If you can’t find this, then you could aways give Fusion Vitex a go. This helps more at the root of the problem, ie. balancing hormones. It will be slower to see results than the Acne No More. If money was not a concern, I would use both in conjunction.

The first product anyone with joint pain should consider is fish oil. This has loads of supporting research and is considered by many to be conclusively proven to work.

It can be purchased in either liquid or capsule form. Liquid is better than capsule in general. Most are similar in the capsule form with the standard being 1000mg of fish oil per capsule. The important thing to note is the levels of EPA and DHA – the fatty acids that help to interfere with the inflammation process in the body.

EPA 180mg and DHA 120mg is standard, with some having higher levels if they are a concentrated capsule. My favourite amongst the standard capsules is Totally Natural Products Omega 3 Fish oil. The reason being that the product is made predominantly out of salmon, mackeral and herring, which all contain less mercury than other oily fish such as tuna.

It is important to note however that there is a standard set by the australian government that is there to make sure that if you were to consume the product for the rest of your life there is little to no chance that you would accumulate enough mercury in your system to become dangerous. My personal preference however, is to avoid mercury as much as possible.

The best fish oil you can possibly buy comes in liquid form and is made by Ethical Nutrients. It is available in 170ml bottles only and costs around $45. One teaspoon is equivalent to 9 standard capsules and the mercury level is the lowest to be found.

If you wanted an alternative to fish oil that may even be better than fish oil, I would look to green lipped mussel oil. I have used this myself to great effect. Nutralife Musseltone is a great product for the price. Blackmores Lyprinol is probably one of the best, but the price is roughly 4x that off the Nutralife product.

Glucosamine (with or without chondoitin and MSM) is the next most important supplement for joints and arthritic pain. This comes in powder, tablet and capsule form.

First thing to note is that the powder is (to my knowledge) always better than the tablets and capsules in terms of amount of each ingredient. I would not even bother with any tablet or capsule that says it is a ‘one a day’ unless the tablet is the size of a golfball.

My preference is to go straight for the powders. I had forgotten the name of the product, but just found out what it is again – Glucosaplex -  is produced by Dennis Stuart, a herbalist in the Hunter Valley. It contains glucosamine, green lipped mussel powder, bromelain and the whole works. A customer showed me the container once and I have not seen anything quite as good. Though it is a little more pricey that some powders, you get what you pay for. Failing the availability of this powder, Nutralife MSM, Glucosamine Chondroiton Joint Food is very good and can be bought in large containers for a decent price.

The powder will cost you more than the tablets, but again, they are so much better than the tablets it is ridiculous.

If you could not stomach the powder for whatever reason, the first tablet I would go for is Microgenics Glucosamine with MSM and Chondroitin. Not to be confused with their ‘one a day’ tablet. This is a two a day tablet that contains considerable doses of MSM and glucosamine, with 400mg of chondroitin all together, making it 4x higher in chondroitin than the ‘one a day’ tablets. If you can’t find this one, forget the chondroitin and go for the Totally Natural Products Pain No More. This has MSM and glucosamine, plus a few antiinflammatory herbs in there as well. it is also a two a day tablet.

Cod liver oil is the last thing I will mention in this category. It is very similar to fish oil in that it is packed with omega 3 fatty acids, but it also contains vitamin A and D which are great for you, but cannot be taken in high doses due to toxicity. For general wellbeing if you have little joint trouble but want to help prevent future joint problems, take cod liver oil. Otherwise, take fish oil if you have already developed joint pain.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON FISH OIL!!!
the majority of capsule are 1000mg, and if you are going to take it, you need to take a minimum of 4 capsules per day. less than this will reduce effectiveness of the product. At this dosage (or more) it will reduce inflammation, help prevent degenerative brain disease, reduce your risk of heart disease, help to lower your bad cholesterol and a host of other positives.

The first thing to note about multi’s is that if you are looking for one for energy, you are probably looking in the wrong place. A herbal supplement will go much further towards giving you more energy than the vast majority of multi’s.

Probably the most advertised of all multi’s is Centrum – complete from a to zinc. It may be complete from A to Zinc, but the amount of each vitamin and mineral in this formula is so small as to not be worth bothering with. Centrum, Cenovis and Natures Own apparently scored 3% in a Canadian study on multivitamins testing for levels of each constituent, bioavailability and range of ingredients. For me, all three of these are not worth buying.

Good multi’s, such as Fusion Multivitamin have about 30 times more B vitamins than centrum.

In this study, the best multivitamin available was determined to be USANA’s multi and antioxidant combination. However the price tag on this is about $80 a month or thereabouts, making it economically unfeasable for most of us. There are good mid range multi’s with a more suitable price tag.

In the shop that I work in, Fusion Multi is the best non gender specific multi (meaning it can be used by either men or women). For gender specific Multi’s, herbs of gold has both of the best products with their men’s and women’s multi’s respectively where I work.

Blackmores men’s performance multi is a great men’s multi and is my personal preference for myself as it has considerable amounts of herbs such as tribulus and damiana for male hormone production. However I do not sell it where I work as we don’t stock the blackmores range.

Firstly, there is no research to date that conclusively proves that antioxidant supplementation is going to extend your life. They do have benefits, and anti-ageing may be one of them. But when we are talking about evidence, we are still waiting on it. The theory however, is quite rational.

Due to various environmental pollutants, our own metabolic functions and otjher factors, our bodies come into contact with what are called “free radicals”. We see it all the time with rusty metal. This is the oxidisation of metal. Much the same way, our bodies suffer a similar problem. Antioxidants are the bodies defence against such damage, but with so many out there, what are the good ones?

Resveratrol from red wine or polygonum cuspidatum is a great one with plenty of research suggesting its high value.

Pycnogenol from french maritime pine bark is another great one again supported by research.

We have long known the value of tea, especially green tea, as an antioxidant.

Grape seed extract again has similar supportive studies.

Selenium, which is toxic in high doses, is also a great antioxidant.

Vitamin E, which is seen in many antioxidants, seems to be developing an amount of evidence suggesting that it actually increases mortality (the likelihood of death), yet it will also appear in many antioxidants and is hard to avoid.

So, now that we know these are good, what formula has most, if not all of them?

The first that comes to mind is Herbs of Gold Pycno ACE 15000. Of the above, it is missing resveratrol only, and also has a few added things like zinc. I would have to say this is currently my favourite. If there was a very very close second place, it would be Fusion Revital 8 as it has decent doses of resveratrol, green tea, grape seed and a little tumeric (which has anti cancer properties).

If anyone knows an antioxidant with all of the properties mentioned above, in decent doses, please feel free to mention the product in the comments section.

I am in no way affiliated with any of the brands or products mentioned. This is purely unbiased personal opinion.

I hope it is of value to someone.