Database of Dietary Supplements Labels

The Dietary Supplements Labels Database offers information about ingredients in more than two thousand selected brands of dietary supplements. It enables users to determine what ingredients are in specific brands and to compare ingredients in different brands.

This information is published by the United States National Library of Medicine. However the database has copied across claims by the supplement manufacturers which have not been verified.

So this database is valuable reference but you still need care to filter out unverified claims of health benefits.

10,000 steps a day

Use a pedometer to motivate yourself to walk just a little farther each day.

That small extra effort has a big payback according to Dr Dena Brevata's study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She reviewed 26 different studies (and in the process read more than 2,00 articles) about the use and effectiveness of pedometers.

The results ? Use of a pedpometer encouraged users to increase the number of steps they take every day by more than 2,100. Enough to take a little weight off and to reduce blood pressure.

In the research, it showed that pedometer users, increased their stamina by about 27 percent and it showed that on average, the volunteers loss pounds and their blood pressure dropped, which is enough to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, Bravata said. She added, "Every night, you write down how many steps you walked that day. By flipping back through your diary, you're able to see patterns: 'On the two days a week I took the stairs, I increased my steps.'"

This is not a total solution to all your weight and health issues but is a good "step forward".

There are a vast range of pedometers but researchers tend to recommend not too cheap and not too expensive. Say around $20 to $30 for good product which will count steps accurately.

Exercise is Medicine

This is a worthy effort to persuade doctors to discuss exercise with their patients on a frequent basis.

The Exercise is Medicine has the potential to contain a wealth of information. Right now it is good and over time might become excellent. If Exercise is Medicine has a fault, it is that it contains a long list of files (pretty much all relevant) but you have to dive into each to get just a small snack of information. It looks as if the American College of Sports Medicine and American Medical Association emptied out their library files to start this web site.

Once in a while you might wonder how much your doctor knows about weight problems, obesity and how to lose weight, become fitter and healthier. The answer is contained within the weighty tome - nearly 300 pages - entitled
Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults.

This is not essential reading but it is worth a glance because it shows why
there has been slow progress in dealing with the obesity issue and why
Exercise is Medicine could be a fresh start.