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Ranking the best potassium supplements of 2018

Potassium is a mineral and electrolyte that’s essential for proper muscle function.  Potassium supplements are particularly popular for people on ketogenic diets, because spending long periods of time in ketosis can cause your potassium levels to drop.

There are also a host of side effects of the ketogenic diet that might be able to be mitigated by a potassium supplement.

Looking for an easy way to sustain your potassium intake on a restrictive diet? We’ve got you covered. Our researchers have ranked the ten best potassium supplements on the market.

1. Solimo Potassium

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Solimo, Amazon’s foray into supplement manufacturing, has a pretty basic potassium supplement that’s delivered in the highly soluble gluconate form.

It’s a standard-dose, easily-absorbed form of potassium that’s a good bet if all you need is the basics. If just potassium is what you want, this should be your top pick.

2. Keto Vitals Electrolyte Capsules

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With calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, Keto Vitals Electrolyte Capsules are the best choice if you want to take care of all of your electrolytes in one fell swoop.

Since many people on ketogenic diets feel that they are electrolyte deficient, combining these main electrolytes into one supplement seems like a smart idea.

With a super-clean capsule design, it’s an excellent and very pure choice for an all in one electrolyte solution.

3. Code Age Keto Electrolytes

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Code Age Keto Electrolytes provides a comprehensive electrolyte supplement designed specifically for the needs of keto dieters.

It has a high dose of magnesium and sodium as well as the standard 100 mg of potassium, so you won’t be lacking any of the key electrolytes your body needs.

This supplement might help combat what some people call the “keto flu,” a listless feeling of fatigue that some keto dieters attribute to a lack of electrolytes.

4. Pure Encapsulations Potassium Citrate

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Pure Encapsulations Potassium Citrate delivers a pretty straightforward potassium supplement, albeit with a slightly less common form of potassium.

It’d be a good call if potassium gluconate supplements are upsetting your stomach, or if you don’t feel like you are getting the optimal benefit from other potassium supplements.

5. Thorne Research Potassium Citrate

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Thorne Research Potassium Citrate is a pretty straightforward citrate-based potassium supplement. It delivers the usual 99 mg dosage, though the list of additives is a little longer than you might like.

If you are particular about clean supplement design and purity, this isn’t the best option, but it does get the job done.

6. Zenesis Labs Potassium with Iodine

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Zenesis Labs delivers potassium alongside iodine, which is a nutrient you may be low in if you are restricting your daily sodium intake.

It’s a good combo if you are taking potassium to reduce leg cramps and muscle spasms, as some people find the addition of iodine helpful. For keto dieters, though, the iodine may not be necessary.

7. Spring Valley Potassium

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Spring Valley Potassium is a fairly basic potassium supplement with a lower dosage (90 mg) of the electrolyte per capsule.

It’s not the most minimally designed or cleanest potassium supplement, and because it doesn’t really set itself apart from the crowd, it’s hard to rank this supplement much higher.

8. Hi Lyte Advanced Electrolyte Salt Caps

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Hi Lyte Advanced Electrolyte Salt Caps take a maximalist approach to electrolytes. These capsules provide the basics, including potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium, but also a litany of other nutrients, like manganese, tyrosine, and vitamin B6.

While these won’t be necessarily needed if you are just taking potassium for the keto diet benefits, it may be useful if you are looking for a sports-specific electrolyte supplement that comes in capsule-based form.

9. Solgar Potassium

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Solgar Potassium uses potassium gluconate and a standard dosage, but the capsules are full of a lot of additives, like silica and dicalcium phosphate, that probably aren’t necessary if all you want is to increase your potassium intake a bit.

Still, it does accomplish what it sets out to do, which is deliver an easily absorbed form of potassium.

10. Nature Made Potassium Gluconate

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Nature Made Potassium Gluconate has 90 mg of potassium, which is slightly lower than usual. That’s all right if you only need to boost your intake by a small amount, but purists may not like the rather long list of ingredients other than potassium.

Since other supplement makers manage to make potassium supplements without these additives, you might want to opt for something else if clean supplement design is important to you.

Potassium benefits and side effects

Potassium is a common electrolyte that your muscles use to contract, and it plays a role in just about every biological function in your body.

Many people take potassium supplements as part of a ketogenic diet, as many of the foods that are high in potassium are a no-go on a ketogenic diet.

That includes things like potatoes, yogurt, and of course, bananas. If you’re extra strict, you won’t even be able to include something like coconut water, a natural electrolyte source. Some people on a ketogenic diet develop what they call a “keto flu,” a lethargic sense of listlessness that many people in the keto community attribute to low levels of electrolytes.

It’s possible that a potassium supplement could help correct this, as dysregulated potassium levels are a known complication of keto diets.

Benefits

Potassium supplements might be able to sustain your body better on a ketogenic diet. Keto diets have been studied for a long time, since they were initially developed to treat intractable epilepsy in children.

Thus, the potential adverse effects of remaining in ketosis for long periods of time have been studied in detail. A scientific report published by doctors at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1998 detailed some of these complications, which can include low or dysregulated potassium levels (1).

Interestingly, the doctors in this study often treated their patients with potassium supplements to help normalize their blood potassium levels.

Now, while it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from these data, as they are from children with epilepsy and often other medical problems, it does still suggest that dysregulated potassium could be one adverse effect of a ketogenic diet that you might be able to address with a potassium supplement.

A potassium supplement might help reduce the risk of kidney stones while on a ketogenic diet. Another adverse effect of the keto diet that’s fairly well-known is an increased rate of kidney stones.

These buildups of calcium in your kidneys can be extremely painful, so anything that can decrease your chance of getting one is a welcome opportunity.

Fortunately, it appears that potassium supplements can also fill this role. Again, research on this phenomenon first surfaced during the course of research on epilepsy, because so many doctors were able to closely supervise people on ketogenic diets.

One study published in 2007 in the Journal of Child Neurology by a team of doctors at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reported some observational notes on the incidence of kidney stones in children on a ketogenic diet (2).

After observing a group of almost 200 children on a ketogenic diet, the researchers noticed that kidney stones were far less common in children who were taking an oral potassium supplement. They hypothesized that the potassium was able to prevent the buildup of calcium in the kidneys, which can otherwise occur during the unusual metabolic conditions created by the ketogenic diet.

To test this idea, they initiated a formal study that tested the effects of a potassium supplement on over 300 children on a ketogenic diet (3).

The study was published in 2017 in the scientific journal Pediatrics. The researchers found that the potassium supplement was able to decrease the incidence of kidney stones from over six percent to less than one percent.

Thanks to this dramatic improvement, the same group at Johns Hopkins now prescribes a potassium supplement to all of its pediatrics patients who are on a ketogenic diet for the purpose of reducing the risk of kidney stones.

Again, though it’s difficult to draw a direct analogy to adults who are on a ketogenic diet to lose weight, the substantial reduction in risk makes it worth considering.

Some people find that potassium helps with the “keto flu.” Since ketogenic diets for weight loss are such a new popular phenomenon, there isn’t much medical literature on their adverse effects.

One set of symptoms that people on keto diets occasionally report is fatigue, listlessness, and mild aching that some in the keto community ascribe to potassium deficits.

The “keto flu,” as it’s called, might be able to be treated with potassium; however, that’s all speculation and anecdotes right now.

Given the long and slow process of scientific publication, it will likely be a few years before any studies come out on this phenomenon, but in the meantime, it might be worth giving a potassium supplement a try if keto diets are leaving you fatigued, tired, and sore.

Side effects

Too much potassium is not a good thing. Since it’s so critical to regulating the function of your muscles—which includes your heart—excessive levels of potassium can be quite dangerous.

According to Deepak Bhatt, a medical doctor at Harvard University, it’s for this reason that the United States Food and Drug Administration limits the potassium content of most over the counter supplements to 100 mg or less (4).

However, when taken at normal supplement doses, there are no serious side effects that you need to worry about if you are a healthy adult.

The clinical trials of potassium supplements in people with epilepsy did not note any adverse effects, even though they were used in hundreds of people in fragile health.

The only people who do need to worry about side effects at normal supplemental doses are those who are taking medications to regulate their blood pressure.

These prescription drugs may dysregulate your potassium levels, but it’s not always clear which way it will be dysregulated: too higher or too low.

As such, you should talk to your doctor before taking a potassium supplement if you take drugs like ACE inhibitors or diuretics to control your blood pressure.

Recommended dose

Extrapolating from clinical studies, it appears that the FDA limit of 100 mg of potassium per capsule is actually somewhat close to what’s effective at reducing the risk of kidney stones in a ketogenic diet.

It’s a very rough order-of-magnitude calculation, but 100 mg per day is a good place to start. If you are having a doctor oversee your ketogenic diet, he or she might ask you to increase your potassium supplementation regimen, but this will likely be based on specific bloodwork done at the doctor’s office.

Recap

Though most people get enough potassium in their diet normally, people who are on a ketogenic diet seem particularly vulnerable to health effects that can be treated by potassium supplementation.

Low or dysregulated potassium levels are somewhat common in people who are on a ketogenic diet, and there is quite robust evidence that supplementing with potassium is a very effective way to reduce the risk of kidney stones while on a ketogenic diet.

You should avoid excessively high doses of potassium, but given that supplements bought over the counter don’t exceed 100 mg of potassium, it’d be hard to take too much.

At these doses, potassium causes no adverse side effects, at least in healthy people. If you take blood pressure medication, however, you should talk to your doctor first.

For people on a ketogenic diet, a potassium supplement is an easy way to help reduce some of the adverse effects associated with the dramatic metabolic changes that can occur during long periods of ketosis, and is worth considering as a part of your keto diet routine.

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https://bodynutrition.org/potassium/

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Ranking the best intra-workout supplements of 2018

An intra-workout supplement contains compounds that help keep your body performing at peak performance in the midst of a tough workout.

These supplements can help you salvage an off-day at the gym, or push yourself beyond your normal level of performance.

With the right combinations of vitamins and supplements, you can stay strong throughout even the longest and toughest workout sessions.

We’ve reviewed and ranked the ten best intra-workout supplements that will push your fitness to new heights.

1. Iron Brothers Supplements BCAA/EAA Formula

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Iron Brothers Supplements BCAA/EAA Formula contains a wide variety of amino acids to sustain both mental and physical performance.

In addition to your typical branched chain amino acids, you’ll find other amino acids like tryptophan that are specifically designed to keep your head in the game with better focus, concentration, and mental energy.

You’ll also get electrolytes from sodium and potassium, and just enough carbohydrates (from pea starch, a sugar-free carb source) to support a high intensity interval workout.

For long sessions with a lot of variety in training, Iron Brothers makes the most versatile intra-workout supplement, making it our top pick.

2. Old School Labs Vintage Bolt

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If your primary intra workout need is a boost in BCAAs, Old School Labs Vintage Bolt is a great choice. It has no added stimulants, and thanks to using stevia and beet root powder, it’s free of sugar, artificial sweeteners, and artificial coloring agents.

The inclusion of MCT oil is a nice extra; this rapidly-absorbed fatty acid can be burned during a long workout to sustain low to moderate intensities for longer.

3. Scivation Xtend BCAAs

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Scivation Xtend BCAAs, made by a division of the well-reputed supplement company Cellucor, focuses on delivering branched chain amino acids, electrolytes, citrulline, and vitamin B6.

These ingredients boost your performance in both high-intensity and resistance-based exercises, and should help keep you going even in hot and humid conditions.

Thanks to some non-caloric sweeteners, it’s both carbohydrate and sugar-free, making it an excellent choice if you are trying to keep your performance high while keeping your carb intake low.

4. Kaged Muscle In-Kaged Intra Workout Fuel

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Kaged Muscle In-Kaged Intra Workout Fuel provides high-intensity energy thanks to its balanced blend of BCAAs, the stimulants caffeine and taurine, and a mix of citrulline, beta alanine, and electrolytes from coconut water powder.

The caffeine is derived from green coffee bean extract, so it will contain the plethora of supporting biological compounds that modulate caffeine’s activity.

The beta alanine is well-suited for enhancing performance in HIIT-style workouts and short to medium sprint efforts. Kaged Muscle is a great all-around choice for long gym sessions done at a high intensity.

5. Myokem mTor PRO

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Myokem mTor PRO combines a broad range of amino acids with panax ginseng and astragalus extract for an herbally-derived stimulant effect.

You’ll get a surge of energy mid-workout, but won’t get the caffeine crash that can sometimes happen on a caffeine-heavy intra-workout supplement (though you also won’t get the proven performance enhancing effects of caffeine, so there is a tradeoff).

Purists won’t like the sucralose flavoring and Blue #1 artificial coloring, but just about everyone else can be happy with this intra-workout supplement.

6. Jacked Factory Intra Surge

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For a true rush of mid-workout energy, give Jacked Factory Intra Surge a try. Thanks to a combination of caffeine fermented BCAAs, and a blend of ginseng and astragalus root, this supplement directly stimulates your neuromuscular system to operate at a higher level.

The only downside is that you might not be able to use this intra workout supplement every day—your central nervous system might get tapped out with daily use of this supplement.

7. Magnum Opus Intra-Workout

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Magnum Opus Intra-Workout takes what you might call a “shotgun approach” to an intra-workout supplement. If there’s any chance a supplement might be able to help your mid-workout energy level or performance, it’s in this product.

There are BCAAs for muscular and metabolic function, bicarbonates and beta alanine for high intensity endurance, calcium and sodium as electrolytes, and a range of B vitamins for greater energy levels.

Many people may not want such a long list of ingredients, but if you are willing to take more of a risk, it might be a good choice.

8. Universal Nutrition Juiced Aminos

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Universal Nutrition Juiced Aminos provides a wide variety of amino acids, from BCAAs to more obscure amino acids. It’s stimulant-free, but you might get an energy boost from the inclusion of taurine.

The primary concern with this supplement is the use of sucralose and other artificial flavorings and colorings, instead of something like stevia. If that doesn’t bother you, it’s still a decent pick.

9. NutraEdge Edgepower Intra-Workout Formula

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NutraEdge Edgepower Intra-Workout Formula relies mostly on a blend of the branched chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine, plus a “recovery matrix” that consists of glutamine and citrulline.

It includes black pepper extract, which is typically included in herbal supplements for better bioavailability, but not much in this supplement would require such a boost.

The other downsides are the fact that this supplement is flavored with artificial compounds, and it uses the artificial sweetener sucralose instead of a natural sweetener. On several fronts, it’s outclassed by the competition.

10. BCAA Max Pump

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BCAA Max Pump relies on branched chain amino acids plus betaine for better workout performance, but without broader support from a wider range of ingredients, its performance benefits will be dampened when used as an intra-workout supplement.

It may have some long-term effects when taken for weeks at a time, but the paucity of high-quality ingredients, plus the inclusion of sucralose, Yellow #5, and Red #40 as artificial coloring agents significantly diminishes the utility of this intra-workout supplement.

Intra-workout supplement benefits and side effects

An intra-workout supplement is designed to boost your workout performance when you consume it during your workout.

This makes it distinct from pre-workout supplements, which are taken before you work out to get your body amped up and ready to perform, and post-workout supplements, which are largely geared towards recovery and muscle repair.

Though there is some overlap, an intra-workout supplement is going to deliver ingredients like electrolytes, BCAAs, amino acids, and other short-term performance enhancers.

You don’t necessarily need to use an intra-workout every training session, but they can be quite helpful when you’re faced with a long, difficult workout, especially when it’s done in hot or humid conditions.

Benefits

An intra-workout supplement with BCAAs can reduce muscular damage. Branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs for short, are by far the most common ingredient in intra-workout supplements.

That’s because of a long litany of scientific research that’s attested to their utility when it comes to sustaining high intensity exercise for longer, especially in difficult conditions. First off, branched chain amino acids consumed during exercise appear to protect your muscles from damage.

This was demonstrated in a study published by researchers in Australia in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness in 2000 (1).

The experiment involved two groups of subjects who took either a BCAA supplement or no supplement for 14 days, then completed an exercise test on a stationary bike.

The researchers found that the subjects who took the BCAA supplement showed lower levels of a protein called creatine kinase in their blood after the exercise session, indicating they’d suffered less muscular damage during the exercise session.

This suggests that a BCAA containing intra workout supplement can help sustain your effort level in long sessions, since your performance will clearly start to drop as your muscles get progressively more damaged.

BCAAs can also improve exercise performance in the heat. Since almost all intra-workout supplements are powder based, you can mix them up with water and use them to re-hydrate.

The presence of BCAAs in an intra-workout supplement can enhance your performance in the heat, possibly through a physiological or even a neurological pathway.

This was the conclusion of a scientific study published in 1998 in the journal Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise by researchers at Rutgers University (2). Their experiment involved a group of subjects performing a cycling time trial in the heat, taking either a BCAA or a placebo drink en route.

The researchers found that all markers of physiological performance were similar between groups, but the group taking the BCAA intra-workout supplement was able to cycle for longer than the group taking the placebo.

Interestingly, since performance in the heat is regulated heavily by your brain, it’s possible that the BCAA intra-workout supplement altered their thermoregulation, versus altering some physiological parameter to sustain their effort longer in the heat.

Of course, it’s also possible that some physiological variable that isn’t measured by the researchers is responsible for the improvement in performance.

In either case, the findings of this study make a particularly strong case for taking an intra-workout supplement with BCAAs in it if you know you’ll be working out in hot and humid conditions.

An intra-workout supplement with electrolytes can also improve performance in the heat. Many of the best intra-workout supplements take further advantage of the fact that they’ll be mixed with water by including electrolytes like sodium and potassium.

When mixed at the right concentration, these intra-workout supplements can further improve exercise performance in the heat by optimizing your hydration level.

Research published in 2014 in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports by researchers at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain (3). The study involved ten men who cycled in very hot and humid conditions, either after consuming water or a water plus sodium electrolyte drink.

The researchers found that those who took the electrolyte supplement had superior performance, and moreover, the researchers could trace this improvement in performance to better maintenance of their blood plasma levels.

This means that an intra-workout supplement with electrolytes like sodium and potassium can allow you to perform better in hot conditions compared to a similar workout session where you were only refueling with water—and that’s before considering the performance enhancing benefits of the BCAAs or any of the other ingredients in the intra-workout supplement.

Side effects

The most basic intra-workout supplements (those based purely on BCAAs and electrolytes) have pretty much no short-term side effects. BCAAs are found in plenty of foods, and likewise for electrolytes like sodium and potassium.

Further, BCAAs are used in much higher doses in medical settings as treatments for various diseases, also without major side effects (4).

In the long-term, chronically high sodium intake could lead to higher blood pressure, but it’s very unlikely that your intra-workout supplement will be a major contributor to your overall dietary sodium intake.

When you start taking supplements with high doses of caffeine or beta alanine, you can start getting more side effects. Caffeine can cause jitteriness, nausea, and insomnia (indeed, many people take it to avoid having to sleep), and beta alanine can cause flushing, itching, and development of a rash.

Recommended dose

A well-formulated intra-workout supplement will balance out the effective dose of all of its active ingredients. In the case of BCAAs, that’s in the neighborhood of three to six grams in a serving.

Caffeine dosing is usually based on body mass, but doses of 150-200 mg can be quite effective for normal-sized people.

As for electrolytes, dosing is prescribed based on concentration, not absolute amount, so make sure you follow the mixing instructions closely to blend up your intra-workout supplement with the right amount of water or other liquid to get the right electrolyte concentration.

Recap

A well-formulated intra-workout supplement is what you need if you want to push yourself harder in the gym. By including branched chain amino acids, you can decrease the amount of damage to your muscles that you sustain while working out.

Further, an intra-workout supplement with BCAAs can improve your tolerance to heat, making outdoor workouts in the summer not so punishing.

You can improve your heat performance even more by getting an intra-workout supplement that includes electrolytes to maintain your blood plasma volume when you are sweating a lot.

If you are getting at least three grams of BCAAs in your intra-workout supplement, and if you are following the directions closely to make sure you blend up your supplement with the right amount of water, you’ll be headed for longer, stronger, and more successful workouts.

The post Ranking the best intra-workout supplements of 2018 appeared first on BodyNutrition.

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Spikenard benefits and side effects

Spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) is an Ayurvedic herb traditionally used for its calming and cognitive-enhancing effects.

Although it is in the very early stages of research, it holds promise in treating a range of other conditions, including pancreatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and depression, thanks to its neuroprotective and antioxidative effects.

As researchers work to identify spikenard’s mechanism of action, it is believed that three terpenoid compounds — jatamansic acid, nardostachysin and nardal/nardin — are the plant’s main bioactives.

Benefits

Spikenard shows promising stress-relieving effects. In a recent in vivo and in vitro study, researchers found that hydroethanolic extract of spikenard has significant anti-stress activity, due in part to its antioxidant content.

The extract inhibited the incidence of gastric ulcerations and reversed the biochemical markers of stress-induced gastric ulceration (1).

In another rat study, hydroethanolic extract of spikenard was administrated orally at doses of 200 and 500 mg/kg for 14 days, and its effects were compared with panax ginseng (a natural stress-reducer). Researchers utilized a cold restraint stress model because it combines testing for emotional stress (escape reaction) and physical stress (muscle work).

The study explored the anti-stress activity of the extract, through its effect on biochemical and neurochemical alterations (2).

Both doses significantly inhibited cold restraint stress model-induced oxidative stress. This is important due to oxidative stress being associated with the stress response (mental, emotional or physical) and in the development of neurologic and psychiatric diseases (3).

In addition, 500mg/kg of spikenard was comparable to 100mg/kg of panax ginseng.

The results implied that the extract has the ability to provide protection against oxidative stress and neurochemical alterations.

While further studies and clinical trials are needed, spikenard may play a future role in treating stress-related disorders (4).

Spikenard may help improve memory and learning. Cognitive-enhancing medications are prescribed to help treat the symptoms of such cognitive disorders as amnesia and Alzheimer’s disease. Many of these drugs, however, come with troublesome side effects.

The results of research published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, pointed to this herb’s potential as a memory enhancer. An elevated plus maze and the passive avoidance paradigm were used to evaluate learning and memory parameters.

Dosages of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of ethanolic extract of spikenard were administered for eight days to both young and aged mice. The 200 mg/kg dose of the extract significantly improved learning and memory in the young mice and also reversed symptoms of amnesia-induced mice.

It also reversed aging-induced amnesia due to natural aging of mice (5).

Spikenard has neuroprotective properties. According to a 2012 study, supplementation with a combination of powerful natural antioxidants (including extract of spikenard) can inhibit the progression of various types of neurodegeneration.

Pretreatment of this combination of antioxidants improved markers of oxidative stress (oxidative stress is a known contributor to many diseases, including Alzheimer’s) and improved the performance of animals in the passive avoidance test and Morris water maze (6).

When it was tested in isolation in another study, spikenard appeared to be protective against cerebral ischemia.

Spikenard may be a future treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Similar to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease in which oxidative stress plays a role in its development. According to the results of one study, ethanolic extract of spikenard can slow the neuronal injury in a rat model of Parkinson’s (7).

Spikenard treats depression in mice. The results of early studies show that ethanolic extract of spikenard administered for 14 days, produces significant antidepressant-like effects. The efficacy of the extract is comparable to Imipramine and Sertraline — two drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression (8).

Spikenard treats pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is an inflamed pancreas that causes abdominal pain and can lead to serious complications. Supplementation with spikenard has been shown to be effective in treating mild to severe pancreatitis in animal models.

The results of a study published in a 2012 issue of BMB Reports, revealed that three weeks of treatment improved alcoholic chronic pancreatitis — long-lasting inflammation of the pancreas caused by heavy drinking (9).

Spikenard offers liver protection. Pretreatment in rats with the extract for three consecutive days significantly improved signs of liver damage in rats exposed to the hepatotoxic compound thioacetamide. According to one study, pretreatment also resulted in an increase in the survival of rats intoxicated with a dose of a hepatotoxic drug (10).

Spikenard has antifungal and antibacterial activity. According to a recent review of the medicinal properties of spikenard, methanolic extract of this herb is effective against various fungal and bacterial strains (11).

Spikenard may protect against seizures. Ethanol extract of spikenard root was recently studied for its anticonvulsant activity and neurotoxicity. Using a maximal electroshock seizure model, the results demonstrated a significant increase in seizure threshold in rats supplemented with the extract. It also showed minimal neurotoxicity (12).

Spikenard may be cardioprotective. Preliminary studies show that pretreatment with 500 mg kg of extract for seven days, restores antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxides to near normal levels (elevated lipid peroxides can lead to heart disease and damage) 13.

Spikenard may stimulate hair growth. Compounds isolated from spikenard (nardin and jatamansic acid) were recently tested in mice for hair growth activity. The results published in Pharmacognosy Magazine showed that topical application of jatamansic acid reduced the required time to grow hair by 27 percent, while nardin reduced the growth time by 23 percent (14).

Side effects

Clinical trials using human participants are lacking, and, therefore, the side effects with short-term or long-term use are unknown at this time.

Recommended dosage

Until further human clinical trials are carried out, there is no established recommended dosage.

Recap

Spikenard is an herb long used in Ayurvedic medicine for its stress-relieving and calming properties. Although research is in the preliminary stages, this herb shows promise in the prevention and treatment of several other medical conditions. Such conditions include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, depression, pancreatitis and seizures.

There is also some evidence that it may stimulate hair growth.

Extracts of spikenard have neuroprotective, antimicrobial, antioxidant, cardioprotective and liver protective properties.

While these results are promising, much of the research available has been limited to animal studies. Human studies are needed to evaluate its efficacy, safety and recommended dosage. Time will tell if clinical trials can replicate the effects seen in rat and mice studies.

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Ranking the best selenium supplements of 2018

Selenium is a trace mineral that your body needs for protecting DNA and ensuring healthy brain function.

Scientific evidence indicates that selenium may be protective against cognitive decline, oxidative stress, and thyroid dysfunction.

If you need to boost your intake of this obscure but important nutrient, read on—our research team has ranked the ten best selenium supplements on the market.

1. Thorne Research Selenomethionine

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Thorne Research Selenomethionine is the purest selenium supplement on the market when it comes to ingredients.

Aside from selenium itself, the only ingredient is the cellulose that’s used to make up the capsule. For a 200 mcg selenium supplement that makes no compromises on clean supplement design, choose Thorne Research.

2. Pure Encapsulations Selenium

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Pure Encapsulations Selenium delivers the standard 200 mcg dose in a cellulose capsule, and aside from a touch of vitamin C for better shelf life, it’s devoid of additional additives, making it a smart choice.

3. Dr. Mercola Zinc + Selenium

  Dr. Mercola Zinc + Selenium has a targeted formula to address some of the most common trace mineral deficiencies in elderly people.

In addition to its namesake ingredients of zinc (15 mg) and selenium (200 mcg), this supplement also includes 0.25 mg of copper, another essential trace mineral that’s increasingly important as you get older.

Though it’s not the product for you if all you want to address is your selenium levels, many users will appreciate its more holistic approach to mineral deficiencies.

4. Life Extension Super Selenium Complex

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Life Extension Super Selenium Complex pairs two forms of selenium with vitamin E for added antioxidant power. This supplement is designed specifically to take advantage of selenium’s benefit for long-term well-being and youthfulness, and the inclusion of two different types of selenium might marginally improve the bioavailability of this supplement.

While the supplement design isn’t the cleanest, it’s still a solid pick for those interested in combining selenium with other powerful antioxidants like vitamin E.

5. NOW Foods Selenium

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NOW Foods has, as expected for this brand, a simple and no-nonsense selenium supplement. It delivers 200 mcg of selenium per capsule, and the capsules are made of cellulose.

Aside from a bit of rice flour and stearic acid to hold the capsule together, there are no additional ingredients, making it a solid pick for those conscious about purity.

6. Zhou Nutrition Selenium

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Zhou Nutrition is usually pretty innovative with their supplements, but everything about this selenium supplement is standard fare.

The dosage is the typical 200 mcg, and unfortunately, it has few extra additives like silica and magnesium stearate that you won’t find in other competitors.

7. SENSEable Supplements Selenium

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SENSEable Supplements Selenium has a very particular niche use, which is for people who can’t or don’t like to take pill-based supplements.

This liquid form selenium supplement contains 156 mcg selenium in each two droplet serving, but measuring out drops with precision is difficult, so you’re not likely to get a reliable dosage.

Most people would be better suited for a different selenium supplement, but if you really want to avoid capsules and pills, or really want to be able to mix selenium into shakes, juices, or smoothies, it’s well-suited for your needs.

8. NutriONN Selenium

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NutriONN Selenium has the typical 200 mcg dose of selenium, but its supplement design isn’t the cleanest. WIth additives like silicon dioxide and no real features to make it stand out from the crowd, it’s hard to rate this supplement much higher.

9. BRI Nutrition Selenium Extra Strength

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BRI Nutrition Selenium Extra Strength bills itself as an extra strength supplement, but in reality, its dosage of selenium is no higher than the competition.

With fairly mediocre purity as far as ingredients, it doesn’t do much to stand apart from other products on the market.

10. Nature’s Bounty Selenium

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Nature’s Bounty Selenium includes the usual 200 mcg of selenium. Its selenium is produced biologically, by specially-engineered yeast.

The presence of high levels of brewer’s yeast might cause some problems if you are trying to alter your body’s probiotic makeup, for example, you might not want to be adding yeast in the form of a supplement, even as a byproduct.

Selenium benefits and side effects

Selenium is a little-known trace mineral that helps your brain stay healthy, helps your DNA and cells avoid oxidative damage, and helps your thyroid function properly.

Though acute deficiencies in selenium are rare, emerging evidence suggests that higher selenium levels might be associated with better long-term health and cognitive function.

We’ll explore some of the evidence behind the health benefits of selenium before examining optimal dosages and potential side effects.

Benefits

Selenium helps protect your body’s cells and DNA from oxidative damage. Selenium plays a very specific antioxidant role inside your body, according to a review article published in 2000 in The Lancet by Margaret Rayman at the University of Surrey (1).

The review cites dozens of studies that describe the molecular mechanisms behind selenium’s ability to protect cells in your body from oxidation.

Oxidative damage (as well as the inflammation that goes along with it) are implicated in just about every chronic disease you can think of, from heart disease to cancer to cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Selenium acts at the level of the cell membrane, protecting external free radicals from causing damage to the membrane around the cell.

Selenium may protect sperm cells against oxidative damage. One specific type of cell that seems to benefit from selenium is sperm cells in men.

A study published in 2003 in the journal Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis found an interesting connection between selenium levels in the blood and sperm health and quality in healthy men (2).

The researchers showed that higher selenium levels in the blood were linked to less oxidative damage in sperm, and better quality and density of sperm.

This suggests that selenium might play a role in male reproductive health thanks to its antioxidant properties, and indeed, you’ll find it in a few male enhancement supplements for exactly this reason.

Low selenium levels are associated with worse cognitive function in the elderly. Selenium appears to play a role in brain function as well as in oxidative damage protection, as evidenced by several studies connecting selenium deficiency to poor cognitive performance, particularly in older people.

One such study published in 2007 in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at levels of selenium in nail clippings (an easy to measure proxy for long-term selenium exposure) among a group of elderly people living in rural China (3). The subjects then took a battery of cognitive function tests that examined memory and learning.

When the researchers compared cognitive performance as a function of selenium levels, they found a consistent positive association between selenium levels and memory and learning performance across all but one test, providing strong evidence that high levels of selenium during your older years could protect your brain from cognitive decline.

Selenium might directly prevent degenerative diseases of the brain like Alzheimer’s. Additional evidence, both from animal studies and from humans, suggests that selenium helps protect your brain.

A study in rats published in 2009 in the journal Brain Research by scientists at Hamdard University in India provided evidence at the molecular level for the protective effects of selenium against Alzheimer’s disease (4).

Their experiment that selenium was able to significantly reduce the effects of an artificially-induced version of Alzheimer’s in male rats, and more critically, they showed that this reduction was linked to the antioxidant activity of selenium, providing a biological link between its antioxidant and its neuroprotective effects.

In humans, research published by a team of scientists from France in the journal Epidemiology showed a long-term link between selenium levels in the blood and cognitive decline (5).

They showed that long-term declines in blood levels of selenium, measured over the course of nine years, were associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive decline.

More specifically, the risk was proportional to selenium levels: the greater the decline with age, the greater the likelihood of developing cognitive decline.

Reducing chronic inflammation is likely the reason selenium appears to improve brain health. More evidence for the connection between chronic inflammation and cognitive decline came from a four year long study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (6).

The researchers followed over 1,100 healthy adults age 60 to 70 and tracked both their cognitive function and their overall level of inflammation, as assessed by a biomarker called thiobarbituric acid reactive substances or TBARS. The researchers found that the level of TBARS during the study was predictive of a subject’s risk for decreases in cognitive function compared to baseline.

Moreover, the researchers found that selenium levels were inversely associated with risk of cognitive decline: the greater a person’s selenium levels, the lesser their risk of cognitive decline.

These findings from various studies in different populations together make a robust case for the importance of selenium when it comes to preserving brain function as you get older.

Selenium plays a role in proper functioning of the thyroid gland. Initial research into the function of selenium noted that it had a particularly high concentration in the thyroid gland, suggesting that it played an important role in ensuring the proper regulation of the production of thyroid hormones.

Later work, such as an article published in the journal endocrine review by three researchers at Humboldt University in Germany, confirmed these suspicions (7).

Selenium is used in the thyroid to prevent oxidation from hydrogen peroxide, which could disrupt the synthesis of critical proteins for hormone production.

In the thyroid, selenium seems to work in conjunction with iodine, another mineral that is critical for thyroid function. You’ll find both in many thyroid supplements.

Most research to date has focused on the effects of selenium supplementation on the thyroid problems associated with acute iodine and selenium dysfunction, so it’s unclear exactly what role selenium could play in chronic hypothyroid or hyperthyroid conditions. Selenium by itself, though, does appear to increase risk for thyroid problems if taken in excess.

Side effects

According to the Office of Dietary Supplements at the United States National Institutes of Health, excessive selenium intake can cause brittle nails, hair loss, a garlic-like smell in your breath, fatigue, and rashes (8).

High intakes of selenium have been studied in great detail because of the unusually high level of selenium in Brazil nuts (two Brazil nuts can contain as much selenium as a typical over the counter selenium supplement).

As a result of these studies, the Office of Dietary Supplements has set tolerable upper limits of selenium at 400 mcg per day for adult males and female.

Some research has also suggested, at least in theory, that high levels of selenium could impair ovarian function in women, though hard epidemiological evidence for this effect is not evident yet (9).

Some epidemiological studies have also found an increased risk for type 2 diabetes in people with higher selenium levels than average (10), and selenium by itself can dominate the function of iodine in the thyroid gland, leading to thyroid problems (11). These seem to appear at intakes greater than 300 mcg per day.

Recommended dosage

Given the upper limits discussed above, it should be no surprise that the vast majority of over the counter selenium supplements have 200 mcg of selenium each.

Taking one of these capsules per day should be enough to boost your selenium without putting you over the daily limit, unless you consume a lot of foods rich in selenium. This is also in line with the dosage level used in many clinical studies.

Recap

Selenium is an important trace mineral that’s associated with increased resistance to oxidative damage, improvements in brain and thyroid health (in moderate amounts), and protection against cognitive decline in the elderly.

Selenium levels drop over time as you get older, so increasing your selenium intake appears to be a priority particularly for people who are age 60 and older.

There are some risks associated with chronically high selenium intake, so supplementation is only the right choice if you know your dietary intake is low.

Typical clinical trials use doses of 200 mcg per day, taken in one single dose, and this is in line with what’s available in a supplement bought over the counter.

When used by the right people in the right circumstances, selenium could help boost your resistance to oxidative damage, chronic inflammation, and losses in cognitive function.

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[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best energy bars of 2018

Energy bars are made for athletes, highly active people, and anyone who needs a quick, energy-dense, and tasty way to increase their calorie intake and their energy availability.

Whether you are on a backpacking trip, doing an ultramarathon, or a fifty-mile bike ride, a high quality energy bar can set you up for success. However, the right energy bar needs to fulfill a few key requirements.

It should have the right kind of energy for your chosen activity, it should be energy and nutrient-dense, and above all, it should taste good.

Need an energy boost in your next workout or on your next trip? We’ve ranked the most effective and best-tasting energy bars on the market.

1. RXBAR

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RXBAR is an energy bar made only from whole food ingredients. With dates, almonds, cashews, and egg whites, RXBAR delivers a fantastic balance between carbs, protein, and fats.

Each bar has an impressive 12 grams of protein, and the sugar content is around 12 grams, though all of this is coming from dates, not added sugar.

High-intensity athletes like marathon runners might want to opt for something that’s more focused on delivering carbs, but for just about everyone else, RXBARs are the best kind of energy bar for balanced and natural all-day fueling.

2. Picky Bars

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Picky Bars were developed by a team of professional runners who wanted the perfect post-workout snack. They use natural ingredients to deliver a balance between carbs, fat, and protein.

Since it’s geared towards high intensity athletes, the macronutrient distribution tilts towards carbs more so than other energy bars, and the sugar content is high but not overly so, at 15-17 grams per bar. Picky Bars are well-suited for both athletes and adventurers.

3. Redd Energy Bar

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Redd Energy Bars are high-protein, gluten-free energy bars that work well as meal replacements or snacks while backpacking and traveling thanks to their inclusion of a broad range of protein sources, vitamins, and minerals.

With both pumpkin seed and pea protein, each bar has ten grams of protein along with a moderate 14 grams of sugar.

They’re fortified with several vitamins and minerals as well, and the fat content is fairly high, which provides good energy density.

Redd Energy Bars aren’t the best pick for high-intensity exercise, but for many other applications they’ll work pretty well.

4. ZonePerfect Nutrition Bar

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ZonePerfect is something of a cross between an energy bar and a meal replacement bar, but for this reason, it’s a good choice for long outdoor trips.

It has fortified vitamins and minerals that other energy bars don’t have, so if you are travelling and not consistently getting a balanced diet, ZonePerfect can help combat any potential nutrient deficits.

Its high protein content, at 14 grams per bar, is great for sustained energy and recovery, too. The sugar content, at 15 grams per bar, is high but not overly so.

5. Kind Bars

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Kind Bars use a natural blend of almonds, peanuts, and chicory root to get a balanced distribution of fats and carbohydrates.

Because there is no concentrated source of protein, they are pretty low in this nutrient: just six grams of protein per bar.

However, thanks to the sweetness added by chicory root, there’s only five grams of sugar per bar. It’s a solid choice if you want a balance of sustained energy between carbs and fats, and don’t need a major source of protein in your energy bar.

6. Greenbelly Meal 2 Go

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Greenbelly Meal 2 Go was made for long-haul backpackers who plow through thousands of calories per day. Each serving (two bars) is an even split of one third carbs, one third fat, and one third protein.

It’s great for raw energy, but the sugar content is very high. At 35 grams per serving, it’s great if you are forging your way up a mountainside, but far too much if you just need some energy while you’re on the go.

While this energy bar has a very niche application, it does its job well, so if you need energy on your next backpacking trip, it’s a good call.

7. Health Warrior Chia Bars

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Health Warrior Chia Bars derive most of their energy and nutrient content from chia seeds. While sugar is the second ingredient, the overall sugar content is actually quite low, at three grams per bar.

Health Warrior Bars are better suited for everyday people who need to refuel on the go, as its actual energy content is not particularly high: each bar only has 100 calories.

This makes it well-suited for the typical day, but poorly suited for backcountry excursions or high-intensity exercise.

8. Clif Bar

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Clif Bars were one of the original top-selling energy bars, but they’ve fallen out of favor in health circles because the current formulation is pretty sugar-heavy. Each bar has 21 grams of sugar, and 45 grams of carbohydrates total.

That’s great if you are doing something with massive energy expenditure, like running a trail race or doing a cycling race, but for moderate intensity long efforts, like backpacking, hiking, or fueling up on the go, the low fat content and fairly modest protein content is not going to be the best pick.

9. Larabar

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Larabars are all-natural energy bars that are built around a base of dates and peanuts, as well as other natural ingredients that vary depending on the flavor.

They are small, bite-sized energy bars that deliver about a 50/50 split between carbs and fats. The protein content, at 6 grams per bar, isn’t particularly high because there’ no concentrated source of protein, but that won’t be a problem for everyone.

The high sugar content (19 grams) is ameliorated to some extent by the fact that the sugar is derived from the dates, and as such isn’t an added sugar.

10. PowerBar

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PowerBar was one of the brands that was synonymous with energy bars as a whole. They’re still a heavy hitter, but their energy bar is less well-suited for broad audiences because of its formulation.

PowerBars use a sugar-heavy blend that’s almost devoid of fat, and has surprisingly low protein content of nine grams per bar.

The sugar content is very high, at 26 grams per bar, which is fine if you are doing long bouts of intense aerobic exercise, but could spell trouble if you are just hiking or travelling. While it has its applications, PowerBar is largely outclassed by the competition.

Energy bar benefits and recommended intake

Energy bars are prepackaged foods that are energy dense, easy to eat, and contain the nutrients you need to keep moving.

Whether you are traveling, backpacking, riding your bike all day, or competing in an ultramarathon, sometimes you need a quick, easy, and energy dense snack.

That’s where energy bars come in. Nutrition science has a lot to say when it comes to what you should look for in an energy bar and what kind of benefits you might get.

Benefits

An energy bar can provide you with the carbs you need to exercise at a high level. When you are exercising intensely, whether this is a prolonged uphill hike, running a marathon, or paddling on an intense river kayaking trip, your body is relying on carbohydrates for the bulk of your energy.

The exercise physiology literature is crystal clear when it comes to fueling during intense exercise: If the session is at least two hours long, there is a major benefit to refueling along the way with carbohydrates.

This is the conclusion of a review article published by Asker Jeukendrup in the scientific journal Nutrition (1). Jeukendrup, a researcher with dozens of studies on carbohydrate metabolism and fueling during exercise, recommends carbohydrate intakes of 50-60 grams per hour during intense exercise.

During extremely long and energy intensive sessions, like running an ultramarathon, some (but not all) people seem able to tolerate carbohydrate intakes of up to 90 grams per hour, but most people should stick to the recommended range.

Sugar is not necessarily bad if you are using your energy bar for intense exercise. Though sugar is often blamed (correctly) for being the source of many health problems, it’s a desirable source of energy if you are doing high intensity exercise.

That’s because sugar’s two constituents, glucose and fructose, can be absorbed in parallel during exercise (2). The rapid spike in blood sugar that results after consuming sugar makes it great fuel for an energy bar used specifically for intense exercise, but a poor choice otherwise.

If you are not exercising, this blood sugar spike is not healthy for your body, and stimulates the accumulation of body fat.

Carbohydrate intake is especially important at altitude. If you are a backpacker, mountaineer, or climber, chances are you’ll find yourself at high altitudes on a regular basis.

One of the physiological adaptations to high altitude is a shift to greater carbohydrate metabolism, and as a result, high carbohydrate intake is especially important for peak performance in the mountains. A scientific paper published in the Journal of Applied Physiology demonstrated this effect in in a group of subjects who traveled to 14,000 feet elevation (3).

The subjects showed a marked shift away from fat metabolism, particularly in the leg muscles. If you are having lower body fatigue at elevation, low carb intake might be the cause—you should look for an energy bar that’s high in carbs.

Protein in an energy bar can help you recover quicker. Most energy bars have some amount of protein, but the energy bars with the highest protein content work best in situations where you need to recover well after a tough session of activity.

This might be in the form of a post-workout snack after lifting weights, as a recovery meal between legs of a relay race, or as a regular meal on a backpacking trip.

According to a scientific review published in 2004 by Edward Coyle at the University of Texas at Austin, mounting research has found that protein consumed after exercise, especially in combination with carbohydrates, boosts your body’s ability to recover and get ready for another session of exercise (4).

Protein seems to stimulate both muscle repair and increase the uptake of carbohydrates into your muscle fibers, getting them ready for another workout session more quickly.

Protein is not so important during exercise, but it’s critically important for recovery between sessions. Another reason to look for protein in an energy bar is if you plan on using as a meal replacement, but don’t want to opt for a dedicated protein bar.

Fat content in an energy bar is the most energy dense fuel for sustained low and moderate intensity exercise. Not everyone who uses protein bars is an elite athlete who needs to operate at a super-high power output. In fact, one of the biggest groups of people who use energy bars are backpackers and hikers, who need steady and sustained energy all day long.

If you are travelling by foot, you might not need a burst of rapid energy from sugar and simple carbs, but you do need dense sources of energy that last all day long. This is where fat comes in.

According to a scientific article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Jeffrey Horowitz and Samuel Klein at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, fatty acids are energy dense but slowly absorbed, which makes them ill-suited for intense exercise but a more attractive option for low-intensity activities that last all day, like walking and hiking (5).

Horowitz and Klein do suggest that MCT oil, in small to moderate amounts, might be a good ingredient to look for, as it can be absorbed more rapidly than longer chain fatty acids.

Pound for pound, fat of any type contains twice as many calories as protein or carbohydrates, which makes it an excellent source of fuel for backpackers and travellers who have to carry their own food. That’s why you’ll see energy bars geared towards these groups that have a much higher fat content.

Recommended intake

The “dosage,” or macronutrient content, of an energy bar is usually dictated by its intended application.

The bars we’ve ranked range all the way from 100 calories each (designed for a snack on the go for fairly healthy people with a normal life) to over 600 calories each (designed for all-day backpackers).

Plan out your calorie needs first, then take a look at your macronutrients to figure out the right energy bar and how often you’ll need to take one.

Something lower intensity but lasting all day will call for a different caloric and macronutrient balance than an intense three-hour bike ride.

Recap

Energy bars are a great way to fuel up, whether that’s while travelling, on a cross-country cycling trip, or a hiking excursion.

Carbohydrates are essential for high intensity exercise, and don’t overlook sugar if you are doing something like running a marathon or climbing a mountain.

For repeated bouts, like multi-day hiking trips, you’ll need more protein, and for all-day energy in a dense package, you want an energy bar that’s higher in fat.

By considering the caloric and energetic demands of your chosen activity or lifestyle, you can find the right energy bar that will keep you firing on all cylinders.

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[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best coconut milk of 2018

Coconut milk is a thick, creamy, and dairy free beverage that’s high in fat and low in carbohydrates and sugar.

In its natural state, it is energy-dense and high in MCT oil, which have been studied both for weight loss and for cardiovascular benefits.

Coconut milk is also incredibly popular among people who adhere to a ketogenic or low-carb/low-sugar diet, since almost all of its calories come from fat.

Our research team has ranked the ten highest-quality brands of coconut milk—read on for details.

1. Vita Coco Coconut Milk

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Vita Coco Coconut Milk is a newer coconut milk product that puts a slight twist on the usual formula by using coconut water as one of the ingredients.

This gives it a distinctively sweeter taste than a traditional coconut milk, but only adds three grams of sugar per serving.

Thanks in part to this additional ingredient, Vita Coco Coconut Milk is naturally high in calcium, making it a strong substitute for cow’s milk. With cellulose gum as a stabilizer, the fat’s not likely to separate from the water. Due to to its great taste, convenient packaging, and high nutrition value, it’s our top pick.

2. Coconut Dream Original Enriched Unsweetened

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Coconut Dream is a great choice if you want an unsweetened full-strength coconut milk that still has the nutrients you’d get in cow’s milk, like calcium and vitamin B12.

There’s less than a gram of carbohydrates per serving, so this is a great source of fat energy if you are on a ketogenic or low carb diet. These features make it an all-around strong pick.

3. Anthony’s Organic Coconut Milk Powder

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Anthony’s Organic Coconut Milk Powder is a distinct take on coconut milk—you can think of it like the condensed milk version of coconut milk.

This powder-based coconut milk concentrate can be whipped with hot water and your favorite sweetener to make a great-tasting low-carb whipped coconut cream, or added to coffee for an instant boost of medium chain triglycerides.

It’s certainly got its own niche, but Anthony’s Organic Coconut Milk Powder is an excellent product for its specialty uses.

4. Aroy-D Coconut Milk

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Aroy-D Coconut Milk is imported straight from Thailand, and as such it’s as close to a traditional coconut milk as you can get.

The only ingredients are coconut and water, so it’s free of emulsifiers and flavoring agents, but also the kind of fortified nutrients you’d get in a coconut milk designed for dairy substitution.

The single-use tetra pak containers are also a convenient improvement over other products which still use steel cans, so go for this product if you want a pure coconut milk that you can use in small amounts on a regular basis without having to worry about resealing and storing a single large container.

5. So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Milk

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So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Milk is the best option when it comes to a coconut-based dairy milk substitute. It comes in single use tetra paks, and is fortified with several vitamins and minerals to prevent the kind of deficints that can result from eliminating dairy from your diet.

Each serving has only 2 grams of carbohydrates and 45 calories, so it’s great for weight loss and weight maintenance. It’s less convenient if you need large quantities of coconut milk, or want something a little more calorie dense.

6. Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk

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Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk is a super-simple coconut milk that includes only water, coconut cream, and guar gum to help keep the coconut fats mixed well with the water (though it’s not always effective).

It’s great for cooking, but the lack of fortification with things like vitamin D and calcium make it a poor dairy milk substitute, unless you already get those nutrients in adequate amounts elsewhere in your diet.

Still, for people looking for a super-pure coconut milk and don’t mind having to shake up the can before use, it’s a decent option.

7. Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk

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Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk is a pure and simple coconut milk preparation that only includes coconut and water.

There are no emulsifiers, which means no additives but worse fat/water separation, and no added vitamins or minerals, which is good if you are striving for purity, but not so good if you want to use this as a dairy substitute.

It does use organic coconuts in its manufacturing process, so it’s one of the better picks if you want purity above all else.

8. Native Forest Unsweetened Organic Coconut Milk Simple

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If you want to keep things as simple as possible, it’s hard to do better than Native Forest. Coconuts and water are the only ingredients in this coconut milk product, which has both benefits and drawbacks.

Purists will like the lack of emulsifiers like guar gum, but on the other hand, you won’t get the benefits of the nutrients you’d get in a fortified coconut milk, like calcium or B vitamins.

If that’s not a problem, and you don’t mind dealing with some fat/water separation, Native Forest is a great product.

9. Marion’s Kitchen Coconut Milk

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Marion’s Kitchen packages its coconut milk in individual foil packets, making it a favorite among people who like using coconut milk in their coffee or tea. However, it has a tendency to clump up, even though it’s got guar gum in it, so you do have to give it a few good shakes before using it. You are also boxed in to using the entire seven ounces fairly quickly.

10. Z Natural Foods Organic Coconut Milk Powder

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Z Natural Foods Organic Coconut Milk Powder can be used as a milk replacement for making whipped cream, lattes, or smoothies, but it’s not the best powder-based product on the market.

It does have a tendency to clump up, and the use of maltodextrin as an anti-clumping agent raises the carbohydrate content, making this a slightly weaker choice for people on a keto or low carb diet.

Coconut milk benefits and recommended intake

Coconut milk is a traditional drink in Southeast Asia that’s made by boiling water with ripe coconut flesh. The result is a thick and creamy liquid that’s high in medium chain triglycerides and almost devoid of sugar.

As such, it’s become a very popular food to add to low carb and ketogenic diets, because almost all of its energy content comes from the saturated fat content.

However, this has also made coconut milk somewhat controversial—proponents cite its high MCT oil content as evidence for its benefits, while others point to the drawbacks of diets that are high in saturated fat. Who’s right? We’ll explore the scientific literature to find out.

Benefits

Coconut milk is rich source of beneficial medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). One particular category of fat that’s contained in coconut milk is medium chain triglycerides, also known as MCTs.

MCT has been associated with numerous health benefits, which explains the popularity of MCT oil products. MCT is known to help decrease body fat and fight against some of the unhealthy metabolic changes that happen in conjunction with weight gain.

For example, one study published in the scientific journal Obesity by scientists at McGill University in Canada (1). Their study had 24 overweight and obese men participate in a crossover trial that included 28 days with an MCT supplement and 28 days with a long-chain triglyceride supplement as a control.

The researchers found that the MCTs were associated with an increase in energy expenditure and a decrease in body fat levels, compared to the long chain triglyceride control period. Another study published in 2010 in the journal Pharmacological Research connected MCTs with improvements in metabolic function (2).

The researchers were interested in metabolic function because metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes are both metabolic disease that are associated with being overweight or obese.

The study reviewed multiple different experiments by other researchers which showed a range of improvements in parameters like fat deposition, fat oxidation, and insulin sensitivity.

As a good source of MCT oil, coconut milk appears to be beneficial for both weight loss and for avoiding the metabolic effects of high body fat.

Although saturated fat consumption is usually associated with cardiovascular disease coconut milk might be an exception. Some of the biggest and most rigorous epidemiological studies conducted in the Western world have consistently found that saturated fat intake is associated with an increase in cardiovascular disease. 

It’s also been associated with a concomitant increase in risk factors for cardiovascular disease, like high blood pressure and and high cholesterol.

Authoritative meta-analyses from respected and unbiased authors such as the Cochrane Collaboration have confirmed these results: according to a large meta-analysis published in 2015, increases in saturated fat intake are associated with increases in cardiovascular disease risk, especially if saturated fat is displacing unsaturated fat in your diet (3).

However, saturated fat is a fairly large category of fats that includes the kind of fat found in everything from bacon grease to coconuts.

As you might guess, these don’t all contain the same molecules, even though they fall under the umbrella of saturated fat.

Observational studies have not connected coconut milk with higher risk of heart disease. Since coconuts and coconut milk are a traditional food in Southeast Asia, many island nations provide good natural experiments for testing to see whether the saturated fat in coconut milk actually increases the risk of heart disease.

A number of studies have concluded that, in traditional societies, even extremely high coconut consumption is not associated with cardiovascular disease.

One such study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers in New Zealand, compared two populations of island dwellers in Polynesia (4).

The citizens of one island got 34% of their calories from pure coconut, while the other island got 63% of their calories from coconut.

Interestingly, though there was a modest increase in cholesterol levels on the island with greater coconut intake, the authors noted that cardiovascular disease was not a major health problem on either island, suggesting that even these extreme levels of coconut consumption.

Additional research published in 2004 in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition found similar results in Indonesia (5).

The researchers compared the dietary intake of people with heart disease to a similar group of healthy people. They found a number of similar findings to studies done in Western populations: increased intake of animal protein and cholesterol were associated with a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease.

Notably, however, there was no association between coconut intake and heart disease, either in the form of raw coconut or in the form of coconut milk.

Coconut milk might not be a good choice if the rest of your diet and lifestyle is not very healthy. Not all researchers are convinced by the results in islander populations.

One review study published in 2016 in the journal Nutrition Reviews surveyed a number of studies on coconut intake to determine its health effects (6).

The authors conceded that coconuts appear to be a healthy and non-harmful part of the diet of many traditional island societies, but the evidence for using coconut milk or coconut oil by itself as a dietary intervention in Western populations is less convincing.

The researchers hypothesized that the saturated fat in coconut products might interact with other negative parts of Western lifestyles, like high refined carbohydrate and sugar intake, as well as low levels of physical activity, could interact with the fat content of coconut milk to create adverse health outcomes.

Recommended intake

With so much controversy over coconut milk, it’s hard to pin down a precise optimal intake.

Even if you do ascribe to belief in the negative effects of high saturated fat intakes, amounts of eight to 16 oz of coconut milk should still be healthy, as long as you don’t have other sources of saturated fat in your diet.

Clearly, the studies on island-dwellers have found that it’s possible to be healthy with extremely high coconut milk intake, but other lifestyle and dietary factors might contribute to this.

If the rest of your diet and your lifestyle are typical of Western residents, you might want to keep coconut milk consumption lower.

Recap

Coconut milk is a rich source of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which have a range of health benefits from assisting with weight loss to improving your metabolic health.

Coconut milk might also be exempt from the usual nutritional rules about saturated fat, as its specific fatty acid content differs widely from other sources of saturated fatty acids, like red meat.

Though nutrition research isn’t clear on whether there is an upper limit on healthy amounts of coconut milk, small to moderate amounts of coconut milk do appear to be healthy levels of intake.

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Muira puama benefits and side effects

Muira puama is a species of tree that has traditionally been used in Brazil as an aphrodisiac and tonic to treat nerves.

Research also shows its potential as an effective memory enhancer, antidepressant, stress reliever and neuron protector.

Benefits

Terpenoids (naturally occurring organic compounds found in plants) appear to be the active components in Muira puama, with the terpenoid ptychonal believed to offer the most medicinal benefits.

Muira puama is a libido booster. In a study published in Advances in Therapy, researchers set out to evaluate the effects of an herbal formulation of Muira puama and Ginkgo biloba on libido and sexual activity in 202 premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Responses to self-assessment questionnaires showed significantly higher average total scores from baseline in 65 percent of the participants after taking the supplement. Areas of reported improvement included frequency of sexual desires, sexual intercourse, and sexual fantasies, as well as in satisfaction with sex life (1).

While few clinical studies have been conducted examining the sexual effects of Muira puama, according to a 2014 issue of BioMed Research International, popular belief claims it can improve sexual function especially in old men.

In one study, 60 percent of men with low libido reported increased sexual desire and 50 percent of men with poor erection reported improved erectile function following Muira puama use (2).

Muira puama may have stress-relieving properties. Chronic stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body and puts many at risk for developing a great number of health problems. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, heart disease, sleep problems, weight gain, digestive problems and much more (3).

Researchers recently evaluated whether an extract of Muira puama possesses anti-stress properties. Using a mouse model, it was discovered that the extract counteracts some of the effects brought about by chronic stress (4).

In another study, researchers set out to further verify the anti-stress effects of ethanol extract using the unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) depression model in mice.

Over six weeks, mice were subjected to the UCMS protocol. The effects of the treatment extract (50, 100, 300mg/kg) were evaluated in relation to coat state, splash-test grooming and corticosterone levels.

It was concluded that all the testing parameters were prevented with treatment of the extract (5).

Muira puama helps treat depression. According to the results of a study published in Phytotherapy Research, ethanol extract of this tree possesses antidepressant-like effects. A mouse study was used to verify the effects of the extract on forced swimming and tail suspension tests.

The results indicate that the extract’s antidepressant-like effects are possibly mediated by beta-adrenergic and D(1) dopamine receptors (6).

In another animal study, administration of 30, 100, and 300mg/kg Muira puama was able to reduce anxiety-like symptoms in a hole-board test (7).

Muira puama is one of four herbs in the herbal product known as Catuama. It is marketed for the management of mental and physical fatigue. Research published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, reported that Catuama also has antidepressant-like actions.

In an in vivo study, acute and chronic oral treatments with Catuama resulted in a significant reduction of the immobility time in two models of depression in mice, the forced swimming and the tail suspension tests.

The antidepressant-like effects were comparable to those observed with traditional antidepressant drugs. These findings suggest that Catuama might be useful for the management of mild to moderate depression, alone or in conjunction with other antidepressant drugs (8).

Muira puama may help improve memory. Growing research points to the efficacy of Muira puama ethanol extract in facilitating memory retrieval. One study showed that memory improvement was observed in aging mice (14 months) presenting with memory deficit as compared to adult (2.5 months) mice (9).

In the same study, single injections of 50-100mg/kg Muira puama enhanced learning (tested using the step-down avoidance task) when administrated prior to testing or after, indicating an improvement in short-term memory acquisition and consolidation.

While the mechanisms underlying the improvement in memory retrieval require further study, researchers are hopeful with these early results.

Muira puama may play a future role in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Considered a “brain tonic” in the Amazon region, Muira puama is being studied for its potential to treat this neurodegenerative disease.

Standardized ethanol extract of Muira puama has been found to have promnesic (memory promoting) and anti-amnesic properties (10).

Using a cognitive deficit-induced mouse model, mice were given 14 days of oral treatment of extract (800 mg/kg). Results showed that treatment was effective in preventing cognitive impairment.

CA1 hippocampus loss was also diminished. In those suffering from Alzheimer’s, the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) region of the hippocampus (a brain area critical for learning and memory) progressively shrinks (11,12). Finding ways to prevent this area from diminishing may help prevent memory loss.

Muira puama has neuroprotective properties. A recent study evaluating the in vivo antioxidant effect of Muira puama ethanol extract on free-radical scavenging ability, yielded positive results.

Administration of the extract in aging mice reduced free-radical production in the hypothalamus, and lead to significant decrease in lipid peroxidation in the cerebral cortex, striatum and hypothalamus, as well as in the carbonyl content in cerebellum and striatum.

Increased lipid peroxidation has been observed in atherosclerosis, heart failure, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatic arthritis, cancer and other immunological disorders (13). Decreasing the formation of lipid peroxidation is key to preventing numerous medical complications.

Side effects

Muira puama may cause stomach discomfort, headaches and low blood pressure.

In-depth clinical studies are needed to fully understand the side effects of Muira puama and how it may or may not interact with other medications.

Recommended dosage

Most of the clinical studies done so far have been performed on animals. Further research is needed to determine the recommended dosage in humans.

Do not take this herb without first consulting the advice of a medical professional.

Recap

Muira puama is a tree that has traditionally been used in Brazil as a libido booster and tonic to treat nerves. Early studies show its potential as a memory enhancer, antidepressant, stress reliever and neuron protector.

It is believed that terpenoids are the active components which give this tree its therapeutic benefits.

Due to studies being performed mostly on mice and rat models, there is limited information on the potential side effects in humans.

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[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best dark chocolate of 2018

Dark chocolate is a special type of chocolate that has a particularly high concentration of antioxidants and beneficial natural compounds from the cocoa bean.

It’s a useful food to add to your diet for better heart health, longevity, and resistance to chronic diseases.

The health benefits of dark chocolate might be a bit surprising, because chocolate is fairly high in sugar.

However, it turns out that on balance, the benefits of the antioxidants in dark chocolate outweigh the drawbacks of the sugar content at small to moderate daily doses.

If you want dark chocolate that’s both tasty and healthy, our researchers have ranked the highest-quality dark chocolates you can get.

1. Endangered Species Extra Dark Chocolate Panther

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Endangered Species Chocolate has a social mission as well as a commercial one. Part of the profits from their sales go to protect endangered rainforest species, like this chocolate bar’s namesake, the panther.

But this chocolate isn’t just good for the rainforest—the 88% cocoa content makes it super high in antioxidants and fiber, and low in sugar.

Add to that the fact that there are no extra flavorings or additives and you’ve got a winner.

2. Lindt Excellence Supreme Dark

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Lindt makes a fantastic super-dark chocolate bar that is 90% cocoa solids. Thanks to the presence of real vanilla beans, extracted with bourbon, its rich taste is complemented by the airy notes of vanilla oils.

The fiber content is high and the sugar content is low, making this a great choice if you want an extremely dark chocolate.

3. Newman’s Own Organics Premium Organic Dark Chocolate

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Newman’s Own is a great choice for a medium-dark chocolate that’s certified organic. It’s also certified by the Rainforest Alliance, meaning that it uses ethical and sustainable production when growing and harvesting its cocoa beans.

The sugar content is moderate, and the fiber content is pretty good. Since it includes vanilla extract, and since it has a lower concentration of cocoa, it’s a smooth and widely accessible dark chocolate good for those who haven’t developed a taste for darker and more complex chocolates.

4. Ghirardelli Chocolate Intense Dark

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Ghirardelli makes an 72% cocoa dark chocolate bar that’s a bit more approachable for people who shy away from the bitter and complex taste of some of the more raw and natural dark chocolates.

Ghirardelli includes natural flavors and vanilla extract to smooth out some of the flavoring, and milk fat for more creaminess.

Using dairy does make this dark chocolate not a viable option for vegans or people with harsh lactose intolerance, so if you fit in these categories, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

5. Pascha Organic Dark Chocolate

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Pascha Organic makes a dark chocolate bar that is both organic and ethically sourced.

For organic fans, it’s a great choice, especially for those who want something a little smoother and less complex than the darkest of the dark chocolates.

As with other medium-dark chocolates, the sugar content is somewhat higher, but that’s about the only drawback.

6. GODIVA Chocolatier

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GODIVA Chocolatier makes 72% dark chocolate bars that are smoother and less intense than some of the higher cocoa content dark chocolates on the market.

It also has no dairy ingredients, which is not common among the lower cocoa content chocolates.

It’s a good choice for those who are dairy averse but also want something a little different than the extreme dark chocolates that have 80 or 90% cocoa. The only downside is that, as a result of the lower cocoa content, the sugar content is higher.

7. BIJA Chocolates Organic Dark Chocolate

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BIJA Chocolates Organic Dark Chocolate comes in three distinct flavors, all of which have 72% cocoa content and all of which are certified organic.

The flavors range from citrus and inca berry to espresso and cacao nibs to wild ginger and cayenne, so if you are tired of the same dark chocolate flavor, give BIJA a try.

Like other flavored dark chocolates, the extras do bump the sugar content up, so it’s better for occasional use, not daily use.

8. Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate

Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate is a smooth and approachable dark chocolate that has 70% cocoa content and notes of vanilla bean, thanks to the organic vanilla extract used to make it.

All of the ingredients are certified organic, making it a good choice for those looking for a milder dark chocolate with minimal change of pesticide or synthetic fertilizer content.

9. Imlak’esh Organics Cacao Wafers

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If you want to go straight to the source of the antioxidants in dark chocolate, Imlak’esh Organics Cacao Wafers might be the way to go.

These wafers contain only unprocessed cacao, the raw ingredient that makes up the bulk of a good dark chocolate bar.

The taste is distinctively bitter, not sweet, so they’re definitely not the right call for everyone, but these quarter-sized wafers make for good snacking.

10. Equal Exchange Organic Lemon Ginger Dark Chocolate with Black Pepper

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Equal Exchange has an innovative take on dark chocolate, sprinkling in ginger, black pepper, and lemon essential oil for a distinctly tangy and spicy dark chocolate.

These extras, however, push the cocoa content down to 55%, and the sugar content up higher than what you’ll find in many other competitors.

It’s nice for an occasional treat, but isn’t a good choice for regular consumption if your goal is taking advantage of the health benefits of dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate benefits and recommended intake

Dark chocolate is seen as a luxurious delicacy, but a growing body of scientific research makes a strong case that it should also be considered a health food.

Dark chocolate, like the cacao powder that it’s made from, contains powerful antioxidant compounds.

Studies of cell cultures and animals have connected these compounds with positive biochemical changes, and epidemiological and clinical studies have connected this activity at the cellular level with positive health outcomes.

Benefits

Dark chocolate is good for heart health. Some of the early work supporting the health benefits came from large epidemiological studies which involved studying the dietary habits of a big group of people, then following them for several decades and tracking their health.

Studies started to uncover an association between dark chocolate consumption and several heart health related outcomes. One such investigation was published in the European Heart Journal by researchers at the by German Institute of Human Nutrition (1).

The researchers followed a group of nearly 20,000 healthy subjects over a period of eight years. Of these, several hundred experienced a heart attack or stroke during follow-up.

When the researchers compared those with the highest dark chocolate consumption to those with the lowest, they found that risk of heart attack or stroke was 40% lower among the dark chocolate consumers.

Decreases in blood pressure accounted for about 12% of this decrease in risk, which the researchers attributed to the blood pressure lowering effects of the flavanols in cocoa.

Eating dark chocolate could reduce levels of inflammation, particularly in women. Like other powerful antioxidants like resveratrol and astaxanthin, the flavanols in dark chocolate are also thought to reduce levels of inflammation in the body.

A study published in 2008 in the Journal of Nutrition detailed the effects of dark chocolate on inflammation in a group of healthy people living in Italy (2).

The researchers assigned 28 people to consume dark chocolate every day for a week, then tracked their levels of blood lipids (a risk factor for heart disease) and their levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker for systemic inflammation.

The results found that dark chocolate consumption was associated with decreases in blood lipids, which is exactly what we’d expect knowing what we already do about the effects of dark chocolate on heart health.

However, the researchers also found evidence that dark chocolate reduced C-reactive protein levels in the female subjects, suggesting that women may benefit from its anti-inflammatory properties.

Dark chocolate, despite its sugar content, does not increase cholesterol levels. Given that dark chocolate, like any chocolate product, contains sugar, there’s good reason to worry that the sugar content could be associated with negative health effects.

Some studies have connected sugar intake with increases in cholesterol, such as one study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2011 (3).

However, a systematic review published by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health looked at 136 different studies on dark chocolate and health, and concluded that consuming dark chocolate is “cholesterol neutral”—whatever negative effects on cholesterol caused by the sugar are negated by the positive effects of the other compounds in dark chocolate (4).

This is a relief, as it suggests that the consequences of the sugar content of dark chocolate are not so severe as they might be if you consumed the same amount of sugar from a different source as a part of your diet.

For greater health benefits, go for a dark chocolate with a high cocoa content. Pretty much every dark chocolate bar you’ll see lists its cocoa solids content (as a percent) in a prominent place on the label.

From a taste perspective, higher concentrations of cocoa solids create a more complex, nuanced, and bitter taste to dark chocolate.

In contrast, smaller amounts of cocoa mean a smoother, sweeter, and more milky taste (and also a higher sugar content).

A typical milk chocolate might have 10 or 20% cocoa solids, whereas for dark chocolates, you’ll see everything from 55% at the low end to 90% on the high end. If you’re eating dark chocolate for the taste, you can go with whatever level you like best, but what about for health?

Research out of the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania suggests that, for health, more is better when it comes to cocoa content. Joe Vinson and Matthew Motisi, two chemistry researchers, tested the levels of polyphenol antioxidants in 46 different brands of chocolate, and examined whether greater cocoa content resulted in more antioxidant power.

They found unambiguously that it does—there is a direct, linear relationship between a higher cocoa content and greater antioxidant power (5).

Moreover, the label-stated cocoa content is actually a pretty reliable indicator of the actual antioxidant content, so you can rely on percent cocoa solids as a good proxy for how healthy a given chocolate bar is for you.

This makes it clear that, for the best health benefits, you should go for the highest cocoa content you can find. Fortunately, plenty of top-ranked dark chocolates are 85% cocoa or more.

Recommended intake

From the epidemiological and clinical literature, the levels of dark chocolate intake connected with good health are surprisingly high.

The typical “dose” is 40 to 50 grams of dark chocolate per day, though a few studies have even found benefits with up to 100 grams per day.

Fifty grams per day would be about half of a standard-sized bar of dark chocolate, meaning you could easily go through three to four bars in a week.

The polyphenols in dark chocolate (which account for its powerful antioxidant benefits) make up somewhere around 0.5% of the bulk weight of the chocolate bar, which probably accounts for why fairly high intake in dark chocolate is beneficial.

Recap

Dark chocolate contains powerful antioxidants that are connected with lower blood pressure, decreased risk for heart attack and stroke, and decreases in systemic inflammation among women.

For optimal health benefits, the best approach seems to be to go for the highest cocoa content you can find if your top priority is health benefits—the percentage of cocoa solids in dark chocolate correlates directly with its antioxidant content.

A daily intake of somewhere around 50 grams, which works out to roughly half of a standard sized chocolate bar, seems to be the most effective and most-studied dose.

Eating some dark chocolate every day is an easy way to improve your heart health and decrease your risk of chronic health conditions in the long run.

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[heathertruitt]

Mucuna pruriens benefits and side effects

Mucuna pruriens is a plant used as a treatment for male infertility, nervous disorders and as an aphrodisiac. It is also being studied for its neuroprotective effects and for its ability to help treat Parkinson’s disease.

Benefits

Also known as velvet bean, mucuna pruriens contains high concentrations of L-dopa (an amino acid which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine). The entire plant has long been used in Ayurvedic Indian medicine for various medical conditions, including the treatment of venomous snake bites and scorpion stings.

Methanol extract of this plant has demonstrated significant in vitro antioxidant activity, and there are also indications that it may be a potential source of anti-microbial activity (1).

Mucuna pruriens may be an effective alternative treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a progressive nervous system disorder characterized by symptoms of tremor, slowed movement, rigid muscles, speech changes and impaired balance. It is caused by certain brain cells in the brain gradually dying, due to a decrease in dopamine levels (2).

Researchers believe that mucuna pruriens’ high content of L-dopa (the precursor to dopamine) may help alleviate symptoms of this disease.

The aim of one multicenter clinical trial was to examine the efficacy and safety of Mucuna prurient in 66 patients with Parkinson’s disease. The results, published in an issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, reported that after 12 weeks of treatment, there were statistically significant reductions in the two rating scales scores commonly used to assess the stage of Parkinson’s — Hoehn and Yahr scale and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale — seen from baseline to the end of the study period (3).

Mucuna pruriens increases libido. While this plant has been used to treat male sexual disorders since ancient times, until recently, studies were lacking to substantiate these claims. In a 2009 study, the effects of ethanolic extracts of the seed of this plant were examined for general mating behavior, libido and potency of male rats.

The results indicated that the seed extracts produced a significant and sustained increase in sexual activity, specifically at the dose of 200mg/kg (4).

Similar results were seen in another study using diabetic-induced rats. Sexual dysfunction is one of the major secondary effects of diabetes. In a 2012 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers analyzed the efficacy of Mucuna pruriens on male sexual behavior and sperm parameters in long-term hyperglycemic male rats.

Results showed that the rats administered with seed extract of the plant showed significant improvement in sexual behavior, libido, sperm parameters, daily sperm production and hormonal levels (5).

Mucuna pruriens helps treat male infertility. Approximately 9 percent of men in the U.S. experience fertility problems, and according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, about one-third of infertility cases are caused by fertility problems in men (6).

The results of a 2009 study showed that treatment with Mucuna pruriens significantly improved serum testosterone, luteinizing hormone, dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline levels in infertile men (low levels are associated with infertility) and reduced levels of follicle-stimulating hormone and prolactin (high levels are linked with infertility).

Sperm count and motility were also significantly recovered in infertile men after treatment (7).

Mucuna pruriens have antimicrobial properties. Researchers in India assessed the antimicrobial activity of several plants in 2009 (including Mucuna pruriens) and published their promising findings in the Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal. They found that methanolic extract of Mucuna pruriens showed the highest antimicrobial activity against all the bacterial species tested.

It was also observed that the chloroform extract of Mucuna pruriens exhibited significant activity against microorganisms tested, which may be due to the presence of terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, tannis and kerotonins (8).

Mucuna pruriens has anti-diabetic properties. In their ongoing search for safe and effective ways to treat diabetes, researchers have turned their attention to Mucuna pruriens seed extract.

Using a rat model, researchers found that chronic administration of the extract resulted in a significant dose-dependent reduction in blood glucose levels. They noted that the antidiabetic activity resides in the methanolic and ethanolic fractions of the extract (9).

Mucuna pruriens have high antioxidant properties. A recent in vitro study found that ethylacetate and methanolic extracts of Mucana pruriens, which contain large amounts of phenolic compounds, exhibit high antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities.

These natural antioxidants may be useful in preventing various oxidative stresses (10). Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radical activity and antioxidant activity, which can lead to a host of diseases, including diabetes, inflammatory conditions, high blood pressure and neurodegenerative diseases.

Side effects

According to one large, double blind clinical and pharmacological study, there were no adverse effects other than nausea and vomiting with dosages of 15-30g of Mucuna pruriens powder taken for 12-20 weeks (11).

Other possible side effects include abdominal bloating, fast heartbeat, headache, confusion, agitation and hallucinations.

In studies involving rats, acute toxicity tests indicated that the extract was relatively safe at low doses, although some adverse reactions were observed at higher doses (8-32 mg/kg body weight), including hyperventilation and reduced spontaneous motor activity (12).

Mucuna pruriens may also interact with medications for diabetes, blood pressure and medications for depression and antipsychotics.

Studies are needed to determine the side effects with long-term use.

Recommended dosage

Some human studies show that 5 g of Mucuna pruriens dried powder has been efficacious for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and fertility. Due to the possibility of adverse reactions and interactions with other drugs, however, it is best to first seek the advice of a medical professional before use.

Recap

Mucuna pruriens is a plant that has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of male infertility, nervous disorders and as an aphrodisiac. It contains high concentrations of L-dopa (an amino acid which is a precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine) and early studies show its neuroprotective activity and potential to treat Parkinson’s disease.

It is also known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-diabetic and antimicrobial activity.

Further, in-depth studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the pharmacological activities of this plant.

Side effects with short-term use may include nausea, abdominal bloating and vomiting. There is concern that other reactions, including fast heartbeat, headache, confusion, agitation and hallucinations may occur.

More studies are needed to better understand the side effects, especially with long-term use.

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[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best almond milk of 2018

Almond milk is a beverage made by crushing and pulverizing almonds and soaking them in water, then filtering off the solids.

The result is a tasty and nutrition beverage that’s an excellent source of many of the healthy compounds in almonds, like their polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

While almond milk tastes sweet, its actual sugar content is practically zero, and it compares especially well to other milk substitutes on this front.

Whether you are vegan, lactose-intolerant, or just want something that doesn’t spoil as fast as dairy milk, almond milk is one of the healthiest milk substitutes you can get.

Looking for a high-quality almond milk to add to your diet? We’ve ranked the ten best almond milk products on the market. Read on for details.

1. Silk Almond Milk

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Silk makes a range of dairy substitutes, and their almond milk products are fantastic. If you prefer the naturally mild and slightly tangy flavor of almond milk, go for the original unsweetened almond milk.

If you prefer something tasting a little lighter, you can get vanilla, which is still unsweetened which keeps the carb content at less than a gram per serving.

Most of the calories come from the healthy fats in almond milk, and Silk adds in the nutrients you’d get in regular fortified milk too, like calcium, vitamin D, and zinc. For all of these reasons, it’s our number one pick.

2. Almond Breeze Almond Milk

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Almond Breeze Almond Milk achieves a smooth and creamy taste thanks to including emulsifiers like sunflower lecithin alongside almonds and water in this almond milk product.

The result is a beverage that’s a little closer to milk when it comes to frothiness, and with fortified vitamins and minerals, you don’t need to worry about nutritional deficiencies.

3. Kirkland Signature Organic Unsweetened Almond Milk

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Kirkland Signature is notable for its organic almond milk, so if you want to be sure that your almond milk is free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, it’s a good choice.

Almonds grow directly on trees, and the raw almond material is soaked in water to create almond milk, so any residue from pesticides sprayed on to the almond trees stands a decent chance of making it into the final product if the almonds aren’t thoroughly washed. Going the organic route helps avoid this problem.

4. Elmhurst Milked Almonds

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Elmhurst Milked Almonds is an almond milk product that’s about as pure as you can get. With exactly two ingredients (water and almonds), Elmhurst Milked Almonds have all the nutrient value in almonds with zero additives.

This makes it a great choice for people who are on a keto, whole 30, or low sugar diet. The only drawback to this super pure approach is the lack of nutrients like calcium and vitamin D.

Since these don’t naturally occur in almonds, you won’t get them from this almond milk. As long as the rest of your diet or supplementation regimen includes these, you’ll be fine.

5. Rude Health Ultimate Almond

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Rude Health Ultimate Almond is a high-end almond milk that uses spring water and organically-grown almonds to make an ultra-pure beverage.

Because the only two ingredients are almonds and water, it’s a good pick for purists, though it suffers from the lack of nutrients that’s inherent in any almond milk beverage that’s not fortified with things like vitamin D and calcium. Users find it especially useful for great-tasting lattes and chai tea.

6. Califia Farms Almondmilk

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Califia Farms Almondmilk is a more approachable almond milk for people who find regular, unsweetened almond milk too watery and unpalatable.

It’s a sweeter and more enjoyable drink, though this comes at the expense of some added sugar, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers.

This probably rules it out for keto and low sugar dieters, even though it’s only got 5 grams of sugar per serving. For occasional use, however, it’s still a good choice if the moderate sugar content doesn’t bother you.

7. Pacific Barista Series Original Almond Beverage

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Trying to make lattes or add milk to your morning coffee, but want to eliminate dairy? Pacific Barista Series has the perfect answer.

This sweet, thick and creamy almond milk blends up into a frothy mixture very well thanks to the presence of numerous emulsifiers, and it adds a distinctly sweet kick to any beverage.

However, it does have a considerable amount of sugar, so it’s a no-go for anyone trying to keep their sugar or carbohydrate intake down.

8. Orgain Organic Protein Almond Milk

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Orgain Organic Protein Almond Milk was created to solve one of the key problems with most dairy substitutes: their lack of protein.

One of the reasons milk is such a useful and versatile beverage is because it has a pretty good protein profile, with both whey and casein protein.

Organ uses pea protein, a great source of many amino acids, to make up for the lack of protein in natural almond milk.

This gives it ten grams of protein per serving, though the downside is that it also has seven grams of sugar, since it also includes cane sugar for flavoring.

9. Pacific Foods Organic Almond Milk

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Pacific Foods makes a popular almond milk that tastes sweet, but falls short on a few critical benchmarks. It’s fortified with vitamins and minerals, but notably, not calcium.

In addition, its sugar content is quite high, at ten grams per serving. This makes it a mediocre choice for health and wellness, so unless you need sweetened almond milk for something specific, there are other options that would be a better choice.

10. 365 Everyday Value Organic Almond Milk

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365 Everyday Value Organic Almond Milk is pretty popular, though its ingredient design is a bit dated. Among manufacturers trying to capitalize on the health benefits of almonds, the trend has been towards limiting or completely removing the presence of sugar.

That’s not the case with 365 Everyday Value Organic Almond Milk—it’s got 13 grams of sugar per serving, which is over half of what the American Heart Association recommends per day.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, it’s a good fit, but for health purposes, there are better options.

Benefits of almond milk

Almond milk is one of the healthiest substitutes for cow’s milk, thanks to its low carb content, healthy fats, and near-zero sugar levels.

Eating almond-containing foods has been connected with a number of long-term health benefits, and many of the compounds that cause these benefits make their way into almond milk.

The constituents of almond milk help fight against dietary-caused inflammation, improve risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and make a great base for healthy protein shakes and meal replacement shakes.

We’ll dive into the science behind the health benefits of almond milk and take a look at ideal intake levels.

Benefits

Almond milk contains oils that are beneficial for heart health. Since almonds are naturally devoid of protein, saturated fat, and most types of carbohydrates, the primary source of the caloric content of almond milk is the unsaturated fats contained in almond oils.

This is the same type of fat you’ll find in other healthy oils, like olive oil. These oils have been subjected to scientific scrutiny to determine whether they have health benefits.

One such study was conducted by researchers at the University of California Davis and published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2002 (1). This study involved two groups of subjects who replaced half of their usual daily fat intake with either whole almonds or almond oil for a period of six weeks.

Knowing that almonds are usually associated with beneficial effects for heart health, the researchers compared the improvements in heart health markers in the almond group to the improvements in the almond oil group. They found no difference, suggesting that the almond oils are the reason for the heart health benefits of almonds.

Namely, in this study, these benefits included decreases in LDL cholesterol (the “bad” type) and increases in HDL cholesterol (the “good” type).

These benefits mirror other research done on the effects of almond compounds on heart health, like a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition which showed that almond-based diet decreased LDL cholesterol and maintained HDL cholesterol (2).

For heart health and cholesterol control, almond milk is a good choice.

Almond milk contains alpha-tocopherol, which blocks oxidative damage. Almond are rich in vitamin E, and is particularly rich in a form of vitamin E called alpha-tocopherol.

This compound is a potent antioxidant and can protect cells in your body from oxidative damage. Laboratory research, like a study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, has found that alpha-tocopherol prevents oxidative damage in a multitude of different animal cells (3).

Moreover, a review study of plant-based milk replacements published in 2016 in the Journal of Food Science and Technology highlighted the free radical scavenging ability of alpha-tocopherol in almond milk as well as other nut milks (4).

This might explain why almonds and almond-derived products appear to be very useful as a part of an anti-inflammatory diet.

Unsweetened almond milk is very low in sugar. One problem with some dairy substitutes is that they use sugar, or compounds that contain sugars naturally, to replace the slightly sweet flavoring that milk has thanks to its lactose content.

This is a problem for people who are trying to avoid the negative effects of sugar, like weight gain, increases in fat mass, and overall inflammation.

Almond milk solves this problem, because the natural sugar content of almonds is very low. According to an analytical study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, whole almonds contain only 5.5 grams of sugar per 100 grams of raw material (5).

Almond milk has a sugar content that’s much lower than this, because not all of the sugar makes it into the solution. A typical almond milk beverage has less than one gram of carbohydrates total per serving, and only a fraction of this is sugar.

You could drink a good amount of almond milk, even if you are on an aggressively anti-carb diet like a ketogenic diet.

Almond milk helps fight dietary inflammation. Emerging nutrition research is starting to connect disparate diseases, like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and cognitive degeneration (Alzheimer’s disease and dementia), to similar root causes.

One of these causes is what’s been termed a “pro-inflammatory diet.” As of 2016, there’s even a scientifically validated and empirically derived dietary inflammation index (6), which has been used to uncover associations between dietary inflammation and negative health consequences.

Foods rich in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and red or processed meat are all associated with increased inflammation, but almonds and its constituent compounds are associated with decreased inflammation.

That was the conclusion of a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition which randomized a group of subjects to consume either a high-almond diet or a control diet for a period of four weeks (7).

The researchers found that a few key markers of inflammation went down on the almond diet, indicating that almonds and almond milk are a potentially useful part of an anti-inflammatory diet.

Recommended intake

Since almond milk is high in healthy fats and has practically no carbohydrates or sugars, daily intakes of up to several 8 ounce servings per day are going to be beneficial for your health.

The only potential drawbacks are related to what’s not in almond milk. Though many almond milk products are fortified, naturally, almond milk does not have calcium or vitamin D, which are critical nutrients most people get though dairy products.

In addition, almond milk doesn’t have any protein in it, so switching from regular milk to almond milk might inadvertently decrease your dietary protein intake.

An easy way to fix this is to use almond milk alongside a vegan protein powder for protein shakes to keep your protein intake where it needs to be.

Recap

Almond milk is a fantastic dairy alternative thanks to its numerous health benefits.

Its high content of healthy fats, low sugar and carbohydrate content, and high alpha-tocopherol levels mean it’s great for heart health, fighting inflammation and oxidative damage, and keeping your dietary sugar intake low.

Most people will want to choose an almond milk that’s been fortified with calcium and vitamin D, and add in protein powder if you need to keep your protein intake high.

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Ranking the best heavy metal detox of 2018

A heavy metal detox is a supplementation routine designed to take heavy metals like lead and mercury out of your body.

While somewhat controversial, many people believe that a heavy metal detox is an avenue for better physical and mental health.

The negative health effects of high levels of heavy metals in your body are well-established; the only question is whether a particular heavy metal detox is going to substantially reduce levels of heavy metals in your body to an extent that will make a significant difference in your health.

We’ve taken a close look at the ten best heavy metal detoxes available on the market right now and ranked them according to their efficacy.

1. Nested Naturals Super Algae

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Among the heavy metal detox supplements that use algae-derived compounds, Nested Natural Super Algae is the best.

It uses a blend of spirulina and chlorella, both of which are derived from organic sources for extra purity.

These two key ingredients are delivered in a cellulose capsule that contains 250 mg of each ingredient. Thanks to the dual detox action of the chlorella and spirulina, this supplement is our top choice.

2. Schizandu Hardwood Activated Charcoal Powder

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Schizandu takes advantage of the natural detox powers in activated charcoal to pull heavy metals and other toxins out of your system.

The activated charcoal is finely powdered, so you can mix it into a drink or smoothie, or just swirl it up in a small amount of water and drink it.

It comes in a 32 oz tub, so it’s an excellent bulk buy and an excellent choice if you want to follow a high dose or a specialized detox program.

3. Potent Organics Chlorella

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If you want a heavy metal detox that uses chlorella and is also certified organic, Potent Organics Chlorella is the way to go.

With 600 mg of chlorella per capsule, it delivers a strong and concentrated dose using a vegetable cellulose capsule.

For these reasons, it compares favorably to competitors that use pressed tablets that generally have a lower dosage and more binders and fillers.

4. Dr. Mercola Fermented Chlorella

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One of the drawbacks of “green” detox sources like chlorella is that your body has a hard time absorbing the raw plant material.

To get around this, Dr. Mercola uses a fermented version of chlorella which allows bacteria to break down parts of the plant wall to improve bioavailability.

If you want a single-source plant-based heavy metal detox, Dr. Mercola Fermented Chlorella is a good call.

5. Now Chlorella

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Now specializes in simple and straightforward supplements, and that’s exactly what you’ll get with this chlorella supplement.

At 1000 mg per capsule, it delivers a heavy dose of algae-derived compounds to chelate and remove heavy metals from your body.

It doesn’t have any fancy processing techniques or additives, but it is a reliable solution for algae-based heavy metal detox.

6. Great American Clay Daily Detox Drink

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Great American Clay Daily Detox Drink uses a liquid solution of bentonite clay, a naturally-occurring detox agent that is also occasionally used to treat gastrointestinal problems.

A clay-water emulsion like this is best mixed into a smoothie or shake, so while this is one of the better bentonite clay based heavy metal detox products, it’s not for everyone.

If you’d rather just take something in a capsule or tablet, there are other options that are more suited for you, but if you drink a smoothie every day anyways, it’s a good option.

7. Touchstone Essentials Pure Body

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Touchstone Essentials Pure Body uses zeolites to remove heavy metals from your body, which makes it stand out from many of the other heavy metal detox supplements.

Zeolites are naturally occurring mineral compounds that have a tremendous amount of surface area relative to their size, which lets them absorb many organic and inorganic toxins, including heavy metals.

Touchstone Essentials Pure Body comes in liquid form, which might limit the amount of zeolites that can be delivered in a single serving, but its unique approach alone makes it worth a look.

8. Good Natured Chlorella Spirulina

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Good Natured Chlorella Spirulina takes a high volume approach to their detox tablets. These 50/50 chlorella and spirulina supplements come in bags of 1250 tablets each, and instead of capsules, the plant material is compressed into a tablet.

This necessitates including some binders and fillers, and might not be the most natural way to deliver the plant materials, but many people still find it an effective heavy metal detox, perhaps due to Good Natured’s patented “cell cracking” method which releases more active compounds.

9. Zetox Zeolite Suspension

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Zetox Zeolite Suspension uses micronized zeolites suspended in water to remove heavy metals from your body, but in addition to this it includes a massive dose of vitamin B12, ostensibly to increase your overall energy levels.

While the zeolite approach is innovative, not everyone will want a heavy B12 dose, so this product has, at best, a niche application.

10. Healing Foods Company Medicinal Clay

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Healing Foods Company Medicinal Clay uses a blend of different “micromineral” clays to deliver a powder-based product that is designed to both detox your body and deliver inorganic minerals like iron, calcium, iodine, and magnesium.

Unlike many other detox products, this supplement actually delivers nutrients versus only taking them out of your body.

Still, the fact that this product has some metals, like iron and magnesium, makes it more susceptible to contamination or trace amounts of heavier metals.

Add to that the fact that the exact types of clay are not disclosed, and you’ve got several factors that will deter many, though not all, people.

Heavy metal detox benefits and side effects

Heavy metal detox supplements are designed to remove compounds like lead, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals from your body.

It’s well-known that the presence of heavy metals is bad for your health, especially in high amounts, but there’s controversy over whether how well heavy metal detox supplements can remove them.

The matter is only complicated even more by the fact that there are several different types of heavy metal detox supplements, each of which employ different mechanisms to capture and remove heavy metals from your body.

We’ll take a look at the potential health effects of heavy metals, as well as the upsides and downsides of the most common ingredients in detox supplements designed to remove them.

Benefits

Heavy metals are associated with a wide range of negative health consequences. Heavy metals include lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. These elements are found in trace amounts in everything from fish to potatoes to paints to cigarette smoke to industrial byproducts.

Heavy metals are toxic to just about any major function in your body; a report published in 2003 in the British Medical Bulletin outlines the various risks associated with heavy metal exposure (1).

These include cancer, bone damage, and kidney damage (all associated with cadmium exposure), cognitive impairment (lead and mercury), and skin disease (arsenic) to name just a few.

The negative health effects of heavy metals are so pervasive because they behave similarly to other metallic ions that are essential for your body’s normal function. Lead, for example, behaves very similar to calcium, and as a result, can interfere with bone development.

These well-established health hazards gave rise to the desire for ways to reduce the levels of heavy metals in your body.

Women can experience increases in heavy metal levels in middle age. As we just saw, some heavy metals, like lead, can mimic calcium. As a result, they get incorporated into your bones alongside normal calcium ions.

This happens because bone density starts decreasing during and after menopause, which releases these trapped heavy metal ions back into the body. 

This was demonstrated in a study published in 1999 in the journal Environmental Research by a team of researchers from Sweden (2).

They analyzed a group of Swedish citizens of varying ages and found a surprising increase in blood lead levels around age 50-55. They concluded that this was the result of menopause-related reabsorption of bone material.

These findings suggest that women might be at an increased risk of the negative effects of toxic heavy metals as they get older, even if they aren’t exposed to them from the outside environment.

The main ingredients in heavy metal detox supplements are regularly used to remove heavy metals from water, soil, and other biological materials. With all of the risks associated with heavy metals, it should be no surprise that people want a way to remove them from their body.

This is where heavy metal detox supplements come in. Broadly speaking, there are four different kinds of compounds that you’ll find in a heavy metal detox supplement: activated charcoal, algae, clay, and zeolites (3, 4).

All of these are used in industrial, agricultural, and biological processes to trap heavy metals, and they all work in a similar manner. The material in the detox compound is a more “attractive” match for the chemical properties of heavy metal ions, so they stick to the detox compound more strongly than they stick to anything in your body.

If you consume these supplements orally, eventually your body will eliminate them like any other food waste—hopefully along with the heavy metals.

Compounds that trap heavy metals are known to help reduce heavy metal levels in the blood, but it’s unclear if a heavy metal detox can do the same. The theoretical justification of a heavy metal detox is sound, but they have not been directly tested.

Heavy metal detox is related to chelation therapy, which involves using heavy metal trapping compounds that get absorbed into the blood, trap heavy metals, and are then excreted in urine (5).

A heavy metal detox with something like chlorella or zeolites is different, because the compound doesn’t make it into your bloodstream. Whether a heavy metal detox supplement can achieve the same effect is not clear, and seems less likely.

Heavy metal detox supplements could, however, reduce the levels of compounds like lead, arsenic, and cadmium in your stomach, which is important because the primary source of these heavy metals (especially cadmium) is in the food that you eat.

Side effects

Heavy metal detox compounds aren’t “specific” in their absorption capabilities. They tend to absorb heavy metals as well as large, complex organic compounds.

They are specifically used to remove organic contaminants in wastewater processing, but this same property could lead to some negative effects when used as a supplement, in certain circumstances.

First, a heavy metal detox supplement could reduce the bioavailability of supplemental iron or zinc ,since these are also metallic compounds (though they aren’t toxic heavy metals).

On the organic side, a heavy metal detox could interfere with the absorption of prescription medication—indeed, massive doses of activated charcoal are used to treat prescription drug overdoses, because the detox compound absorbs the large organic compounds in prescription medication.

So talk to your doctor first if you take any prescription medications before you start a detox routine.

Recommended dose

Because direct studies in humans are lacking, dosing advice is hard to come by. The good news is that all effective heavy metal detox compounds have an extraordinarily good ability to absorb heavy metals.

When you combine this with the fact that heavy metals concentrations are low in absolute terms, even at harmful levels, it quickly becomes clear that even a very small dose (250-500 mg of chlorella or spirulina, or a teaspoon of activated charcoal) will be effective.

With regards to timing doses, keep in mind the restrictions pointed out earlier—avoid taking a heavy metal detox supplement close to a meal rich in zinc, iron, or other minerals if you are worried about deficiencies.

Recap

The negative short-term and long-term health effects of heavy metals are clear: damage to vital organs, increased risk of cancer, cognitive functioning problems, and bone damage are just a few of the possible consequences of high levels of heavy metals in your body.

What’s less clear is whether a heavy metal detox supplement can help in a significant way. While they haven’t been directly tested in randomized controlled trials, the theoretical grounds are fairly firm.

Detox compounds like activated charcoal and chlorella algae have been successfully used to pull heavy metals out of waste water, so they stand a chance of working in the body, too.

The real question is whether reducing levels of heavy metals in the stomach, where the supplements go, will have an effect on heavy metal levels in the rest of the body.

While there’s more research to be done, heavy metal detox supplements show some promise of being used to reduce heavy metal levels.

  The post Ranking the best heavy metal detox of 2018 appeared first on BodyNutrition.

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Lemon balm benefits and side effects

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is an herb used to induce calmness, reduce stress and treat anxiety. Traditionally, it has also been used as a cognitive enhancer, but research is lacking in this regard.

Benefits

While the exact bioactives are unknown, it appears that rosmarinic acid gives this herb its calming effect and other medicinal benefits. Lemon balm belongs to the same family as mint and early research show’s its potential in treating a growing number of medical conditions.

Medicinal use of this herb is believed to date back over 2000 years.

Lemon balm has anti-anxiety properties. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults each year (1). Research is ongoing to find effective treatments minus the side effects that come with some traditional anti-anxiety medications.

In a recent pilot trial, researchers found that volunteers (suffering from mild-to-moderate anxiety disorders and sleep disturbances) treated with Cyracos, a standardized lemon balm extract, showed improvement of symptoms.

As much as 95 percent of subjects responded to treatment, of which 70 percent achieved full remission for anxiety, 85 percent for insomnia and 70 percent for both (2).

The results of another study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, suggest the potential for lemon balm to mitigate the effects of stress, especially at higher doses. Eighteen volunteers received two separate single doses of extract (300 mg and 600 mg) and a placebo, on separate days separated by a 7-day washout period.

The 600mg dose of lemon balm improved negative mood effects and significantly increased self-ratings of calmness (3).

Lemon balm may help treat insomnia. Researchers of a 2006 study found that combination treatment of valerian (an herb used for insomnia) and lemon balm is effective in the treatment of restlessness and sleep disorders.

In total, 80 percent of the patients who suffered from dyssomnia (disturbances in the quality, amount or timing of sleep) experienced an improvement, while 70 percent of the patients experiencing restlessness improved (4).

Lemon balm may have pain-relieving properties. One study notes the pain-reducing effects of oral ingestion of lemon balm in mice subjected to pain tests. Administering the extract prior to testing produced a dose-dependent inhibition of pain during the acetic acid writhing, glutamate and formalin pain tests.

The mechanism of action appears to be due to the rosmarinic acid content (5).

Lemon balm may help alleviate menstrual cramps. The aim of a 2015 study was to evaluate the effect of lemon balm capsules, as a substitute for traditional medicines, on the intensity of menstrual cramps in high school students in Iran.

The results showed that the intensity of physical symptoms significantly decreased in the subjects who consumed the lemon balm capsules, while there was no significant difference observed in the placebo group.

There was also a significant decrease in psychological symptoms of the subjects in the lemon balm group (6).

Lemon balm appears to have a cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells. In a comparative study, extracts obtained from leaves and stems of lemon balm demonstrated cytotoxic effects — or the ability to kill cancer cells (7).

Researchers specifically noted that the lemon balm extracts exerted a cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells even at low concentrations (100 μg/mL), whereas, in the case of healthy cells, leaf extracts only displayed cytotoxicity at much higher concentrations (500 and 1000 μg/mL) and lemon balm stem extracts were highly cytotoxic (starting at 100 μg/mL) (8).

In addition, the extracts exerted inhibitory effects on cell migration and growth.

In another in vitro study, a high dose of rosmarinic acid (1,000 μg/ml) was noticeably cytotoxic against a human colon cancer cell line (HCT-116 cells). 9

Lemon balm may help treat cold sores. Cold sores are a common viral infection that presents itself on the lips as tiny, fluid-filled blisters. They typically heal on their own, but can take two to four weeks to fully heal (10).

In one study, dried extract from lemon balm leaves was evaluated for the therapy of cold sores. The results published in Phytomedicine showed that not only did the balm shorten the healing period, it helped prevent the spread of the blisters and alleviated symptoms such as itching, tingling, burning, swelling, tautness and redness (11).

While more research is needed, there is some indication that treatment with lemon balm may help prolong the intervals between outbreaks.

Lemon balm may help oxidative status and DNA damage in subjects exposed to long-term radiation. Radiologists are frequently exposed to persistent low-dose radiation during work.  The potential cumulative effects of occupational exposure to radiation by radiologists and technicians have been a concern for decades.

Fifty-five radiology staff members took part in a clinical trial in which they were directed to drink a lemon balm infusion which was prepared like a tea twice daily (1.5 g/100 mL) for 30 days.

At the end of the trial, it was concluded that drinking lemon balm noticeably improved oxidative stress and DNA damage when used as a dietary supplement for radiation protection (12).

Side effects

Common side effects that have been reported with use of lemon balm include headache, sedation, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, dizziness, skin irritation (with topical use) 13.

Side effects with long-term use are not yet known.

Lemon balm may interact with glaucoma medications, thyroid medications, sedatives and drugs that affect serotonin.

Lemon balm should not be used prior to surgery due to its sedative effects.

Recommended dosage

According to current studies, 300 mg appears to be an effective dosage taken twice a day to treat anxiety and stress. More research is needed to determine the safest and most effective doses for other conditions.

Use of lemon balm for more than four months is not recommended at this time.

To help treat insomnia, drinking a cup of tea brewed with valerian and lemon balm before bed has been shown to be effective.

Recap

Lemon balm is an herb most notably used as a mild sedative and/or calming agent. Research has also revealed its potential for treating insomnia, relieving pain, destroying cancer cells and helping protect against long-term radiation exposure.

Rosmarinic acid content is believed to be one of the primary bioactives that gives this herb its medicinal properties.

Side effects such as headache, sedation, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, dizziness and skin irritation have been reported with use. Studies on the effects of long-term use are lacking and it is recommended not to use lemon balm for more than four months.

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African mango benefits and side effects

Early evidence shows African mango’s potential for relieving pain, treating gastrointestinal ailments, lowering cholesterol, reducing blood glucose levels and treating certain types of bacteria and fungi (1).

Seed extract of African mango (not to be confused with the common mango fruit) has long been touted for its fat-burning ability. Evidence is lacking, however, in proving its efficacy in this regard.

Larger clinical trials are needed to examine the safety and benefits of this fruit extract as a weight loss supplement.

Benefits

Various extracts of the African mango fruit and tree, including seed extract, aqueous extract, ethanolic extract and methanolic bark extract are what researchers believe hold the most medicinal benefits.

Saponins and flavonoids have been detected in African mango seeds and pulp. They are common in most plants and have been shown to have a wide range of biological activity including antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and antimicrobial properties (2).

African mango may help treat bacterial and fungal infections. In a recent study, the crude methanol extracts obtained from the leaf, stem bark and root of African mango, were screened for antimicrobial properties. Three different concentrations (100 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml and 25 mg/ml) were tested against six human pathogenic microorganisms.

Promising results revealed a significant inhibitory activity exhibited by the leaf and root extracts. The crude methanol extract of the root displayed the highest activity at a concentration of 100 mg/ml.

In addition, the fungi used in this study were also very sensitive to the leaf extract (3).

The results of another study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology also showed that methanolic extract from the stem bark of African mango prevented the growth of all the species of microorganisms tested (4).

African mango helps relieve pain. African mango stem bark has long been used in tribes in West Africa to alleviate pain. To test the efficacy in a clinical setting, researchers used a mouse model to test water and ethanol extracts of the powdered stem bark for pain-relieving activity compared to standard drug treatment.

The results suggest that the water extract has a pain-relieving profile similar to that of the narcotic pain-reliever used in the study. In addition, the ethanol extract might contain compounds that behave like non-narcotic pain-relieving agents (5).

African mango helps lower cholesterol. According to Lipids in Health and Disease, obese patients treated with African mango seeds had a significant decrease of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol (known as the artery-clogging “bad cholesterol”), triglycerides and an increase of HDL-cholesterol (known as “good cholesterol”).

The study was carried out as a double blind randomized study involving 40 subjects (mean age 42 years). Twenty-eight participants received mango seeds (1.05 g three time a day for one month) while 12 were given a placebo (6).

African mango may help reduce bodyweight.

In one study, administration of 150 mg of seed extract twice a day before meals to overweight and/or obese human volunteers, resulted in significant improvements in body weight, body fat and waist circumference.

There was also an improvement in plasma total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and blood glucose (7).

It is important to note, however, that studies regarding African mango’s ability help people lose weight have been limited and further research is needed.

In a systemic review of randomized controlled trials involving the use of African mango for body weight reduction in obese and overweight individuals, authors concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend supplementation as a fat loss aid due to a lack of studies and poor methodology (8).

Further research should be more rigorous and better reported.

African mango helps reduce glucose levels. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of conditions, including elevated blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol that increase one’s risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke (9).

A 2018 study was performed to evaluate the effect of African mango on metabolic syndrome with promising results.

Fifty-eight percent of the mango group showed remission of metabolic syndrome, compared to 16.7 percent of the placebo group. Supplementation also significantly decreased waist circumference, glucose, triglycerides and very low-density lipoproteins (10).

African mango may help treat diarrhea. Aqueous leaf extract of African mango has been shown in some studies to be helpful in treating gastrointestinal tract issues. In one specific study, the extract caused a significant dose-dependent decrease of intestinal fluid accumulation in rats, protected mice against castor oil-induced diarrhea and decreased gastrointestinal motility in mice (11).

Gastrointestinal motility is movements of the digestive system; symptoms of motility problems occur when the nerves or muscles of the digestive tract do not work in a coordinated way.

African mango has antioxidant properties. In one study, mango pulp was shown to have a free radical scavenging activity of 75 percent (12). Free radicals can cause damage to cells and tissues in a process known as oxidative stress. This in turn, can lead to a great many diseases.

African mango’s antioxidant properties can help protect against heavy metal toxicity. In a 2014 study, researchers found that mango extract had a protective effect on cadmium-induced toxicity in rat kidneys.

Acute cadmium exposure produces toxicities to the lung, liver, testes and brain, while chronic exposure often leads to renal dysfunction, anemia, osteoporosis and bone fractures (13).

Side effects

Supplementation has been shown to cause gas, headaches and insomnia. While early evidence shows African mango to be safe, more studies are needed to get a better understanding of the side effects or the presence of any adverse reactions with long-term use.

African mango may interact with anti-diabetic drugs.

Recommended dosage

While clinical studies have used dosages ranging from 150-3,200mg taken daily with meals, studies have been short-term, warranting further studies to determine the optimal and safest dose.

Recap

Early evidence points to African mango’s potential role in treating bacterial and fungal infections, relieving pain, reducing cholesterol and glucose levels and treating diarrhea. It is also known to have potent antioxidant properties, due in part to the presence of saponins and flavonoids detected in the seeds and pulp.

While supplementation has been associated with weight loss and the ability to burn fat, clinical studies, so far, have been lacking with poor methodology.

Larger clinical trials are needed to examine the safety and benefits of this fruit extract as a weight loss supplement.

African mango appears to be safe with short-term use; headaches, insomnia and gas have been reported when used as a supplement.

The post African mango benefits and side effects appeared first on BodyNutrition.

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Ranking the best almond butter of 2018

Almond butter is an energy-dense and incredibly health snack made by pressing and grinding almonds, much like you would press and grind peanuts for peanut butter.

Almond butter is attractive to many health food enthusiasts because of its excellent content of healthy fats and the deep pool of scientific research that backs the health benefits of almonds.

Many people prefer almond butter to peanut, for taste, allergy, or health reasons—peanuts don’t have nearly the same high-quality fat profile of almonds.

Whatever the reason, if you want almond butter, you want a brand that’s high quality. Fortunately for you, our researcher team has ranked the ten highest-quality almond butters with the best nutritional content.

1. Almondee California Almond Butter

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Almondee California Almond Butter plays to the local crowd, using only California-grown non-GMO almonds in their manufacturing process.

On top of that, almonds are the only ingredient, making this a very solid almond butter. With no salt, no sugar, and great texture, it’s our number one pick.

2. Barney Butter Almond Butter

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Barney Butter Almond Butter is a favorite among health food enthusiasts and people with a peanut allergy alike.

It’s made in a totally peanut-free facility, and its only two ingredients are almonds and palm oil.

3. NaturAlmond Almond Butter

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NaturAlmond Almond Butter is peanut-free, salt-free, and made with roasted almonds and zero additional ingredients.

Users praise the slightly crunchy texture of the almond butter—it’s not perfectly smooth, which gives it a distinctively different feel.

4. Kirkland Signature Almond Butter

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Kirkland Signature Almond Butter is about as pure as you could ever get. There’s exactly one ingredient in this almond butter: almonds. No palm oil or anything else. If you’re a nut butter purist, this is a great choice.

5. Wild Soil Almond Butter

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Wild Soil is a smaller company, but it produces a high-quality almond butter from almond trees grown at a small orchard in California. If you want to support a small farm with a good product, it’s a good call.

6. Zinke Orchards Almond Butter

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Zinke Orchards makes a pretty popular almond butter that’s pretty smooth and creamy, though the quality varies a bit from batch to batch. Even so, it’s a perennial favorite among many users.

7. Jiva Organics Raw Sprouted Almond Butter

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Jiva Organics uses almonds that are both grown organic and used raw and sprouted. This means that this almond butter has a distinctively “green” and sweeter flavor to it than almond butter made from roasted almonds, as most other almond butters are.

This different taste is a little polarizing, but plenty of people love it. If you are looking for something with a taste that’s a little different from the usual almond butter, give Jiva Organics a shot.

8. Artisana Organics Raw Almond Butter

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Artisana Organics is the best of the organic almond butter options. To keep the almonds as raw as possible, Artisana Organics uses low-temperature grinding, though one byproduct of this is that the almond butter does need a good bit of stirring to mix the oil back into the solution.

9. Julie’s Real Almond Butter

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Julie’s Real Almond Butter keeps things natural, but puts a unique twist on regular almond butter by flavoring it with honey, cinnamon, and vanilla beans.

While the honey adds a bit of sugar, the amount is pretty trivial—just three grams per serving. Strict zero-sugar dieters will want to look elsewhere, but if you are looking for something with a little sweetness and spice to it, Julie’s Real Almond Butter is worth a try.

10. Dastony Organic Almond Butter

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Dastony Organic Almond Butter is organic, which is a big plus. However, their quality control isn’t the greatest, and there seems to be a lot of oil relative to almond in this almond butter, as many users find that the oil separates and becomes very soupy.

Almond butter benefits and side effects

Almond butter is a popular health food thanks to its beneficial fat content, high nutrient density, and positive long-term effects on your risk factors for chronic disease.

Even though it’s an energy-dense food, it’s not going to make you gain weight like processed snack foods that are high in sugar and low in carbohydrates.

We’ll take a look at some of the health benefits behind almond butter and examine how much you should eat as part of a healthy diet.

Benefits

The beneficial fats in almonds are good for heart health. Almond butter is full of oils from pressed and crushed almonds, and these oils have significant benefits for your cardiovascular well-being.

One study that directly demonstrated this was published in 2014 in the British Journal of Nutrition (1). In it, researchers had 27 adults with high blood lipids (a well-established risk factor for heart disease) consume one of three snacks during the course of three one-month trial periods.

These snacks contained 100 grams of almonds, 50 grams of almonds, or zero grams of almond, and the order was randomized.

The researchers tracked how the blood biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk changed as a function of the dietary intake of the subjects during their various one month trial periods.

They found that the highest dose of almonds was associated with a significant increase in oleic acid and monounsaturated fatty acids in the blood; both of these findings are linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease over the next ten years.

Randomized clinical trials have shown that almonds can lower your cholesterol. One study published by researchers at Penn State University looked at cholesterol levels, another strong indicator of cardiovascular disease risk (2).

The study randomized nearly fifty people into two groups, one of which consumed 1.5 ounces of almonds per day as a snack in addition to their usual diet, while the other consumed a muffin with an equal amount of calories. This continued for six weeks, after which the groups were switched.

The researchers found that cholesterol, particularly LDL or “bad” cholesterol, was reduced when the subjects were eating almonds instead of the muffin snack. Interestingly, the researchers also found that almonds were associated with a reduction in body fat stored in the abdomen, indicating that almonds may have a more general positive metabolic effect.

Almonds can improve blood sugar control in people with prediabetes. Prediabetes, which is characterized by high blood sugar and poor insulin, affects millions of people, so a team of researchers in New Jersey decided to investigate whether almonds could improve prediabetes (3).

Their rationale was based on results from observational studies, which indicated a possible link between almond consumption and better blood sugar control.

Their study was quite intensive: subjects with prediabetes were split into a control group, which followed the American Diabetes Association recommended diet, and an experimental group, which followed the same diet except that 20% of the calories were replaced with almonds. Both groups were followed over the course of 16 weeks.

The researchers reported that the almond-rich diet had greater improvements in their insulin sensitivity as well as lowered LDL cholesterol.

This second finding is not surprising, as we’d seen the same result in other studies specifically focused on almonds and cardiovascular disease risk.

The most important takeaway from this study is that even a huge amount of almonds in your diet appears to be healthy: Fully one fifth of the caloric intake of the experimental group in this study consisted only of almonds.

Moreover, they weren’t being compared to a control group on their own diet; this high-almond diet was compared to a dietary plan approved by the American Diabetes Association.

Almonds won’t cause you to gain weight. If you believe that weight loss is simply a matter of calories in versus calories out, you’d think that adding a substantial quantity of almonds to your diet would inevitably lead to weight gain, thanks to their high energy density and fat content.

A study published in 2007 by researchers at Purdue University tested this proposition by recruiting 20 women for a cross-over study (4).

Half the women added 350 calories of almonds to their diet every day for ten weeks, with no other dietary alterations. The other half maintained the same diet. After ten weeks plus a three week washout period, the groups switched, and the control group started eating almonds while the experimental group stopped.

After analyzing the results, the researchers were were surprised—eating almonds was associated with no change in body weight. The researchers showed that this occurred because of (presumably unconscious) reductions in intake of other foods.

This finding makes the long term health benefits of almonds even more attractive, as their high energy density won’t have negative consequences for weight gain.

Almond butter can reduce DNA damage. Smoking is definitely bad for your health, but some people can’t resist. These smokers suffer a lot of oxidative damage to their DNA as a result of the smoke particles, and this damage is thought to be the primary cause of many of the diseases that smokers suffer.

For researchers, smokers are also a good model for ways to reduce oxidative damage: interventions that reduce oxidative damage to DNA in smokers might work in nonsmokers people too, since they experience oxidative damage as well, albeit at a lower rate.

This is why antioxidants like goji berries and green tea are so intently studied for their health benefits. Almonds, thanks to their high content of antioxidants, have been studied in this context, using cigarette smoking as a model for oxidative damage to DNA.

A study published in 2007 in the Journal of Nutrition used a randomized cross-over design to study the effects of almonds on levels of DNA damage in a group of smokers (5).

The subjects were randomly assigned to add either 84 grams of almonds or 120 grams of pork per day and were studied over the course of four weeks. The researchers found that almond intake was associated with a 23-34% decrease in DNA strand breaks compared to pork, indicating that almonds could be a good way to protect DNA from oxidative damage.

While this study was conducted in smokers, it’s promising for everyone, as we all deal with varying amounts of oxidative damage on a regular basis.

Recommended intake

Most research on almonds and almond butter has used daily intakes commensurate with one or two almond-based snacks per day.

This works out to 1.8-3.5 ounces (50-100 grams) of almonds or almond butter per day, which works out to roughly 300 to 450 calories.

Eating this amount of almonds or almond butter on a daily basis is the right intake to get all of the benefits of almonds, like better heart health and lower cholesterol, without any weight gain. Even higher almond intake might be even more beneficial, but only a small number of studies have examined very almond-heavy diets (through the results are positive).

The only thing to watch out for is heavily salted almond products—these could raise your blood pressure if you eat a lot of almonds, as a result of their sodium content.

However, all the top-ranked almond butters we’ve reviewed have little or no salt added, so you won’t have to worry about that with a highly ranked almond butter.

Recap

Almond butter is a great way to take advantage of the health benefits of almonds. When paired with a healthy snack like apple slices, it’s an excellent route to lower cholesterol, better blood lipid profiles, less oxidative DNA damage, and greater cardiovascular health, all without any weight gain.

This may be surprising, given the high caloric content of almonds, but thanks in part to their high fiber content, not all of these calories are absorbed.

A 50 to 100 gram serving of almond butter on a daily basis is a great all-natural way to pave the path towards better long-term health.

https://bodynutrition.org/almond-butter/

https://bodynutritionorg.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/ranking-the-best-almond-butter-of-2018/

[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best ginkgo biloba supplements of 2018

Ginkgo biloba is an herbal supplement that’s used to improve cognitive function and to treat cognitive decline.

It’s an extract of a tree native to China and has a long history in herbal medicine as a treatment for everything from asthma to vertigo.

Today, many supplement enthusiasts take it for its purported cognitive benefits, and it’s even been explored for possible nootropic abilities.

A ginkgo biloba supplement taken at the right dosage might be able to improve your attention for at least six hours.

We’ve taken a look at the options for ginkgo biloba that are on the market right now and come up with the ten best ginkgo biloba supplements. Read on for our rankings.

1. Nutricost Ginkgo Biloba

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Nutricost Ginkgo Biloba is pure, simple, and effective. With 120 mg of ginkgo biloba plant extract per capsule standardized to contain 24% glycosides, it’s a solid dosage, and its capsule is super-clean.

Just gelatin and rice flour make up the delivery vehicle, making this a great choice for people who care about supplement purity and who want to avoid unnecessary additives.

2. Havasu Nutrition Ginkgo Biloba + Phosphatidylserine

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Havasu Nutrition makes a great ginkgo biloba supplement that adds in phosphatidylserine, a lipid molecule that’s often found in soy products that is essential for proper brain function.

The phosphatidylserine should help amplify the effects of ginkgo biloba if you are taking it for cognitive performance, as this compound is also thought to enhance your cognitive performance independently.

It might not be the best option if you are looking to follow clinical protocols for slowing the progression of cognitive decline, but it’s a good bet if you are interested in gingko biloba for its nootropic potential.

3. Life Extension Ginkgo Biloba

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Life Extension Ginkgo Biloba is a pretty standard ginkgo biloba supplement with 120 mg of plant extract, standardized to 24% glycosides and 6% terpene lactones.

It’s one of the best ginkgo biloba supplements that comes in a vegan-friendly capsule, so for those who are strict about their capsule constituents, it’s a good call.

4. Nature’s Bounty Ginkgo Biloba

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Nature’s Bounty is a reasonably straightforward ginkgo biloba supplement that delivers 120 mg of plant extract, which is standardized to contain 24% glycosides and 6% terpenes.

The capsule is gelatin-based and uses a few ingredients like silica and magnesium stearate as binders and fillers, but aside from that is a pretty clean design.

5. TR Supplements Upgraded Ginkgo Biloba

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TR Supplements Upgraded Ginkgo Biloba is designed slightly differently in that it uses 100 mg of coconut oil alongside the expected 120 mg of ginkgo biloba.

TR Supplements claims that this oil enhances absorption, but unlike some vitamins and supplements, there isn’t much evidence that this is necessary.

It’s not a bad supplement by any measure, though, and its dosage of active ingredients is still quite good.

6. Puritan’s Pride Herbal Sure Ginkgo Biloba

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Puritan’s Pride Herbal Sure Ginkgo Biloba is a pretty standard ginkgo biloba supplement that’s got 120 mg of plant extract, standardized to 24% glycosides and 6% terpene lactones.

While the supplement design is not the cleanest around, it will still get the job done—this supplement just doesn’t distinguish itself from the pack, but it’s still a fine choice.

7. Micro Ingredients Superfoods Organic Ginkgo Biloba Powder

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Micro Ingredients Superfoods Organic Ginkgo Biloba Powder has two primary advantages going for it. First, it uses organic ginkgo biloba plant material, which is something that’s pretty rare among its competitors.

Second, it comes in a loose powder form, which gives you a lot more freedom when it comes to dosage and dosing. That being said, this supplement is definitely not for everyone.

Since ginkgo biloba’s recommended dose is fairly small, you’ll want a microscale to properly measure dosage. If that’s not up your alley, opt for a capsule-based ginkgo biloba supplement instead.

8. Green Natr Ginseng + Ginkgo Biloba

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Green Natr Ginseng + Ginkgo Biloba is a very popular combination of ginkgo and ginseng, which is also thought to have cognition-protection effects.

It’s a good fit for people who know they want both herbal ingredients, but it’s not well-suited for following a clinical study protocol, nor is its dosage particularly high.

This supplement contains only 100 mg of raw plant powder and 60 mg of ginkgo biloba extract; that’s half of what you’d get in another more typical supplement.

9. Mason Natural Ginkgo Biloba

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Mason Natural Ginkgo Biloba is a reasonably popular ginkgo biloba supplement that is based on a raw extract of ginkgo biloba leaf, so you know what the equivalent of raw plant material is.

However, this extract is not standardized to any specific glycoside content, which makes it difficult to compare to other similar supplements for active ingredient contents.

10. Trunature Ginko Biloba with Vinpocetine

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Trunature puts its own spin on the standard ginkgo biloba supplement by adding in five milligrams of vinpocetine, a separate derivative of a different herbal extract that’s been studied in a few small studies.

Vinpocetine doesn’t have nearly as much evidence supporting its inclusion in a supplement for cognitive health, so unless you know you want to take both in combination, a different ginkgo biloba supplement might be better.

Ginkgo biloba benefits and side effects

Ginkgo biloba is a supplement that’s been intently studied for its ability to protect your brain from cognitive decline and perhaps even to improve its cognitive ability beyond its normal level.

It’s a strong supplement that should only be taken at moderate doses, and unlike some other herbal supplements, its benefits appear to be fairly focused—all of the effects of this naturally-occurring extract seem to involve your brain.

Benefits

Ginkgo biloba has been studied for slowing and preventing cognitive decline in old age. The primary effects of ginkgo biloba are thought to be related to preserving the proper function of your brain as you get older.

One report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association described a year-long study in 300 people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, half of whom were treated with a ginkgo biloba supplement and half of whom were treated with a placebo (1).

The researchers used an objective test of cognitive function, and found that the ginkgo biloba supplement was associated with a significant improvement in their cognitive abilities over the course of the year, compared to the placebo group.

The researchers hypothesized that the ginkgo biloba supplement helped reverse some of the damage that had occurred in the brain, helping to increase brain functioning in those who responded to the supplement.

Not all studies have found a benefit to ginkgo biloba. One large randomized clinical trial found contradictory results when it came to actually preventing Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline.

This experiment was conducted at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2).

In it, over 3,000 people aged 75 and older were randomly assigned to either a ginkgo biloba group or a placebo group, and the participants were evaluated every six months for their rate of dementia.

The researchers found that ginkgo biloba did not prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and did not slow the rate of progression for mild cognitive impairment.

Dosage matters when it comes to ginkgo biloba for preventing cognitive decline. Commenting on the findings of some previous work that had found no benefits to ginkgo biloba a scientific article published in 2015 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease by two scientists at the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy noted that clinical trials that used dosages lower than 240 mg of standardized ginkgo biloba per day tended to be the ineffective ones (3).

Additionally, the researchers pointed out that newer studies that specifically included patients with Alzheimer’s disease tended to find more of a benefit for ginkgo biloba than those that only looked at mild cognitive impairment.

The dosage appears to be pretty important for ginkgo biloba, at least when it comes to preventing or slowing the most severe types of cognitive decline, like Alzheimer’s disease.

Ginkgo biloba may increase attention. As with many other supplements that have been studied for their ability to treat or prevent cognitive decline (like acetylcholine, for example), there has also been interest in using ginkgo biloba in healthy young people as a way to boost cognitive performance beyond baseline levels.

Its nootropic effects were investigated in a study published in 2000 in the journal Psychopharmacology (4). This study involved giving young, healthy volunteers increasing doses of ginkgo biloba and measuring their cognitive performance.

The dosage ranged from 120 to 360 mg of ginkgo biloba extract. After reviewing the results from the battery of cognitive performance tests, the researchers found that both the 240 mg and the 360 mg resulted in boosts to attention.

These improvements were sustained in both cases for up to six hours, making the case that ginkgo biloba is a nootropic that’s well-suited for marathon study sessions or all-day-long project sessions at work.

For this reason, you’ll often find it blended with other memory-boosting or reaction-speed boosting supplements (like caffeine) in nootropic, cognitive-performance supplements.

Side effects

Ginkgo biloba does not appear to have serious side effects when taken at the recommended dose in large clinical trials; some of the biggest studies have found no group differences in side effects when comparing the placebo group and the ginkgo biloba group.

However, ginkgo biloba does have the potential to cause serious side effects, including seizures, at high doses, and there are medical case studies reporting on drug interactions in people who are taking prescription medication.

These appear to be more common among drugs which modulate your blood’s clotting ability, like warfarin and, more relevant to many older people, aspirin (5).

If you already take aspirin to reduce your risk of heart disease, you should talk to your doctor first before starting a ginkgo biloba supplement.

Recommended dose

As noted earlier, if you are taking ginkgo biloba for preventing or treating cognitive decline, the dosage seems to matter, at least according to one review study.

Strive for a dose of 240 mg every day in this case, likely split into two equal doses of 120 mg of ginkgo biloba; one taken in the morning and one taken in the evening.

For the purposes of boosting cognitive performance, a bolus dose appears to be more effective. A single dose of up to 360 mg has been used to boost attention, and these effects appear to last for at least 6 hours.

Recap

Ginkgo biloba is an herbal extract that’s been studied as a treatment or a preventative agent for cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Its efficacy for treating and preventing these conditions is controversial, but if it is effective, its efficacy is likely optimized at doses of 240 mg per day, divided into two doses.

Interest in ginkgo biloba as a cognition-protecting agent has also sparked interest in the ability to use it as a nootropic, and some evidence that looks pretty promising has shown that it can be taken at higher single doses of 240 to 360 mg to improve your ability to concentrate.

It’s a pretty well-tolerated supplement, as long as you stay within the recommended dosage ranges and you don’t take it alongside any prescription medications without asking your doctor first, especially if your medications involve compounds that affect the clotting ability of your blood, like aspirin or warfarin.

In all, ginkgo biloba shows considerable promise when it comes to preserving your brain’s cognitive function as you get older, and even boosting its cognitive and attentive abilities beyond its normal level.

https://bodynutrition.org/ginkgo-biloba/

https://bodynutritionorg.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/ranking-the-best-ginkgo-biloba-supplements-of-2018/

[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best echinacea supplements of 2018

Echinacea is an extract from a plant native to the prairies of North America which is taken as an herbal supplement to boost your immune system, protect your body from infection, and speed your recovery when you get sick.

It was used by Native Americans for hundreds of years for its medicinal properties, and clinical research has begun to explore the science behind its use as an immune system booster.

If you want a stronger immune system and greater protection against the common cold and other upper respiratory infections, echinacea might be the solution you’re looking for.

Our experts have reviewed and ranked the ten best echinacea supplements on the market.

1. NOW Echinacea

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NOW Echinacea is a dead-simple way to boost your immune function. With 400 mg of echinacea plant material per cellulose capsule, this is a vegan-friendly and very pure supplement.

The only additional ingredient is a small amount of vegetable-derived stearic acid to hold the capsule together.

2. Puritan’s Pride Echinacea

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Puritan’s Pride Echinacea is about as pure as you can get. Each capsule has 400 mg of echinacea root extract in a gelatin capsule. The other ingredients? Absolutely nothing.

Though strict vegetarians and vegans won’t like the animal-derived gelatin, pretty much everyone else is going to have a very hard time finding anything wrong with this supplement.

3. Herb Pharm Echinacea Immune Support

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Herb Pharm Echinacea Immune Support is a liquid-form echinacea supplement that has the additional benefit of being certified organic.

When dealing with a raw extract from plant material, this is particularly attractive, as you don’t want pesticides or herbicides in a supplement like this.

While measuring out droplets isn’t going to give you as accurate of a dosage as you’d get in a capsule, this is still a solid pick for those who want a pure echinacea extract delivered as easily as possible.

4. Vitacost Echinacea

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Vitacost Echinacea is the way to go if you want a higher dosage. At 600 mg of echinacea root extract per capsule, it’s head and shoulders above most other echinacea supplements.

Whether you actually need a dosage this high is less clear; according to the research, not everyone does.

5. Solaray Echinacea with Vitamin C and Zinc

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Solaray Echinacea with Vitamin C and Zinc attempts to deliver echinacea alongside a range of other compounds that boost immune function.

This includes, as the name suggests, vitamin C and zinc, which have both been studied for their ability to fight infections, but also rose hips, bioflavonoids, and hesperidin concentrate.

Whether these add much beyond the benefits of echinacea is unknown, but it might be worth a shot if usual echinacea supplements aren’t doing the trick for you.

6. Gaia Herbs Echinacea Supreme

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Gaia Herbs Echinacea Supreme uses a proprietary blend of two different species of echinacea: echinacea purpurea (the usual type that’s included and has been tested in clinical research) and echinacea angustifolia, which is less well-studied.

The proprietary blend makes it hard to determine precise dosage, so following the clinically validated dosing programs is going to be more difficult with this supplement.

7. Nature Made Echinacea

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Nature Made Echinacea standardizes its content of the active ingredients in echinacea, but the main downside to this supplement is that the dosage is lower than average, at only 350 mg per capsule.

The supplement design is okay, but other echinacea supplements outclass this one when it comes to dosage and purity.

8. Nature’s Way Echinacea Goldenseal

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Nature’s Way Echinacea Goldenseal is an herbal combination of not just two, but seven different herbal compounds intended to boost your immune function.

This includes echinacea and goldenseal, as well as an echinacea relative, burdock, gentian, cayenne pepper, and wood betony.

The only issue with this strategy is that these ingredients are mixed together in a proprietary blend, so you can’t tell how much of each herb is included in the supplement, making dosing decisions difficult.

9. Amazon Brand Vitamin C with Echinacea

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Amazon is a major supplement vendor, but it’s new to the supplement manufacturing business. It’s got an echinacea supplement that combines 400 mg of echinacea root with 60 mg of vitamin C for an additional boost to the immune system, but its cellulose-based capsules are a bit bloated with binders.

It’s a decent choice if you want vitamin C alongside echinacea, but it’s outclassed by several other supplements.

10. Best Naturals Echinacea & Goldenseal Root

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Best Naturals Echinacea & Goldenseal Root has the same herbal combination you’ll find in several other echinacea and goldenseal combinations (burdock and cayenne in addition to both species of echinacea).

However, the ingredients are not only obscured behind a proprietary blend; the actual dosage of this blend is not very high. Most people would be better-suited by a different supplement, even if they wanted a combined herbal formulation.

Echinacea benefits and side effects

Echinacea has a long history of use as a therapeutic agent to improve immune system function. Its active ingredients appear to modulate immune activity in your body, which could result in protection from infections like the common cold, and a more rapid recovery after getting sick.

Echinacea is sometimes combined with other supplements that also boost immune function, like zinc and vitamin C. Is echinacea worth adding to the list of supplements to take when you are sick? We’ll look at the scientific research.

Benefits

According to the CDC, the average adult gets approximately two to three colds a year and kids get sick even more (1). While there is no cure for a cold, many rely on echinacea to prevent or help shorten the duration of symptoms.

There has been much debate about whether or not this herb makes a difference. Clinical trials are split; some show echinacea’s remarkable recovery rates and others reveal very little to no effect at all.

There appears to be a positive effect of echinacea on sickness frequency and in accelerating the rate of recovery; however, researchers stress that the effect size is not large and these claims are highly variable.

Some attribute this inconsistency due to the use of different plant species, extraction methods and the addition of other components (2).

Studies show echinacea’s benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold. A 2007 meta-analysis evaluated the effect of echinacea on the incidence and duration of the common cold. Fourteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, it was assessed that echinacea decreased the odds of developing the common cold by 58 percent and the duration of a cold by 1.4 days (3).

In another meta-analysis, researchers found that the likelihood of experiencing a cold was 55 percent higher with placebo than with Echinacea (4).

In a 2006 review, published in The Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, researchers set out to investigate whether there is evidence that echinacea preparations are: more effective than no treatment; more effective than placebo; and similarly effective to other treatments in the prevention and the treatment of the common cold.

Three comparisons investigated the prevention of colds and 19 comparisons tested echinacea’s treatment of colds. A variety of different echinacea preparations were used.

The results of their analysis revealed that none of the three comparisons in the prevention trials showed an effect over placebo.

When comparing an echinacea preparation with placebo as treatment, a significant effect was reported in nine comparisons, a trend in one, and no difference in six (5).

Echinacea helps to reduce duration of symptoms in adults. A 2001 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed on 80 men and women showing the first signs of a cold.

In those treated with echinacea purpurea herb, the median time of illness was six days compared to nine days in the placebo group. It was also well tolerated in the participants (6).

Echinacea was not, however, effective in treating upper respiratory tract infections in children. Healthy children two to 11 years old were recruited and randomized to take either echinacea or placebo for up to three upper respiratory tract infections over a four-month period.

Studies were begun at the onset of symptoms and continued throughout the upper respiratory tract infection, for a maximum of 10 days.

Results showed that there was no difference in the overall estimate of severity of upper respiratory tract infection symptoms between the two treatment groups.

In addition, there were no significant differences between the two groups for peak severity of symptoms, number of days of peak symptoms or number of days of fever (7).

Rash occurred during 7.1 percent of the infections treated with echinacea and 2.7 percent of those treated with placebo.

Other studies produced equally conflicting results. A 2005 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine indicated that extracts of echinacea angustifolia root, either alone or in combination, did not have significant effects on rhinovirus infection (8).

On the other hand, a 2004 study using another echinacea composition — purpurea (2.5 mL three times per day, for seven days before and seven days after intranasal inoculation with rhinovirus type 39) — to evaluate its ability prevent infection with rhinovirus showed promising results.

Colds developed at a rate of 82 percent in placebo recipients and only 58 percent in those given echinacea purpurea (9).

Echinacea has been shown to reduce anxiety. Twenty-two healthy adults scoring high on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were give one or two tablets a day (20 mg each) of Echinacea angustifolia extract for seven days.

The group taking two tablets a day (40 mg) reported decreased STAI scores within three days. The effects remained for the duration of the seven-day treatment and for the two weeks that followed treatment.

The lower dose (20 mg) did not affect anxiety significantly (10).

Essential oils from extracts of Echinacea purpurea have anti-inflammatory effects. The anti-inflammatory potential was evaluated in vivo by using different animal models with three serial dosages used: low, medium and high dosage.

All three dosages of extracts produced inhibitions of 39 percent, 47 percent and 45 percent respectively in the ear edema induced by xylene when compare with the control group.

Only the high dosage group showed statistically significant inhibition (49 percent) of paw edema compared with the control group; Moreover, the granulation formation (area of inflammation in tissue) model  was also significantly reduced the most (by 29 percent) in the high dose group compared with the control group (11,12).

Side effects

There are generally no adverse effects of echinacea supplementation. There is, however, a correlation between an allergy to ragweed and echinacea. Therefore, those with a known allergy to ragweed may experience such side effects as dry eyes, hives and rash.

Other side effects may include headache, dizziness, nausea, constipation and mild stomach pain (13).

There have been isolated case reports of serious side effects, including severe acute hepatitis in a 45-year-old man linked to the ingestion of daily high doses of echinacea; Severe thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (a rare, serious blood disease) in a 32-year-old male following ingestion of echinacea to alleviate upper respiratory tract infection symptoms; and Asymptomatic leukopenia (decrease in white blood cell) in a 51-year-old woman following chronic use of echinacea (14).

Recommended dosage

The proper dosage depends on the species of echinacea being used as well as the form: liquid or capsules.

Echinacea purpurea in dehydrated powder (capsule form) is taken in doses of 300mg three time a day as well as 500mg three times a day.

Liquid forms of ethanolic extract leaves and stems are used in the concentration of 2.5mL three times a day or up to 10mL a day.

Recap

Echinacea is an herb that has long been taken to prevent and treat the common cold. Clinical studies show conflicting information on its efficacy. There is some evidence that certain preparations of echinacea species might be effective for the early treatment of colds in adults but results are not fully consistent.

Some attribute this inconsistency due to the use of different plant species, extraction methods and the addition of other components.

Further clinical studies are required to confirm which echinacea preparations are most effective and in what form.

Some studies also show echinacea’s promising anti-inflammation and anti-anxiety effects.

https://bodynutrition.org/echinacea/

https://bodynutritionorg.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/ranking-the-best-echinacea-supplements-of-2018-2/

[heathertruitt]

Ranking the best echinacea supplements of 2018

Echinacea is an extract from a plant native to the prairies of North America which is taken as an herbal supplement to boost your immune system, protect your body from infection, and speed your recovery when you get sick.

It was used by Native Americans for hundreds of years for its medicinal properties, and clinical research has begun to explore the science behind its use as an immune system booster.

If you want a stronger immune system and greater protection against the common cold and other upper respiratory infections, echinacea might be the solution you’re looking for.

Our experts have reviewed and ranked the ten best echinacea supplements on the market.

1. NOW Echinacea

Click here for the lowest price on Amazon

NOW Echinacea is a dead-simple way to boost your immune function. With 400 mg of echinacea plant material per cellulose capsule, this is a vegan-friendly and very pure supplement.

The only additional ingredient is a small amount of vegetable-derived stearic acid to hold the capsule together.

2. Puritan’s Pride Echinacea

Click here for the lowest price on Amazon

Puritan’s Pride Echinacea is about as pure as you can get. Each capsule has 400 mg of echinacea root extract in a gelatin capsule. The other ingredients? Absolutely nothing.

Though strict vegetarians and vegans won’t like the animal-derived gelatin, pretty much everyone else is going to have a very hard time finding anything wrong with this supplement.

3. Herb Pharm Echinacea Immune Support

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Herb Pharm Echinacea Immune Support is a liquid-form echinacea supplement that has the additional benefit of being certified organic.

When dealing with a raw extract from plant material, this is particularly attractive, as you don’t want pesticides or herbicides in a supplement like this.

While measuring out droplets isn’t going to give you as accurate of a dosage as you’d get in a capsule, this is still a solid pick for those who want a pure echinacea extract delivered as easily as possible.

4. Vitacost Echinacea

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Vitacost Echinacea is the way to go if you want a higher dosage. At 600 mg of echinacea root extract per capsule, it’s head and shoulders above most other echinacea supplements.

Whether you actually need a dosage this high is less clear; according to the research, not everyone does.

5. Solaray Echinacea with Vitamin C and Zinc

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Solaray Echinacea with Vitamin C and Zinc attempts to deliver echinacea alongside a range of other compounds that boost immune function.

This includes, as the name suggests, vitamin C and zinc, which have both been studied for their ability to fight infections, but also rose hips, bioflavonoids, and hesperidin concentrate.

Whether these add much beyond the benefits of echinacea is unknown, but it might be worth a shot if usual echinacea supplements aren’t doing the trick for you.

6. Gaia Herbs Echinacea Supreme

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Gaia Herbs Echinacea Supreme uses a proprietary blend of two different species of echinacea: echinacea purpurea (the usual type that’s included and has been tested in clinical research) and echinacea angustifolia, which is less well-studied.

The proprietary blend makes it hard to determine precise dosage, so following the clinically validated dosing programs is going to be more difficult with this supplement.

7. Nature Made Echinacea

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Nature Made Echinacea standardizes its content of the active ingredients in echinacea, but the main downside to this supplement is that the dosage is lower than average, at only 350 mg per capsule.

The supplement design is okay, but other echinacea supplements outclass this one when it comes to dosage and purity.

8. Nature’s Way Echinacea Goldenseal

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Nature’s Way Echinacea Goldenseal is an herbal combination of not just two, but seven different herbal compounds intended to boost your immune function.

This includes echinacea and goldenseal, as well as an echinacea relative, burdock, gentian, cayenne pepper, and wood betony.

The only issue with this strategy is that these ingredients are mixed together in a proprietary blend, so you can’t tell how much of each herb is included in the supplement, making dosing decisions difficult.

9. Amazon Brand Vitamin C with Echinacea

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Amazon is a major supplement vendor, but it’s new to the supplement manufacturing business. It’s got an echinacea supplement that combines 400 mg of echinacea root with 60 mg of vitamin C for an additional boost to the immune system, but its cellulose-based capsules are a bit bloated with binders.

It’s a decent choice if you want vitamin C alongside echinacea, but it’s outclassed by several other supplements.

10. Best Naturals Echinacea & Goldenseal Root

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Best Naturals Echinacea & Goldenseal Root has the same herbal combination you’ll find in several other echinacea and goldenseal combinations (burdock and cayenne in addition to both species of echinacea).

However, the ingredients are not only obscured behind a proprietary blend; the actual dosage of this blend is not very high. Most people would be better-suited by a different supplement, even if they wanted a combined herbal formulation.

Echinacea benefits and side effects

Echinacea has a long history of use as a therapeutic agent to improve immune system function. Its active ingredients appear to modulate immune activity in your body, which could result in protection from infections like the common cold, and a more rapid recovery after getting sick.

Echinacea is sometimes combined with other supplements that also boost immune function, like zinc and vitamin C. Is echinacea worth adding to the list of supplements to take when you are sick? We’ll look at the scientific research.

Benefits

Echinacea has been shown to boost the function of specific cells in the immune system. Some of the early work on echinacea’s effects on immune function was conducted in animal models, like one study published in the scientific journal International Immunopharmacology by researchers at Philadelphia University (1).

Their study looked at a number of markers of immune function in aging rats, whose immune system is (like with aging humans) decline.

The rats were fed either a normal feed, or a feed with echinacea extract added in, and the blood levels of biomarkers for immune function were measured over the course of eight weeks.

The researchers found that the echinacea was associated with an improvement in mononuclear blood cells and IL-2, which are both associated with better immune function. This finding provides evidence for a mechanism underlying the immune-boosting effects of echinacea.

Echinacea may improve immune function in people with chronic fatigue syndrome. That was the conclusion of a study published in 1997 in the scientific journal Immunopharmacology by researchers at the University of California Irvine Medical Center (2).

Their study looked at the effects of a solution of echinacea on the cellular activity of a specific cell in the immune system, both from healthy people and from people with chronic fatigue syndrome.

They found that low concentrations of echinacea were able to up-regulate the function of these peripheral blood mononuclear cells, both in those derived from healthy people and in those derived from people with chronic fatigue syndrome. While echinacea hasn’t been studied directly in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, these findings are encouraging.

The immune system is known to play a role in the development of chronic fatigue, according to one paper published by researchers at the University of Miami Medical School in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (3), so it might be worth a shot.

Not all studies have found a benefit to echinacea. One review published in 1999 in the American Journal of Medicine conducted a randomized clinical trial using a liquid based echinacea supplement for the prevention of colds (4).

The study, conducted by researchers at the Philipps-University School of Marburg in Germany, split 109 patients into two different groups and randomly assigned them to receive either a 4 mL echinacea supplement or a placebo supplement.

The patients took their supplement over the course of eight weeks, while the researchers monitored those who became infected with a cold. After analyzing the data, they found that an equal proportion of people in the echinacea group came down with a cold.

Of those in the echinacea group who did get sick, their cold lasted two days less than those in the control group, but this difference was not statistically significant.

The effects of echinacea might be small, but significant. In light of this finding and other clinical trials on the use of echinacea to reduce the risk of getting a cold, researchers wanted to pool the results to see if these individual trials were too small to find a significant effect.

A study with just such a design was published in 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Clinical Evidence Synopsis (5).

While many individual trials did not find an effect for echinacea, pooling the results of many trials suggested that echinacea might be associated with a small but significant reduction in the risk of getting a cold during cold season.

How this translates to immune function more broadly is a more challenging question—in clinical research, it’s hard to define a term like “immune function”; it’s a lot easier to look at a definite endpoint like coming down with a cold.

One practical outcome of this finding might be that echinacea might be more effective when combined with other immune-boosting supplements like glutathione, zinc, or even probiotics.

Side effects

There have been a decent number of clinical trials that have looked at echinacea, so its side effect profile is fairly well-characterized.

Echinacea does not consistently cause adverse events at a greater rate than the placebo medication in clinical research.

According to one study, published in 2005 in the journal Drug Safety, echinacea has a good safety profile, being associated only with mild and transient gastrointestinal and skin complaints in rare cases (6).

Echinacea has shown some signs of causing interactions with prescription pharmaceutical medications. One study published in the journal of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics directly examined how echinacea affects the uptake of a number of prescription drugs linked to specific enzyme-absorption pathways (7).

They did find some evidence of echinacea-drug interactions, so if you take any prescription medications, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor first before you start taking an echinacea supplement.

Recommended dose

A range of doses for echinacea has not been explored in detail. Studies have used doses ranging from 300 to 900 mg per day, though 400 to 450 mg appears to be the most common.

In the absence of further evidence, this dose would be a good starting place. Studies often split the dosage into two, three, or even four doses taken throughout the day to maintain a consistently high dosage of echinacea’s active ingredients in the bloodstream.

Recap

Echinacea is an herbal extract with some tantalizing potential to improve the function of your immune system. There is pretty solid evidence for its efficacy at the cellular level, as it appears to increase the activity of your immune system.

Some findings suggest that this increase in immunity could benefit people with chronic fatigue syndrome. When it comes to real-world applications like preventing the cold, the research is less consistent.

Smaller clinical trials have not found a consistent advantage to taking echinacea, but when these smaller results are pooled together, evidence emerges for a reduction in sick days.

Because of this, echinacea’s efficacy might be better if you combine it with other supplements to boost immune function.

Summing up all the research, echinacea isn’t a miracle compound, but it does appear to have an influence on boosting the function of your immune system and decreasing the likelihood that you’ll get sick.

On top of this, it’s quite safe, especially in people who aren’t on prescription medication, so it might be a good bet if you are looking to improve the function of your immune system and resist infection.

https://bodynutrition.org/echinacea-2/

https://bodynutritionorg.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/ranking-the-best-echinacea-supplements-of-2018/