heart rate. It has been found to increase metabolic activity by 4% without increasing heart rate. It has also been found to be able to increase fat metabolism when exercising, increasing it by an average of 17%.
4. Green tea has also been found to increase insulin sensitivity and improve glucose tolerance in people.
5. In one study performed at the Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, taking 4 cups of tea a day was found to reduce blood pressure, serum cholesterol levels, body fat as well as weight.
6. Other studies conducted in Israel showed that when one of the main polyphenols found in tea EGCG, when given to rats, not only protected brain cells from dying, but also repaired damaged brain cells. Human trials have not been conducted, but these findings have created a lot if interest in scientific circles in the use of tea in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
7. Other animal studies also showed that the catechins in tea were absorbed by the eye helping to prevent oxidative stress of the retina and lens for up to 20 hrs after consumption.
8. Taking green tea and mushrooms regularly was also found to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in women by up to 90%.
9. The most important findings however have been with its potential use in cancer treatment. Animal studies have showed that green tea has the ability to slow down the growth of cancerous tumors in rats, and reduced the chances of colon cancer by 50%.
10. Studies in Japan have showed that when 5 or more cups of tea are taken daily, it reduced the chances of death due to any causes by 16% and death due to coronary disease by 26% when compared to the study group.
11. People also point to the “Asian Paradox” where Asians typically have lower rates of cancer and cardiovascular problems although they have a much higher rate of smoking. It is theorized that it is because of the 1.4 liters of tea that is consumed on average every day that provides the anti-oxidants that prevent the onset of these dangerous diseases.
12. The number of health benefits that can be accrued from drinking tea is too vast to go into detail here. And as most of the above case studies show, most of the studies are either animal studies or are small human studies. More streamlined studies are only now being conducted, but it would be foolish of us not to take these pointers and understand that tea, especially green tea does have a lot to offer us.
13. As of now it is almost a given that green tea does prevent coronary heart diseases, while there are indications that it can also prevent cancer and other neurodegenerative diseases. And there are no side effects to drinking tea, and there is absolutely no chance of overdose at all.

The only caveat to this is that the tea be taken straight without the inclusion of sugar.

What are your thoughts on green tea? Do you drink it for the health benefits or you like the taste?

Related articles

• Can Green Tea Help Digestion? (everydayhealth.com)
• The Health Benefits of Green Tea (philammann.com)

Probiotics are living organisms that are beneficial to the host organism. Probiotics are essential to the human body. Whether you know it or not, most of the digestion that goes on in our intestines are not due to anything that we do, but due to the bacteria that live in our gut. What most doctors know and don’t tell us is that it is only when the bacteria in your gut start acting up do you get all sorts of digestive problems.

For example taking antibiotics will give you a diarrhea because it kills off all the bacteria in your gut. Until you introduce them once again, or allow them to grow back, you will continue to have loose stools.

Nowadays with more and more research going on into the health benefits of probiotics, it has been found that not only for our digestion, but also for other reasons, probiotics are useful. For example, recent studies seem to suggest that from blood pressure to preventing colon cancer, probiotics play a very important role in our bodies.

Most fermented products will contain probiotics if they have not been pasteurized or preserved in any other way. For example fresh yoghurt is a good example of probiotics because it has a lot of lactic acid bacteria, but if you buy it from the shop you get pasteurized ones where all the bacteria have been killed off to prevent it souring.

With this being the case, for many of us the only option to get any probiotics will be through supplements, and as of now there are a number of companies that offer them in the market. Of course not all of them work very well, and in this article we review the top selling ones to let you know which ones are good and which ones are not so good.

Product:	Dr. Ohhira’s, Probiotics, Original Formula, 60 Capsules
Rating:

Dr Ohhira’s Probiotics is the maximum selling one in the country. Just last year they were available only in certain online stores, but they have caught on so well that now, you can find them almost everywhere.

They have very good reviews and most people who have used Dr Ohhira’s once never change to another brand. It is very effective, and people who have had no effects with other probiotics have said that Dr Ohhira’s has cured them.

The only negative is the price. Even if you purchase it online you have to pay around $50 for it which is more than 3 times the cost of other probiotics out there. Of course you get what you pay for here, and even one capsule a day goes a long way. In fact in one review, a mother says how she had a two and a half yr old daughter who had a problem with diarrhea ever since she was one.

Within just a couple of days of taking Ohhira’s she became completely normal, and this after trying out everything under the sun for one and a half years.

Keep in mind that there is a one to two week loading dose where you may have very negative reactions. Once this period passes however, everything becomes better and your system starts to show you how much it appreciates you giving it Ohhira’s.

Click here to get Dr Ohhira’s Probiotics

Product:	Jarrow Formulas, Jarro-Dophilus EPS, 120 Veggie Caps
Rating:

Jarrow formulas is the value for money proposition in this field and comes second on the list. It is very popular because you get twice the number of capsules for half the price of Dr Ohhira’s. Most people prefer it because probiotics works well only when taken regularly, and as long as you take Jarrow Formulas’ capsules every day, it works very well indeed.

You may not get the same immediate reaction that you get with Dr Ohhira’s but for regular use, it is more than enough for most.

“This has been the best Probiotic that I’ve tried. I work in an Alternative Medicine clinic and order the supplements. I would recommend that you double the dose though if you weigh over 140lbs.”

Click here to get Jarrow Forumulas Jarro-Dophilus

Product:	Culturelle, Probiotic, 30 Veggie Caps
Rating:

Culturelle is the third most popular one in this list. It is slightly cheaper than Dr Ohhira’s, and although it does not have the same kind of superlative reactions that Ohhira’s seems to get, it is a good brand with solid reviews. Most users feel that it is more than sufficient for them as continuous use not only clears out any digestive disorders, but also reduces sickness. Many people also say that they have colds much less often than they used to.

Yet at around $10 less per bottle, many people opt for Dr Ohhira’s because it is much better.

Depending on your choice you can go with any one of these. As mentioned, there is a difference in the potency levels of each of these brands, and their price too differs depending on that.

Click here to get Culturelle probiotic

Our suggestion would be of course to go with Dr Ohhira’s. All said and done, you pay more for a superlative product, and there is no other probiotics brand in the country that can come close to what Dr Ohhira’s gives you right now. If you don’t want to spend so much money, then go with Jarrow Formulas. They are a well known brand, and manufacture a number of other supplements too.

You may not get amazing performance out of them, but they are good enough, and if in case you want more of an effect, you can always pop a couple of extra pills.

Never exceed the maximum dose though as it may have adverse reactions.

Kelp otherwise known as seaweed has been used for a number of years as food. Along with spirulina, it is the two most commonly consumed algae in the world.

Unlike spirulina, kelp looks very much like a plant, with a stem and leaves. It however does not have any root system, just something to anchor themselves to the ground. All the nutrients are absorbed through the leaves itself.

Algae is known to have a number of health benefits, and kelp, because it is so commonly found is consumed much more widely than spirulina is. In fact different varieties of kelp are used as part of the cuisine in different parts of Asia.

What exactly are the health benefits of kelp?

Kelp is very rich in iodine and has been used to treat Goiter which is the swelling of the thyroid gland due to a deficiency of iodine. In fact there is recorded information that powdered kelp was used to treat goiter since the 1700′s.

Lately kelp is being used to help with weight reduction. There are two reasons for this. One is that the high iodine content in kelp boosts the functioning of the thyroid gland thus reducing metabolism and therefore fat absorption. Another is that kelp is rich in fiber called alginate. This fibrous material has been found to be better at preventing fat absorption than most over the counter pills available now.

Alginate is also used as a thickening agent in certain ice creams and can be used as part of food to both give bulk to the stools aiding in excretion and in preventing fat absorption.

In certain Japanese studies it has been noted that kelp can be directly related to the prevention of certain kinds of malignant cells like fibrocystic breasts. The researchers feel that the algin in the kelp boosts the immune system improving the overall health of the body.

It is also considered a digestive demulcent. A demulcent is a soothing agent and it is believed that the algin in the kelp forms a layer that adheres to the walls of the stomach. It is also believed to form a seal over the top of the stomach preventing reflux. The algin in the kelp also expands when it comes into contact with water thus giving a feeling of satiety. This is another reason why kelp is used in weight loss programs.

Kelp has a unique ability to absorb a number of toxins and heavy metals. Most algae has this ability to absorb a number of toxins and kelp is especially useful because it tends to bind to toxins and heavy metals that we ingest unknowingly. Most of the food we contain have a lot of pesticides residues in them and even fish have a lot of toxins in them from the discharge of effluents into the open sea. Eating kelp is therefore very good for overall good health.

If used as an external applicant, it moistens the skin and gives it a glow.

Some people believe that kelp is good to treat genitourinary tract problems. Some men in fact say that eating kelp regularly has helped them a lot in reducing the size of their prostrate glands and in urinating without pain.

Where do I find Kelp?

There are a number of places where you can get them, and some brands are even available in supermarkets. Purchasing online however makes good sense, especially if you are a regular user because the savings can total to quite a tidy sum. Below we discuss the top selling Kelp brands in the market.

Product:	Starwest Botanicals, Kelp Powder, Organic, 1 lb
Rating:

This is the top selling brand of Kelp powder in the market as of now. It is a pretty decent brand, and you get quite a lot for a very low price which makes it very good value for money. Users however make sure that they complain about its horrible taste. The slightly fishy taste is ok for some, while is absolutely disgusting for others.

All in all however, it makes a very good value for money. Where else will you get a 1 lb bag for the same price as you usually get a bottle full, roughly 100 – 200 gms. And it’s not like you get a fake product. It’s just raw, ground kelp and you don’t get the treated ones. So if you are interested in making sure that you get something that is as close to nature as you can get, then this is the one for you. See what one user had to say about Starwest.

“I like this kelp powder, because it’s so finely ground. Most products that I have seen are too coarse for minerals to effectively assimilate into your body. Of course this kelp tastes terrible, as all kelp does, but you can try to blend it with something else to hide the taste. Maca powder works surprisingly well in this regard, and maca is healthy to eat in itself.”

Product:	Now Foods, Kelp, 150 mcg, 200 Tablets
Rating:

If you’ve been buying supplements, you will be familiar with Now Foods. They make a number of herbal supplements, and all of them are very good products. Even here, they are in second place simply because of the price. Starwest is just unbeatable on that count, and whatever the taste, when you can get 5 times the quantity for the same price, it’s going to sell like hot cakes.

Even then Now Foods comes in at a decent second. They offer very concentrated pills so that people who have thyroid problems say that they feel better after taking them. In fact one user has gone to the extent of saying that their supplement works better than medication.

Read what he has to say.

“I have been on thyroid meds for years. It’s just slightly sluggish and found my prescription medication just wasn’t working for me anymore. I was gaining weight and it was getting out of control. Nothing I did helped. Exercising, dieting, nothing.

So I read an article about sea kelp with iodine helping to regulate slightly low thyroid. I have noticed in the past week that my pants seem to fit better and I don’t have to struggle to get into them anymore. The sea kelps cost is low and I’m very happy now.”

Our Recommendation

Sea Kelp is very very nutritious and in many cultures are eaten regularly because of their goodness. In fact in some countries, they are dried, salted and sold as a snack, and they taste good too. It is however a cultivated taste. To most of us just getting by on pizza or some other microwavable, pre-cooked, bland stuff, kelp almost assaults our taste buds.

Over time however you not only get accustomed to it, you find that you start liking it because it does so much for you.

If you know about vitamins you know that the vitamin B complex stops at B12. What then is this vitamin B17? To be absolutely truthful, it is not a vitamin at all. It has another scientific name – Amygdalin. Amygdalin is a natural product and is found in the kernels of food and seeds like bitter-almonds, apricots, apple seeds etc.

Usually the seeds of most fruits are not eaten. Only the fleshy part of the fruit are eaten and the rest thrown away. Except of course for seeds like almonds. Yet these kernels are packed with a number of nutritious substances. For example most of us spit out the seeds of an apple, you’d be surprised to know that apple seeds contain quite a bit of amygdalin.

What Are The Uses Of Vitamin B17?

Over half a century ago, researchers started propounding that the kernels of a number of fruits would be a good cure for cancer. There’s a very complicated explanation for this.

Amygdalin metabolizes in the body to produce two important ingredients, benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. This hydrogen cyanide is very toxic and initially it was believed that it was this hydrogen cyanide that targeted cancer cells and caused them to die. The only problem with this is that the hydrogen cyanide did not target only the cancer cells. It also damaged good cells.

Some people believe that it is the benzaldehyde that actually gives the benefit, but this is not true. Benzaldehyde is a colorless chemical that has a typical almond like smell. In fact it is used as a flavoring agent in many edible products. It is the hydrogen cyanide that does all the work.

Are There Any Vitamin B17 Side Effects?

As mentioned above, amygdalin metabolizes to hydrogen cyanide. This is the cyanide poison that most of us have heard of. Generally when you eat the kernels of certain seeds, the quantities consumed is too low to cause any physical damage. Yet theoretically it is possible for you to eat just the kernels of seeds and die due to cyanide toxicity.

When you purchase concentrated doses of amygdalin as a supplement, you need to be even more careful because the concentration is much higher in the extract than in the seed. Yet many people still believe that taking vitamin b17 is helpful because it works very similar to chemotherapy, but can be done from home itself.

In chemotherapy a chemical which targets cells that divide rapidly is injected into the body. As everyone knows it also targets other normal cells that divide rapidly naturally. This is why you lose your hair, and have digestive problems when you go for chemotherapy.

The vitamin b17 is expected to work along similar lines in that it targets all cells, but if you take it long enough, you should start to see a reduction in the cancerous growth. The understanding is that because cancerous cells divide rapidly, more blood will rush there with nutrients to take care of the explosive growth. Along with these nutrients the cyanide too gets delivered and therefore kills some of the cancer cells.

What’s The Verdict Then?

It’s a tightrope walk with taking vitamin B17. You know that you are damaging your own body by taking it, but the alternative – chemotherapy is no different. At least B17 will not cause your hair to fall out.

There are an equal number of lovers and haters of the vitamin. Some people say that it is a poison and should therefore not be used, while others say that it is precisely because it is a poison that it works. The idea is to kill off the cancer cells, and you aren’t going to do this with nutritious food. Ultimately it is your choice. When you have cancer, there is nobody else who can decide for you what you should try or not.

One of the top selling sources of vitamin b17 in the market now is;

Product:	Apricot Power, Raw Apricot Kernels, 1 lb
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Apricot Power gives you raw, unsalted, and unpreserved Apricot kernels. In fact the only thing done to the kernels is that they are dried before being packed. Because it is not treated in any way many people actually use it as a spice in their cooking. It has a bitter taste and they use these kernels to get that taste.

They can also be consumed raw, but people nowadays find bitter too much to eat. If therefore you are not accustomed to eating these kernels you should start slow.

The recommended dose is one kernel an hour, and it is better to take it singly, or in twos rather than eat 12 at a stretch.

Users have given it very high recommendations, and it gets a 5 star for effectiveness.

Probiotics are actually live bacteria that are introduced into a host organism because it is thought to bring about a number of health benefits. This is not a new science and has been in use for millennia. For example the consumption of yoghurt is thought to introduce probiotics to the gut. Most fermented diary products have a lot of probiotics in them, and their use is very prevalent in certain cultures.

Right now however probiotics has become a science with scientists studying the exact kind of bacteria that will benefit the human body. A number of health effects have been proved so far, while others are just observations.

For example one of the most common use of probiotics these days is in the curing of diarrhea caused either due to a pathogen, or because of the consumption of antibiotics. Yoghurt was taken for centuries to cure diarrhea, while these days you get more powerful probiotics that basically do the same job.

You must remember that eating curd that has been pasteurized nullifies the effects of the probiotics. Pasteurization kills all the bacteria, while you need them. You therefore need to take yoghurt that has been seeded with lactic acid bacteria for it to be of any use.

Probiotic Benefits

Many cases of irritable bowel syndrome are cured by taking probiotics. The introduction of beneficial bacteria is thought to replace the problem causing bacteria in the gut. The “good” ones colonies the gut and therefore leave little to no place for the “bad” ones.

For those who are lactose intolerant, taking lactic acid bacteria will help them improve their tolerance of milk products because it helps break down the lactose in the milk into lactic acid which the body can metabolize.

There is study going on if probiotics have a beneficial effect on colon cancer. Animal tests have given positive results, while human trials are still going on. It is thought that the consumption of probiotics inhibits the activity of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase which is a known carcinogen. Although this has not been proved, it has been observed that cultures that include a lot of fermented milk products in their diet have a much lower incidence of colon cancer than the general population.

It is thought that probiotics also influence the amount of cholesterol in the blood. It is thought that they inhibit the re-absorption of bile in the gut by breaking it down. Generally bile, when it is absorbed in the gut enters the blood stream as cholesterol. Short term studies have showed that there is a mild improvement with a 4 – 5% difference after the consumption of probiotics. Long term studies are currently being held to study the effects some more.

In studies conducted on mice it was found that the consumption of probiotics consistently and considerably reduced the amount of stress and tension in the subjects.

Probiotics are known to survive at very low pH levels at between 3.7 and 4.3 pH, while other bacteria are known to be intolerant of pH levels below 4.5. It is thought that when the gut is colonized by probiotics it lowers the overall pH value of the gut so that it becomes inhospitable to other bacteria.

Probiotic Reviews – Where Do I Find Probiotics?

Nowadays probiotics are very commonly available everywhere. In fact it has almost become medication for some things such as diarrhea etc. If however you want to include probiotics regularly in your diet, you may not want to get it from your local store, they may turn out too expensive.
This is where online stores come in useful. It is possible for you to get probiotics in bulk, such as a month, or two’s supply without any problems. And much cheaper too.

Let us take a look at the best selling probiotics available in the market now with my probiotic reviews.

Probiotic Review:	Dr. Ohhira’s, Probiotics, Original Formula, 60 Capsules
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This is the best selling and most highly recommended probiotic. In fact people who have been taking other brands swear that Dr Ohhira’s works much better than the others, and sometimes even has effects that you never get with other brands. For example people have credited Dr Ohhiras with improving their oily skin, and this is something that even the best creams are not able to do without damaging the skin.

Dr. Ohhira’s Essential formulas is so good that many times it is sold out within hours of coming into the market. Users who have tried it, never switch brands, an amazing thing considering the number of other brands that are available.

See below a review by a user from Texas.

“I had terrible cystic acne from being on two cycles of antibiotics for two years FOR THE minor acne I had previously. Antibiotics allowed yeast to dominate my intestine and my body with their poisons (mycotoxins) which came out my skin as acne.

Within two days I could tell the cysts on the back of my neck were decreasing in size and I had no new pimples on my face when I woke up. I was amazed because I had tried several other probiotics before with no availe!

I highly recommend Dr. Ohhira’s probiotics!”

Probiotic Review:	Jarrow Formulas, Jarro-Dophilus EPS, 120 Veggie Caps
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Jarrow Formulas is the second best selling one, and is a well known supplement manufacturer. They have a very good name in the market, and most of their products are good. In fact their probiotics are very good, the only thing placing them in second is that Dr Ohhiras is even better.

As something that you can take regularly to cure a number of problems, Jarrow formulas is very good.  Check out the reviwe that one user has left.

“I have tried several probiotic formulas; I suffer from regular yeast infections and was getting tired of buying the over-the-counter creams–they’re so expensive! So far, this is doing the trick!

Another bonus..my whole family recently came down with a terrible flu bug and I completely avoided it. I don’t know whether this helped, but I’d like to think it did! I will keep taking it!”

What are you favorite probiotic supplements? I would love for you to share them below as well as the benefits you experienced.

Arginine is an amino acid that is produced by the body itself. It is therefore considered a non-essential amino acid. Yet even though the body produces its own arginine, recent evidence seems to suggest that the body relies at least partly on dietary sources to supplement its production of arginine.

Arginine is found in most food that we eat and is particularly rich in most meat products, sea food and whole grain foods. Also because our body itself produces most of the arginine that it needs, there is really no need for supplementation if you are a healthy person with a healthy diet.

It is only people who do not eat healthy for any reason who will have a problem with arginine deficiency. There are a number of indications on what all arginine are useful for and we will first see what purposes arginine serves in the body before we look at any side effects.

What Are The Benefits Of Arginine?

Arginine is a precursor to Nitric Oxide which is used by the body to relax. NO relaxes not only the muscles, but also the arteries. This improves blood circulation and also helps clear blockages etc if not too serious. There is evidence to show that arginine dilates the blood vessels of the heart bringing potential benefits in reducing heart attacks.

Because of it’s potential to relax the body and improve blood flow, arginine is used to treat erectile dysfunction too.

Also people who have problems with low blood circulation to the extremities, especially the legs seem to show a marked improvement in the distances that they can walk after regular consumption of arginine. It seems to prevent intermittent clogging of the arteries helping to increase walking distances.

Arginine seems to help the body recover faster from injuries and is therefore used after surgery to help in the faster healing of the patient. It also helps to reduce the wound healing time and the number of infections after surgery.

It also seems to reverse the effects of weight loss in patients with AIDS. When combined with medication it seems to improve lean body mass and also improve the functioning of the immune system.

It also seems to help with inflammation and is used in some cases as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Do You Really Need To Take Arginine supplements?

As we said in the beginning, if you are a healthy eater, you need not worry. If however you are cutting down for any reason, it is a good idea to take a supplement. Of course if you are an asthmatic or have had a heart attack recently you should not, but for most others it is completely safe to use.

Take the recommended dose and do not take more. Even if it isn’t going to hurt you, it will cause you a lot of bloating, and we all know how uncomfortable that can be.

Where Do I Get Arginine?

There are a number of sources for Arginine that you can go for. In fact nowadays you even have the option of going with a herbal extract. Below we discuss the top selling brands for Arginine.

Product:	Now Foods, L-Arginine, 500 mg, 250 Capsules
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Now Foods is a very popular brand when it comes to herbal supplements. And herbal supplements are good because they give you the same effect as inorganic ones, but with none of the dangers and/or side effects. Now Foods is popular because they are very good value for money. They are as good as the best in the market, but they cost much less than others.

And do they work! Just check out what one person has to say about it.

“Again with this product I have been taking since I received it. I’m no stranger to L-Arginine this stuff is better than Viagra I have been taking 3.5grams a day everyday since I was 45 years old I am 55 years old now and still hang with girlfriends that range from 28 to 40 years old.

Not only does it help my “Man Muscle” but it works in maintaining your entire body’s muscle mass. I love this stuff, like I said it’s all good…Thanks”

Product:	Jarrow Formulas, Arginine 1000, 1000 mg, 100 Easy-Solv Tablets
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Jarrow Formulas is to Now Foods, as Nike is to Adidas. Very often if you look for herbal supplements you’ll find one or the other coming up as the top seller with the other a close second. There’s nothing much to choose between them as a product as such. They are both good brands, and work very well. Even price wise, they aren’t that different from each other.

In fact when it comes to Arginine, the competition is basically between Now Foods and Jarrow Formulas. All other brands are so far behind that there’s no point in even considering them.

In this case it is the 500 mg capsules of Now Foods that is the top seller, while the 1000 mg capsule of Jarrow Formulas comes in second. Now Foods also has a 1000 mg, but it costs 50% more than Jarrow Formulas does, so in this case Jarrow is a good deal. And if you are uncertain as to whether it works well or not, just read what one user from Florida has to say.

“I have been using Jarrow Arginine 1000 tablets to enhance my sexual performance for about three years now. I take two tablets a day. It took about a month before I experienced the full effects but since then I always feel confident I will obtain an erection when the time is right. I have not experienced any adverse side affects. It has allowed me to experience a very regular, reliable, and enjoyable sex life.”

Our Recommendation

If you are looking for Arginine as a natural supplement to improve blood flow, then either one of them is good enough. It just depends on each person as to how much they want on a daily basis. Some people are ok with just one 500 mg pill, while others want more. Still others want the option of choosing their own dosage, meaning they take 500 mg most of the time, but pop in an extra sometimes.

Whether you go with Now Foods or Jarrow Formulas, you cannot go wrong. They are both very strong brands, and work very well.