Pure Encapsulations: Purity, Quality & Integrity.
Purchase Pharmaceutical Grade Supplements Through our Office and Website.
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We take pride in supplying our patients with only the highest quality, pharmaceutical grade supplements and products. For more than a decade our La Jolla/UTC office has made Pure Encapsulations nutritional products available to our patients by prescription. Now we have teamed up with Pure to offer you direct access to their full line of products. It is important to meet with Dr. Berkoff (or other qualified health professional) prior to beginning any nutritional supplement. Once you know what you want and that it is safe for you to take, you can now bypass your doctor's office and order pharmaceutical-grade products whenever you want through our direct shipping program. Imagine being able to get the freshest, purest, highest quality supplements available conveniently shipped to your home directly from the Pure Encapsulations laboratory, often at prices lower than inferior supermarket brands.
Do I really need supplements? Well.. no. Let's imagine that your diet is plant-based, that you eat 6 times each day in very small amounts, and that each time you eat you have a serving of fresh organic fruit or vegetable plus a bit of clean animal or vegetable protein and a dash of healthy fat. Let's say that more than 90% of the time you are able to eat your own healthy food and when you do eat out you are choosy about where you go and how you order. Barring certain medical conditions, you are getting plenty of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and other vital nutrients just from eating well and you do not need to take supplements to maintain good health. However... ...If you are like most of us your diet is a mix of good and not-so-good stuff. If you eat conventionally grown produce or (worse) canned or frozen foods, then the nutritional value of your food is dramatically diminished. If you eat only 3 times per day, if you eat out at least once every other day, if your diet includes fast food items a couple of times per week, if rice, pasta, bread, tortillas and other starches are staple items, then chances are good that you are not getting adequate nutrition from your diet and thinking about supplements to prevent deficiency is sensible. Depending on your diet you may be low in amino acids (the building blocks of protein necessary for maintaining muscle mass), certain key vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and other vital nutrients. Different ages and different lifestyles may require more or less of certain specific nutrient-containing foods in order for the body to work at a level of optimal health. Extra protein during growth years; extra calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin D to maintain bone health as we age; extra iron in women with heavy menses; there are numerous examples of targeted supplementation which is a form of preventive or restorative therapy. Talk to your doctor or qualified health professional to find out if you would benefit from targeted supplementation. Then there is the astonishing case of Vitamin D. Once thought of as just another vitamin, Vitamin D is actually now known to be a hormone with wide-ranging importance for health. Essential for building and maintaining bone strength, boosting immune function, and helping the body to lower inflammation (which is the key to prevention of disease), Vitamin D is not naturally obtained from the diet; it is made by skin cells in response to sunlight. Over the last few years staggering data have been collected showing an epidemic deficiency of this vital hormone. The reason? We have all learned to stay out of the sun to avoid cancer and other degenerative skin problems. It is estimated that as many as 90% of Americans now may be in a deficiency state of this essential hormone. We offer a pharmaceutical grade liquid formulation of Vitamin D which costs just pennies per day. The Other Reason to Take Supplements So far we have been discussing supplementation to combat or prevent deficiencies. But there is another compelling reason to take supplements. Supplementation to go beyond just adequate nutrition and adequate health has caught on over the last decade to become one of the fastest growing markets in the United States. You may have heard of acai, resveretrol, Coenzyme Q-10, fish oils (EPA and DHA), and many other natural substances purported to have tremendous health-modifying effects, but how do you know which ones to take? Every few months there is a new 'miracle' product which then fades away, never to be heard about again. But what about when Dr. Oz tells you that ginger boosts immune function or some African root helps to burn fat? We tend to trust Oprah, Dr. Oz, Sanjay Gupta, and others who genuinely seem to be concerned about our health. The problem with the 'miracle' products they promote–and in fact, the problem with all nutritional supplements–is that taking isolated nutrients without knowing how, when, and with what foods to combine them (in other words, without a proper supplementation strategy) often means that the good stuff in those expensive pills will never be properly utilized by or even absorbed into your body. It is important to learn the right way to take the supplements that you want. |
* No one can diagnose your condition from email or other written communications, and communication via our website cannot replace the relationship you have with a physician or another healthcare practitioner.
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Which supplements should I be taking?
Our practice encourages the concept of an anti-inflammation lifestyle. Inflammation is a key mechanism by which our bodies age and decline and is at the heart of virtually all chronic disease. The right supplements, taken at the right times and accompanied by the right foods support an anti-inflammation lifestyle and make up one of the five pillars of health (along with proper diet, sleep, stress management, and hormesis: fasting, exercise, and sauna bathing).
If you decide to begin supplementation, choose a high quality, hypo-allergenic nutritional supplement brand that is free of fillers, coatings, binders, allergens, artificial colors, preservatives, hydrogenated oils or other excipients. These undesirable ingredients can diminish the bioavailability or health-promoting potential of the nutrients. For specific health concerns, it is important to choose supplements that reflect active ingredients and dosage levels used in scientific studies.
Other than for Targeted Supplementation to address specific conditions or concerns, we promote the daily use of the following products to support the goal of optimal health:
1. Omega-3 Fish Oils (EPA/DHA Essentials from Pure Encapsulations)
2. *Resveratrol (from Pure Encapsulations); see below for more information
3. Nicotinamide Riboside (from Tru Niagen)
4. Glutaclear (from Metagenics)
5. Polyphenol Nutrients (from Pure Encapsulations)
6. CoQ-10 (from Pure Encapsulations)
7. Vitamin D
We invite you to read more about each of these supplements in our blog by clicking here, or about Pure Encapsulations by clicking here.
*Resveratrol is the most controversial of the Big 8, with claims made for its role as an anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer agent, and heart-protective agent, and for its use in blood sugar regulation and life extension. While promising data exist in mice, rats, and fish, sufficient studies on mammals have not yet been done. At this time, our best sense of resveratrol is that the data are so exciting and hold so much promise that it is worth including in the Big 8, but should be considered the most experimental of the group. Resveratrol should not be taken by persons with a personal or family history of breast cancer as studies have shown that breast cancer can be accelerated by supplementation with resveratrol. I do not recommend resveratrol to women or to any persons with a personal or family history of cancer.
*Collagen and hyaluronic acid are the building blocks of connective tissues (skin, hair, nails, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons). Our ability to manufacture these substances slows as we age and stops completely some time after we reach the age of skeletal maturity. The elasticity and suppleness of the skin, hair, and joints of children and young adults are directly related to the presence of high levels of collagen and hyaluronic acid, while the progressive drying and cracking of these connective tissues as we age testifies to the loss of these substances. The scientific data for collagen/HA supplementation is insufficient to support their unqualified prescription. However, due to the extreme importance of supporting these (especially joint) structures, I have been taking the Pure Encapsulations formulation daily for more than a
decade.
Our practice encourages the concept of an anti-inflammation lifestyle. Inflammation is a key mechanism by which our bodies age and decline and is at the heart of virtually all chronic disease. The right supplements, taken at the right times and accompanied by the right foods support an anti-inflammation lifestyle and make up one of the five pillars of health (along with proper diet, sleep, stress management, and hormesis: fasting, exercise, and sauna bathing).
If you decide to begin supplementation, choose a high quality, hypo-allergenic nutritional supplement brand that is free of fillers, coatings, binders, allergens, artificial colors, preservatives, hydrogenated oils or other excipients. These undesirable ingredients can diminish the bioavailability or health-promoting potential of the nutrients. For specific health concerns, it is important to choose supplements that reflect active ingredients and dosage levels used in scientific studies.
Other than for Targeted Supplementation to address specific conditions or concerns, we promote the daily use of the following products to support the goal of optimal health:
1. Omega-3 Fish Oils (EPA/DHA Essentials from Pure Encapsulations)
2. *Resveratrol (from Pure Encapsulations); see below for more information
3. Nicotinamide Riboside (from Tru Niagen)
4. Glutaclear (from Metagenics)
5. Polyphenol Nutrients (from Pure Encapsulations)
6. CoQ-10 (from Pure Encapsulations)
7. Vitamin D
We invite you to read more about each of these supplements in our blog by clicking here, or about Pure Encapsulations by clicking here.
*Resveratrol is the most controversial of the Big 8, with claims made for its role as an anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer agent, and heart-protective agent, and for its use in blood sugar regulation and life extension. While promising data exist in mice, rats, and fish, sufficient studies on mammals have not yet been done. At this time, our best sense of resveratrol is that the data are so exciting and hold so much promise that it is worth including in the Big 8, but should be considered the most experimental of the group. Resveratrol should not be taken by persons with a personal or family history of breast cancer as studies have shown that breast cancer can be accelerated by supplementation with resveratrol. I do not recommend resveratrol to women or to any persons with a personal or family history of cancer.
*Collagen and hyaluronic acid are the building blocks of connective tissues (skin, hair, nails, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons). Our ability to manufacture these substances slows as we age and stops completely some time after we reach the age of skeletal maturity. The elasticity and suppleness of the skin, hair, and joints of children and young adults are directly related to the presence of high levels of collagen and hyaluronic acid, while the progressive drying and cracking of these connective tissues as we age testifies to the loss of these substances. The scientific data for collagen/HA supplementation is insufficient to support their unqualified prescription. However, due to the extreme importance of supporting these (especially joint) structures, I have been taking the Pure Encapsulations formulation daily for more than a
decade.