VITAMIN HOAX CONTINUED…………Three things one should consider when choosing a vitamin/supplement  to take for either the prevention of age-related macular degeneration or the treatment of dry-type age-related macular degeneration or for the purpose of over-all health maintenance:

1. Bio-availability.  That’s a big word that merely means, how much of any vitamin or supplement actually that I take actually ends up in my system and how much just ends up as a “bedpan bullet”?
   
   
2. And the second consideration or concern relates to the first.  That is,      “form follows function.”  In other words, how the actual vitamin and/orsupplement was manufactured will determine, to a large extent, just how“bio-available” it will be.
   
   
3. Ingredients:  which ones and how much of each is in the product?.The actual form that the vitamin/supplement is supplied in is generally governed by the manufacturing process.  Most commercially available products are usually sold as ‘cold-pressed’ tablets.  That is, the actual ingredients are ‘pressed’ together with some fillers to make a tablet.  These tablets are, by far, the most difficult to break down in the digestive system and, therefore, will have the lowest ‘bio-availability.’  This manufacturing process is the cheapest and why many are sold in that form.

The more expensive process involves “micronization” which means reducing the vitamin/supplement preparation to extremely small, fine particles.  The process is expensive but results in a product that has a much higher ‘bioavailability’.   The fact that a particular product is in a capsule form does not necessarily mean that it was micronized.

Many people are in the habit of using two criteria when faced with the vast array of products on the shelves of their local pharmacy or vitamin outlet.  Some people actually limit their selection to a product based purely on price.  This is a very dangerous and sometimes foolish yard-stick by which to judge a product.  Some people feel that “all vitamins/supplements are created equally and, therefore, the cheapest will do the same job as the most expensive…….WRONG!  (The Vitamin Hoax!)

Comparing a list of ingredients from product to product is also common practice.  Few people will, however, ever actually compare the strength of ingredients from product to product.  In some products, the strength of individual ingredients is so low as to not be beneficial at all!  One of the most popular supplement preparations sold today falls exactly into that category.  The manufacturer spends huge amount of money on advertising rather than providing a product that has adequate strength and bio-availability.

BOTTOM LINE……The BEST product therefore would be one with the highest bio-availability, the greatest strength of ingredients, easy to take once a day, and protect not only Macular health and function but also offer broad protection to whole-body health.  Watch for my next article in which I’ll tell you about just such a product and just how to get it to get you started on the road to better eye and whole-body health!!!    LOOK FOR IT!!

John Colombo, M.D.