10.18.2011

NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ~ HELPFUL OR HARMFUL?



Have you heard about the recent University of Minnesota Study on long term nutritional supplement use?  Based on the findings, researchers concluded that vitamins offer little benefit and may even cause harm.  Don't be fooled, however!


HOW CAN A NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT HELP YOU WHEN IT CONTAINS
HARMFUL INGREDIENTS?

 
 
As with any nutritional study, the BIG question should be "what nutritional supplements were the subjects taking?"  When I saw the results of this study, I was not at all surprised! This is because there are numerous nutritional products on the market and many have been found to contain very harmful contaminants! This is a very profitable industry and many companies are more concerned about profits than quality!  Below are two good examples of this:


FDA Lead Study (2008) - http://tinyurl.com/2f4ae76
FDA found Lead in 320 out of 324 brands of multivitamins. This link allows you to see what brands were tested & the amount of Lead in each.

Omega-3 Lawsuit (2010) - http://tinyurl.com/36qulaq
Fish Oil supplements found to contain PCB's (toxic industrial chemicals) in them.  Some of these companies include Omega Protein (the largest producer of Omega 3 fish oil in the world), Pharmavite LLC which manufactures the NatureMade brand, GNC, Solgar, TwinLab Corp, etc.


In comparison to the U of M study mentioned above which was "observational" only, the Landmark Nutritional Supplement Study actually drew blood samples from people to gather it's data.  This study was done at U.C. Berkeley and the results were so impressive that they were published in Nutritional Journal 2007.  This study compared 3 groups of people: 

1)  Those taking high quality nutritional supplements for more than 20 years (which were actually SHAKLEE users exclusively)
2)  Those taking another multivitamin
3)  Those taking no vitamins at all.

The Results:  people who took Shaklee supplements had "Markedly" better health than the other two groups.  They had 33% Lower Triglyceride Levels, 60% Lower Levels of C-Reactive Protein, 36% Lower Levels of Homocysteine and more!  To learn more about this study, go to www.LandmarkStudy.com. 




10.05.2011

WHY ARE THE BEES DISAPPEARING?

The other night my husband and I were searching for a Netflix movie and came across the documentary "Vanishing of The Bees."  This was definitely an eye opener and worth watching!

Did you know that honeybee pollination plays a significant role in our fruit & vegetable supply?


Evidently, in 2006 U.S. beekeepers started reporting very large losses (between 30 to 90%) of their hives.   Scientists are now calling this devastating phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  This is significant because many plants and agricultural crops depend on pollination by bees. 

Although the cause has not been fully determined, both beekeepers and researchers strongly believe that certain environmental toxins and pesticides are contributing to this problem.  Interestingly, there is strong evidence that has been linked to CCD and two insecticides made by Bayer.  These are Clothianidin (Poncho) and Imidacloprid (Gaucho).  Although France, Italy, Germany and other European countries have already banned the use of these chemicals, they are still allowed to be used in the United States.

To see a quick YouTube video about this issue, click on:  http://www.vanishingbees.com/.  This site also shares how you too can help to Take Action!