What started out planned as a brief series intended to bring attention to a few of the more unheralded supplements in our inventory of available natural remedies has obviously mushroomed (incidentally, we’ll get back to mushroom supplements in this space in the coming weeks). We just can’t seem to stop feeding our desire to search out and feature supplements that deserve shoutouts of their own in this series aimed at keeping our readers sufficiently informed.
This brings us to Part VIII in this expanded series, this time around taking a look at passion flower, phytosterols, and vanadyl sulfate. We trust you will enjoy this latest installment of our unsung supplements series as much as we have in picking through and gleefully choosing more compounds that are worthy of such special attention.
Unsung Supplements, Part VIII
Passion flower. Here’s a name of an herb-based supplement you can’t go wrong with. In fact, passion flower is as good, sweet, and great to have around as the name implies. It’s a beautiful, perennial wildflower that can be a treatment balm of sorts for a myriad conditions, ranging from insomnia, anxiety, and skin irritations or burns to menopause, hypertension (high blood pressure), ADHD, and asthma, in addition to an assortment of other remedial actions. Passion flower is able to be so versatile in the realm of health-related treatments thank to its numerous bioactive component compounds that include flavonoids, anthocyanins, alkaloids, and amino acids. Note, though, that passion flower is not a supplement to be used casually. Although it is an over-the-counter substance, it should only be used and consumed under the supervision and guidance of a physician or other licensed health-care provider. Among passion flower’s other specific uses are alleviating digestive problems such as spasms related to gastritis and colitis; as an anti-inflammatory aimed at health issues such as rheumatoid arthritis, improving sleep issues, especially when use in tandem with valerian root and regulating cardiac rhythm of the heart.
Phytosterols. These are natural compounds sourced from plants that can contribute to the respective wars against obesity and diabetes, but—as you might have surmised from the inclusion of “sterols” in its name—can be a key ingredient in helping to diminish bad (LDL—low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels. Left unchecked, cholesterol levels can lead to heart attack and stroke because LDL can cause narrowing or blockage in the arteries. How this works is that in ingesting phytosterols, you are equipping your body with healthy plant sterols which then go to work to remove some of the bad cholesterol in your system, thus producing a reduced level of unwanted cholesterol and bolstering your overall health. Research conducted in 2020 points out there are more than 250 types of sterols, which can also be found in plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and wheat germ.
Vanadyl sulfate. If you hadn’t heard of vanadyl sulfate until now, you probably would have heard about it soon anyway, thanks to its growing popularity in the world of healthy nutritional supplementation. Discovered in the late 1800s as a form of vanadium, a trace element, vanadyl would not be identified for its positive biological effects until more than 50 years later. What researchers eventually found was that vanadyl sulfate is naturally effective in helping to maintain healthy blood-sugar levels in the ongoing battle against diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that it can imitate (or mimic) insulin by its ability to pose as a glucose uptake enhancer. That is to say, vanadyl sulfate can aid in regulating blood sugar, much like insulin can, thus improving insulin sensitivity and cutting back on glucose in the blood. It can also improve overall heart health by lowering oxidative stress and inflammation, and it has shown the potential to prevent parasitic infections.
So there you have it, another batch of relative unknowns in the world of natural-remedy supplementation, each of which can pack a powerful punch to ward off or help solve possibly debilitating health conditions. Be sure to discuss your use of any of these products with your physician or other licensed health-care professional before adding them to your daily regimen.