Dr. Jonny Bowden

Tag: supplements

How and Where To Buy Vitamins
Many of you have asked me variations of the following questions:
- How do I know what supplements are good and which ones are junk?
- How do I know which supplement brands are reliable?
- Where should I buy my supplements?
The whole story on nutritional supplements

For about five years, after I first opened my website, I sold nutritional supplements online. I sold only brands I used for myself, my family, and my clients, brands that are considered “doctor brands”.

“Doctor brands” are the supplement lines usually carried in the offices of people who practice functional medicine, licensed naturopaths and functional nutritionists (like me). They include high-end lines like Vital Nutrients, Thorne Research, Designs for Health, Allergy Research, Douglas Labs, which are not readily available to the average person.

You can get these brands—sometimes—on Amazon.

But don’t. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Back to the story.

I’d painstakingly comb through the catalogs of these high-end vitamin lines, and choose the formulas I liked. In a short time, I had curated a nice boutique catalog of about 250 or so products, most of which I used in my private practice and with my family.

We bought in (small) volume from the top professional distributor in the country (then, as now, Emerson Ecologics) and sold at retail or with 10% discount for patients.

And that worked fine—until Amazon took over the world. (Don’t get me wrong—I love Amazon. But they had a very definite effect on the supplement industry, and most of it was not good. More on that in a moment.)

So why didn’t health professionals like me just send our patients to Emerson directly?

Simple. Because Emerson doesn’t sell to the general public.

So what?

Now, you might well ask, why does it matter? I can get magnesium anywhere including Costco and CVS, and I can even find some of these elite brands you’re talking about on Amazon.

Yes, you can.

But there’s a problem.

Let’s start with magnesium because it’s a great example of why doctors and health professionals sell supplements in their offices in the first place.

If you came into my office and I told you I want you to take magnesium every day, you’d go out and find it on Amazon and that would be that. Maybe you’d pick a popular brand- like Twinlab—and figure you’re good.

But Twinlab’s popular magnesium is 100% magnesium oxide, the cheapest and least absorbable form of magnesium. There’s also magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, magnesium threonate, magnesium chelate…. You get the idea. All have different profiles and different uses. Not to mention different doses and different bioavailability.

But even if I told you I want you to specifically take “Doctor Brand Magnesium Formula XYZ” we’d still be in trouble. Because the only place you could find it would be on Amazon, and now I’ll tell you why buying it there is a bad idea.

Most of the doctor brands sold on Amazon are fakes, counterfeit or expired.

I know this for a fact because I’ve talked to the CEOs of many of the companies whose products are being sold illegally. I meet these vitamin company reps at shows and medical conferences where they exhibit, such as the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine or the Scripps Annual Conference on Evidence-Based Supplements. I’ve known most of them for a long time.

And I can tell you that none of them authorize their stuff being sold on Amazon, and they vigorously pursue legal action against anyone selling it. And that includes just about 100% of the Amazon resellers of high-end vitamins and supplements. My contacts at these companies tell me that invariably, the stuff the unauthorized folks are selling illegally on Amazon turns out to be either expired, re-cycled returns, counterfeit, or made in China.

FINALLY, A SOLUTION

So if you want authentic versions of the best supplements sold in America, what should you do?

Glad you asked.

There is now an online dispensary called FULLSCRIPT on which patients can now order any products in the Emerson catalog. All you have to do is sign up under the name of a health professional (MD, PhD, RD, ND, etc) who already has a clinical/professional account.

I have had such an account for almost 25 years, and now, through my patients’ FULLSCRIPT portal, I am thrilled to say I can offer the entire Emerson catalogue to you, including all the products I use myself.

SIGN UP FOR FULLSCRIPT

Here’s how you shop at my personalized FULLSCRIPT store. It’s an EASY three-step process.
1. Go to THIS special link to my Rockwell Nutrition/Dr. Bowden Fullscript store
2. Enter your email address, name and choose a password and sign up for your own account
3. Browse the catalogue and order anything you like.
And be confident knowing that you’re choosing from the best brands of nutritional supplements in the world.

And you’ll get at least a 10% discount on anything you order through that link.

The reason I rarely mentioned brands before this

In the past, I rarely mentioned specific brands when talking about nutritional supplements, because I knew in my heart it would be almost impossible for you to find the ones I used, so why tell you about them?

Now that I know you have a way to purchase the authentic versions of the same products I use, I’ll be much freer in mentioning the brand names of the products that fill my personal vitamin/medicine cabinet.

So even if you don’t buy anything right now, go over to this special link to my fullscript store and sign up for an account. (If you already have a Fullscript account and see options for which practitioner you’d like to choose, I’d be incredibly grateful if you choose my name and store Rockwell Nutrition)

When I worked as a clinical nutritionist in New York, I worked with a well-known MD who practiced integrative, functional and nutritional medicine. He had a sign in his office that read as follows:

Don’t Look For Bargains In:
1. Parachutes
2. Tattoos
3. Nutritional Supplements
It’s as true today as it was 20 years ago.
August 13, 2020
Why You Should Care About Free Radicals

Why You Should Care About Free Radicals

Did you ever wonder why apple slices start to turn brown when you leave them out on the picnic table?

Or why unprotected metal left outside will start to rust?

Here’s the reason: free radical damage.

Free radicals are rogue oxygen molecules that are missing an electron, and will, therefore, attack anything in sight in search of a missing mate. The damage they do is called oxidative damage, or oxidation. It’s what happens to the apple slices, it’s what happens to the rusting metal, it’s what happens to your skin when exposed to too much sun, and it happens in your body—to every cell, to every organ, even to your DNA.

Dr. Sinatra and I identified oxidative damage as one of the four major promoters of heart disease in our book, “The Great Cholesterol Myth”. Dr. Traylor and I identified oxidative damage as one of the major causes of aging in

Oxidative damage (i.e. free radical damage) is no joke. There’s even a theory called “The Free Radical Theory Of Aging” that holds that aging is nothing more than “rusting from within.” Even cholesterol doesn’t become a problem in the body until it’s oxidized.

The free radicals that cause all this oxidative damage can come from many things. Oxygen, certainly. But also toxins, household cleaners, pesticides, cigarettes, and air pollution. Your first action should be to limit your exposure to things that are obviously toxic (i.e. cigarettes and car exhaust and chemicals).

Foods can also be potent sources of free radicals, especially fried foods, and especially meat that’s barbequed at high heat. Tip: Marinate the meat in a rich mix of spices, and barbeque at a lower heat. And instead of fried foods, load up your plate with antioxidant-rich berries, dark chocolate, nuts, beans, and leafy vegetables. Even if you still eat the French fries, those antioxidants will help mitigate some of the damage!)

Anti-oxidants do exactly what their name implies—they are the antidote to oxidative damage. We all know the important dietary antioxidants– Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and so on – but an even more important antioxidant is made in the human body and can’t be effectively obtained from supplements or diet. It’s called glutathione.

Two other tips to help your body rid itself of excess free radicals:

1. Top off your glutathione levels. Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant. It mops up free radicals better, faster, and more effectively than just about any other substance. The body makes glutathione on its own, but as we age, our enzymes that make glutathione get weaker. There have been attempts over the years to make oral glutathione supplements, but for the most part, they haven’t been effective.

Thankfully science is always evolving, and now there’s a safe way to prompt your body to make more. Glyteine, available in Continual-G products, works as a molecular signal that prompts the body to start producing more glutathione. In a couple of hours, you’ll have more glutathione in your cells, which is exactly where it’s needed.

2. Upgrade your sleep. A lot of really important things happen when you sleep, and bad things happen if you are sleep deprived. It turns out that one of the major things that happen during sleep is the repair of oxidative damage. Even the most powerful antioxidants on the planet won’t be put to full use if you’re not getting enough sleep and if you’re not getting good quality of sleep. That’s why it’s especially important right now to keep a consistent sleep schedule.

And if you’re not getting enough sleep and would like to extend your time in bed—and who wouldn’t—there’s a “right” and a “wrong” way to do it. Contrary to popular opinion staying in bed later doesn’t work nearly as well as going to bed earlier. Try adding sleep time by going to bed a half-hour earlier every night for a week, and when you’re acclimated to that, add another half-hour.

Your metabolism, your mental health, and your waistline will all thank you.

July 20, 2020
Melatonin: So Much More Than A Sleep Aid

Here’s a riddle for you: Why do blind women get breast cancer at about half the rate that sighted women do?

We think it has to do with two things: light, and a hormone called melatonin.

Most people who have heard of melatonin know it as a supplement that can help with sleep (which it definitely can). And it’s great for jet lag. But the melatonin story is a lot more interesting– and complicated– than its ability to serve as a natural cure for insomnia.

Melatonin may have a role in protecting you against cancer. It also supports the immune system and is one of the most powerful antioxidants we know of. It protects cell membranes even more than vitamin E does, and is more effective than glutathione (an important antioxidant in the body) at neutralizing a deadly free radical that causes oxidative damage, hydroxyl radicals.

So although melatonin is not by itself a miracle anti-aging supplement, it helps protect against a number of age-robbers.

Take sleep, for example.

During sleep, a great deal of cellular damage that occurs during the day is repaired and that repair process is initiated by secretions of melatonin. And because disturbed sleep so often accompanies aging, anything that can help us sleep better (with ancillary benefits to boot and no side effects) might be something to take note of. Melatonin definitely fits the bill.

Poor sleep quality reduces the secretion of growth hormone, an important hormone that helps us keep muscle and lose fat. It may also raise levels of stress hormones such as cortisol.Lack of rest or disruption of normal sleep patterns can increase hunger, leading to obesity-related illnesses and accelerated aging. Because melatonin is so helpful in getting a good night’s sleep, the use of melatonin as a supplement may have far-reaching consequences for many of the conditions that interfere with healthy aging.

And if all this weren’t enough, melatonin may also be good for the heart. Researchers tested melatonin supplements on women aged forty-seven to sixty-three and found that supplementation improved the “day-night” rhythm of blood pressure, significantly decreasing nighttime blood pressure.

“Melatonin, in addition to being an incredibly powerful antioxidant, may well turn out to be cardio-protective”, says Beth Traylor, MD, of Cenegenics Medical Institute.

Melatonin is a hugely important hormone with many overlapping benefits. virtually everyone over the age of forty doesn’t make enough, and taking a little extra doesn’t seem to have any negative side effects.

Melatonin has been used successfully as a supplement for sleep in doses from as low as 0.1 mg to as much as 10mg.

November 18, 2014
You’re Probably Not Getting Enough of This Critical Nutrient…

I’m often asked by magazines to compile lists of the most important supplements to take on a regular basis. One supplement that always makes the cut—no matter what—is magnesium, and here’s why.

First of all, magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every single organ system in the body. It’s involved in more than 300 enzyme reactions in the body, including fat, protein, and glucose metabolism, muscle and membrane transport, and energy production.

In a classic article called The Importance of Magnesium to Human Nutrition, Michael Schachter, M.D, devotes a full four paragraphs to the possible symptoms and problems associated with getting too little magnesium—they range from salt and carbohydrate cravings to panic attacks, PMS, mitral valve prolapse, palpitations, cramps, muscle tensions, and insomnia.

When I was a personal trainer and clients came to me with muscle cramps, the first order of business was always to make sure they were getting enough magnesium and potassium through supplements and food. That almost always takes care of the problem.

Second of all, it’s a relaxer—magnesium actually helps open up the blood vessel walls, making it very important for keeping blood pressure in a healthy range. (In fact, magnesium is one of the key recommended supplements in the nutritional protocol at the highly regarded Hypertension Institute in Nashville. You can read about it in my friend Mark Houston, MD, MA’s excellent book, “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypertension.”)

Third of all, it’s terrific for helping to lower or at least stabilize blood sugar, making it a top supplement in virtually all of the intelligent diabetes protocols I’ve ever seen. Magnesium also plays a critical role in the secretion and action of insulin. In the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, the risk for developing type 2 diabetes was significantly greater in both men and women with a lower intake of magnesium.

Speaking of which, almost no one is getting enough. Surveys consistently show that almost 3/4 of all Americans don’t even get even the paltry amount recommended in the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) developed by the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (formerly National Academy of Sciences). (Those numbers range from 310 mg a day to 420 mg a day depending on sex, age and pregnancy, and most nutritionists I know, including me, consider them laughingly and inappropriately low.) According to a study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 68% of American consumed less than the recommended daily allowance of this critical mineral. Even the National Institutes of Health states that “dietary intake may not be high enough to promote an optimal magnesium status, which may be protective against disorders such as cardiovascular disease and immune dysfunction”.

So magnesium supplements always make my list of “most important to take on a daily basis”.

Which brings me to Effervescent Magnesium Citrate by DaVinci Labs.

While I take many of my supplements in pill form, I’m also a big fan of mixing them into shakes and drinks when an appropriate form can be found. I’ve tried mixing regular magnesium powder into shakes and, frankly, it usually doesn’t taste very good. What I love about effervescent magnesium citrate is it actually tastes like an orange drink. You can drink it by itself, mixed in water, or with a whole concoction of other powders, like I do. In fact, the orange, stevia-sweetened powder adds a nice fizzy texture and flavor to even icky tasting powders like the kind I drink regularly!

Now, instead of holding my nose when I drink down my daily morning powdered supplement mix, I actually look forward to it.

One small scoop provides 420 mg of magnesium citrate, and—just for good measure—a very nice 390 mg of potassium to boot.

This is a great product that I use every single day. Highly recommended! Try it now »

March 10, 2014
My New Morning Ritual
From time to time, I stumble upon a product I didn’t expect to like but actually do—which is exactly what happened with Garden of Life’s Raw Meal.

It’s no secret that I’ve never been a huge fan of Garden of Life, but I’ll be the first to admit that the reason for that has little to do with their product.

No, my prejudice came from the fact that the founder of Garden of Life and I were in a class together many years ago and, frankly, I just didn’t much like the guy. So there, I admit it, my prejudice about the company was very colored by an insignificant incident 15 years ago, but then again, who ever said prejudices were smart?

So I’m browsing through the catalogues of the various companies, and I see this product by Garden of Life—Raw Meal—and the description sounds so fascinating that I decide to order it.

Which I did.

Well, let me just be honest and say this: It’s great.

I mean, seriously great. Like it’s my go-to meal replacement these days. And let me tell you why:
- First of all, it tastes great. (I’ll tell you how I personally prepare it at the end of this newsletter.)
- Second of all, it has 17 grams of protein in a half serving, 34 grams in a complete serving. (More about this “serving” business in a minute.)
- Third of all, a full serving has a remarkable 10 grams of fiber, and even a half serving has 5 grams, more than 95% of the crummy cereals we’re told to eat for their “high fiber” content.. (but don’t get me started).
Full Serving vs. Half Serving

Here’s the deal with the “full serving” and “half serving”. You can use this powder as a meal replacement (full serving) in which case you use two scoops and it provides 310 calories; or you can use it as a mini-meal or snack, in which case you use one scoop and it provides 155 calories. If you use it as a meal replacement, you can throw in all kinds of goodies like berries, raw oats, raw milk, almond milk, Forti-Flax, even a handful of nuts if you like, essentially designing your own meal with as many (or as few) calories as you like.

You can even add a scoop of protein powder, like Designs for Health Whey Cool, to up the protein content a bit. And you can do the same for the fiber by adding in a small scoop of Paleo-Fiber. It’s like adding options to the base model of a car. You can add them on—but you don’t have to!

Raw Meal provides twenty essential vitamins and minerals, in many cases 100% of the RDA (pitiful as that number is). In addition, there’s a RAW probiotic and enzyme blend, with about 3 billion CFU of lactobaccilus acidophilus and digestive enzymes. The protein is completely derived from plant sources.

It’s “Green” Too!

I was also pleased to find that this company really cares about the planet, and seems to have a true commitment to sustainability. They use only certified organic plant protein from sprouted grains and legumes, and they use only recyclable packaging, vegetable inks, sustainably farmed papers and 100% certified renewable wind energy credits to run their operations. Gotta give ‘em props for that.

How I Enjoy Raw Meal

All this probably wouldn’t matter so much if the product didn’t taste great, but it does. Seriously, folks.

Here’s the way I personally like it. Try this and tell me if it’s not the greatest thing ever. (A warning note, though. I make things in the kitchen entirely by feel, so please forgive me if this doesn’t exactly follow recipe protocol. Experiment with it and I promise you’ll find a mix you love!)
1. Take a glass of raw, whole milk and put it in a blender. (Raw milk is still legal in a couple of states. If you can’t get raw, whole milk, use almond milk. I usually use about 7/8 raw whole milk and then top it off with a dollop of almond milk anyway, just for flavor.)
2. Throw in one scoop of Raw Meal
3. Add a small handful of berries
4. Add a tablespoon or so of Forti-Flax
5. Throw in a small handful of almonds (I like dry roasted in Bragg’s Aminos, but any good almonds will do.)
6. Throw in a small handful of coconut flakes (we get these prepackaged at the supermarket—in either little containers or in plastic bags.)
7. A tiny spoonful (probably a ½ teaspoon to teaspoon) of Manuka Honey
8. A scoop of fiber – I like PaleoFiber
9. Blend and drink!
If it comes out too thick—or looks like it will—add more almond milk, or even some ice cubes to thin it out a bit. But don’t thin it out too much. When it’s just right it’s creamily delicious, with a nutty, crunchy texture.

And let me know if you don’t love Raw Meal as much as I do!

Supplements Mentioned in This Article

Raw Meal by Garden of Life

Forti-Flax by Barlean’s Greens

PaleoFiber by Designs for Health

Whey Cool by Designs for Health
July 29, 2013
150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: Krill Oil

Krill Oil is even better than fish oil for lowering blood pressure, boosting mood and memory, and even reducing symptoms of PMS.

February 18, 2013
Supplements Lousy for Fat Loss
Newsflash: there’s no magic bullet for fat loss. (But you already knew that.)

That’s what Melinda Manore concluded after examining America’s $2.4 billion weight-loss supplement industry. Her results appear in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

Manore, a professor of nutrition and exercise sciences at Oregon State University, began this study by categorizing supplements into four categories:
1. Blockers such as carb blockers or fat blockers
2. Stimulants: caffeine and ephedra, for instance, which increase metabolism
3. Body composition changers: supplements like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) that reduce fat
4. Appetite suppressants like fiber
Manore found several problems with these supplements. One is that many of them lacked clinical trials to prove they work.

Two, the studies that showed a particular supplement did work more often than not yielded an unimpressive two-pound or less weight loss benefit compared to the supplement placebo.

In other words, hardly the rapid fat burners some supplements claim to be.

“What people want is to lose weight and maintain or increase lean tissue mass,” Manore said. “There is no evidence that any one supplement does this. And some have side effects ranging from the unpleasant, such as bloating and gas, to very serious issues such as strokes and heart problems.”

Not all of Manore’s news was grim. She found green tea and fiber, for instance, could stimulate fat loss, but only when you combine them with the right diet and exercise.

Now, if you’ve read my book Living Low Carb, you know I call fiber the number-one supplement for weight loss. Most of us don’t get enough of this important nutrient that helps promote satiety, lower your hunger hormone ghrelin, and balance blood sugar levels.

I’m also a big fan of green tea and green tea supplements for fat loss.

But you can’t swallow a glassful of psyllium husk and then go down in the Krispy Kremes. Likewise, you can’t chug green tea with your Starbucks scone and watch the pounds melt away.

In other words, you’ve got to combine fiber and green tea with optimal foods and exercise for effective, lasting fat loss.

(Read my take on a recent study where they fed green tea extract to obese mice »)

Manore inevitably provides advice for fat loss, most of which is decent even if you’ve heard it before: move more, eat more vegetables, start your meal with a salad, eat fruit rather than fruit juice, and ditch the processed crap. Sound familiar?

Can’t argue with any of that.

However, she seriously misfires when she recommends reducing high-fat foods to lose weight. Manore evidently never got the memo that the right fats, such as almonds, coconut oil, and avocado, can actually help burn fat.

The take-home here – again, this is nothing new – is that some weight loss supplements prove more effective than others if you use them with an effective diet and exercise plan. Otherwise, you’re just throwing money away.

In my experience, a lower-carb diet with optimal protein and fat, combined with burst training and weight resistance, provides amazing results.

Adding fiber and green tea to that plan can give you an extra boost to reduce cravings and step up fat burning. Just don’t expect them to do much if you don’t step up your diet and exercise.
March 19, 2012
Tip 281: Increase Fat Burning During Exercise
The following is a guest article by my good friend and colleague, Charles Poliquin.

Tip 281: Increase Fat Burning During Exercise with Strategic Nutrition to Get Lean

by Charles Poliquin

Increase your rate of fat burning while strength training with optimal pre-workout nutrition to get lean. By eating the right nutrients before working out, you can increase work capacity, performance, and speed recovery from intense exercise. Many misconceptions exist about the best way to burn the most fat during exercise but a review in the British Journal of Nutrition provides a guide to get leaner and stronger.

Proven strategies to boost fat burning with pre-workout nutrition include the following:
1. Eat low-glycemic carbs with protein before training
2. Avoid fructose and milk
3. Load l-carnitine in the muscles
4. Drink caffeinated green tea
5. Take fish oil
Pre-workout nutrition may influence the rate of fat burning when exercising by as much as 66 percent. Burning fat rather than carbohydrates during strength training is best because it can lead to the best body composition. If you’re doing endurance or high-intensity interval training, burning fat will increase your performance and time to exhaustion because increasing the use of fat for fuel spares glycogen (fuel source from carbohydrates).

Eat low-glycemic carbs with protein at least an hour before training to maximize fat burning. Low-glycemic carbs include green vegetables, some fruits, and grains that have a glycemic-lowering nutrient added to them like rye bread with fenugreek. Low-glycemic carbs will produce a slow, gradual increase in blood sugar to support energy levels and fat burning because it will reduce pre-exercise muscle glycogen concentration and increase the availability of fat use for fuel. Basically, by eating this way, you’re telling your body what to burn and when to burn it to produce the most energy.

Fructose is a sugar that is found in fruit and is everywhere in processed foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid it pre-workout. Limit fructose in your diet because it blunts fat burning but it also lowers the glycemic response of carbohydrates—just not in a favorable way for overall metabolism. Eating fructose actually inhibits fat burning during and after exercise to a greater extent than eating high-glycemic carbs with glucose like bread or cereal. Not only does fructose stop the use of fat for energy, it makes the cells more resistant to insulin, putting you at risk for diabetes. It also leads to higher blood lactate concentrations during exercise. Greater lactate production will impede performance and is counterproductive.

Along with avoiding fructose, stay away from milk proteins because they are particularly “insulinotropic,” which means that they will cause persistently high insulin levels. This puts you at greater risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.

On the flipside, regularly taking fish oil in your pre-workout meal will improve fat burning and insulin sensitivity. Fish oil improves gene activity that tells the body to use fat for energy within minutes of ingesting it. Fish oil also increases blood flow to fat tissue, which is considered a limiting factor in the use of fat for fuel during exercise. Basically, fish oil is a highly liquid and permeable fat and it helps everything to move more fluidly in the body (like a well-oiled machine).

Together with the amino acid composite l-carnitine, fish oil increases the transport of fats into the cells to be used for energy in the body. By raising the level of muscle carnitine, you make the body more efficient at processing fuel so that it can burn more fat, spare glycogen, clear lactate and bump up anabolic hormone response. Ideally, you want to take carnitine regularly to “load” it into the muscles, but you can also take it with your pre-workout meal for best results.

Carnitine availability is reduced when muscle glycogen content is elevated, making it all the more important to ensure you are moderating your glycemic load before training. Carnitine will boost performance for strength athletes, but it’s especially effective at increasing performance during endurance exercise. One study indicated a 55 percent reduction in muscle glycogen use after carnitine loading for six month. The glycogen sparing effect of burning more fat means endurance athletes will be able to “tap into” these glycogen stores at the later stages of a race or training run.

Green tea with caffeine is an awesome addition to any athlete’s diet because the antioxidant content in the tea combined with the caffeine can increase fat burning by up to 15 percent. It has also been shown to elevate fat burning for 24 hours after ingestion. Caffeinated coffee can also boost performance and fat burning, but recent evidence suggests green tea may be better. Include caffeine from both sources for best results.

References:

Gonzalez, J., Stevenson, E. New Perspectives on Nutritional Interventions to Augment Lipid Utilization during Exercise. British Journal of Nutrition. 2012. 107, 339-349.

Fernandez, J., Da Silva-Grigolettos, M. A Dose of Fructose Induces Oxidative Stress During Endurance and Strength Exercise. Journal of Sports Science. 2009. 27(12), 1323-1334.

Charles Poliquin, M.Sc., is one of the top strength and conditioning experts in the world. He’s trained olympic medalists in 12 different sports and has written many books and over 500 columns. His site, http://www.strengthsensei.com/charles-poliquin/, is a terrific resource for real, science-based information about physical fitness.
February 27, 2012
What the Heck is Coenzyme Q10 Anyway?

Coenzyme Q10 just might be the most important energy nutrient you’ve never heard of.

It’s not a vitamin and not a mineral, but it’s found in every cell in your body. It was first discovered in 1957 by two different researchers working in completely different parts of the world—Frederick Crane, PhD, of Wisconsin, who isolated the substance from the heart tissue of beef, and professor R. A. Morton, PhD, of England, who found an identical compound in the liver of rats.

So what’s a coenzyme anyway, and why is this one so important for energy and overall health?

You may remember from biology 101 that an enzyme is something that speeds the rate at which certain chemical processes can take place. You use enzymes in the laundry machine—they speed the chemical process by which the dirt on your teenager’s jeans can be dissolved. Your body uses enzymes for hundreds of metabolic processes, including digestion, the conversion of food into nutrients, and the creation of energy in cells.

Without enzymes, life as we know it would simply cease.

Well, a coenzyme is a substance that enhances the action of an enzyme. A coenzyme is necessary for an enzyme to work, much like a spark plug is to a piston.

Coenzyme Q10 is the Mac Daddy of coenzymes. It charges up the energy-production factories in the cells, improves the function of the little power stations in every cell called mitochondria (where energy is actually produced), and, as a bonus, and helps protect cells from nasty little molecules called free radicals that can damage cells and their DNA and contribute to degenerative diseases (and sap your energy in the process).

The highest amounts of CoQ10 in the body are found in the heart (where Crane first found it) and the liver (where Morton found it) as well as the kidneys and pancreas. Because the heart especially relies upon CoQ10 to produce energy and to function efficiently, CoQ10 is absolutely essential to a healthy heart. In fact, CoQ10 is an accepted treatment in Europe and Japan for congestive heart failure.

Necessary for Energy, But Hard to Find

Coenzyme Q10 is a great supplement to take for many reasons. Although the body can actually make it (and does), it does so through a complicated seventeen-step process that requires at the very least seven different vitamins (vitamins B2, B3, B6, B12, and C, folic acid, and pantothenic acid) plus a whole bunch of trace elements.

Because plenty of people aren’t getting optimal levels of those vitamins to begin with, there’s likely to be less than optimal production of CoQ10—after all, if a factory isn’t getting enough raw materials, its output suffers.

If you add to that the fact that coenzyme Q10 production slows down with age, and that many commonly prescribed medications block CoQ10 production (more on that in a moment), it starts to make a lot of sense to supplement with CoQ10. In fact, CoQ10 should be high on the list of supplements any high-energy person is going to want to take on a regular basis.

And no, you’re not going to get optimal amounts from food (are you listening, American Dietetic Association?) CoQ10 is found mainly in organ meats such as the heart, liver, and kidney—not popular dishes for most people—as well as beef, soy oil, peanuts, and sardines.

But you’d need 1 pound of sardines, 2 pounds of beef, or 2 1/2 pounds of peanuts to provide your body with a measly 30 mg of CoQ10, the absolute minimum dose to take for healthy folks looking for general protection. For people who are energy compromised, the recommended dose is much higher.

Heart Helper

So how exactly does CoQ10 work? The body strips foods of electrons, tiny subatomic particles that carry a negative electric charge, which surround the nuclei of atoms. Our body then transports these electrons to an electron “receptor,” which happens to be oxygen. (To get any energy from food we have to breathe oxygen!)

This whole transportation system—not surprisingly called the electron transport system—is the final step in converting intermediate energy carriers with weird names such as nicotine adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) (don’t bother to remember them) into molecules of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

ATP is the famous “energy molecule” that functions like a battery, storing energy that’s used to power anything from dozens of cellular processes you’d never notice to doing biceps curls at the gym. (Without enough ATP, you run out of steam really quickly. Lack of immediate ATP is one of the reasons your muscles “fail” after a certain amount of repetitions of bench presses or biceps curls.)

CoQ10 has the ability to increase ATP production. It’s one of the electron carriers in the electron transport system, so it basically helps the cells use oxygen and create more energy.

Once you understand this, it becomes easy to see why CoQ10 is so important for a healthy ticker. The average human heart beats more than 100,000 times a day. That’s a lot of energy and a lot of work. No wonder the heart cells produce more energy than any other organ; they have to keep working even while you’re sleeping. Being your heart (or mine) is a full-time job. It never gets to take a vacation.

Solving the Energy Slowdown

As we age, for a variety of reasons, the ability of our bodies to produce that energy starts to slow down.

And without enough oxygen and vital nutrients, guess what? You start to feel rundown and tired.

It’s hardly surprising that there are low levels of CoQ10 associated with numerous diseases. Karl Folkers, PhD, an early coenzyme Q10 researcher, noted that a reduction of coenzyme Q10 levels in the body by just 25 percent (to 75 percent of optimal) may cause illness, and falling by 75 percent (to 25 percent of optimal) could cause death.

There are many reasons why CoQ10 production in the body could be compromised—aging, lack of optimal vitamin and mineral intake, stress, and medications are a few examples. (The statin drugs used to bring down cholesterol are among the biggest offenders; if you’re on one of those, you should definitely supplement with CoQ10!)

Worth Knowing

According to CoQ10 expert Peter H. Langsjoen, MD, there can be big individual differences in absorption rates, with some people attaining fine blood levels on 100 mg a day and others requiring a good deal more. For the average person, 30 to 60 mg a day is a nice maintenance dose, but I’d recommend higher doses for those on statin meds or those with energy issues (100 mg or even higher).

August 8, 2011
Green Tea Supplements, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity
Researchers from Oklahoma State University sought to shed light on the relationship between green tea supplementation and various risk factors for obese subjects. And what they found was interesting indeed.

In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, the researchers randomly assigned 35 subjects with obesity and metabolic syndrome to one of one of three conditions.
1. The control group got a daily drink of 4 cups of water.
2. The second group got 4 cups of green tea.
3. The third got 2 caps a day of green tea extract supplements of the active ingredient in the beverage (known as EGCG or eppigallocatechin-3-galate) plus 4 cups of water.
Both the tea-only and the EGCG-supplement plus water group received the identical amount of EGCG per day, whether it came from the tea or the water.

The researchers found both the group getting the green tea beverage and the group getting the green tea extracts (ECGC supplements) experienced a significant decrease in body weight and in BMI (Body Mass Index). (The controls saw no such decrease.)

This is hardly the first time green tea or green tea supplements have been shown to have an effect on risk factors, nor is it the first time they’ve been shown to have an effect on fat loss and body weight.

A 2003 study found that a blend of tea polyphenols derived from green tea improved both lipid (fat) and glucose (sugar) metabolism in an animal study. The tea supplement also enhanced insulin sensitivity, and balanced the metabolic rate of fat burning with the metabolic rate of fat deposit (meaning nothing extra stored as fat!)

The late great nutritionist, Shari Lieberman, PhD, CNS wrote that green tea stimulates the metabolism of brown fat to a far greater degree than a comparable amount of caffeine alone. “It appears that substances known as catechin-polyphenlols, in particular one called epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC), stimulates the production of noradrenaline, which in turns revs up your metabolism”, Dr. Shari says. “Studies have shown that using green tea even without restricting food (dieting) causes weight loss- using it with a weight-loss eating plan should give you excellent results”(1)

As an added benefit, a 2010 study showed that the healthful substances in green tea- renown for their powerful antioxidant and disease-fighting properties- actually penetrate the tissues of the eye. Apparently many of the green tea “catechins” are loaded with antioxidants that can protect the eyes. This includes the new superstars of eye nutrition the carotenoids lutein and zeaxnthin, not to mention vitamin C and vitamin E. “Our results indicate that green tea consumption could benefit the eye against oxidative stress”, the researchers conclude.

This is the Green Tea Extract that I take every day.

My favorite green tea supplement is the high quality EGCG green tea extract by Designs for Health »

Save big when you buy 3 bottles of green tea extract »

I also recommend drinking tea regularly throughout the day.

1) Lieberman, S. and Bruning, “Dare to loose”, (Avery/ Penguin, 2002)
June 19, 2011