Vitamin E in particular may shorten your lifespan when taking in +400 IU doses it appears.

Studies have shown that vitamin E does not have much benefit on health, you need 10IU per day roughly.

So be careful with vitamin E supplements!

Garlic capsules are good if you want the benefits of garlic without the smell….but as with anything synthesised, it’s probably at 1/10 of the effectiveness.

Raw garlic on the other hand works as a natural anti-biotic and can protect very well against the cold….it also works well to keep your skin looking good.

Find it hard to eat raw garlic?  Crush it in a garlic crusher, mix with mayonaisse.  Or blend into a salsa.

The benefits are amazing but there is only so much garlic your body can hold and you will smell your stools are crazy when you’ve had too much!

B vitamins are very very important for regulating stress and mood.

Some places you can get B-vitamins from

- mushrooms

- sugar snap peas, mangetout

- red meat (in small quantities)

My favourite B-vitamin supplements are Omnium from Solgar and also the B vitamin range from Solgar.  I prefer omnium as it a balanced multi vitamin also but heavy in B vits.  I take 1 tablet in the beginning/middle of a large meal – it needs insulin to force the nutrients into the cells.  Plenty of water should be drank thereafter (not while eating as this disturbs digestion).  If you urine is a bit yellow, this is because the excess vitamins being excreted. 

Recommend dose is 1-2 tablets per week…Solgar recommend 2 per day but that is too much.

Side effects of B vitamins include problems with the nervous system and headaches.  If you take b-vitamins before bedtime, you may encounter dreams and disrupted sleep.

Something I would say, is B vitamins overdose is bad. 

In a recent study they gave vitamin E supplements to two groups.  One a placebo, one vitamin E.

The vitamin E group had a higher incidence of cancer.

It seems when synthesised, it works in the opposite way to when it naturally occurs in green vegetables.

Bizarre – so avoid vitamin e supplements and eat your greens instead.

Not a great fan of vitamin C supplements, the 1000mg editions are nothing short of dangerous and can cause acidic joint pain.

Vitamin C doesn’t synthesis very well and as a result, I would recommend in OJ or fruit on.

Note that vitamin C destroys zinc and some other vitamins so I would take seperately.

So far, I can’t say anything spectacular about Veridian’s zinc capsules.

I might try taking 2 tablets, as they don’t seem that effective.  Unlike Solgar Zinc 22mg which makes you wake up horny as hell!

V2000 is a multi-vitamin from Solgar – not overtly heavy on B-vitamins but all round anti-oxidant.  I always feel more energised after taking one, and the zinc is relatively well absorbed, just to warn you if you are already taking a Zinc supplement.

V2000 basically has a whole range of vitamins, everything you could want in a pill – take with food for maximum effect.  I would recommend 2-3 per week maximum however, don’t listen to the label!

If you ever wonder why your urine is yellow after taking a pill, it’s just the vitamins that are already in your body are at max. and the excess is being excreted.  Best way to deal with this is lots of water.

Flax oil just rocks, it definitely makes you feel more positive and your brain feels ’slicker’.

I would say that over-dosing on it is bad and you’ll feel jittery and not ‘right’.

So I recommend 3 tablespoons per week.

Try for the good quality organic stuff, it tastes better and like olive oil, is the extra virgin type.  The rough tasting stuff is usually cheap but also poor quality.  If you are only taking a little bit each week, you might as well have the best for it’s benefits…it’s not costly on a daily basis.

Zinc tablets are an excellent supplement – they prevent colds etc. and boost testosterone, sex drive and physical performance.

Taken on an EMPTY stomach, zinc tablets work best.  I would go for a quality zinc tablet from Solgar for sure.  50mg max. is safe per dose.

In the winter months I double the dose – 50mg in the morning and 50mg at night.

The rest of the year I go with 50mg at night before bed.

The best zinc tablets I ever took were Twinlab 30mg….this was before they were bought over and Europe outlawed pure zinc above 15mg.

Now the famous Twinlab zinc capsule is a thing of the past, I’ve tried Viridian which is OK but Solgar is still the best.  You may want to try ZMA HP+ also, which is OK but 4 tablets is a mouthful for 15mg of zinc.

I really like the Solgar 22mg straight zinc tablets too, good effectiveness and absorption.

Omnium from Solgar is an outstanding multi vitamin.  I’ll list the ingredients after I talk about it’s benefits and usage.

Primarily a B-vitamin pill (essential for curbing stress) and with multi vits, it’s just the right pill in my opinion.  B-complex vitamins can be a tad strong (and give headaches) whereas Omnium is just nicely balanced.

Taking in the MIDDLE of a large meal is essential, as it requires insulin generated from the food to force it into your system.

Your pee will be yellow, this is just the excess vitamins being flushed out with toxins.  Nothing to worry about but drinking water is a good idea when you take this vitamin.

The recommended dosage is 2 pills per day.  THIS IS CRAZY!  I take 1 or 2 omnium tablets PER WEEK.  Much safer.  It’s a really strong vitamin and overdosing will damage your kidneys/liver, too much B vitamin will give you a headache etc.  It’s also quite expensive.

If there is 1 multi vitamin you should have, this is it.  Only 1 or 2 tablets needed per week.

VITAMINS Total Vitamin A activity (11050iu) 3319ug from: Retinol palmitate (5000iu) 1502ug Natural Beta Carotene/Carotenoid Mix [D. salina](10.9mg/6050iu as prep.) 1817ug Vitamin A activity providing (typical analysis): beta carotene 10.9mg alpha carotene 344ug cryptoxanthin 84ug zeaxanthin 69ug lutein 54ug Vitamin D (200iu cholecalciferol prep.) 5ug Vitamin E (300iu d-alpha tocopheryl succinate) 248mg Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 20ug Vitamin C (Ca, K, Mg, Zn ascorbates) 300mg (providing natural vitamin C metabolites: threonate 4mg and other aldonic acids such as lyxonate and xylonate) Vitamin B1 (thiamine mononitrate and cocarboxylase) 30mg Vitamin B2 (riboflavin and riboflavin-5-phosphate) 35mg Vitamin B3 (niacin and niacinamide) 60mg Vitamin B5 (d-Ca pantothenate) 80mg Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine HCl and pyridoxal-5-phosphate) 50mg Vitamin B12 (cobalamin and dibencozide) 100ug Biotin (as d-biotin prep.) 0.1mg Folacin (folic acid prep.) 400ug Inositol (myo-inositol) 75mg Choline (bitartrate) 75mg MINERALS Boron (glycinate complex) 0.5mg Calcium (ascorbate, glycinate, citrate, carbonate=) 25mg Chromium (picolinate) 100ug Copper (glycinate=) 1.5mg lodine (kelp) 150ug Iron (bisglycinate==) 9mg Magnesium (ascorbate, glycinate, citrate, oxide=) 25mg Manganese (glycinate=) 2mg Molybdenum (chelate=) 50ug Nickel (sulphate) 5ug Potassium (glycinate complex) 10mg Selenium (l-selenomethionine) 70ug Vanadium (vanadyl sulphate) 5ug Zinc (glycinate, histidinate=) 15mg PHYTONUTRIENTS/ADVANCED ANTIOXIDANTS Bioflavonoids (citrus) 50mg Broccoli/Cruciferous Extract with sulforaphane 50mg N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine 50mg Phosphatidylserine Complex (20% phosphatidylserine) 50mg Standardised Soy Isoflavone Seed Extract=== 50mg Standardised Turmeric Extract (95% curcuminoids) 50mg Tocotrienol Complex (7.5% tocotrienols) 50mg D-Limonene (citrus) 25mg Alpha Lipoic Acid 10mg Coenzyme Q-10 10mg Polyphenol Complex (red wine and green tea extracts) 10mg Proanthocyanidin Complex (pine bark and grape seed extracts) 10mg Quercetin (dimorphandra)10mg