When “Junk Science” Is Used Against Supplements: What These Studies Really Show The supplement industry periodically finds itself under renewed scrutiny—often fueled by studies that appear to suggest vitamins and minerals are ineffective or even harmful. Recently, two widely cited studies have been used to reinforce this narrative, providing what some critics call “evidence” that supplements are unnecessary and that diet alone is sufficient for meeting nutrient needs. A closer look tells a very different story. A Climate of Scrutiny and Mistrust Regulatory pressure on supplements has intensified in recent years, with increased attention from the Food and Drug Administration and certain members of United States Congress—often framed as consumer protection, but viewed by many as disproportionately favoring pharmaceutical interests. Against this backdrop, any study questioning supplement safety or usefulness receives outsized attention. The Two Studie…

After more than two decades, the FDA is proposing sweeping changes to nutrition labels. First lady Michelle Obama—marking the fourth anniversary of her Let’s Move initiative to combat childhood obesity—joined the FDA in announcing the proposed changes from the White House. The agency said the label changes are meant to account for modern eating habits and reflect new nutrition research that links diet to chronic diseases, like obesity. Food label’s new look Check out this food label infographic by Karl Tate for LiveScience.com. It shows how the new label would: Display ‘calories’ (and ‘servings per container’) in larger, bolder font. Meant to quickly attract consumers’ attention, this change addresses the biggest factor driving obesity—excess calorie consumption. Update ‘serving size’ to reflect what people actually consume in one sitting. For example, a single serving of ice cream would increase from half a cup to a full cup. Products like bottled so…

Prevention is always best, but if you should become injured, you don't need to resort to toxic drugs like NSAIDS that reduce pain short-term but lead to long-term damage and retard healing. To alleviate pain, repair damaged tissue and speed recovery, get on an anti-inflammatory, alkaline diet if you're not already, and a strong supplement program including vitamin C to bowel tolerance along with Cell Repair Formula. Supplements that help to reduce pain and inflammation and repair damaged tissue include Curcumin, MSM, Joint Support Formula and Endura Guard. Extra magnesium can help with muscle tightness, stiffness or spasm, as will an Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate) bath. Call the Beyond Health office at 1-800-250-3063 for more information. Proteolytic enzymes are also helpful. Nothing brings a healthy exercise program to a halt like an injury that can incapacitate you for weeks, months, or even, if not treated properly, lead to a chronic problem. Be proactive about injuries in…

You know that fresh fruits and vegetables are good for you, but when you feed yourself you’re also feeding trillions of guests. These “guests” are the bacteria (aka microbiota, or tummy bugs) that inhabit your intestines. And according to Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford School of Medicine, diet is one of the most powerful impacts on gut microbiota, who feed on fiber-rich carbohydrates found in whole plant foods. Why would you want to treat your tummy bugs as honored guests? Because we have an age-old deal with these guys. We provide them with food and a warm place to live; they help us to digest and absorb food, to synthesize vitamins, to produce amino acids, to secrete mucus, to prevent constipation by increasing motility, to create food for intestinal cells, and, perhaps most importantly, to partner with our immune system (more than 2/3 of which is located in the intestines) by degrading toxins and competing with and killi…

. . . beautiful skin comes from withinAre you trying to cultivate a leathery, coarse look in your complexion? How about more and deeper wrinkles? Discoloration? And sagging skin? Well then, ramp up your glycemic index with lots of sugar, fruit juice, sodas and refined carbohydrates! You’ll also want to load up on fatty meats, especially cooked at high temperatures, along with full-fat dairy products and plenty of processed foods!What all of these will do is to increase glycation in your body, a process that encourages aging, chronic disease and an early death. But of course, most importantly, it can make you look just terrible!When you glycate something, you combine it with sugar. Proteins can become glycated and so can fats. In cooking, this is called caramelization or browning; in chemistry it's called a Maillard reaction. In the body, glycation damages body proteins, producing something called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs).How does this affect the skin? AGEs interact with a…

. . . do what smart people have done for millenniaThere is a natural way to protect your skin from the sun, one that has been used effectively for millennia. While it’s true that some things have changed – depletion of the ozone layer has made the sun’s rays more intense; also, in times past people stayed in one place for generations, and pigments in their skin adapted to the intensity of the sun where they lived – the same principles still apply.1.  Maximize Antioxidant Intake. Antioxidants protect skin from potential sun damage, making diet the single most important factor in skin protection. Getting your 10-12 servings of fruits and vegetables daily will go a long way towards supplying the antioxidants you need. Most culinary herbs as well as green and white tea, garlic and olive oil are also high in antioxidants. However, because environmental pollutants nowadays chew up antioxidants faster than you can say “free radical damage,” we need more antioxidants than ever, making sup…

Every year at about this time I start warning people about flu shots. From all I’ve read in scientific journals about flu and flu vaccines, I’m convinced flu shots are both ineffective and dangerous, and that they increase your chances of getting the flu or other infections. You can read more in my previous articles “Vaccinations” and “Flu Shots – Ineffective and Dangerous.” Now a new study from a Canadian influenza expert indicates that flu shots actually do improve your chances of getting the flu!Dr. Danuta Skowronski and her research team at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control observed that Canadians who got flu shots during the winter of 2008-2009 seemed to be more likely to become infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus than those who didn’t. This observation was followed up by five studies in different locations which came to the same conclusion. However, it was thought at the time that it might have been caused by a bad batch of flu vaccine.But this past year, Dr. Skow…

It is now considered normal to lose cognitive function as you age -- to experience diminished memory, reasoning and speed in processing information. This "normal" age-related cognitive decline is contrasted to dementias, like Alzheimer's, which are much more debilitating and include severe nerve cell damage and death of nerve cells. In fact, age-related cognitive decline and dementia are the same thing. What you call it is a matter of degree, and it is primarily a product of our unhealthy diets and lifestyles.Maintaining a youthful brain does, however, require superior nutrition from both diet and high-quality supplements. A brain support program would include the B vitamins and the antioxidant vitamins A, C, D and E. Fish or flax oil is a must, and the need for it increases with age.By middle age, it's best to be supplementing with CoQ10, acetyl-L-carnitine, and multiple B vitamins. (Deficiencies in vitamin B12 are common and often misdiagnosed as dementias or…

. . . for a longer, higher-quality of lifeA double-blind, placebo-controlled study has found that ALCAR has a significant impact on improving and prolonging life for those with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.ALS destroys motor neurons. While patients continue to see, hear, feel, touch and taste, they gradually lose control of their movements leading to paralysis and eventually death, usually due to respiratory failure. Average survival time after diagnosis is 2-5 years, although 5% will live 20 years, and there are some who have managed to halt and even reverse the process. The only medication shown to have some effect on ALS, riluzole, may increase survival time, but only by a matter of 3-5 months.While ALS is a serious illness, remember that all disease is caused by deficiency and toxicity; therefore, there is much you can do to remedy and possibly even reverse the situation by taking control of your health.ALCAR is called a “brain superfuel”…

Product OverviewAcetyl-L-carnitine maintains and improves brain function. It energizes and rejuvenates brain cells. It's been called "brain superfuel!" It improves learning ability, reaction time, accuracy, mental performance, verbal fluency, attention, memory, and even your mood! It facilitates repair of brain cells damaged by poor nutrition, stress, toxins and trauma. Many people report less confusion, brain fog, enhanced alertness and focus, and feeling mentally sharper within hours of taking it. It slows the rate of deterioration in Alzheimer's disease and significantly improves mental functioning in those who suffer from this illness. A host of scientific studies have shown that acetyl-l-carnitine prevents age-related cognitive decline through various mechanisms at dosages of 1-3 grams a day. A meta-analysis of 21 studies found a cumulative effect, suggesting that long-term use may provide the greatest benefit.Complimentary Supplements Because it's naturally found in the b…

BHN has received many emails and phone calls from people concerned about the radiation leaking from the Japanese nuclear reactors. There is no question that dangerous amounts of radioactive particles have been released and have been carried in the prevailing jet stream winds impacting the west coast from Los Angeles to Alaska and the rest of the world as well. While government officials try to play down the danger, radiation researchers say there is no such thing as a safe level of radiation.Radiation generates massive amounts of free radicals, which do oxidative damage to DNA and cause cancer years later. This is why it is a good idea to maximize your overall antioxidant defenses. The problems with radioactive iodine are well known. Japanese health authorities are passing out iodine tablets to those in the vicinity of these reactors. Because most Americans are deficient in iodine, absorbing the radioactive iodine isotopes can be a real problem. The body will absorb the isotopes when i…

Can This Cellular Nutrient Rival Hypertension Drugs? What If Blood Pressure Support Didn’t Work Like a Drug But Worked Better? Most people assume that controlling blood pressure requires lifelong medication. But clinical research has explored another pathway one that works not by forcing the body, but by supporting it at the cellular level. In multiple clinical studies, a naturally occurring compound called Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) has demonstrated blood pressure reductions comparable to and in some cases exceeding typical pharmaceutical outcomes. Let’s examine what the science actually shows. Understanding Blood Pressure Basics (Quick Refresher) A reading like 120/80 mmHg includes two values: Measurement Meaning When It’s Measured Systolic (top number) Pressure during heart contraction When heart pumps Diastolic (bottom number) Pressure between beats When heart relaxes Managing both numbers matters for cardiovascular longevity. What Conventional Drugs…

The world was still dealing with radioactive waste from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan along with a massive tsunami decimated Japan's Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant. Both Chernobyl and now Fukushima have littered the earth's air and water with radioactive isotopes, increasing disease and death on a global scale. Health problems associated with radioactive fallout include cancer, heart attack, respiratory damage, bone and joint pain, immune suppression, reproductive and urogenital disorders, and chromosomal aberrations. Based on Center for Disease Control mortality data for 122 US cities, toxicologist Janette D. Sherman, MD, and Joseph J. Mangano, MPH, MBA, projected 13,983 extra deaths (including 822 infant deaths) in the US during the 14 weeks after the arrival of Japanese fallout. But unlike Chernobyl, which was brought under control within several months, more than a year later, damaged reactors at Fukushima ar…

. . . correcting a vitamin D deficiency may lift your winter depressionNewsclips readers already know that vitamin D is crucial to immunity and helps to prevent winter colds and the flu. You may also know that vitamin D deficiencies contribute to cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, neurological disease and many other health problems.But can vitamin D ward off winter blues?Also called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), the winter blues can make you feel lethargic, fatigued, unmotivated and depressed. You can crave carbohydrates and want to sleep all day.Clinical experience and preliminary scientific investigation have found that low levels of vitamin D correlate with a higher incidence of SAD, and that when patients with SAD and low blood levels supplement with vitamin D, their depressive symptoms improve.Since SAD is associated with lack of sunlight, our main source of vitamin D, and since vitamin D levels decline in the winter months, it is reasonable to hypothesize that vi…

. . . especially in the absence of omega-3 fatsDo you sometimes wonder how "people can be so stupid?" We now have a clue as to why. Some unfortunate California rats were taught to negotiate a complicated maze. They were then deprived of omega-3 fatty acids in their diet and given water laced with high fructose corn syrup to duplicate two prominent features of the standard American diet. After six weeks on this regime, when placed back into the maze, they had become bumbling idiots, unable to recall what they had previously learned.The UCLA researchers who devised this torture did it to prove a point -- that the standard American diet, which now includes 40 pounds a year of high fructose corn syrup (found in sodas and in almost all processed foods) -- causes brain dysfunction, and possibly permanent brain damage. Such a high-sugar diet produces "diabetes of the brain" -- too much insulin and consequent insulin resistance in the brain. This leads to "synaptic decline," or difficulti…

Imagine if there were a magic potion that was: nontoxic, inexpensive, had no side effects, and worked to prevent aging, colds, depression, diabetes, flu, multiple sclerosis, obesity, and osteoporosis and was proven to prevent four out of five cases of cancer.  Most of us would take such a potion daily if it existed. Vitamin D is that amazing magical potion.  -- Raymond Francis, Never Fear Cancer Again, pp. 311-312.Around this time of year, Newsclips is usually talking about vitamin D and immunity. Keeping you cold and flu-free throughout the winter months has been shown to be one of vitamin D’s most useful and remarkable abilities. But did you know that this antioxidant vitamin can also prevent cancer?According to scientific studies, vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as in causing many, many other diseases, while levels of vitamin D up to around 60-80 ng/ml have been shown to virtually eliminate breast cancer.Unfortunat…

Yes, If It’s the Wrong Kind Vitamin E has long been studied for its antioxidant and protective roles in human health. However, not all forms of vitamin E are the same—and research outcomes can vary dramatically depending on which form is used. A prominent example highlights why understanding vitamin E chemistry is essential. The Study That Sparked Confusion A large clinical trial conducted under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health evaluated vitamin E and selenium for prostate cancer prevention. The trial was halted after researchers observed that participants taking 400 IU of vitamin E daily had a higher incidence of prostate cancer. The finding received widespread attention—but an important detail was largely overlooked: The study used a synthetic form of vitamin E: alpha-tocopherol acetate. Klein EA et al., Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011. Why the Form of Vitamin E Matters Vitamin E is not a single compound. It is a family of rela…

A friend of ours recently took an over-the-counter medication for intestinal gas. The results were amazing, and not in a good way. Although she got minor relief, it was followed by a splitting headache, and that night she had horrible, violent nightmares. While we were still musing about the power of what we ingest to affect the body-mind, we noticed the cover of the new issue of The Intelligent Optimist. It announcedan article within on “Why taking supplements leads to enlightenment.” While we’ve noticed being happier and more clear-minded since cleaning up our diet and adopting a program of high-quality supplements, we were especially intrigued that this article’s author is a modern-day shaman. While he has academic credentials, Alberto Villoldo, PhD, reports spending thirty years in the high Andes and the Amazon, training with master shamans. Yet, as we read his article, we found him recommending a similar diet and many of the same supplements Beyond Health recommends. Alth…