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The, six best supplements you've never heard of: these secret weapons can help balance your hormones, keep your heart healthy, detoxify your body, lift your mood, boost your energy and maybe even improve your love life!
Natural Health, Nov, 2005 by Carol Krucoff
HOW TO TAKE IT Begin with 50 to 100 mg once or twice a day. Can be slowly increased up to 400 mg daily.
CAVEATS Drowsiness and temporary nausea may occur. Seek a physician's guidance if you're on an SSRI antidepressant (e.g., Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil), since excess serotonin can cause confusion, rapidly fluctuating blood pressure and heart rate, agitation, and loss of coordination.
fatigue fighter
Rhodiola
(Rhodiola rosea)
POWER BENEFIT Boosts alertness and energy; enhances concentration; fights fatigue; may improve performance capacity and help prevent stress-related illness.
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THE SCIENCE Sometimes called "golden root" or "Arctic root," this high-altitude herb has long been used in Russia to boost energy and fight fatigue. "It's classified as an adaptogen, which means that it helps the adrenals work better to adapt to various kinds of stress," says Jamey Wallace, N.D., medical director of the teaching clinic at Bastyr University in Seattle. "It can enhance concentration levels and alertness, and help people through stressful periods." While not a substitute for sleep, he notes, rhodiola can be particularly helpful in countering exhaustion from excessive physical or mental activity. Research suggests that rhodiola can increase physical work capacity and shorten the recovery time between bouts of high-intensity exercise.
How TO TAKE IT 100 mg once daily before noon; can be increased to twice daily.
CAVEATS To avoid sleep disruption, take this herb first thing in the morning. Prolonged use may lead to bouts of irritability and insomnia, so reserve rhodiola for brief periods of excess stress.
SMART SHOPPER
To get the most benefit from your supplements, it pays to invest in quality. ConsumerLab.com, an independent testing company, examines hundreds of products and finds that about one-quarter of them come up short. The most common reason, notes company president Tod Cooperman, M.D., is "too little or none of the main ingredient." Demerits are also given for too much active ingredient, the wrong ingredients, dangerous or illegal ingredients, contamination, or if the product is labeled in misleading or insufficient ways. If you'd like access to the lab's ongoing results, the $24 fee for a one-year subscription has been reduced to $18 especially for the readers of NATURAL HEALTH. Visit consumerlab.com/ subscribe.asp and enter the promotional code "natural."
COPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
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