Whole-body vitality is the new way forward with supplements
Turns out there's a new generation of ingredients that can do more than build a strong nutritional foundation. Here are a few that aim to also actually help people live a more zestful life.
September 1, 2016
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While all adaptogens share some basic characteristics—homeostasis, or the bringing of the body's general systems back into balance—different adaptogens work on the body in different ways. Gaia's Adrenal Health line is a three-part harmony. It consists of Jump Start (pictured), a short-term formula (6-12 weeks) which gets you re-centered and should be taken in the morning. Consumers should follow up with Adrenal Health Daily Support, a full-strength adaptogen. Lastly, the Adrenal Health Nightly Restore works on the body to balance adrenal function, restoring the body's nighttime circadian rhythm. This is a power-packed lineup aimed at the typical over-stressed average American.
First things first: This is not a selectively isolated CBD extract, the likes of which have been targeted as illegal by the FDA; this is a broad-spectrum hemp product. Like all CBD products, it contains the required less than 0.3 percent THC. We've been saying for some time that hemp (and that includes marijuana) is nature's most nearly perfect plant. Indeed, the body has an entire endocannabinoid system, which has receptors in the brain and throughout the nervous system and regulates pain, appetite, learning and other body functions and processes. HempFusion will also be rolling out line extensions focused on sleep, stress and digestive health. This may well be the soccer mom’s little helper of the decade.
Remember how much more physical gusto you had half a lifetime ago? Rainbow Light put that in a bottle with a deep formula that supports energy, blood-sugar and stress management, cellular wellness, and a range of important structure/function targets around brain, heart, bone, vision and immune health. And because it's Rainbow Light, it's gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, fish-free, sugar-free and artificial additive-free. Giddyap!
With a foundation of constitution-building organic mushrooms, this traditional Chinese medicine formula boldly lists "vitality" right on the front-of-pack labeling. A lot of the heavy lifting here is done by cordyceps—believed to enhance athletic performance and improve aerobic capacity—but it is aided and abetted by chaga, reishi, poria cocos, ginseng and other botanicals.
This is not your mother's supplement brand. Snarky millennials grace the box, which communicates its health benefits in snarky millennial fashion. Boing Energy sez much, brah! It enhances energy without stimulants—relying on a TCM blend of adaptogens astragalus and schisandra, as well as Asian ginseng root and sweetflag. As it says on the box, "Live better by maximizing your body's effectiveness." We can get behind that.
The Natural Factors Whole Earth & Sea line is based on raw, whole food ingredients—many from the company’s organic farms in British Columbia. Unlike most other whole-food supplement formulas, this one contains at least 100 percent of most of the vitamins and minerals you're looking for. Plus, the formulas contain all the phytonutrients, food-based enzymes and nutritional co-factors from the real food—hold the fiber and water.
If you haven't heard of moringa yet, you soon will. This is another one of those spark plug superplants, like maca and other botanicals, that are more than mere adaptogenic tonics but rather constitutional-building phytonutrients for overall health and wellness. Plus, for every bottle of Dead Sea Moringa purchased, the company will plant a moringa tree in a village, in hopes of addressing nutrition deficits.
Nova Scotia Organics was started by organic pioneer and legendary Canadian herbalist Nancy Smithers. She has served on the Canadian Natural Health Products Directorate’s Management Advisory Committee on Natural Health Products. This formulation includes astragalus root, which has been shown to maintain if not lengthen the telomeres that protect the ends of the body's DNA. Each time the DNA replicates, the telomeres get a little shorter. When they become too short, that's it for you. Ginseng and reishi mushrooms (those mushrooms again!) round out this organic blanket of protection.
Maca is probably the exotic botanical blockbuster of the decade. Traditionally grown in Peru, China has now gotten in on the maca trade. This Maca-OG is sourced from Peru. Of note, the botanical geniuses at Natural Health International—who have been in the industry since 1997 and were in on the ground floor of such herbal luminaries as St. John's wort and kava—have deduced that there are actually 13 different types of maca, all of which contain different active ingredient profiles and can have different effects in the body. This one is cultivated and designed for men's hormone balance, which supports everything from energy and sexual health to cardio health and endurance. That's why it's called the "middle-age botanical." (For women, other maca phenotypes can address meonpausal symptoms, but that's another story.)
Maca is probably the exotic botanical blockbuster of the decade. Traditionally grown in Peru, China has now gotten in on the maca trade. This Maca-OG is sourced from Peru. Of note, the botanical geniuses at Natural Health International—who have been in the industry since 1997 and were in on the ground floor of such herbal luminaries as St. John's wort and kava—have deduced that there are actually 13 different types of maca, all of which contain different active ingredient profiles and can have different effects in the body. This one is cultivated and designed for men's hormone balance, which supports everything from energy and sexual health to cardio health and endurance. That's why it's called the "middle-age botanical." (For women, other maca phenotypes can address meonpausal symptoms, but that's another story.)
Forget condition-specific formulations. Sure, a big reason shoppers first enter a health-food store is to naturally address some health concern, but today it's also to maintain a sense of energy, vitality, and general joie de vivre. Turns out there's a new generation of ingredients that can do more than build a strong nutritional foundation. Here are a few that aim to also actually help people live a more zestful life (hold the caffeine, please).
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