vitamins

But some experts suggest drinking a glass of vegetable juice each day may help overweight dieters lose more weight. And they claim drinking veggies increases vitamin intake and overall consumption of vegetables.

No other vitamin has gotten as much press as vitamin D in the past 5 years. Most of the vitamin D literature however has focused on the adult and older adult population. A recent study presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting has now shown that teens with low levels of vitamin D are at greater risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome.

Vitamin D may be the new fish oil. If you've followed the research over the past couple of years, it seems that there is very little vitamin D doesn't help. Depending on where you live, you may be heading into the not-so-sunny seasons, so now may be a good time to think about getting enough D.

I have to admit, I'm skeptical - some would say jaded over the hundreds of thousands of "miracles in a bottle" being foisted on us with exaggerated, misleading and flat-out false claims.

There are, however a few exceptions - some diamonds in the rough that are worth looking in to. Bear in mind that supplementation is highly individual and that "supplement" should imply that you are adding to an already healthy and varied diet. With this in mind, here are some supplements to consider:

Functional beverages are this year's buzz product. Almost every week a new kind of enhanced water or drink is hitting the shelves.

One of these drinks is Activate - which, despite looking like any other flashy new drink - has a completely different mechanism for combining vitamins with liquid.

The Journal of the American Medical Association has published a large review of studies looking at the efficacy of antioxidant and vitamin supplements.

Conclusions:

On the way to work this morning I heard an ad (one of many) about a dietary supplement.

The ad featured two women discussing life, health, vitamins and supplements. The women began talking about the advertised product (which can remain nameless).

One woman's comment was this: If it's been advertised for years and it's natural - it must be good.