Review of Jarrow 7-Keto DHEA capsules, 100mg each

Jarrow lutein is the first lutein supplement I've tried. According to Wikipediea, this particular supplement is "one of 600 known naturally occurring carotenoids." You can get it only from plants.

Carotenoids are micronutrients that have implications for eye health and cancer prevention. Some foods that contain them are sweet potatoes (which I consume nearly every day), carrots, and kale (which I consume every day). It's also found in egg yolks, and I consume 5 to 8 dozen eggs (non-factory type) a week (I never engage in the stupidity of discarding the yolk). The rest of my diet is almost completely fruits and vegetables (I do consume brown rice and raw oats).

While I've never had my lutein level checked, it is almost certain I don't have a deficiency. Given this, what can I possibly offer regarding my experience with this supplement? I will show you in a moment.

First, let's note that the typical American diet is woefully deficient in carotenoids. Look in the typical grocery cart, and this becomes sadly obvious.

If you are on a grain-based, rather than green-based, diet you probably have a lutein deficiency (along with other problems, including low testosterone). Supplementing with lutein for a couple of months while you get your diet in order will definitely help your body recover from the effects of the lutein deficiency it's been through.

You may not notice any difference, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Adequate lutein is mostly a preventive thing, as far as I can tell. So the effect you will have by supplementing with lutein is you'll stop ongoing damage in its tracks. The cancer cells that were staying alive longer and longer in your body will die quicker and quicker, rather than morphing into a tumor. Your retinas will stop, and probably reverse, decline that was going on due to lutein deficiency. To protect the precious macula of the eye, you need lutein. Taking this supplement provides that protection. So, good news there.

Since my diet already provides me with more than enough lutein, what can I possibly tell you from trying this supplement from Jarrow? Several things:

• Product packaging. I lean toward simply returning something that requires the Jaws of Life to open. I do not buy something with the goal of never opening the package it comes in. Jarrow does properly seal the bottle for consumer safety, but they do this intelligently under the assumption the customer might actually want to consume the supplement contained therein.
   
• Capsule quality. I've seen capsules that fall apart. This is bad. So I shook the heck out of the Jarrow container. No capsule failure, there. I've also seen capsules so thick that they don't look like they'll ever dissolve. I can pinch these and tell they aren't going to last long in my stomach's acid bath. Interestingly, these are a one-piece capsule rather than a two-piece. I don't know the implications of that for delivery; if you're interested ask a licensed pharmacist.
   
• Nausea effect. My major test was to try this with and without food, to see if it made me feel nauseated. Nope. I feel just fine, no matter when I take this.
   
• Dosage. If you look on Wikipedia, you'll see a chart showing how much lutein is in certain foods. I regularly eat almost everything on that list, including (in the summer), dandelion leaves (which I pick myself from my own yard). Raw kale (how I eat my kale) gives you 40 mg per 100 gms of kale. That's about 3.5 ounces of kale, which is about what I eat in a day. This supplement provides 20 mg. So, it's a safe dosage.

If you are on the typical American diet, you need to replace grain with green. This is a foundational step in personal health care. During the transition phase, while your body is detoxing and nutrient absorption is probably encumbered, add a lutein supplement to your program. This looks like a good one, to me.

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