Have you heard about NDF Calm? Today it is on the chopping block. Opt or drop? Is this something you should know about and have or should you bypass it or throw it away?
I was asked to review this and I’ve gotten asked questions about this product many times over the years when I worked with parents one on one.
This supplement claims to nourish the liver and remove toxins. Okay, it claims it, but there’s an asterisk, not a claim. You know how it goes. So it’s marketed about nourishing the liver and removing toxins.
Let’s look at the ingredients, break it down and see is it really going to do what it says it’s going to do?
Ingredients
Agaricus blazei
This is a kind of mushroom and it has limited human studies. It’s the first ingredient. It’s used a lot in herbal medicine to reduce liver damage and inflammation.
Reishi mushroom
It is used to boost the immune system and also impact cholesterol. It may help reduce fatty liver and support liver function. However, be careful. Long term use of high doses can rarely cause liver toxicity in some individuals. So please don’t use this for a super long time and also don’t give these in high doses.
Chlorella
That is a very commonly used supplement. And it’s used to detox, specifically heavy metals.
Red root
It is actually used more for lymphatic support. Not so much the liver, but definitely with detoxing and getting things moving.
Milk thistle seed
That is a classic liver support herb. So absolutely classic.
Olive leaf
It’s used to treat certain infections and also decrease inflammation.
Turkey tail
It does not have strong scientific studies in humans. It’s used a lot to boost the immune system. It is common more with cancer patients. They use it often to help increase the efficacy of their medicine. It’s also used to improve gut health and it can have some antiviral properties. But again, it’s not heavily studied.
Solomon seal root
That is not commonly used, period. It does target inflammation and sometimes it’s used for broken bones. So it’s really like a very specific herbal approach. It’s not a common one.
Eleuthero root
Now we have something that’s more commonly known as Siberian ginseng. So ginseng is a good adaptogen. That means it’s very supportive overall to the body. It helps boost the immune system. It helps with stress, regulating stress, it helps regulating blood sugar, relieving anxiety and depression. So overall, it has a wide reaching impact in the body.
Licorice root
Okay, next up is licorice root. And that’s used a lot for digestive problems. It’s also used for menopausal symptoms. Probably not what you’re doing here. There’s also coughs and bacterial and viral infections, again, using long term, high doses. Not good.
Polygonatum root
Polygonatum root, that’s not commonly used when it’s used, it’s used to boost the immune system. Again, that’s like a very, very specific herb that only certain herbalists – like these are real herbalists – would use those kinds of herbs. It’s not your common,mainstream, go-to-the-supermarket-and-pick-some-up herb. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but it’s just not common.
Maitake mushroom
So, again, boosting the immune system. Usually with that mushroom, you need higher doses and three times a day or so. A lot of times, parents aren’t giving that as much. They usually give it twice a day.
Schisandra berry
This was fun. I’ve dabbled in herbalism a little bit. This berry is known as the five flavor fruit in Chinese medicine. So I actually had my basement set up as an herbal lab many years ago when I first got into autism and understanding herbs. And I studied with herbalists in Woodstock. Definitely very interesting. But the five flavor fruit, I always felt like it was something out of Harry Potter. When people would come over to my house, I would tell them, “Oh you want to try something cool?” Because it has all those different flavors. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s savory. It’s all of that, and it’s really fun. So that’s in here.
In general, it supports liver health. It’s used a lot in Chinese medicine.
Okay, last ingredient –
Stevia
It’s primarily used as a sweetener. It depends on the dose. It’s used in Lyme disease a lot. But here, it’s probably just as a sweetener. It’s not in a high quantity.
Confused by all the information out there about autism? I’ve got you. Click the link to see how we can work together. Let me break down the science and provide you with clear, actionable steps to make your path forward easier. You don’t have to end up with a basement lab of herbs like I did. I don’t have it anymore. It was fun. I definitely enjoyed it. I learned a lot. But you don’t need to do that.
How to consume
How do you use it? Let’s open this baby up. It’s a liquid. And shake, shake, shake. It says to shake a lot.
Directions say to mix it into water or your child’s favorite drink. Take 1 ml per 50 pounds of body weight two times per day. So parents usually give it in the morning and the night.
Not too much
I want to give a little tip about giving any type of tincture or liquid supplement or anything you’re going to put into a drink for your child to consume. We don’t want to put it in a lot of liquid. If you put the dose in this much water, your child has to drink all of that, right? And maybe it’s in a sippy cub, maybe it’s in a water bottle or something like that. But now you have to have the stress of following them around. “Did they finish it? Did they finish it? Okay. They drank half of it. That means they probably got half dose.” That is so stressful. Please, please don’t do that. Use a small amount and actually even this, I would say is too much. If I were needing to give this to my child, I would use that much liquid.
Taste, look and smell
So I am needing, if you do your math, about two and a half droppers. It smells like vanilla. It does change the color of your drink. I always put it in water in clear glass so you can see. So it does change the color of the drink. It does change the smell. Tastes like vanilla. Tastes sweet from the stevia. It’s actually quite pleasant. The color looks terrible, but the taste is actually pretty good.
You could use this to help disguise some other really gross medicine that you had to give to your child. So a lot of times it’s always like, “Oh, how do we get these supplements in?” This could be something that you use almost as like a flavoring, especially if this doesn’t do anything for your child. Like, you see no changes whatsoever. You could definitely consider this as more flavoring agent to help the other things go down because it does have a really pleasant taste. Not, not color. Color is terrible, right? That looks like dirty water, right? I don’t really want to drink it, but smells pretty good, tastes pretty nice, gotta say.
And you can see in that small amount of liquid, if I was a kid, I’d drank it all and the parent can stop stressing about, “did you take your supplement?” So remember, if you’re gonna put supplements in liquid, try and do a small amount and have them knock it down. Certain supplements, you could have them sip all throughout the day. But for the ones that you really want to make sure get in there in the full dose, use a small amount of liquid.
Opt or drop?
I would say this is an opt for beginners. It likely isn’t strong enough to cause any bad reaction if you’re giving it in the dose that it recommends. Parents usually see no changes, and that’s good. We don’t want to see bad reactions. Your child won’t trust you. They’ll not take a drink from you again.
So parents, if they’re using this, they usually see no change, which lets them know they’re either targeting the wrong thing or need something much more powerful. Or if they use it and see a small change, that’s great. And then they get kind of “Hmm. What else could we do? How could we get that to improve? Like, how can we keep that going?” So that’s why this is a opt. It’s a beginner thing.
It’s definitely beginner. Now, would I use this if I was trying to detox mold? No, absolutely not. But if you’re a beginner, you might not know exactly what you’re doing. So for a beginner, I can understand it. And if it helps a parent really see that more is possible, that is fantastic. And that is why this is an opt for beginners. But it is not going to be life changing. It tastes great. So you might want to consider about mixing it with other supplements that are much more important for your child to get because this flavor is very, very nice.
