While it has long been suspected that omega 3 fatty acids could slow the development of many types of arthritis, it is only recently that scientists began to hope that getting enough omega 3 fatty acids in the diet could “fundamentally interfere” with the way that the disease develops. If this is, in fact, the case, then not only could fish oil be used to treat the disorder, but it could play a critical role in helping at-risk populations avoid the problem all together.

In a recent study, a daily dose of omega 3 reduced degradation of collagen in cartilage, thereby helping to control established osteoarthritis and interfering with the development of the disease in patients not yet experiencing symptoms. Learn more about joint pain, arthritis and omega 3 fatty acids at http://www.omega-3.us.

Many of these complaints have been highly publicized in the past – particularly by flax seed oil producers – and have found a particularly tender ear in the vegan population, much of which has found itself unwilling or unable to consume fish oil products due to perceived ethical problems. These fish oil soy beans do present a potential solution to the issue, but at the cost of any semblance of organic growing. Interestingly enough – and of particular note to consumers – Monsanto plans to include oil from their new soy bean creations in just about everything from “baked goods and baking mixes…to vegetable products…snack foods, soft candy and soups and soup mixes.” While their intentions may be good, that is a lot of biotechnology in a lot of foods!

While the aforementioned issues are ones that plague many fish oil manufacturers, in reality they are less of an issue for salmon oil producers who use Arctic Salmon that grow far away from civilization in the Arctic Circle. Most people who are concerned about the contents of their fish oil opt to consume artic salmon oil for its purity and high degree of optimization.

To learn more about omega 3 fish oil and the best sources for it, access http://www.omega-3.us.

Antibiotics can be used effectively to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections. However, antibiotics do not discriminate“ they kill the bad bacteria as well as the good intestinal flora needed for proper digestion. This also affects the body’s defenses against certain diseases that may ultimately lead to numerous health complications.

Research indicates that antibiotics are often misused. It is alarming to note that they are often unnecessarily or improperly prescribed“ at many times due to the patient’s own insistence. They are being used for just about any ailment imaginable “ from the common cold, to flu, and viruses over which they have no effect on. And where do these all lead? To the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which are now causing some really serious, and untreatable, problems.

And here’s another twist in this already complicated scenario – even a properly prescribed antibiotic can foster the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria for at least two to six months after treatment. Well, that just increased your risk of getting another infection! That also means you’ll be like a walking time bomb“ ready to detonate at any time and inflict damage to anyone around you.

At this point, you might be asking if there is anything you can do to prevent these from happening. Well, the answer is yes. You can do something about it and save yourself and those around you from pain and misery.

To increase your chances of living a healthier, disease-free life, please consider these suggestions:

• Avoid using antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. You know that they bring more harm than good so what’s the point in taking them?
• Strengthen your immune system. You can keep away from harm’s way if you have a strong, healthy immune system.
• Use a natural antibiotic whenever necessary. Garlic tops the list as one of the most effective natural antibiotics. Would you believe that it can even be more potent than penicillin and many prescription drugs in the market today? In fact, a mere 5 to 10 milligrams of garlic is equivalent to 75-100 units of penicillin. Garlic was proven to be more effective against nine strains of E. coli and Staph infections, too.
• Add a full spectrum acidophilus complex to your daily regimen, especially after any antibiotic treatment. Acidophilus helps build the balance of good bacteria in your intestinal tract. It can help you fight off any new drug resistant bacterial strains already in your system or that you might be exposed to in the future.

And here’s a special note on choosing a garlic supplement. Allicin, the source of garlic odor, also happens to be its most active ingredient. So, if you decide to take garlic capsules, choose one that is not deodorized. Otherwise, you’ll be throwing all the good stuff away!

To do just that, you need to take extra care of your skin. It is by far the largest organ in our body and the only one exposed to the harsh elements. Eventually, the skin will get thinner, drier, and more wrinkled. Age spots may likewise begin to show up. Well, you can’t stop the aging process but you can definitely do something to slow it down.

How? By looking for the proverbial fountain of youth? Nah, the solutions may be far simpler than you think!

1. Go for a healthy diet. GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) doesn’t only apply to your computer “ it also applies to your skin! To have youthful, healthy looking skin, be sure to have more of the “good” foods“ particularly whole grains and fresh carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables. Carotenoids help protect the cells from free-radicals which can hasten skin aging.
2. Avoid loading up on fats. As a rule, you need to limit your fat intake to less than 30% of your total calorie requirement. Better yet, replace the “bad” with the “good” and you’ll never go wrong! One example of a “good” fat is omega 3 fatty acids, found in cold water fatty fish like salmon, tuna, herring and sardines.
3. Maintain a regular exercise routine. Keeping an active lifestyle facilitates the transport of vital nutrients to your cells, and helps flush out the toxins in your body. And when you are healthy from the inside, it usually shines through.
4. Drink up. Water is important in keeping your cells hydrated. It also helps carry the toxins out of your body.
5. Avoid excessive sun exposure. Always wear your sunscreen (at least SPF 15) whenever you go out and don’t forget your sunglasses as well. Long pants, long-sleeves, and a wide-brimmed hat may also help you from being too exposed to the sun’s UV-rays. And consider having your car windows tinted, too. UV-rays can cause damage even when you’re inside the car.
6. Consider taking supplements. To make sure you’re getting optimum benefits for your skin, a good whole food carotenoid supplement can help.

But are you aware that oxygen can also be your worst enemy?

Too much oxygen is harmful and destructive to your body just as rust and corrosion destroy your car.

That’s why everyone needs to include lots of antioxidants in their daily diet. They are essential to your health and well-being.

What are antioxidants? They are phytonutrients (plant nutrition) that are naturally found in all fruits and vegetables, but only abundantly in certain varieties. The most common antioxidants are vitamins A, C and E, certain minerals such as selenium and carotenoid, flavonoid and cruciferous phytonutrients.

Antioxidants have been proven many times to protect human cells from oxidative free-radical damage – the primary cause of aging (rust and corrosion) in both your body and brain. You can think of antioxidants as Rust-Oleum for humans that help prevent heart disease, cancer, cataracts and other age-related diseases.

The Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center has definitively measured the total antioxidant power of various foods. Colorful, carotenoid rich fruits and vegetables are at the top of the list. In fact, carotenoids are the coloring agents that give plants their rich green, red, orange and yellow colors.

The highest-ranking fruits are berries, oranges, pink grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, prunes and raisins

And broccoli, beets, red peppers, carrots, tomatoes spinach, kale and Brussel sprouts are the highest-ranking vegetables. 

And yet the most commonly eaten fruits and vegetables contain very few carotenoids and, therefore, are of little antioxidant value. The most popular fruits and vegetables – apples, bananas, potatoes (i.e. French fries) and iceberg lettuce “ are not the Tufts University list of healthiest plant foods.

That’s why it’s so important for your health to eat five to nine daily servings of the more colorful, carotenoid rich fruits and vegetables .

Warning! If you’re planning to supplement your diet with antioxidant nutritionals, you also need to carefully check ingredient sources.

The most common ingredients in aggressively marketed antioxidant supplements are sea algae, pine bark (pycnogenol), milk thistle, gingo biloba, quercetin, grape seed extract and alpha lipoic acid.

You won’t find any of these ingredients the Tufts University list of foods high in antioxidants. That’s pretty interesting, don’t you think?

When looking for a truly naturally carotenoid antioxidant supplement, always ask yourself this simple question. Can I find these ingredients at salad bar or a fruit and vegetable stand?

If your answer is No! move on. Keep looking until you find a formula that’s sourced from fruits and vegetables from the human food chain and not cheap imitations made from industrial by-products. That’s the best way to make sure you’re getting the protection you’re paying for.

I can’t start any healthy recommendations without reminding you of the importance of eating whole foods. So, eat whole foods! They’re important.

Also, where would I be without mentioning fish oils? Fish oils are important too. They contain omega 3 fatty acids, which have been shown in studies to prevent cancer, heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and more. Take them.

But the main thing I want to focus on today are antioxidants. They can protect you from cancers, heart disease, diabetes, macular degeneration, the common cold, sunburns and more. (Isn’t it amazing how natural nutrients from human foods can do so much?)

Antioxidants are found in many foods, but especially in colorful vegetables and fruits. Food sources of carotenoids, flavonoids and cruciferous compounds include tomatoes, peaches, strawberries, red grapes, black grapes, beets, citrus, broccoli, kale, mustards and many, many more. Eat 5 to 13 servings of these daily and you’ll prevent many illnesses.

Now if you plan on supplementing with antioxidants then you need to learn what to look for. A lot of companies will use non-human food sources for antioxidants.

They can get away with this because most consumers don’t know how to read labels. These non-human food sources are CHEAP and yet these companies charge premium prices for them.

Here are some examples of non-human food sources of antioxidants:

Dunaliella salina: a pond scum that grows in polluted salt water. No living creature eats this stuff. That alone should be a clue!

Blakeslea trispora: a fungus that produces antioxidants like lycopene when tortured with chemicals such as nicotine. No living creature eats this stuff either.

Marigold petals: used to make lutein in supplements. Marigolds are also used to make citronella, which is a bug repellant. Humans don’t eat marigolds and they should not replace human food sources in supplements.

Pine bark (Pycnogenol): this is used as a precursor to flavonoids and sold heavily in the industry. But think about it. Nothing eats pine bark. Beetles will bore through it to get to the good stuff. Birds will peck through it to get to the beetles. But nothing eats pine bark. As a matter of fact, it’s a waste by-product from the timber industry. They can’t burn it, bury it or dump it in the ocean because it’s toxic, so they make it into a supplement and sell it to you.

We know what happens from a long safe history of eating vegetables and fruits. We don’t know what’s going to happen from eating pine bark, d. salina or any other non-human food supplement. Do you want to be the guinea pig?

Science tells us of the benefits of eating antioxidants from food, but most companies will use the old “bait-and-switch” technique and sell you wastes from other industries and pass them off as the same thing. Don’t buy it! Your body will know the difference.

For the sake of comparison check out www.carotenoids.net. They are the only complete human food sourced antioxidants on the market. And if you’d like to learn more about reading labels, email me at bewell@omega-3.us for your free “How To Read Labels” card.

But, surprisingly enough, oxygen can also be your worst enemy.

Too much oxygen is as harmful and destructive to your body as rust and corrosion is to your car. That’s why dietary antioxidants are so vitally important to your health and well-being.

Think of antioxidants as human Rust-Oleum.

Antioxidants are naturally occurring phytonutrients found in certain fruits and vegetables. They’ve been proven over and over again to protect human cells from oxidative free-radical damage, which is the primary cause of aging (rust and corrosion) in both body and brain.

The Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University has measured the total antioxidant power of various foods. Colorful, carotenoid rich fruits and vegetables are at the top of the list.

The highest-ranking fruits are prunes, raisins, berries and oranges, pink grapefruit, grapes and kiwi.

And spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts and broccoli, beets, red peppers, carrots and tomatoes are the highest-ranking vegetables.

And yet the most popular fruits and vegetables are apples, bananas, potatoes (in the form of French fries) and iceberg lettuce. Notice that none of these are on the Tufts University beneficial list.

The reason is the most commonly eaten fruits and vegetables contain very few carotenoids and are of little antioxidant value.

Also note that the most commonly used ingredients in the most aggressively marketed, so-called antioxidant supplements are sea algae, pine bark (pycnogenol), milk thistle, gingo biloba, quercetin, grape seed extract and alpha lipoic acid.

None of these hyped up mystery ingredients are found in the research center’s list of foods high in antioxidants. Interesting, don’t you think?

When you look for a naturally effective carotenoid antioxidant, always ask yourself a simple question. Can I find these ingredients at a fruit and vegetable stand or salad bar?

If your answer is No! then keep on looking for something from the human food chain that’s been proven to be naturally safe and effective. My recommendation is www.carotenoids.net.

These potent antioxidants are responsible for protecting plants from sun damage. Without them, plants would be fried shortly after sunrise. Carotenoids act as scavengers of harmful free radicals that are formed by the plant’s exposure to the sun. Free radicals attack and damage cells, setting the stage for development of disease.

Carotenoids are also present and play the same role in the human body. They help defend cells against free radical damage generated by the sun, other toxic materials and the body’s own metabolic processes.

Scientists have long been aware of the relationship between a high dietary intake of carotenoid rich fruits and vegetables and a much lower incidence of various cancers, cardiovascular disease and other degenerative diseases.

In human skin, for example, carotenoid antioxidants such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene – play a vital role in the skin’s antioxidant defense system. Think of them as pac men gobbling up the highly reactive free radicals formed by solar UV radiation. Uncontrolled free radical formation contributes to both premature skin aging and the formation of skin cancers.

To maintain young healthy, cancer free skin, as well as get protection against heart disease, cataracts, macular degeneration, immune and nervous system diseases and other cancers, the body needs an abundance of carotenoids.

In fact, experts recommend the consumption of five to nine servings of carotenoid rich fruits and vegetables daily. Since iceberg lettuce, potatoes and bananas don’t count, the average American is lucky to get any carotenoids at all in their diet. This is one of the major reasons why there are so many health problems in this country.

If you find it difficult to get five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day then consider adding Carotenoid Complex to your daily supplement program.

Carotenoid Complex was the first and still is the only product to deliver the full spectrum of carotenoids in a natural, human food chain based formula. In fact, to get the carotenoid antioxidant power in one bottle of Carotenoid Complex, you would have to eat 250 pounds of raw fruits and vegetables.

Most other carotenoid type products on the market are not food sourced, but come from cheap, non-food sources – algae and palm oil. Neither of which would be found at a local salad bar. And all of the legitimate carotenoid research is based on the consumption of human food chain based fruits and vegetables. Carotenoid Complex„¢ is also guaranteed to be both organic and free of human growth hormone (HGH) and genetically modified organisms (GMO).

Carotenoid Complex is also the most thoroughly tested carotenoid supplement on the market. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several universities, for example, in peer-reviewed research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, have proven that it can improve the body’s natural defense system by 21% in only 20 days. No other product of its kind can make that claim.
Carotenoid Complex just may be the perfect way for you to make up the carotenoid gap in your diet. Check it out.