Karolinska researchers find children taking multivitamins at an early age were less likely to have developed food allergies.

Taking a multivitamin may be kids’ best defense from forming a food allergy.

According to recently released findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, when researchers looked at kids who had taken a multivitamin before their fourth birthday, they found that they were about 40 percent less likely to have a food allergy compared to their fellow sub-4-year-olds that did not take one.

One caveat, though:  The findings were only applicable to kids that took a multivitamin before the age of four.  For the rest of the 2,400+ kids observed, there was no difference in food allergy incidence and multivitamin use.

The study is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and performed by researchers from the Karolinska Institute.

The prevalence of food allergies among kids today is a confounding issue for many health professionals.  Twenty years ago, food allergies were few and far between.  That’s not the case today, as an estimated 20 percent of all kids—and 5 percent of all Americans—have at least one food allergy.    In fact, since 1989, there’s been a 400 percent rise in food allergies, mostly from things like wheat, eggs, shellfish, milk, and the mother of all food allergens, peanuts.

The question, of course, is why?  Some suggest it’s due to the prevalence of genetically-modified soy; others, referring specifically to the prevalence of peanut allergies, think it’s due to the way in which peanuts are prepared and processed, dry roasting them instead of boiling them (In China, where food allergies are far less prevalent, peanuts are predominantly eaten boiled).

To me—and to just about every one else in the natural health world, for that matter—it’s clear as day why there’s been an upswing in food allergies:  food ingredients.

The best illustration of this is with soy.  In 1996, in an attempt to make the soy crop more profitable and last longer, soy was genetically-engineered; in other words, its DNA was tampered with to extend its shelf life.  And it just so happens that in this same year, there was a 50 percent rise in soy allergies, cracking into the Top 10 list of food allergies for the first time.  It’s remained there ever since.

The prevalence of food allergies is one of the main reasons why I’m so passionate about natural health.  Because I firmly believe that if food wasn’t so packed with additives and preservatives, there would be no such thing as the “Big 8.”  In case you didn’t already know, the “Big 8” represents the eight most common food allergies.

Reform in the food industry is likely years, if not decades, away.  In the meantime, take some preventative action by getting your kids onto a multivitamin as early as possible.

There are LOADS of multivitamins to choose from.  But in my personal opinion, there’s no multi that’s better than Ola Loa.  Only this is not a multi you take, this is a multi you drink.

The nutrients in multivitamins are absorbed by the body more efficiently when they can be dissolved in liquid.  And while there are other multivitamins on the market you can drink, Ola Loa stands above the rest because their multivitamin is more than just vitamin C and sugar.  Theirs contains all the active ingredients that every multivitamin ought to have, including amino acids!

And unlike a pill, where only 10-20 percent of its contents are absorbed by the body, the absorption rate is 78 to 88 percent higher with Ola Loa, according to Physician’s Desk Reference.

Try it for yourself, and feel the difference!

Sources:
nutraingredients.com
abcnews.go.com
allergykids.com
en.wikipedia.org

A recent study suggests that multivitamins assist in the anti aging process.

Have you noticed the onslaught of negative press regarding traditional takes on health lately?  From the notion that exercise doesn’t rev metabolism, to antioxidants doing nothing for the body, to the benefits of fish oil being nothing more than a figment of the imagination (I’ll address this in a future article), it’s enough to drive a natural health nut, well, nuts!

Propaganda like this is a real shame.  It confuses and disappoints the average person who has been striving to get healthy, leaving them skeptical of their methods and wondering whether it’s all been worth it.

I know of many people, for instance, who have taken a multivitamin for years, but decided to stop after it was reported that they bring no benefits to the body.  Sure, there’s some legitimacy to the notion that some multivitamins aren’t as good as others, but I flatly reject the notion that they’re nothing more than water pills.

And the National Institute of Environmental Health agrees with me, as a study of theirs indicates that those who supplement with a multivitamin tend to live longer, or have what they call a younger “biological age.”

You’ve probably heard of the body having a biological clock, but we also have a biological age, which is basically a fancy way of describing the age of a body’s cells.  Scientists are able to determine a body’s biological age by looking at things called telomeres.

Telomeres are DNA strands found at the end of chromosomes that progressively shorten as the body’s cells age.  The shorter they are, the more advanced in age the body’s cells are.  Cells are constantly multiplying, so it’s natural for the body’s cells to eventually die (called apoptosis), but ideally, you want the body’s healthy cells to stay that way for as long as possible.

So when researchers compared the telomeres of those who supplemented with a multivitamin regularly with those who did not, they found that those who supplemented had telomeres that were more about five percent longer than the non-multi users.  In other words, those that supplement with a multivitamin have a cellular structure that’s in a younger state.

To be fair, there were some aspects to the study that require further review.  For instance, it was a study that only included women, and since males and females have different cellular structures, the findings might be different in men.  But among women, the researchers were able to make the appropriate adjustments to their findings based on what nutrients the women were high or low in (via food frequency questionnaires).

The study is published in The American Journal of Nutrition.

It’s estimated that 35 percent of the population supplement with a multivitamin.  That’s great, but it could be higher – much higher.

That doesn’t mean those that don’t supplement should go out and get any old multivitamin.  A recent ConsumerLabs.com report found that 30 percent of the multi-vitamins tested in their labs had ingredients that were above or below their dosage listed on the bottle.  For instance, one multivitamin had half the amount of folic acid it claimed to have, and 30 percent of the calcium.

Personally, I use the multivitamin made by Nature’s Way.  It’s called “Alive!  Whole Food Energizer.”  You can get a complete breakdown of its benefits and ingredient listings here.  I also use Ola Loa, which is a drinkable multi vitamin. I have no financial ties to Nature’s Way or Ola Loa, LLC.  I simply use these brands because I believe in the products and believe them to be among the best multivitamins on the market today.

To keep your body’s cells alive, go out and grab a bottle of Alive! today.

Source:
nutraingredients.com
calgaryherald.com