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When you hear the word side effects usually you think of the common negative side effects of pharmaceutical drugs such as drowsiness from common allergy medications, sleeplessness from anti-depressant drugs, ulcers from anti-inflammatory medications. Imagine receiving beneficial side effects from a therapeutic drug. This is often the case when taking vitamins, minerals, and herbs. These natural substances have a myriad of beneficial properties.

Take green tea as an example, the antioxidant rich polyphenols in green tea protect your cells from damage, can prevent cancer formation, and give your metabolism a boost. I obviously think green tea is amazing that’s why I put it in three of our formulas. Studies have shown that in order to get the therapeutic benefits of green tea one must drink eight Japanese sized tea cups of properly steeped green tea. Now that is equivalent to five “American” sized mugs which is not practical for many people on a daily basis

Also consider alpha lipoic acid, which is in Good Elements anti-antioxidant / anti-aging formula, potential side effects include liver cell protection, blood sugar regulation and blood pressure decreasing. Alpha lipoic acid has been used successfully for the treatment of hepatitis C, diabetes and hypertension.

Turmeric, a powerful anti-inflammatory herb, can boast the side effects of cancer protection and liver cell protection but you also must beware of turmeric decreasing annoying allergy symptoms as well as muscular-skeletal pain. Not bad.

This is why I love my job. I prescribe a fish oil supplement for an eczematous skin reaction but I must warn my patient that fish oil’s potential side effects could improve their cholesterol profile and decrease overall inflammation and pain in their body.

I have to emphasize an important point here. Please do not think just because the ingredient is natural it is safe because that is not always the case. Take the example of fish oil above, fish oil also has blood thinning effects which is great if your stroke risk is high but if you are about to undergo surgery you do not want to be taking extra blood thinning agents due to the risk of bleeding too much during surgery. Receive the correct information about possible nutrient-drug interactions from a licensed physician. The best thing to do is stay well informed and empowered to make your own decisions.

Yours in health,

Dr. Britta Zimmer

Chief Naturopathic Physician & Founder

Tags: diet healthy living, nutritional supplement

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 1:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.