By HARRY JACKSON JR.
www.chron.com
Supplements Shouldn't Be Substitutes For A Healthy Diet
We hear about them all the time, but how many of us really know what we are putting in our bodies?

Vitamins are actually a group of chemicals that the body needs in very small quantities. Their job is not to actually do anything but rather to help other chemicals do their jobs.

The misconceptions of what vitamins should or shouldn't be expected to do are rampant, and professionals fear their misuse. Experts are especially nervous about the megadoses available on store shelves. Megadoses of some vitamins can actually be poisonous.

WHAT ARE VITAMINS?

Picture a machine that needs 1,000 chains to work. A vitamin would be one tiny link that helps the whole machine work better. Scientists lettered and then numbered vitamins for reference because their real names often were long and complicated. For example, vitamin B12 is cyanocobalamin.

When several vitamins are under one letter, that means they're closely related. Dr. James Shoemaker, a professor and nutritionist with St. Louis University School of Medicine, says vitamins are part of a group of nutrients that the body generally doesn't make. So you have to eat your vitamins every day.

The human body makes only one vitamin, vitamin D, and that's with the help of sunlight. But even most of that needs to come from your diet, he says.

Shoemaker says the need to eat vitamins appears to come from the primitive feast-orfamine days of human evolution. The body interprets a lack of vitamins as famine and slows down its metabolism, the chemical processes in your body.

That's why the American Medical Association recommends vitamin supplements when someone is on a low-calorie or restricted diet. The presence of vitamins helps to keep the metabolism moving.

www.health24.com
Top 10 Reasons For Low Libido

If your erotic life has gone from an all-out sexfest to a G-rated event, you are not alone. While chronic aversion to sex is a serious issue, an occasional drop in your sex drive is perfectly normal.

According to a 1994 University of Chicago National Health and Social Life Survey, lack of interest in sex was the number one complaint of sexually active women of all ages. The reasons for a lowered sex drive can vary from person to person. But the following will help you sort out the sources that might be taking the X out of your sex.

Stress
The work on your desk keeps piling up and your latest dot-com investment just took a nosedive. When stressful events take over, they suck the sexual energy right out of you.

Illness
You won't be feeling too sexy when your nose is running and the pile of tissues next to your bed keeps growing exponentially. Likewise, PMS may leave you temporarily uninterested in sex. But more serious illnesses such as hypothyroidism, diabetes, cancer, heart and lung disorders, and STIs may also be responsible for the drop in your sex drive. If you suspect something more serious, make an appointment with your medical professional.

Medication
Many prescription and over-the-counter drugs can decrease your sexual appetite. Well-documented sex drive crushers include antidepressants such as Prozac and Xanax but medication for hypertension, psychotropic drugs, sedatives, opiates and even birth control pills can lessen your interest in sex or make reaching orgasm difficult.