The Best Multivitamin for You

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You’ve been told for years that popping a multivitamin every day might help you live longer. But the daily-multi habit has been getting a bit of bad press lately.

First, ConsumerLab.com, a watchdog of the supplement industry, found that more than half of the 21 multis it tested had too much (or too little) of certain vitamins—or had been contaminated with dangerous substances like lead. Then a controversial paper from researchers in Denmark and other European countries, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, made the claim that taking vitamins may actually shorten your life.

What’s the real story? Health talked to leading nutrition experts at Harvard and Tufts universities to find out and to get some answers on this and other confusing info about vitamins.

Are multivitamins safe?
Vitamins have been recommended for years because they help you get key nutrients if your diet’s low on fruits and veggies—and may even help prevent cancer and heart disease. And it’s unlikely that one critical paper (speculating that vitamin supplements might upset your body’s natural healing process and boost your risk of death) will change that.

Longtime vitamin experts at Tufts University and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University continue to say multis aren’t dangerous and the paper’s findings are wrong. The paper analyzed previous studies, including many with people who were sick before taking vitamins, so there’s a good chance vitamins weren’t responsible for shortening their lives. Experts say the paper also ignored two major studies that found vitamins reduced the risk of death.

At the same time, the study from ConsumerLab.com shows that you can’t assume just any vitamin is safe. Because there are no uniform manufacturing rules for supplements, a multi may not contain what the bottle claims, could be contaminated with something from the manufacturing plant, or might have tainted ingredients.

Your best bet: Avoid the vitamins singled out by ConsumerLab.com (see “11 Multis to Avoid”), and stick with mainstream names like Centrum Silver and One-A-Day Women’s, which were found to be free of impurities and accurately labeled. Also, check vitamin bottles for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), NSF International (NSF), or ConsumerLab.com (CL) seals. The USP and NSF are nonprofit groups that verify whether companies offer contamination-free products and use good manufacturing practices. Not every brand has the seals—some don’t want to submit to testing—but those that do (Kirkland and Nature Made carry the USP seal, for instance) are reliable.

How much should I spend to get the biggest benefits?
Price isn’t a sign of quality. In fact, some of the priciest vitamins—like The Greatest Vitamin in the World and Eniva Vibe, which cost more than $39.95 per bottle—failed the Consumer Lab.com tests. A mainstream brand like One-A-Day Women’s is $8.99 for a bottle of 100 tablets at drugstore.com, about 9 cents per day.

How do I find the right multi for me?
In your childbearing years, make sure your multi has 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid, which helps make and maintain new cells. And pregnant women should take a vitamin with 600 mcg of folic acid daily; this nutrient also reduces the incidence of neural tube birth defects like spina bifida.

A premenopausal woman should look for a multivitamin with iron to replace the iron lost during menstruation. Menopausal women should go without the iron. “Too much iron may raise the risk of heart disease,” says Meir Stampfer, PhD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

If you’re taking a prescription, check with your doctor about risky interactions. (Vitamin E, for instance, may be a problem if you’re taking a blood thinner.) If you’re a cancer patient, you should ask your doctor about risks before taking vitamins. “Cancer cells need vitamins to grow, too,” Stampfer says. Plus, some vitamins can interfere with chemotherapy.

What’s the best way to avoid that queasy feeling after taking a multi?
“Consider switching brands,” Stampfer suggests. Trial and error is the best way to determine which brands won’t break down poorly in your stomach and lead to irritation. Also, take your multi with food because your body needs some fat (or lipids) to absorb some of the individual vitamins. The delivery method (pill, liquid, gummy bear) makes no difference. But vitamins in liquid form may degrade more quickly on the shelf.

How much of each vitamin should my multi have?
The amount per serving numbers on the label should match the government’s Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). It’s OK if they’re higher as long as they don’t exceed the tolerable upper limit (UL). While most vitamins are listed in milligrams (mg) or micrograms (mcg), the label may use IUs (international units) for vitamins A, D, and E. The DRIs are 2,300 IUs for vitamin A, 200 for D, and 22 for E. What about the label’s % Daily Value column? Look at it with a skeptical eye: Those numbers haven’t been updated since 1968.

Smart Ways to Beat the Munchies

Janice Taylor’s new book—All Is Forgiven, Move On: Our Lady of Weight Loss’s 101 Fat-Burning Steps on Your Journey to Sveltesville (Viking Studio, 2008; $19.95)—is chock-full of unusual stay-slim tricks. Try these three strategies to beat the “call of the Cheeto,” that late-afternoon siren song from the vending machine.

Grab your iPod. Music activates the same pleasure center of your brain that food does. Click on something with a catchy rhythm, and you’ll forget your hunger fast.

Get some rays. Twenty minutes of sunlight (wear sunscreen, of course) can kill a powerful food craving—and lift your mood. In contrast, staying cooped up all day in a windowless office may actually boost the urge to snack on high-sugar, high-refined-carb foods, according to University of Texas mood expert Michael Smolensky, PhD.

Breathe deeply. Stressed? That’s when you’re most likely to give in to a junk-food craving. Deep breathing can kill the urge to snack by calming you down.

Eat Red, Live Longer

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Nutrition gurus say fruits and veggies with big, bold colors may help you stay young. Which ones are best? Go red and you won’t go wrong.

Red cabbage has deep-red (almost purple) pigments containing 36 plant chemicals that researchers say may be useful for guarding against cancer, boosting brain function, and promoting heart health.

Beet juice has a chemical that your body may convert into a compound capable of expanding blood vessels and lowering blood pressure, according to British scientists. Try mixing it into a smoothie.

Tomatoes have lycopene and beta-carotene, antioxidants that can keep your heart young by lowering your cholesterol.

Smart Food Shopping Ideas For a Healthy Boost From Head to Toe

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Build a better shopping list (and body) with these healthy foods recommended by Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD, a nutrition consultant and author of The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the New Food Pyramid.

Feed your brain
Tufts University researchers have found that the antioxidants in blueberries and salmon may help protect the brain from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Eat for your eyes
Eggs contain two carotenoids (lutein and zeaxanthin) that protect vision and choline, a key ingredient of a neuro-transmitter that gives memory a boost. And spinach, kale, and orange bell peppers have eye-protecting carotenoids, and many fruits contain protective vitamins A, C, and E.

Snack for your skin
Milk and other foods high in vitamin D—shrimp, sardines, eggs—may lower the risk of skin cancer. Plus, studies suggest that the ellagic acid in berries can prevent or slow skin cancer.

Feast to fight disease
An excellent source of protein, pork tenderloin has less heart-clogging fat than a boneless, skinless chicken breast. And extra-virgin olive oil is low in saturated fat and fights inflammation, implicated in heart disease and cancer.

Build better bones
The vitamin D in milk, OJ, and shrimp helps calcium absorption. Broccoli, spinach, and romaine are rich in bone-building vitamin K.

Brown Rice Finally Joins Whole-Grain Club

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The FDA has me scratching my head again. Last month they deemed brown rice to be whole grain. Um, who ever thought it wasn’t a whole-grain food?

From 1991 until now, the FDA, which regulates food labels for all U.S. packaged products, didn’t allow brown rice to use the official whole-grain health claim that oats, barley, popcorn, whole-wheat bread, and other chosen grains have been putting on their packages and in advertising: “Diets rich in whole-grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.”

To be a whole grain in the eyes of the FDA, a food must contain bran, germ, and endosperm (bran and germ are stripped away in products such as in white flour). Brown rice has all these components. The snag? When the FDA made its initial ruling, there was a minimum fiber content requirement that kept brown rice out of the club. Now research shows that the health benefits of whole grains are independent of their fiber content.

So on May 6 the FDA finally approved the whole-grain health claim for brown rice, recognizing brown rice as a 100% whole-grain food despite its lower fiber content.

Eight in 10 Americans know that whole grains are beneficial, but about two-thirds of us aren’t meeting our quota of at least three servings a day, according to a USA Rice Federation survey. Take note: Just one cup of cooked brown rice provides two of three daily whole-grain servings.

Here are a few ways I include brown rice in my diet, wherever I am. Let me know how you get yours.

1. At home: The Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer prepares perfect brown rice. I simply add rice and water and set the timer it the a.m., and the rice is ready for whatever time I need it in the p.m.

2. At work: Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Whole Grain Brown are a quick, mess-free option. Just microwave the rice in its pouch for 90 seconds and you’ve got a warm, healthy snack.

3. Out and about: The P.F. Chang’s China Bistro chain, selected as one of America’s Healthiest Restaurants by Health magazine, serves brown rice standard with their excellent dishes.

Are Detox Diets Good for You?

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You know when it’s time to clear out clutter and streamline your closets. But do your liver and lymph nodes need a good purging, too? It’s true that some detox regimens—like herbal supplements, spa treatments, and special diets that are designed to mop up pollutants, chemicals, dietary waste, and even unwanted pounds—can actually do you some good. But how to know whether you should be trying any of them? Health checked with traditional and alternative medicine experts to find out which regimens might be worthwhile—and which ones just aren’t.

Detox? Maybe for a day
Pop music icon Beyoncé reportedly chugged a maple syrup mix to cleanse her famous curves and shed some weight for her role in Dreamgirls. No doubt, she skipped the pancakes, and that’s the point. Detox diets—whether syrup (which goes by the name Lemon Detox or Master Cleanse), juice (Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox), or protein shakes (Fruit Flush Three-Day Detox)—often revolve around a fast that’s heavy on liquids. Almost all pack a wallop of vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber that nutritionists agree delivers full-body benefits. But if you’re tempted, think short-term. Victoria Maizes, MD, executive director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, suggests a one-day fast of fresh-pressed juices. (Not juiced about DIY elixirs? Many health-food stores and juice bars press their own for $3 to $7.) Definitely consult a nutritionist if you want to live la vida liquid for longer. Extended detoxing (more than three days) can actually rob your body of vitamins and nutrients.

Another option: Skip liquid diets altogether, and try a gradual approach to detoxing. Cindy Moore, MS, RD, director of nutrition ther­apy at the Cleveland Clinic, recommends adding one fruit and one vegetable a day until you reach the recommended daily allowance (check mypyramid.gov for customized guidelines). You’ll reduce the gassiness and discomfort that can accompany a sudden rush of roughage from liquid diets. Plus, by avoiding a quick fix, you’ll up your chances of sticking with a healthy diet over time. After all, it’s common sense: If you put lots of good things into your body, you won’t need to worry about clearing bad things out.

Show your liver some love
It sounds gross, but every day your liver, with the help of your kidneys, filters toxins to be excreted through your urine and bowels. So it seems logical that detoxing this hard-working organ might keep it in tip-top shape. The herb milk thistle—an ingredient common to detox teas and supplements—is one popular option. But the liver doesn’t need that kind of help, thank you very much.

“A normally-functioning liver does quite well on its own,” says Michael Picco, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida. The real way to detox the liver, experts say, is to limit your exposure to toxins or skip them altogether. Gregory Gores, MD, president-elect of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, says to avoid excessive alcohol (no more than a drink a day for women) and to watch how much acetaminophen you take (generally, no more than 2,000 mg per day—that’s four extra-strength Tylenol pills). Why? Alcohol and acetaminophen can cause liver damage.

Leave lymphs alone
Many spas offer massages designed to detox lymph nodes, glands under the arms and other places. The goal: to relieve blockages that supposedly weaken the immune system. But doctors say it’s impossible to perform lymphatic drainage on a healthy person, because there’s nothing to drain. “It’s a medical massage for sick people that requires special training,” says Ki Y. Shin, MD, who uses the technique to relieve lymph-related swelling in patients at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Still, go ahead and book that 90-minute deep-tissue session if you need a relaxation Rx; you may not liberate your lymphs, but you’ll decompress your stress—which, if left unchecked, can definitely be toxic.

Be careful with your colon
It’s the mother of all detox regimens: A tube inserted into the rectum flushes out the contents of the colon with warm or cool water. The stories of what emerges during a colonic (10 pounds of poop! Black liquid! Years of constipation!) are always dramatic—but not necessarily truthful. What we do know: Colonics can lead to infection if nonsterile equipment is used, your colon or anal area is injured, or the billions of “good” bacteria that keep your immune system strong are washed away. And at $100 a session, you may want to consider a $3.59 box of All-Bran first. A high-fiber diet (21 to 25 grams a day for women, according to the American Dietetic Asso­ciation) will get you regular without resorting to anything radical. “There’s really no reason to speed up the emptying of the bowels,” Moore says. Why not let nature do its job?

Boston-based writer Alicia Potter likes to detox with a chai and a good book.

Low-Fat Kebabs Combine Shellfish and Bright Veggies

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Shrimp, scallops, and plenty of fresh vegetables makes this low-cal recipe for Seafood Kebabs an excellent summery treat.

Prep: 15 minutes, plus 2 hours to marinate
Cook: 10 minutes
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 pound raw sea scallops
3/4 pound raw jumbo shrimp, peeled, and deveined
8 skewers
8–10 large mushrooms, halved
1 cubed red bell pepper
1 cubed yellow bell pepper
1 cubed green bell pepper
2 onions, cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

Instructions:
1. Combine 1/4 cup of the olive oil, dry spices, garlic, and lemon juice in a resealable bag. Add scallops and shrimp, shake, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. After marinating, assemble the kebabs on skewers evenly using shrimp, scallops, and vegetables; baste generously with remaining oil. Grill or broil until shrimp and scallops are opaque, about 10 minutes.

Nutrition:
Calories 323 (39% from fat); Fat 14g (sat 2g, mono 9g, poly 2g); Cholesterol 154mg; Protein 32g; Carbohydrate 18g; Sugars 8g; Fiber 4g; Iron 3mg; Sodium 300mg; Calcium 91mg

How I Still Enjoy Summer Tomatoes During a Salmonella Scare

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This evening I made a delicious dinner salad, full of wonderful grape tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes. When I went to the supermarket today, shoppers were skirting around the tomatoes while I dove right in for the succulent grape, heirloom, and vine-ripened ones. Even though some people are scared of the juicy red fruit after the recent salmonella scare, the truth is that the vast majority of tomatoes are unaffected and most states that grow tomatoes are not implicated in this outbreak.

This tainted tomato outbreak is, however, surprisingly different from previous documented outbreaks. The CDC, FDA, and others say that this time washing produce or discarding tomatoes with broken skin is not enough to protect yourself against the bug. Three varieties—red plum, red Roma, and round red tomatoes—have been implicated in sickening more than 150 Americans in 23 states since April. The tomatoes appear to be primarily from Florida, the leading tomato-producing state.

As a result, most restaurants (including McDonald’s and Burger King) and major supermarket chains have taken tomatoes off the menu and store shelves.

Previously it was thought that salmonella bacteria could wind up on the skin of produce and if there was a break in the skin or when you sliced it, the bacteria may penetrate into the flesh of the produce. However, the news about this new outbreak is especially twisted. The salmonella causing the outbreak is a very unusual strain, Salmonella Saintpaul, which may have the ability to penetrate the skin of tomatoes and infect the entire flesh of the tomato. Therefore, the tomato may not need a crack or break in the skin for the bacteria to penetrate the flesh; hence the recommendation to avoid all the potentially implicated varieties.

Exercise your tomato options
Aside from this scare, tomatoes are one of the healthiest pieces of produce you can enjoy. They are an excellent source of vitamin C and beta-carotene, and one of the richest sources of lycopene, a phytonutrient that has been shown to fight cancer. So don’t let this foodborne illness scare you away enjoying one of summer’s perfect picks. Here’s what you can do.

• Avoid the three types of fresh tomatoes that have been implicated: red, Roma, and plum.
• Don’t assume that organic tomatoes are safer than conventionally grown ones; the FDA warns that organical produce could be affected as well.
• Stick to eating vine, grape, cherry, heirloom, or homegrown tomatoes.
• Throw tomatoes on the grill if you are nervous about the varieties that you’re buying. Cooking any food thoroughly kills the salmonella bacteria.
• Keep current with FDA reports and the list of states growing tomatoes that are not linked to this outbreak at FDA’s Hot Topics page. For example, tomatoes grown in California and Texas are not associated with this particular incident.
• Consider canned. You can make many of your favorite tomato-based recipes with canned tomatoes. An added benefit is that canned tomatoes retain the same nutrients as fresh tomatoes, and research shows that the lycopene in canned tomatoes is more readily absorbed than fresh.

Salmonella: Signs and symptoms
Salmonella is a bacterium that resides in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. The bacteria are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods that have become in contact with the bacteria through manure used as fertilizer.

You will know if you have contracted a salmonella infection. Most infected people suffer fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness tends to last for four to seven days. If you’re an adult in decent health, it will make you very ill; for children, the elderly, and those with a compromised immune system, an outbreak can be deadly.

If you suspect that you or someone you know has contracted a salmonella infection, contact your area FDA complaint coordinator.