All Videos for Supplements

Should Vegans Take DHA to Preserve Brain Function?

Learn why I recommend 250mg a day of a pollutant-free source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.



Should We Take DHA Supplements to Boost Brain Function?

Overt omega-3 deficiency is rare, but do short-term experiments on cognitive function suggest there might be an optimal DHA dose?



Getting Starch to Take the Path of Most Resistance

How might beans, berries, and intact (not just whole) grains reduce colon cancer risk?



Iodine Supplements Before, During, and After Pregnancy

What is the evidence that all pregnant women should follow the American Thyroid Association’s recommendation to take a daily iodine supplement?



Is Canned Fruit as Healthy?

Perhaps dietary guidelines should stress fresh, frozen, and dried fruit—rather than canned.



Pomegranate vs. Placebo for Prostate Cancer

Pomegranate juice for prostate cancer was finally put to the test in a randomized, controlled, clinical trial.



Why Is Nutrition So Commercialized?

Why is the field of nutrition often more about marketing products than educating people about the fundamentals of healthy eating?



The Risks and Benefits of Sensible Sun Exposure

We don’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils: skin cancer versus internal cancers from vitamin D deficiency.



The Best Way to Get Vitamin D: Sun, Supplements, or Salons?

If one is going to make an evolutionary argument for what a “natural” vitamin D level may be, how about getting vitamin D in the way nature intended—that is, from the sun instead of supplements?



How Much Vitamin D Should You Take?

The safe dose of vitamin D supplementation to get most of the population to the optimal level is 2,000 IU a day, but the elderly and overweight may need more.



Will You Live Longer if You Take Vitamin D Supplements?

What do 56 randomized clinical trials involving nearly 100,000 people between the ages of 18 and 107 show vitamin D can do to our lifespan?



Do Vitamin D Supplements Help with Diabetes, Weight Loss, and Blood Pressure?

Those with higher vitamin D levels tend to have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, but is it cause and effect? Interventional trials finally put vitamin D to the test.



Turmeric or Curcumin: Plants vs. Pills

Curcumin-free turmeric, from which the so-called active ingredient has been removed, may be as effective or even more potent.



Reductionism and the Deficiency Mentality

How the food, drug, and supplement industries have taken advantage of the field of nutrition’s reductionist mindset



Striking with the Root: Turmeric Curcumin and Ulcerative Colitis

A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial found a dramatic effect of the anti-inflammatory spice pigment curcumin against inflammatory bowel disease.



Citrus Peels and Cancer: Zest for Life?

The reason eating citrus fruits appears to protect against cancer may be because of DNA repair enzyme-boosting powers of a compound concentrated in the peel.



Should Vegan Women Supplement with DHA during Pregnancy?

I recommend all pregnant and breastfeeding women follow the consensus guidelines to get about 200mg of preformed DHA from a pollutant-free source.



Should Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women Take DHA?

Does maternal supplementation with the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid DHA improve psychomotor, mental, visual, or physical development of infants?



How to Regenerate Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) Naturally

Chlorophyll in our bloodstream after eating greens may react with wavelengths of sunlight that penetrate through our skin to reactivate the antioxidant Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinol).



Fighting Lupus with Turmeric: Good as Gold

A quarter teaspoon of the spice turmeric was put to the test for the treatment of uncontrollable lupus (SLE) nephritis in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.



Alzheimer’s Disease, Copper, and Saturated Fat

If copper is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, what about healthy, whole plant food sources such as nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains?



Should We Take EPA and DHA Omega-3 for Our Heart?

What’s the best way to fulfill the omega-3 essential fat requirements?



Turmeric Curcumin for Prediabetes

A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial on the use of the turmeric pigment curcumin to prevent diabetes in prediabetics is published with extraordinary results.



Vitamin C Supplements for Terminal Cancer Patients

If studies from the 1970s showed cancer patients treated with vitamin C lived 4 times longer and sometimes even 20 times longer, why isn’t it standard practice today?



Resveratrol Impairs Exercise Benefits

Research on resveratrol, a component of red wine, looked promising in rodent studies, but what happened when it was put to the test in people?



Is the Fiber Theory Wrong?

The extraordinarily low rates of chronic disease among plant-based populations have been attributed to fiber, but reductionist thinking may lead us astray.



Industry Response to Plants Not Pills

The whole food is greater than the sum of its parts: how unscrupulous marketers use evidence that ties high blood levels of phytonutrients with superior health to sell dietary supplements that may do more harm than good.



Are Calcium Supplements Effective?

What is the optimal daily dietary calcium intake and might benefits for your bones outweigh the risks to your heart from taking calcium supplements?



Are Calcium Supplements Safe?

The unnaturally large, rapid, and sustained calcium levels in the blood caused by calcium supplements may explain why calcium from supplements, but not from food, appears to increase the risk of heart attacks.



Prebiotics: Tending Our Inner Garden

Why does our immune system confuse unhealthy diets with dysbiosis—an overrun of bad bacteria in our colon?



Whole Beets vs. Juice for Improving Athletic Performance

What is the latest science on the performance-enhancing qualities of nitrate-rich vegetables?



Heart of Gold: Turmeric vs. Exercise

Diet and exercise synergize to improve endothelial function, the ability of our arteries to relax normally.



Preventing Brain Loss with B Vitamins?

One week on a plant-based diet can significantly drop blood levels of homocysteine, a toxin associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Without vitamin B12 supplementation, though, a long-term plant-based diet could make things worse.



Diet and GERD Acid Reflux Heartburn

Which foods should we eat and avoid to prevent and treat acid reflux before it can place us at risk for Barrett’s esophagus and cancer?



Antioxidants and Depression

Neither antioxidant or folic acid supplements seem to help with mood, but the consumption of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables and folate-rich beans and greens may lower the risk for depression.



The Role of Diet in Declining Sperm Counts

The ongoing global drop in male fertility may be associated with saturated fat intake and lack of sufficient fruits and vegetables.



PCBs in Children’s Fish Oil Supplements

A study of 13 over-the-counter children’s fish oil supplements found that all were contaminated with PCB pollutants.



Treating Alzheimer’s with Turmeric

What a teaspoon a day of the spice turmeric may be able to do for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.



Treating Hepatitis C with Chlorella

Improvements in natural killer cell immune function may explain both the anti-cancer benefits of exercise as well as the apparent anti-virus effects of the green algae chlorella.



Broccoli: Sprouts vs. Supplements

Broccoli sprouts are compared to “Broccomax” supplements.