Vital Wellness

Some doctors who treat people with allergies recommend that their patients get the Daily Value of magnesium, which is 400 milligrams.

That’s because population-based studies have suggested that low levels of dietary magnesium are associated with an increased risk of airway reactivity and respiratory symptoms. Research also indicates that high intake cf this essential mineral can improve lung function and reduce the risk of wheez­ing. Read the rest of this entry »

Food-based vitamin C supplements contain bio-flavonoids. These colorful chemical compounds are intimately related to the ascorbic acid compound of vitamin C. The chemical structure of bio-flavonoids is similar to that of a drug called cromolyn, used in inhalers to reduce asthma-related inflamma­tion.

Bio-Flavonoids

Bio-flavonoids reportedly help reduce the release of symptom-producing histamine, reduce inflammation, and promote healthy connective tissue. Read the rest of this entry »

Although millions of free radicals bombard your cells on a daily basis, the fact that it takes as long as it does for them to cause damage or disease is a tribute to the natural free radical—fighting systems with which you were born. These systems are fighting free radicals every moment of every day.

Fruits

Each system is ingeniously designed to produce an antioxidant, a natu­rally occurring chemical that binds to the free radical (or the oxidant, as it is sometimes called) before it reaches the cells. In doing so, the antioxidant helps preserve your body’s healthy molecules. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily Value: 18 milligrams

Good Food Sources: Beef, Cream of Wheat cereal, baked potatoes, soybeans, pumpkin seeds, clams.

Description:

There’s no doubt that many of us can use more iron than we’re getting. Roughly 20 percent of Americans are deficient in this mineral. The group most likely to be coming up short: women in their reproductive years.

Iron, which is absorbed in the intestines, comes in two forms: heme and non heme. Found in meats, the heme form is well absorbed. Men get about two-thirds of their iron needs met by heme iron; the amount varies for women. Nonheme iron is found in vegetables and isn’t as well absorbed. Read the rest of this entry »