The Best Vitamins and Minerals — Some Powerful Insurance

Why Take Them At All?

Supplements reviewed here: Three Best Vitamins and Minerals, Resveratrol, Vitamin D3, Ultimate Greens, Acetyl L-Carnitine, R Lipoic Acid, and Krill Oil.

 

This is one big catch-all bucket.  Most everything fits in this “Vitamins and Minerals” category, but there are a few gems that I’d like to point out, but first, a question:

 

Why take vitamins and minerals at all?

If you consistently take several kinds of vitamin supplements every day, the pocketbook will get lighter. And if they’re not absorbed, you produce expensive pee.  If you don’t remember to take them regularly, the benefits — assuming they exist — are diminished.

All that’s true in my estimation.  And yet I’m a supplement hound.  For me it distills down to three things:

  1. Certain supplements are more powerful than any food source in supplying specific benefits that I want (Astaxathin for instance);
  2. It’s a good insurance policy (although by no means guaranteed) against poor quality food or immune challenging bugs and viruses; and finally
  3. Although I have not been subjected to scientific verification, something seems to be working for me — I’m aging better than my peers, and don’t get sick. That said, supplements have a much more minor role to play in that than, say, physical exercise,  nutrition and sleep.

If you want to reduce the guess work about what supplements you truly need, consider a hair or blood test, or at least do some homework like getting Examine.com’s Supplement Cheat Sheet.

 

Three Best Vitamins and Minerals

There are dozens of excellent companies that make exceptional multivitamin/multimineral vitamin supplements.  If you regularly spend $75 or more on supplements each month, it might behoove you to subscribe to ConsumerLab to learn which brands are best, and to check with Examine.com to find out if the claims made about the supplement you’re interested in is supported by science.

Three multivitamin/minerals brands I like and have used extensively are:

I alternative between New Chapter, Megafood and Life Extension products, and also consistently take the following that together are currently the foundation of my supplement stack.

 

Standouts in my Supplement Stack

My total supplement stack rarely stays constant month to month, but these are standouts that tend to always be part of the mix.

Vitamin D3

Called the “sunshine vitamin” because your body will synthesize it in sunlight. This has been a check-in-the-box vitamin until recently.  Now, scientist are discovering that many of us are Vitamin D deficient, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics living in North America (who evolved in parts of the world with more sunlight).  What’s more, there’s a link between Vitamin D deficiency and cancer. Good insurance, I’d say!

Super Greens What’s that about five servings of veggies and fruits per day?  Well, I usually do get that from my diet, but I fortify with this powdered mix of whole green foods.  You’d be hard pressed to get this much goodness in you from your diet alone.

Acetyl L-Carnitine Cellular energy production itself produces free radicals that can harm cell structures, including the mitochondria, if the body’s natural antioxidant capacity is low. Acetyl L-Carnitine and Lipoic Acid are both naturally present antioxidants in the body that have been shown to support mitochondrial function and help reduce free radical damage.

R-Lipoic Acid  is a natural form of lipoic acid that may be better absorbed and up to 10 times more effective as an antioxidant than other forms of lipoic acid (including alpha-lipoic acid). It is also safely metabolized and easily synthesized. R-Lipoic acid has been called the “mitochondrial antioxidant” because it is a key component of mitochondrial dehydrogenase complexes, which are shown to slow the natural aging process in animals.

Astaxathin derived from microalgae is one of nature’s most powerful antioxidant — about 500 times more potent than vitamin E and 6,000 more than vitamin C.

 

Supplement Disclaimer

Just as with the descriptive statements made at the various company sites that manufacture and/or sell the supplement products presented in this blog, none, or nearly none, of the potential benefits stated here have been evaluated by the FDA. Likewise none, or nearly none, of the products here can be represented to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Before engaging a supplement program, it always makes sense to get the advice of your health practitioner.

 

 

Last Updated on March 18, 2024 by Joe Garma

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Joe Garma
 

I help people live with more vitality and strength. I'm a big believer in sustainability, and am a bit nutty about optimizing my diet, supplements, hormones and exercise. To get exclusive Updates, tips and be on your way to a stronger, more youthful body, join my weekly Newsletter. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 2 comments
Lisa Morgan - March 8, 2011

We can't hide the fact that krill oil had gained popularity, because of the popularity of krill oil supplement several manufacturers have developed their own version, but only few of these brands really work. In choosing the right brand it is really important to look at the label on the back of the bottle to give you an idea about the ingredients they used for the supplement for the best krill oil supplement is made from the krill oil that can be found or caught in the Antarctic ocean because of the natural way they grew they possess the substances that made the krill oil famous. http://krilloil.com is one of the best sources for krill oil supplement

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Kelc Golim - March 27, 2011

Such an fascinating story to study and I enjoyed reading this Vitamins and Minerals as well. Keep up the good work..Vitamin Discount

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