What is the best antioxidant supplement to take?
What is the best antioxidant supplement to take? The short answer is OPC-3. However, recommended here is a daily essential kit (detailed below) that you need to maintain your health. Although you think you are eating a healthy and balanced diet, you may have deficiencies in certain essential nutrients without knowing it. Your diet is often limited to certain food items. Furthermore, your absorption of essential nutrients through the guts declines with age. Therefore, if you are over 50 years old, you may not be getting all the nutrients you need from food. If you are on a vegan diet, you will certainly have deficiency in vitamin B12, which is only present in meat and dairy products.
The Isotonix Daily Essential Kit from Market America will provide you the most basic nutrients for the maintenance of your health. It is available from this website. It consists of Isotonix OPC-3, Multivitamin without iron, Calcium Plus, and Activated B Complex. Although the vitamins and calcium are not antioxidants per se, they are part of the basic supplements for the maintenance of your health. It is recommended to take 1 capful of each of these supplements daily (calcium should be taken twice daily). You can take them in a mixture or individually with empty stomach for maximal absorption. Absorption takes place in 5 minutes.
Isotonix OPC-3 OPC-3 is the most popular antioxidant supplement on the market. It is composed of extracts from grape seed, red wine, pine bark, bilberry and citrus. This supplement provides strong antioxidants such as oligomeric proanthocyanidins and other flavonoids. These antioxidants help protect against oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals. Furthermore, they help maintain healthy blood vessels by strengthening capillaries, arteries and veins. In fact, this supplement is effective in stopping bleeding hemorrhoids. The anti-inflammatory activity of proanthocyanidins promotes cardiovascular and joint health. It also helps maintain healthy cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Moreover, it protects liver, nerve, kidney and spleen from drug or chemical-induced toxicity. It also has a potential for cancer prevention. However, since proanthocyanidin reduces platelet adhesion and acts as a blood thinner, people taking blood thinning drug should consult with their doctor before taking this supplement. Learn more about OPC-3.
Isotonix Multivitamin It provides 100% or more of the recommended Daily Value of essential vitamins and minerals to prevent dietary deficiencies. Many doctors suggest that taking multivitamins will be a waste of money, as one can obtain vitamins from food. However, the variety of food one eats in American diet is quite limited due to the lack of time for cooking, popular dietary fads, or self-imposed dietary restrictions for medical or religious reasons. Therefore, a daily intake of multivitamins will be an insurance for good health. Recent study showed that daily multivitamins indeed improved cognition in older adults.
Isotonix Calcium Plus Calcium helps maintain strong bone and prevent osteoporosis. It also maintains normal function of heart, skeletal muscles and nerves, because it plays an important role in neurotransmission and muscle contraction. Furthermore, it also promotes normal regulation of enzyme and hormone production. The daily requirement of calcium is about 1000 mg, but most people cannot get enough calcium from diet alone. Therefore, calcium supplement is a necessity to prevent of bone fracture in old age, although its effectiveness is still controversial.
Isotonix Activated B-Complex Older adults need larger amounts of some types of vitamin B than those provided by common multivitamin preparations. Deficiencies in vitamin B complex cause anemia, memory loss, confusion, fatigue, digestive problem, depression, tingling in feet and hands, cracks around the mouth and susceptibility to infection. Isotonix B Complex provides metabolically active forms of vitamin B1, B3, B5, B6, B7 and B12. These vitamins promote red blood cell growth and healthy nervous and immune systems. Furthermore, they also help the body convert food into energy, and maintain good intestinal tract and cardiovascular health.
References
- Bagchi D, Swaroop A, Preuss HG, Bagchi M. (2014) Free radical scavenging, antioxidant and cancer chemoprevention by grape seed proanthocyanidin: an overview. Mutat Res. 768:69-73.
- Bagchi D, Sen CK, Ray SD, Das DK, Bagchi M, Preuss HG, Vinson JA. (2003) Molecular mechanisms of cardioprotection by a novel grape seed proanthocyanidin extract. Mutat Res. 523-524:87-97.
- Woo KS, Kwok TC, Celermajer DS. (2014) Vegan diet, subnormal vitamin B-12 status and cardiovascular health. Nutrients. 6:3259-3273.
- Righetti M. (2009) Protective effect of vitamin B therapy on bone and cardiovascular disease. Recent Pat Cardiovasc Drug Discov. 4:37-44.
- Nestle M, Nesheim MC. (2013) To Supplement or Not to Supplement: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations on Calcium and Vitamin D. Ann Intern Med. 158:701-702.
Other antioxidant supplements
Besides the recommended OPC-3 for your basic health needs, there are other antioxidant supplements for special needs. For details, please go to this page. For background information on antioxidants, please go to home page.
Disclaimer: Isotonix products are recommended here because of personal experience with these products, other brands may also be suitable.