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Higher Nature Young Adults Range This new range, aimed at 13s and over, is quite funky and rather useful in that it provides a tongue-tingling multivitamin and mineral sachet shot, an effervescent concentration and stress support tablet and a skin nutrient-rich capsule for feeding hormonally-gone-mad skin. Higher Nature (HN) advise that all three products can be taken together: most often the multi all the time, with extra brain and stress support added as required. Allergy-wise, the range is gluten and lactose free with some being soya and yeast free too: read each product label carefully. The cherry cola flavour Multi Vit Shot has some really useful levels of the key nutrients I find most wanting in teenagers experiencing puberty and growth spurts – zinc, especially, is usually low (look for white spots on the nails). At 7.5mg per daily dose, that will go a long way to supporting the hormone, immune and skin systems in often zinc-compromised teens. There are also good levels of iron, chromium, selenium and the B vitamins, which should support energy, blood sugar, antioxidant and stress levels respectively. The only thing missing, in my view, is magnesium, the anti-stress mineral, and very key at this age. I would add some with a different product. In this and the brain supplement, HN have chosen to use sorbitol as one of the sweeteners, which seems a bit of a shame. When I asked why, they said it is to appeal better to youngsters taste-wise and the sorbitol specifically helps with the tongue-tingling effect apparently. I note they have used natural colours like beetroot powder etc too, so win some, lose some; you have to make it tasty if teens are going to take it and it could be an awful lot worse ingredient-wise; liquids and powders usually are. The Concentration Support is lemon and lime flavoured and is packed with good levels of some key brain-support nutrients like choline, ginkgo and acetyl-l carnitine, but also contains calming theanine and B vits. This should give a natural ‘non-wired’ boost with no caffeine or Red Bull involved! The Skin Support is a way of feeding skin from the inside. Skin issues are almost always hormone, immune and gut related at this age and ingredients such as lemon balm, green tea, aloe, borage oil and grape-seed are anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial in action; the aloe feeding the gut specifically and the borage increasing the essential fatty acids that the skin barrier is made from. Combined with a good amount of zinc for hormones and infections, skin-specific Vitamin A and anti-bacterial and collagen-building Vitamin C, this should work really well and has got to be better than slapping harsh chemicals onto the skin. The only thing you’ll have to do is get your teens to do it for long enough – about 3 months usually, but then it can be very worth the wait. Nutrition Tip: Add some extra magnesium – about 75-100mg magnesium citrate maybe, especially if stressed. Available online from Higher Nature, the multi vit shot costs £7.99 for 14 sachets, the concentration supplement costs £7.99 for 10 tablets and the skin support costs £14.99 for 60 caps. |
