Life

A range of goodies to supplement your wellbeing

There are good food supplements and not so good ones and they come in various forms, from pills to sprays and even bath flakes. Roisin Armstrong picks her highlights of the past year and outlines how they can benefit health

It is nearly impossible to keep up with new products, so huge has the supplement market become
It is nearly impossible to keep up with new products, so huge has the supplement market become It is nearly impossible to keep up with new products, so huge has the supplement market become

THE range of supplements available has been growing so much that it is nearly impossible to keep up with checking out new products. Here are just a selection of ones I have tried out this year.

I came across a completely new company to me, called Better You. As regular readers will know, I am a big advocate of all things magnesium and this company has magnesium in every way you could possibly use: tablets for ingesting, oil to massage on to your skin, cream to soothe and moisturise and, my new favourite, flakes to bathe in.

You can use these as a full bath, or just a foot soak. As a lifelong poor sleeper, I found the magnesium flakes to be an amazing sleep aid. A wonderful deep, warm 20 minutes of luxurious soaking, followed by the best night’s sleep in months. A 1kg bag retails at about £9.99. What more could you possibly ask for?

Well, they do also have an amazing B12 vitamin spray, costing £11.95, called Boost, delivered under the tongue for the ultimate in bio-availability, an energy boost just to make my newly slept body feel even better.

It has been the year of the probiotic, with new brands popping up frequently. There is a huge variety out there but my current favourite is Bio-Kult, a powerful, high-quality brand which delivers gentle but effective benefits and is well priced at £8.99 for 30 capsules.

The original multi-strain Bio-Kult product contains 14 strains of live beneficial bacteria in capsule form for everyday use; they also have a specific Candea product, with additional garlic and grapefruit seed to treat thrush and other fungal conditions, as well as a powder for infants, with additional vitamin D3.

Solgar, a longstanding quality manufacturer of nutritional supplements, this year launched a new range of food-state vitamins, probably the way forward for all supplements. MultiPlus is the next generation in wholefood-based nutrition for overall health, we're told. With a broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and energy-rich wholefood concentrates, extracted from fruit and vegetables, you can get the benefits for whole body health in one convenient complex.

MultiPlus comes in four specialities: Energy Essentials, Cardio Essentials, Vision Essentials, and Brain Essentials. Vision Essentials contains the standard base plus eyebright, sea buckthorn, wild blueberry, acai extract and schisandra. Energy has magnesium, green tea and green coffee extract as extras.

Priced at £24.99, they sound expensive but that's for 90 tablets and when you look at the list of ingredients, they are well priced and effective.

Dr Wolz carries a fabulous range of liquid nutrition, namely Immunokomplex and the Zell Oxygen range, as well as a really good-quality children’s vitamin called Kinderimmune. (It can be difficult to find good-quality children’s vitamins.) This year the company has added in a remarkably pleasant tasting new product called VitalKomplex to their range. As you’d expect with a German company, the quality and research behind these products are superb.

Vitalkomplex supplies the body with numerous key vital substances – vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and especially bio-active phytochemicals, the protective substances from plants, which are critical for our health. Vitalkomplex, the manufacturers say, “is therefore an excellent addition for anyone to whom their health matters. For those who are subjected privately or professionally to a lot of stress, who cannot eat healthily enough or whose life situations mandate a greater need.” Expensive at £32.95 but a worthwhile investment to give your health a boost.

Turmeric as a powerful anti-inflammatory has been around for a long time, but as juice this was new to me. Taste-wise it is quite pleasant in a gingery, spicy kind of way.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) has antiviral properties and is said increase energy levels, reduce high blood pressure and promote healthy cholesterol levels. In fact, a review of more than 700 studies showed that turmeric appears to outperform many pharmaceuticals in its effects against several chronic, debilitating diseases, and does so without adverse side effects.

Take before food to benefit from its anti-inflammatory effects; add to a smoothie if you find it hard to take. Distributed by Rossmore Health (rossmorehealth.com or call 028 8676 9873 or 07780 967408) and, like all the other products, available in health stores and some pharmacies.

Thank you all for your readership and loyal support. Have a peaceful, safe and truly happy new year x.

r.armstrong@irishnews.com