Keep the doctor away with our review of the latest health products to help you stay fighting fit…
Stretch away pain
When you’re living with pain or injury, keeping active can be a challenge. Enter new app Y4P (aka Yoga for Pain), the first yoga app designed specifically for the chronic pain community. With more than 200 classes sequenced for those living with pain, it includes a range of styles including Slow Flow, Restorative and Yogility – a fusion of yoga and mobility exercises to help enhance range of motion – plus breathwork, meditation and a supportive community. See the App Store for a free seven-day trial, then sign up for £7.99 a month.
Health products for pregnancy
If you’re trying to conceive this year, you’ll might want to think twice before reaching for the nearest prenatal supplement, as new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows some formulations contain harmful chemicals. Consider a natural alternative such as Doctor Seaweed Pure Organic Seaweed (£15, doctorseaweed.com) to help support your baby’s brain and nervous system in a safe and effective way. Ethically sourced from Scottish shores, it contains iodine-rich organic Hebridean ascophyllum nodosum seaweed powder and nothing else!
Health products for joints
Scientifically shown to help reduce joint discomfort and improve flexibility in healthy, active adults, Healthspan Elite UC-II Collagen supplements (£29.99, healthspan.co.uk) are a powerhouse for your body. Type II collagen forms the backbone of cartilage, cushioning your joints to reduce friction on movement, but it naturally declines with age, potentially leading to pain and reduced range of motion. Fortunately, UC-II interacts with immune cells in the gut to encourage collagen synthesis while also preventing it from breaking down. Clever stuff.
Pack away the pads
Whether you’ve had kids, are menopausal or love high-impact exercise – think running and box jumps – if you’re one of the 42 per cent of UK women with bladder incontinence, there’s good news. A revolutionary solution that doesn’t involve suppositories or surgery is now available in the UK, after achieving considerable success in the US. Using the Elitone GelPad – which does 100 Kegel exercises for you in 20 minutes via neuromuscular stimulation – 95 per cent of users had fewer leaks after six weeks, while 85 per cent reduced their sanitary pad use for stress incontinence. Impressive. Priced £332.50 for the six-week treatment, then five packs for £29; pharmacy2U.co.uk
Feed your brain
Not keen on taking supplements to support your noggin? Use your diet instead, with help from the new Upgrade your Brain Cook App (£30, foodforthebrain.org). Following extensive research, the developer, educational charity Food for the Brain, identified the nutrients needed for better mood, memory and mental energy, as well as less brain fog and forgetfulness. It then scored its recipes according to the brain fats, slow-releasing carbs, antioxidants and B vitamins they contain. All you need to do is choose a recipe, then the app automatically lists suitable recipes for the rest of the day to ensure you get the right mix of brain-boosting ingredients. And if you exceed the recommendations, in omega-3s for example, you simply carry a credit over to the next day.
Be skin safe
It’s not just in summer that you need to protect your skin from cancer – harmful UV rays can penetrate cloud cover and put your skin at risk. Along with sunscreen, vitamin D3 has been found to be protective, with one study showing it effectively inhibits the growth and reduces the rapid reproduction of skin cancer cells. ‘Vitamin D is a very underrated vitamin which has powerful immune functions and helps prevent a number of cancers, including skin cancer,’ says renowned skin-cancer expert Dr Paul Banwell. If you’re over 40, chances are you’re more likely to be deficient in the mineral. Top up with BetterYou Vitamin D3 + K2 Oral Spray (£10.95, betteryou.com), with added vitamin K2 to support heart health.
Health on tap
Are you worried about the quality of your tap water? Maybe you should be. Studies have found a shocking 72 per cent of UK tap water samples contained microplastics, while 17 out of 18 water companies had forever chemicals – such as perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulphonic acid (aka PFAs) – in their samples. Enter The Pod 2.0 starter kit (£129, water2.com), which filters 99.99 per cent of microplastics, bacteria and parasites, plus high percentages of chlorine, copper, PFAs and more. It costs less than 36p a day*, making it much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than bottled water, takes less than 10 minutes to set up and there’s a 100-day, money-back guarantee.
