Off-the-shelf Supplements

Question: Is it safe t take weight gain supplements? Im 20 years old(170cm 55KG indian) and a very skinny person.And i have a very low body fat count.i want to increase my weight.Is it safe to use weight gain supplements that are available off the shelf? like this one http://www.cityhealth.com.au/shop/product.asp?pID=7530&cID=12 thanks for your help

Answer: Safe? Yes. The danger is ingesting too many calories and if you aren't lifting weights, you gain body fat.

Question: Bodybuilding Supplements - How much is too much? Whenever I go into a GNC or some other Sports Nutrition Store I get a headache from being overwhelmed of the amount of supplements that all claim "big gains" and "improved performance." From Creatine to L-Glutamine they are all claiming they can "work." I bought a few supplements not to long ago but after awhile it basically makes me feel very "sick." I mean I am trying to find out what really works out there and it seems like what really works will sooner or later get pulled off the shelf. After awhile buying supplements can put a big dent in your wallet. So what really works?

Answer: eating right and excerise works.. if your eating your fruits and veggies and taking a multi vitamin everyday you should be fine.. If your lifting weights just make sure you have protien. IMO supplements are there to break your wallet. spend that money on a good gym membership. Good Luck

Question: Methyl-E for 16yr old? My 16yr old son is not speaking to me because I refused to buy for him this new product Methyl-E for body building. My arguement with him is this: They have had to take all of the other supplements off the shelf because of the steroidal nature though the label says "natural" and you have to be 18 to purchase. I am afraid since his body has not completed growing yet, this will have an adverse affect on his growth, glands, hormones. I found out he had taken XMass and something else before and his behavior was very violent. I am at my wits end. Can anyone help me?!

Answer: One thing that will help you lose weight: diet pills. I was one of those who did not believe in them until I tried it. And I tried a few. The best product I found on the market is made with pure hoodia and it works great! You can go to http://www.mylnation.info and order you free trial, also you only pay 6.95$ shipping and handling. Good luck!

Question: Who thinks this is rediculous? The FDA has a volunteer system for people to report adverse reactions to vaccines medications foods and supplements on the market, so that dangerous things can be pulled off the shelves. Because of this system, multiple supplements and herbs have been banned (ie. ephedra). I just came across a bit of data. #1 http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2008/jun/judicial-watch-uncovers-new-fda-records-detailing-ten-new-deaths-140-serious-adverse-e#comment-8703 A group sued the FDA for it's data on the HPV vaccine, and over 100 people have died from it in the last 6 months, and at this point in time a push is being made for the vaccine to be legally required. #2 The FDA receives more complaints for adverse reactions to aspartame than anything else and it's still legal. #3 http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/06/218594.php That one speaks for itself. Why does the FDA let drugs off which get many fatalities, but go after herbs which trigger a single adverse reaction? List any other examples you know! One of the reasons I'm so cynical about HPV is due to the fact the virus is easy to cure with alternative treatments (drinking hydrogen peroxide+rife machine+coloidal silver spray). I'm now working on curing a second friend that way; so while normal medicine may say HPV can't be cured, that's just not true. rekres: I don't think that's a very good counter argument; me: the FDA has a very bad standard about what it allows/says is good or bad you: that's wrong because the FDA said so. lulu: those were some very good points, especially about the dif types of cervical cancer. onlymatch: myaspartame experiment is a really good website, thanks! skep: searle repeatedly claimed there were 0 studies (including with rats) showing aspartame to be harmful. The FDA thought aspartame was dangerous and refused to approve it, but when regan became president, he fired the head of the FDA and swapped him with someone who would, since searle's CEO was his fellow neoconservative donald rumsfeld.

Answer: It's actually simple. The FDA is not your friend and is responsive to congress. Congress has no clue about what is good and bad. They rely on so called "experts" to give them information so they can make decisions to direct the FDA. The system is very corrupt and big money driven. The aspartame issue is very telling. Go to this web site and look at what one woman did that had a scientific background. She ran this experiment so her children could see first hand how bad aspartame is for ALL animals. www.myaspartameexperiment.com I believe the experiment was for 2 years and 8 months, involved about 108 mice. It shows what a truly independent research project can reveal. For the FDA to ignore this issue, is ludicrous and demonstrates their blatant disregard for the safety and health of the public. The information is simply overwhelming. Now realize that the head of the FDA is an ex-Monsanto executive and over 50% of all the employees are ex-Monsanto employees. Is it no wonder genetically engineered foods are NOT LABELED as such and are classified as SAFE, so now there is NO TRACEABILITY so the public will not know if food has GMO in it and if a problem happens, there is NO WAY TO TRACE DOWN THE GMO FOOD AS THE PROBLEM. The FDA cannot even find the problem with salmonella poisoning. Instead, the FDA focuses on vitamins and people that make claims contrary to what the medical profession deems correct. Last year 10,000 to 20,000 max. people died of illegal drug use on the street. That sounds pretty bad doesn't it. O.K., last year 106,000 people died in hospitals from FDA APPROVED DRUGS that were prescribed by doctors for the illness the drugs were designed to help people. We lost 1,000 soldiers (approximately) last year in Iraq. Does that sound like the FDA is doing their job? I would rather take my chances in Iraq than in a hospital in America. Just look at all the drugs approved by the FDA that have been recalled due to Americans dying, born with defects, and causing doctor induced illnesses. In 1905, the CDC reported that less than 5% of ALL Americans were chronically ill. In 2005, the same CDC reported that over 53% of ALL Americans are chronically ill. Does that sound to you like progress? 6,000 infants die every year in the US alone from vaccines. As if this weren’t tragic enough the manufacturers have the system rigged by previously manipulating the government to provide complete and absolute protection from lawsuits. They have ZERO responsibility for any harm, damage, or deaths they cause. The only resource in the US is for a parent to claim damages from the Vaccine Compensation Act, which is virtually impossible to collect on. But even with these rigid, nearly impossible restrictions, over $1.5 BILLION dollars has been paid out to families of children in the US that were injured or killed by vaccines. It's more than obvious that the FDA is responsive to drug manufacturers and not the public. The statistics bear that out time and time again. Is it any wonder that the drug companies are major contributors to politicians. A good thing to do is to go to the National Vaccines Information Center and search the VAERS database! It’s free and open to anyone with internet access. As an example, a quick search for adverse effects to the FLU vaccine garnered 33,111 adverse events, and that’s just what’s been reported. It is believed that only about one to four percent of all adverse reactions are ever reported to VAERS. BRAVO "LULU" - Great post with good information. Also get the book: "The Sanctity of Human Blood" by Timothy O'Shea. good luck to us all

Question: Muscle building question.? I am currently using a blender/stir-in whey protein supplement, and a stir-in L-Glutamine supplement. It's a bit of a pain to bust out the blender every time I want a protein shake... Is there anything I can get off the shelf (like Muscle Milk) that works? Anything that has everything in it that I need, that I can just pick up and drink? ANY insight would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

Answer: yes muscle milk works. anything that provides extra calories, and lots of protein will work. muscle milk is one of the more popular ones but there are plenty others that work. you can even buy your own protein and mix it in if you want to control the concentration.

Question: How do I get this puppy to eat? Before you give me a standard answer, please read further. I work with dogs a LOT. We assist our local animal shelter when they have special cases because we are able to give some additional TLC when necessary. We were given a 7 week old Maltese puppy who had a rough start in life. It appears that she was taken from her mother too early, but we don't know at what point that may have occurred. She also came to us requiring double hernia surgery, extremely malnourished, and she refusing to eat. Our goal was to get her weight up from an emaciated 1 lb 5 oz. to a healthy puppy weight and of course get her eating on her own. At that point she can receive her surgery and be adopted out to a loving family. She drinks water with no issue, but she refuses to eat any food. We have tried all brands of both wet and dry puppy food. We've tried food given by the vet and over the counter puppy foods off the shelf. We tried some table food, such as shredded chicken, beef, hot dog and rice. We tried lukewarm milk and powdered puppy-milk formula. She smells it all and turns up her nose at it. For the past two weeks we have used a medicine syringe to force feed her the wet food that the vet recommended to get her weight up. This has been successful, but ultimately, we need her to eat on her own for her own survival. The only thing she will lick off my finger is a high calorie nutritional supplement for dogs called Nutri-Cal. I tried mixing this with even the smallest amount of wet food, but the smell of any other food makes it unappealing again and she turns her nose up. Please note that the vet cannot find anything wrong with her other than her desire to not eat, for what that's worth. I will check back every few hours and try any reasonable suggestion! Don't hold back.

Answer: My puppy refused to eat a little while ago. I know this isn't the best way, but I took some of his favorite treat and cut it up to mix with his food. After a while I cut back of the amount of treat and he has been eating fine ever since. I hope this helps

Question: Ban on Ephedra?? I keep reading on the internet that the FDA has still upheld the ban on ephedra. My problem is... I work at a supplement retailer and not only are we selling ephedra, but it is flying off the shelves. Management says the ban was lifted, but im not seeing anything on the internet that backs up what they have been telling me. Is my company doing something illegal?

Answer: It depends where you are. It's okay in certain locations. Anyway, I wouldn't squeal on them even if they are doing something illegal. That ban is stupid. Ephedra is safe if not abused. I use it all the time.

Question: Will I become malnourished? After living on cup noodle and taco bell, I've decided its time for a change. Sadly, I don't have a big wad of cash nor time to learn how to cook well. I figure if I work with just a few simple ingredients, I won't fail miserably or burn too much cash. Flavor is not an issue. I am not doing this to lose weight. So, can someone make sure that a diet composed almost solely of the below won't kill me, give me scurvy, etc? Rice - Mostly white/jasmine, maybe brown Pasta - fettucini or something Eggs - durable foodstuff Liver - cheapest chunk o' meat Can o Tuna - fish is good, right? Random Fruits and Vegetables - I was thinking of plucking three different types off the shelves weekly. Various Teas and Hot Chocolate I might toss in a nutrient supplement to round it out. Am I missing anything necessary? I will be targeting about 3k calories per day.

Answer: Looks pretty good to me except you have not included any fats and without a little fat you may have bowel trouble.A little more fiber wouldn't hurt you and chicken for protein. You shouldn't have trouble on this diet if you don't stay on it for an extended period of time. Don't forget to drink lots of water. Why not throw a salad in, then you have your green leafy veggies and fiber. Throw chicken in the salad and you have protein for muscles and energy.

Question: What do you think about Trader Joes Wet dog food ingredients? Look ok? I have been feeding them this for years, i put a touch of this wet food in their Artemis dry dog food. How would you rate this food? Ingredients for Chunky Beef Dinner: Sufficient Water for Processing, Beef, Chicken, Textured Soy Protein Product, Animal Liver, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Guar Gum, Potassium Chloride, Tricalcium Phosphate,Carrageenan, Cassia Gum, Choline Chloride,Vitamins (Vitamin E,A,B12,D3 Suplements, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement),Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Manganous Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite). This is a product of the U.S And at bottom of can it says "Trader Joes Chunky Beef Dinner Premium Dog Food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles of all life stages" I do recall they voluntarily took these canned dog foods off the shelves during the dog/cat food recalls, a few years back, although their foods werent on the recall list.

Answer: Looks perfectly fine to me. I don't believe that a rating can determine the quality of a dog food. Ratings are crap in general. This is confirmed by that crappy dogfoodanalysis website that hey is run by someone who is not a nutritionist. If you have been feeding for years and you're dogs have had no problems with it thats you're proof right there. Edit- ok soy is one thing i also have a problem with not because of allergy but because of it can cause thyroid problems.

Question: Methyl-E for 16yr old? Methyl-E for 16yr old? My 16yr old son is not speaking to me because I refused to buy for him this new product Methyl-E for body building. My arguement with him is this: They have had to take all of the other supplements off the shelf because of the steroidal nature though the label says "natural" and you have to be 18 to purchase. I am afraid since his body has not completed growing yet, this will have an adverse affect on his growth, glands, hormones. I found out he had taken XMass and something else before and his behavior was very violent. I am at my wits end. Can anyone help me?!

Answer: I would ask a pediatrician or his Dr about that.. If you can get the ingredient list or all of the information off of the label and take it in. I think that some coaches are WAY to competitive and will encourage the kids to do these things when it is not healthy for their young bodies.