What is nutrient index disease?

The term 'nutrient index disease' is primarily used to describe diseases/conditions that appear in clear cases of clinical deficiency. For example, vitamin C deficiency is linked to scurvy, while vitamin D deficiency is linked to rickets in children and bone disease (osteomalacia) in adults.

However, it's important to note that many of the recommendations based on the Daily Value (DV) were designed to protect against short-term deficiencies. Sub-clinical deficiency (i.e. a deficiency not severe enough to cause an index disease) may have detrimental effects that don't show up for years or that manifest as another condition. People tend to assume that if the DV of a nutrient is enough for preventing an index disease, then the DV is also an adequate amount for the long term; in fact this isn't the case.

For example, iron deficiency is often associated with anemia. However, iron deficiency also can have a negative impact on immune functions. Adequate levels of iron are necessary in order to help maintain cellular immunity and protect against infection. People with low iron levels often have little to no resistance against candida, herpes simplex virus, and other pathogens. However having to iron levels that are too high can cause infection. Thus the iron provided in Vitaganic's formulas are in relatively small amounts in order to provide a small boost of iron levels that are usually achieved simply by having a well balanced diet.

What are the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) and The Daily Value (DV)?

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), recently named the Daily Value (DV), typically is found on supplement bottle labels (i.e. Vitamin D %50 of DV). The DV was designed by a committee of nutrition experts and defines the average daily nutrient needs of a healthy individual. The DV is in essence a recommendation meant for individuals whose health is currently stable. It is important to remember that the DV has a built in margin of safety: it is neither the minimum value nor is it the optimal intake level for all individuals. It was actually designed to prevent nutrient index disease (see below) and is not intended for those who are malnourished or who need to regulate their nutrient intake.

Is it dangerous to take a larger dose of a vitamin than the Daily Value (DV)?

Yes and No.

It depends on how much more of the DV you are taking and more specifically which nutrient you are taking in excess. Some nutrients such as Iron and Vitamin A have very clear upper limits which when passed can become very dangerous. Other nutrients have a broader margin of safety; overdoses of such supplements may result in cases of diarrhea (Vitamin C). Furthermore for other nutrients the results of overdose are unclear, so Vitaganic sticks to dosage ranges that have clear clinical data. Vitaganic's system is programmed with caps on all nutrients especially those with very distinct upper limits such as iron.

Finally, the danger of an overdose is dependent on the individual in question and the medication they are taking. The Vitaganic prescription drug interaction checker is a useful tool to utilize to ensure your customized supplements do not have any harmful interactions Due to the fact that everyone has a unique genetic make up, lifestyle, dietary habit, etc, individual responses to supplements will vary.

What is a tolerable upper limit?

The upper limit is the maximum of a nutrient that is considered to be a safe amount for a healthy person, if the upper limit is passed there is an increased risk of adverse health effects. The upper limit is fluid in regards to the notion that is can change when a person's individual environmental situation and medical needs are taken into consideration. For instance: those with hypertension who also smoke may need more antioxidant nutrients than those who don't smoke or have hypertension.

What level should my supplements be at?

Essentially, every person's optimum level for a particular nutrient lies somewhere between the DV and the upper tolerance limit. Optimum levels provide you with a suitable amount of nutrients to help provide support for your current medical conditions without running the risk of getting nutrition index disease.

The safest thing to do is use our supplements within the low to mid level ranges we provide in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle �C including 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily and a diet of fresh and nutritious foods.

Before starting on any supplement program, please check with your primary health care provider to discuss your individual health needs.

What is the Drug-Supplement Interaction Checker (DSIC)?

Prescription medications change your supplement needs.

In some cases, prescription medication will deplete your body of essential nutrients. Prescription medications interfere with your body's ability to absorb nutrients and effects metabolism, storage, transportation, and use of these nutrients by the cells in your body. For instance, estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) often causes the depletion of nutrients like: Vitamin C, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin B-12, Zinc, Magnesium, and Calcium.

In other cases, prescription medications will require you take lower levels of certain nutrients. Some dosages of supplements that are too high can create a potentially dangerous situation where your prescription meds will not be able to function properly.

A custom made supplement from Vitaganic ensures that you are matching your nutritional needs while avoiding a potentially dangerous interaction between your medications and the supplement.

My medication is not listed in safety checker, what should I do?

Check to make sure that your medication is not listed under another brand name or under its generic name.

The generic name can be found on the packaging beside the brand name. For example, the generic name for Lipitor is Atorvastatin.

If you still cannot find your medication please contact us and we will add it.

The amount of supplements I want to have is more than what your system allows, what should I do?

The upper limits are based on current scientific and governmental consensus on what is healthy. For more information on upper limits please see the sections on Daily Values.

Vitaganic reviews these limits on a regular basis, so if you have a specific request we would be happy to include it in our next review.

My formula provides a higher dosage than I had expected. Why is that?

Your dosage is dependent on which formula(s) you select and how many formulas you combine. Some formulas contain only one or two ingredients while others can contain over 15 and contain a large amount of herbal components, making them bulky. This is why we recommend you only combine two or three formulas for any given supplement.

Also, ingredients such as Calcium can add considerable bulk to your formula. As an alternative, you can remove the Calcium from your formula and obtain your calcium needs from food sources such as tofu, green vegetables, low calorie dairy products, etc. In order to check the levels of Calcium and other bulky ingredients in your formula simply click on the formula name in the My Formula section of the website enabling you to see the precise daily quantity of each ingredient.

You should always check the daily serving size of your formula before ordering.

Each capsule holds and average of 600 mg (0.6 grams) of ingredients, any more than that will be cause for a higher dosage. However if you opted to buy our formulas in their mass marketed counterparts you would most likely be taking an even higher dosage then our customized supplements delegate.