by Willow Aureala
As I've written in previous blog articles, supplementation is debated; Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. John McDougall, authors I've recently read, suggest that supplementation could actually be harmful, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that our bodies are complex entities and supplements may not be synthesized well by the human body. In fact, some supplementation has actually shown by some studies to be harmful, such as Vitamin E supplementation.
Anyway, I recently read an interesting book by Lauren Kessler called Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging. I found her book to be interesting and humorous, and encourage people who are interested in longevity to read it. I don't like the fact that she doesn't include references, however.
She discusses her year of experimentation, research, talking to experts, etc. in the world of longevity [I don't like the term 'anti-aging' myself]. In one chapter, she discusses her investigation into supplementation. She mentions how much hype there is around supplements, and I agree with her; many people hype supplements because they want to make money. Nothing wrong with making money, but sometimes the hype outweighs the science.
I did appreciate her discussion on supplementation and her decision of the following supplements she decided to add to her regimen [including eating healthy, exercising, and other recommended activities for longevity]:
Of course, in her book, Kessler goes into more detail about how she came to believe the above were the top things to add to her daily regimen, and I won't go into them here, and I'm not following her suggestions myself. However, I was surprised that she thought omega-3 fish oil is a good addition as it seemed that many researchers had decided that a supplemental fish oil was not as beneficial as originally believed before her book was written. Same for vitamin D [see a previous article on vitamin D I posted in this blog]. As always, do your own research. I found her list interesting, however, and thought I'd share it with you! What about you - do you supplement to enhance your longevity? And, why or why not?
As I've written in previous blog articles, supplementation is debated; Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. John McDougall, authors I've recently read, suggest that supplementation could actually be harmful, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that our bodies are complex entities and supplements may not be synthesized well by the human body. In fact, some supplementation has actually shown by some studies to be harmful, such as Vitamin E supplementation.
Anyway, I recently read an interesting book by Lauren Kessler called Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging. I found her book to be interesting and humorous, and encourage people who are interested in longevity to read it. I don't like the fact that she doesn't include references, however.
She discusses her year of experimentation, research, talking to experts, etc. in the world of longevity [I don't like the term 'anti-aging' myself]. In one chapter, she discusses her investigation into supplementation. She mentions how much hype there is around supplements, and I agree with her; many people hype supplements because they want to make money. Nothing wrong with making money, but sometimes the hype outweighs the science.
I did appreciate her discussion on supplementation and her decision of the following supplements she decided to add to her regimen [including eating healthy, exercising, and other recommended activities for longevity]:
- a top quality one-a-day multivitamin
- additional calcium (with magnesium and zinc in proper proportions)
- additional vitamin C
- additional vitamin D
- omega-3 fish oil
- alpha-lipoic acid
- L-carnitine
- curcumin
- sodium nitrate [yes, really! see Doug Seals for research]
- ginseng tea
- reishi mushroom tea
- gotu koka tea
Of course, in her book, Kessler goes into more detail about how she came to believe the above were the top things to add to her daily regimen, and I won't go into them here, and I'm not following her suggestions myself. However, I was surprised that she thought omega-3 fish oil is a good addition as it seemed that many researchers had decided that a supplemental fish oil was not as beneficial as originally believed before her book was written. Same for vitamin D [see a previous article on vitamin D I posted in this blog]. As always, do your own research. I found her list interesting, however, and thought I'd share it with you! What about you - do you supplement to enhance your longevity? And, why or why not?
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