Dear Healthy Friend,

It's important to your body's survival to get minerals and vitamins - you know this. But with today's quality of food, most of us aren't even getting the basic nutrients. So what should you be doing to ensure your cells are well-fed? Dr Douglass has the answer...

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S.We all know refined sugar is bad for you. But which sugar can you use and which sugar is actually good for you? Dr Wright has the answers...

Supplement your way to better health
Dr WC Douglass
Editor of Healthier News

Even if you stick to a perfect diet, you still need a little extra nutritional boost. That's why I believe supplements are such a vital part of a healthy lifestyle.

So when influential nutritionists tell people that vitamins are a waste of money, it isn't just wrong - it's so far off the line that they can't even find the line without a map.

A Scottish nutritionist named Brian Ratcliffe, who is also an advisor to the U.K. Food Standard Agency, recently spoke out against vitamins and supplements at the British Science Festival - saying the people who take them are wasting their money.

He brought nothing - not a single study, not a single piece of solid information beyond his own name - to back it up.

Instead, he says we should get our vitamins from food. Well, no kidding! In an ideal world, that's exactly what we could do. But I'm grounded in reality. And the reality is: You'd have to be missing part of your brain if you think there's any chance of that happening right now.

Today's food just isn't the quality it should be. Our soil’s lacking the nutrients, the food’s loaded with harmful chemicals and most people eat far too much processed food.

Like it or not, we all need vitamins and supplements - starting with a good multivitamin. Most of us need a little something else, too - like vitamin D. Harvard University suggests everyone take a D supplement, because hardly anyone gets it naturally these days.

Our bodies used to make vitamin D from the sun until we all started to run away from it. We're raising entire generations who plop on couches, watching TV and playing videogames, and as adults we get outside even less.

So chat to your local pharmacy or Health Works (01)1 325 - 5168 about supplementing with a good quality multi-vitamin.

The sweet side of sugar that you should know about...

Q: Sugar's bad for you, right? I've been hearing some stuff about sugar cane extract seems to imply that it's good for you. Is this true?

Dr. Wright: Sugar is indeed bad for you when it is processed and refined. Basically, anything ending in "ose" on an ingredient label - including sucrose, fructose, and glucose (as well as their cousin, corn syrup) - has had its natural goodness removed, leaving a product that severely inhibits the immune system and compromises the body in many ways.

That being said, it is true that not all sugars are bad for you. In fact, some can be extremely helpful. For example, a sugar cane extract called policosanol is an excellent alternative to cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. It also appears to be effective at lowering triglyceride levels.

Another sugar cane extract that does the body good is D-mannose, which is naturally found in cranberry juice and is often used to treat E.coli, the common cause of most bladder infections. The E.coli bacteria stick to the D-mannose instead of sticking to your bladder walls, which allows your body to eliminate them during urination. This process appears to be a common job that simple sugars perform, making them beneficial for eliminating all sorts of bacteria from your system.

Xylitol is also on the list of helpful simple sugars. One of my colleagues reports a 93% reduction in ear and sinus infections in his patients who use an intranasal spray made from xylitol. In another form, xylitol can actually prevent tooth decay and some manufacturers have even added it to breath mints and chewing gum.

Then there are polysaccharides, which are simple sugars that combine in metabolic "chains" and cause immune cells to be more active and vigilant against bacteria and other germs. Echinacea, a well-known immune-boosting herb, is a rich source of polysaccharides.

There is actually an entire field of study, called "glycobiology", based on examining these and other simple sugars in order to better understand their bacteria-fighting and other health-preserving potential. Many of the sugars I've mentioned here are readily available through health shops.