AIDS a growing global "disaster" (Reuters)

Reuters - HIV/AIDS infection rates are growing among intravenous drug users, prostitutes and gay men around the globe but they are often viewed as outcasts and refused treatment, according to a report issued on Thursday.

As it impacts your health, the quality of your vitamin supplement cannot be overemphasized. Costing more, a vitamin and mineral supplement that uses the highest and best ingredients within a manufacturing process that is pharmaceutical grade is the only one to consider for your health. Reviewing the choices at a discount store can be very misleading. Cheap prices could mean low-quality ingredients or an unsafe manufacturing facility that produces fast output for humans one day and for horses the next.

It is amusing to watch how quickly dietary supplement manufacturers add the latest miracle nutrient to a pill. One week you hear on the news about some discovery in the Amazon jungle and proven by the Mayo Clinic to cure death itself. Then, within mere weeks, the major bulk l-carnitine base have this nutrient in its product. Then the marketing hype really hits high gear. But what is rarely told is how much of this miraculous compound is actually in their product, or how much is really needed by the body to begin with.

Search for companies that include efficacious amounts of the active ingredients (efficacious means enough to have the desired effect) within their product.

The quality of the raw materials is crucial as well. Many companies use cheap, less reliable plant material to create their supplements. The active ingredient within each individual plant varies according to amount of sunlight, rain, and soil quality.

The highest quality supplements come from standardized herbal extracts. The exact amount of the active ingredient is known every time and so a product can be made to precise standards of quality and effectiveness.

Supplementing your diet with vitamins and minerals is less desirable than getting what you need from your diet. Because nutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc. vary from food to food, using an online meal planner can make a difficult task very easy. Look for one (check out the demo here at The Nutrition Guru!) has the capability to suggest what foods you need to balance your diet.

You can benefit from quality vitamin and mineral supplements when incorporated into a well planned nutrition program.

J. Lance Curtis is editor and contributor to The Nutrition Guru! Discover how vitamin and mineral supplements can improve your health by visiting The Nutrition Guru! | Nutrition Vitamins