Vegan Nutrition » Vitamins

Supplements for Osteoporosis

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:22:24 +0000

Osteoporosis is a very serious disease of your bones that can lead to breakdown of the bone density, causing it to be weak enough that it is susceptible to breakage. People sometimes do not believe osteoporosis to be serious, since it is a gradual disease with a gradual onset of symptoms. In other words, nobody that gets osteoporosis is metaphorically hit over the head with a crux of issues all at once. Unlike cancer or another serious illness, there is no immediate life-threatening problem when one develops osteoporosis. However, being diagnosed with osteoporosis can truly remove the quality of a person’s life. Luckily, there are precautions that can be taken to prevent the development of this disease which generally affects the elderly. It is very important to take measures early in life so as to avoid this progressive disease later on.

Exercise is a great way to fight osteoporosis early in life. Believe it or not, exercise is critical for the prevention of weak bones and, besides its other positives, this is just another reason why exercise should be a daily part of your routine. Any weight-bearing exercise is particularly good for osteoporosis, such as weight training, running, or other high-impact sports and activities. While you have probably heard that running is hard on the knees or hips, in reality your bones are getting stronger the longer one continues this type of activity. The striking and impact of your foot on the pavement or hard ground actually works to harden the bones to breakage over time.

Weight training is another very popular exercise that is good in preventing osteoporosis. Weight training has become increasingly more popular over the years, and gym memberships have risen drastically as men, women and children alike can now be found lifting weights for good health. Weight training also helps to increase bone density, as well as improve your posture, improve your mood, and many report an improvement in self-confidence.

Other than exercise, you can help prevent osteoporosis with certain supplements. Some of the most common supplements for the prevention of osteoporosis are calcium and vitamin D. Most people are aware that calcium is important for strong bones and teeth. They hear it on commercials and their parents tell them from the time they are little to drink their milk. However, most people probably do not take it as seriously as they should. It really is a good idea to supplement with calcium every day to help prevent osteoporosis down the road. Calcium supports bone density and bone healing.

While it is true that milk and other dairy products are a good source of calcium, you may not be getting all the calcium you need from these sources. If you are a vegetarian or vegan especially, who does not consume any dairy products, it is especially important for you to take a calcium supplement. Broccoli and fortified orange juice contain good amounts of calcium, but you probably cannot stomach enough broccoli to make it worthwhile.

Vitamin D occurs naturally with sunshine, so getting your exercise outdoors can help provide you with the vitamin D you need. Remember to wear your sunscreen, of course. While outside activity in the sun can be a wonderful and fun source of Vitamin D, you will likely not get enough of it without supplementation. Some areas of the country are sunnier than others, and then there are the winter months to consider when people tend to stay indoors more often. With the amount of Vitamin D supplements available, it can easily be incorporated into your daily routine.

In keeping up with your protein consumption, and also increasing your Vitamin C and Vitamin K intake, you can also help keep your bones stronger and prevent osteoporosis. Again, you can do this by supplementing if you are uncertain as to whether your diet provides sufficient amounts of these important vitamins.

A supplement called glucosamine chondroitin, which is actually two supplements generally sold in a compound as one, is very helpful with joint pain associated with age and increased activity level. While not directly helpful for the prevention of osteoporosis, it is used to treat osteoarthritis. You may want to consider adding this supplement to help prevent the aches and pains that sometimes occur in your bones as you age and try to maintain the same level of activity and fitness.

Supplementing with these vitamins, minerals, and aminos can be very beneficial when used in combination with a healthy lifestyle and diet. Make sure to keep your alcohol consumption in moderation for healthy bones as well as cut out any smoking habit you may have, since smoking and heavy drinking both increase the risk of osteoporosis. Follow these simple rules and you will increase your chances of having strong, healthy bones for life.

Megan Hazel is a freelance writer who writes about nutrition, fitness and well being, usually focusing on particular products such as supplements .
low voltage landscape lights

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Beauty, Exercise, Fitness, Goal Setting, Happiness, Health, Illness, Medicine, Nutrition, Pregnancy, Stress Management, Supplements, Vitamins, Weight Loss

Fight High Cholesterol With Vitamins And Over The Counter Products

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:33:36 +0000

More that a million Americans die of heart disease each year. One of the major causes of this heart disease the high cholesterol levels in the blood.
Cholesterol plays a central role in many biochemical processes, but is best known for the association of cardiovascular disease with high levels of
cholesterol in the blood.
Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1964 for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of the cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.
Cholesterol is a sterol (a combination steroid and alcohol) and a lipid found in the cell membranes of all body tissues. It is transported in the blood plasma of all animals. The average amount of blood cholesterol varies with age, typically rising gradually until one is about 60 years old.
In recent years, the somewhat imprecise term “bad cholesterol” has been used to refer to LDL (low density lipoprotein) which, according to the lipid hypothesis, is thought to have harmful actions, and “good cholesterol” to refer to HDL (high-density lipoprotein), thought to have beneficial actions.
The American Heart Association provides a set of guidelines for total blood cholesterol levels and risk for heart disease. The desirable LDL level is considered to be less than 100 mg/dl. However the 1987 report of National Cholesterol Education Program suggest the total blood cholesterol level should be less than 200 mg/dl normal blood cholesterol, if the cholesterol level is between 200 and 239 mg/dl it is considered borderline-high, and higher than 240 mg/dl is considered high cholesterol level.
Conditions with elevated concentrations of oxidized LDL particles are associated with fatty deposits forming on the walls of arteries, a condition known as Arteriosclerosis, which is considered the principal cause of coronary heart disease and other forms of cardiovascular disease.
In contrast, however, if LDL particle number is low and a large percentage of the HDL particles are high, then fatty deposits forming on the walls of the arteries are usually low, and can even be negative, for any given total cholesterol concentration.
Cholesterol is found in animal fats: all food containing animal fats contains cholesterol. Plants have trace amounts of cholesterol, so even a Vegan diet, which includes no animal foods, has traces of cholesterol.
Cholesterol is not necessarily dietary in origin, it can be turned into cholesterol by the liver from unburned food metabolites. The liver converts unburned food metabolites into very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and secretes them into plasma where they are converted to low-density lipoprotein LDL) particles and fatty acids, which can affect other body cells. There appear to be seasonal variations in cholesterol levels in humans because of the unburned food metabolites the amount of cholesterol is higher in winter.
Cholesterol is required to build and maintain cell membranes; it regulates membrane fluidity over a wider range of temperatures. Cholesterol also aids in the manufacture of bile (which stored in the gallbladder and helps digest fats), and is also important for the metabolism of fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K.
Cardiologists suggest that the public need to change its diet. To reduce cholesterol levels by lowering saturated animal fats and increasing polyunsaturated fats. Lowering cholesterol is a good start but it is far from all that is needed.
Common Vitamins and over the counter products can help with High Cholesterol such as Vitamin C, Lecithin, Pectin, Garlic, EPA, Niacin and Phytosterols.
Vitamin C has been shown to combat the development of cholesterol deposits in the arteries. Within a few hours after receiving vitamin C patients showed a sharp decline in the cholesterol levels of the blood.
Lecithin has the potential to protect against fat clogged arteries when take daily.
Pectin limits the amount of cholesterol the body can absorb. High pectin count in apples may be why “One a day keeps the doctor away”.
Garlic counteract the usual result of high fats in the diet and to help reduce high blood pressure.
Studies of the Greenland Eskimos lack of heart attacks have show that Eico-Sapentaenoic Acid (EPA) lowers blood cholesterol considerably, even more than polyunsaturated fat does. It also triggers a major drop in triglycerides. Salmon Oil is one of the best known sources of natural EPA.
Niacin is the closest thing available to a perfect treatment that corrects most causes of coronary heart disease. Niacin blocks the release of fatty acids from fat cells. Niacin plays a critical role in energy production, gene expression, and hormone synthesis. You cannot live without it. Niacin also tends to shift LDL particle distribution to larger particle size and improve HDL functioning. The intake of 3 grams Niacin for as little as two weeks can reduce serum cholesterol by 26 percent.
Phytosterols is found in flax seed and peanuts, which are suggested to help lower serum cholesterol.
Always consult your doctor before using this information.
This Article is nutritional in nature and not to be construed as medical advice.

David F. Cowley has created over 50 articles about the relationship between diseases and vitamins. For other Articles on Diseases and Vitamin Needs feel free to visit my Web Site at http://www.dfcinvestment-team.com
search engine optimisation cumbria

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Cholesterol, Diseases, Health, High Cholesterol, Nutrition, Supplements, Vitamins

Whatâ??s So Great About Acai? 5 Qualities of the Acai Berry That Make It Natureâ??s Nearly Perfect Food

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:46:33 +0000

Have you ever heard of Acai (ah-sigh-ee), the dietary superfood?Â Just what is it anyway?Â It is a fruit, a berry that is harvested in the rain forests of Brazil, Central and South America.Â Itâ??s inch long reddish, purple fruit is a relative of the cranberry, blueberry, and other dark purple fruits.

There has been a lot of false hype promoted by unscrupulous marketers of Acai berry products.Â The truth is, it doesnâ??t cure cancer, male baldness, or even guarantee you a flat tummy.Â But donâ??t let the preponderance of false claims diminish the value of this amazing superfood.

Acai berries have five outstanding features that are genuine.Â Lets take a look at them.

Much of our grocery food these days is depleted of much of the vitamins they once had.Â These days we really do need to supplement our diets with, well, dietary supplements if we want to feed our body with all that it needs to be healthy.

The information listed above is not medical advice.Â Rather, it is meant to increase the readerâ??s awareness of potential health care alternatives.Â For medical attention, advice, diagnosis and treatments, see your qualified health-care professional.

Hi. My name is John Arnast, a great fan of natural, herbal vitamins and supplements. If you’re interested in finding a trustworthy place that carries Acai and many other all-natural life supplement products, may I suggest that you visit http://vitalityprodepot.com
Everything at this store comes from manufactures with high, rigid quality control standards.

WP Robot Wordpress Autoposter

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Acai, Amino Acids, Antioxidants, Cholesterol, Dietary Supplements, Healthy Heart, Herbal, Herbal Remedies, High Fiber, Metabolism, Omega 6, Omega 9, Roughage, vegan, Vitamins

How To Choose Healthy Foods By Consumer Wellness Founder, Mike Adams

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:37:58 +0000

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s The Healthiest Year of Your Life Program which can be found at http://www.thehealthiestyearofyourlife.com. In this excerpt, Mike Adams shares his personal health transformation and an important look at shopping for and choosing healthy foods.The Healthiest Year of Your Life Excerpt with Mike Adams, founder of the Consumer Wellness Center and on-line retailer, Better Life Goods. An author and speaker, Mike’s mission is to spread the message of natural nutrition and healing. Kevin: Here’s what scares me a little bit here and let’s start talking about dairy, because it’s a big argument, or just even like people are almost dogmatically either believe dairy is what they need to eat, or they dogmatically believe that it’s not something that you should eat at all. What are some other things that we should really be cautious about when dealing with milk and cheese and things like that?Mike: Well, the first thing we should be cautious about is what you hinted at. There’s sort of a psychological momentum. This is a well-known phenomenon in human psychology, which is that tend to find reasons to justify own behavior. So if we are drinking milk right now and we’re enjoying it, we’ll find reasons to support that and if we’re not drinking milk and just avoiding all dairy products entirely, we tend to find reasons to support that and we tend to be dogmatic about that, too. So there are very few people in the center, but the first point is take a very close look at your own psychology and ask why am I supporting this, or not supporting it. What’s behind my decisions? In other words, most people drinking milk should ask themselves why am I drinking milk. Why do we take the liquid from another species that is infant formula? Let’s be clear about this. Milk is infant formula. Why are we taking that and processing it? We’re homogenizing the milk fat. Why are we killing it? We’re pasteurizing it to kill it, so that it can be put in the stores and then consumed by humans, adult humans.
In other words, why are we, as adult human beings, drinking infant formula for a furry, bovine species? That’s the real question. You can honestly ask yourself that question and start investigating it and then you can make some progress into this issue, but if you have resistance to that very idea, because you’re enjoying your milk with your cereal in the morning, then you’re not ready to go down that path yet.
At some point, hopefully you’ll be ready and you can check it out. You can start looking at the issue. Now, here’s the conclusion that I’ve come to. I don’t do any dairy at all anymore, other than fermented raw dairy. I only do that occasionally, but my conclusion is that processed milk is very dangerous for human health. I think the epidemiological studies have really shown that. There’s a book called The China Study that’s a good one to look at it that talks about that.
Secondly, raw milk that fresh, farm milk, right out of the cow, once it’s fermented so that the proteins are more digestible and it’s a living food that can be very beneficial to human health. So you see, you can’t just say milk is this, or milk is bad. You have to look at different profiles of milk. There’s living milk and then there’s dead milk. Dead milk, dead, processed milk to me is just like dead, processed snack food. It’s very dangerous to your health, but living milk is like eating sprouts in a way. It’s alive. It’s got friendly flora in there and it’s more digestible in that way. Those are the conclusions that I came to, but I always invite others to draw their own conclusions. I drank milk most of my life, but I certainly don’t touch it now unless it’s fermented and raw and fresh milk. So how’s that, Kevin?Kevin: It sounds great. When it comes to dogmatism is just questioning the best way to get through to the answers, or just investigating more, because I see it across the board. I see it from people who eat steak and eggs for breakfast, to people who eat nothing but 100% raw food even to the point where they only eat one specific food at a time and they don’t eat anything else. To me it seems that each side is almost too stiff.Mike: I think the main thing that I encourage people to do is to be skeptical consumers and always question their own beliefs. So we need to have this philosophical flexibility. Otherwise, we too become stuck in our own ways and we become dogmatic and that drives everybody else nuts. No one likes a vegan that marches around insisting that everyone else has to be vegan just like them.
So I always encourage people to take their own journey discovering things on their own and in the meantime I’m happy to hear some of what I discovered. It doesn’t mean that it necessarily is going to apply to you. The other thing, Kevin, is that we’ve got to be sensitive to what our bodies are telling us. If we are sensitive, then we can experiment with these dietary changes. We can try milk for 30 days, or try no milk for 30 days and see which one feels better. In fact, I used to do something. I would put this on the website and challenge people to a 30 day dairy free diet. Just challenge them. You’re going to live many, many decades. Take 30 days and go without milk and see what happens. Find out if it’s better, or worse and people would write me after the 30 days and say, “Wow. My sinuses cleared up. My constipation went away. My joints feel better. I have more energy. My acne disappeared.” It’s just one benefit after another and my answer back to them would be, “That’s great. Now that you discovered that, which way do you want to live the rest of your life?” It’s pretty simple at that point for those people. They chose to live without milk. There might be others out there who are immune to the negative effects of milk for some reason, so maybe they have no benefit and that’s fine, too.
The important thing is to listen to your body and be aware of what kinds of effects you are getting. It’s that feedback mechanism. If you have a health goal of where you want to get to, how do you know if you’re getting there? You know by paying attention to what your body is telling you and then you can just start experimenting with your diet, or with nutritional supplements, or super foods, or exercise, or sunlight, or meditation, yoga, Pilates. You name it. You can put all these things in and find out what’s working for me and that becomes the basis for personal growth.Kevin: I think you’ve done a good job at providing information to people who don’t necessarily have the time, or have not been able to justify the time to being able to really learn about their health and you have a few different resources. I just want to talk about them now, The Herb Reference Resource. Just why don’t you run down a few of those where people can go? The Drug Side Effects Resource, as well that you’re putting together. Let’s just run down those and just tell everyone what they can see when they go to each one of those.Mike: Oh, yeah. Well, there is a lot of information out there, but we’ve tried to condense it as much as possible. Herbreference.com gives you look at all the benefits of various herbs, all the health benefits and this is taken from dozens of different books. I’ve studied herbs. There are probably 10,000 scientific studies in all behind that information. Newstarget.com is the main website where we put up daily news about super food nutrients and how to prevent and reverse and even cure degenerative diseases. We also talk about the dangers of pharmaceuticals and the dangers of Western medicine and actually, if you go to newstarget.com it will actually be naturalnews.com. That’s what we’re shifting to. That’s our long-term URL, naturalnews.com. You can find a lot of resources there. So I just encourage people to go there, register for the free e-mail newsletter and they’ll be kept informed of what we’re working on and I’ve approached this, by the way, Kevin, I want to mention I approach this from kind of a nonprofit standpoint.
I made my fortune in the software industry. I started a software company in 1993 and it earns millions of dollars a year. I took that money and the benefits from that and I put it into creating newstarget.com several years ago and so I do this without taking any money from supplement companies. I don’t sell vitamins. I don’t sell supplements, or herbs, or are herbs, or anything like that. I don’t ask for money from these companies to write about their products. So that means I approach this from a really independent viewpoint and when I make a recommendation on a product out there that I really like, like Ron Teeguarden’s Dragon Herbs, you know I’m making that recommendation with 100% objectivity. It’s an honest, independent, genuine recommendation and that’s why people like the website, because they know they can trust it. They may not always agree with everything I say and that’s fine, but they know I’m not taking a bribe to push some junk product out there. I wouldn’t do that just for my reputation. I wouldn’t even think about pushing a junk product out there.Kevin: We’re shifting gears into supplements now. How do you know? There are hundreds out there and I know how easy it is to make a supplements lie. What kind of knowledge can you impart to everyone to explain the whole process and what it takes to make something really good?Mike: Okay. I’m going to reveal a secret here and this is one of my little industry secrets of how I know who to trust and who to recommend. First off, you’ve got to look at the ingredients, but that’s obvious. You look at what goes into the supplement. A lot of supplements are junk. The form of vitamin B12 they use, for example, is cyanocobalamin, which is a cyanide molecule combined with a cobalamin.Kevin: Okay.Mike: Not a good thing. So I can look at a label and see what level of quality they have for that supplement. The other is the source. If you’re looking at herbs, like Chinese herbs in particular, you don’t want them to be sourced from China probably, because I’ve been to China. I speak Chinese and I know what goes on over there and it’s some scary stuff.Kevin: Really? With mercury and lead right? That’s two of the big issues.Mike: Not only that, but I’ve even seen cases where, for example, black sesame seeds were not really roasted sesame seeds. They were just white sesame seeds that were coated with black ink. The stuff I’ve seen, you would not believe it.
The third thing is, this is a secret part. This is why I go to trade shows, because I can meet the person and when I see that person I’m assessing their health. That is, the founder of the company, the CEO. Are they healthy? Are they vibrant? Are their eyes clear? What is their level of health and if they’re not healthy, I don’t recommend their product. I’m looking for really healthy people with fantastic ingredients.

solar garden lights

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Food, Health, Healthy, Natural, Nutrition, Raw, Shopping, Sweeteners, Toxins, Vitamins

Recommended Sources of the Essential Vitamin B-12

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:00:58 +0000

Vitamin B-12 is an essential nutrient, but humans cannot depend on the absorption of bacterially-produced B-12 from the gut. Thus, our B-12 must come from food.1

The B-12 synthesized by bacteria is mainly concentrated in the bodies of predatory organisms, so meat, milk, eggs, fish, and shellfish all contain B-12. 2 Comparatvely, the B-12 in eggs seems to be the most poorly absorbed among these sources.2

Some plant foods, such as blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), contain large amounts of B-12, 2 but the B-12 compounds in algae appear to be inactive in mammals.3 Most of the blue-green algae used for human supplements predominately contain pseudovitamin B-12, which is inactive in humans.2 Cyanocobalamin, also used in most supplements, is readily converted to the coenzyme forms of cobalamin in the human body.4

The major signs of B-12 deficiency are megaloblastic anemia and neuropathy.5 Since the bioavailability of crystalline B-12 is not altered in people with atrophic gastritis, the Institute of Medicine has recommended that adults over the age of 50 should get most of their recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of B-12 from foods that are fortified with crystalline B-12 or B-12 supplements.5

While the RDA of B-12 for adults is 2.4 mcg/day in the United States and Japan; the daily loss of the vitamin is estimated to be between 2 and 5 mcg/day.5 Bor et al.6 reported that a daily B-12 intake of 6 mcg/day appears to be sufficient to maintain a steady-state concentration of plasma B-12 and B-12 related metabolic markers. However, B-12’s bioavailability significantly decreases with increasing intake of vitamin B-12 per meal. 2

Studies with vegans have shown that despite the physiological recycling and conservation that become increasingly efficient as B-12 intake falls, the likelihood is high that B-12 deficiency will eventually develop. This may only develop after 20 years or more in vegans who do not consume any animal-based products or take B-12 supplements.7

In summary, the inability of humans to absorb bacterially-produced B-12 in the colon, and the evidence that vegans will eventually show negative B-12 balance8,9 indicate an evolutionary history of animal-based foods in human diets.

References

1. Herbert V (1988) “Vitamin B-12: plant sources, requirements, and assay.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 48, pp. 852-858.

2. Watanabe F. Vitamin B12 sources and bioavailability Exp Biol Med 232:1266 –1274, 2007.

3. Watanabe F, Takenaka S, Kittaka-Katsura H, Ebara S, Miyamoto E. Characterization and bioavailability of vitamin B12 -compounds from edible algae. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 48:325–331, 2002.

4. Ball GFM. Vitamin B12 In: Bioavailability and Analysis of Vitamins in Foods. London: Chapman & Hall, pp 497–515, 1998.

5. Institute of Medicine. Vitamin B12 In: Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6 Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press, pp 306–356, 1998.

6. Bor MV, Lydeking-Olesen E, Møller J, Nexø E. A daily intake of approximately 6 mcg vitamin B-12 appears to saturate all the vitamin B-12-related variables in Danish postmenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr 83:52–58, 2006.

7. Herbert V (1994) “Staging vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) status in vegetarians.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 59 (suppl.), pp. 1213S-1222S.

8. Majchrzak D, Singer I, Männer M, Rust P, Genser D, Wagner KH, Elmadfa I. B-vitamin status and concentrations of homocysteine in Austrian omnivores, vegetarians and vegans. Ann Nutr Metab. 2006;50(6):485-91.

9. Herrmann W, Schorr H, Obeid R, Geisel J. Vitamin B-12 status, particularly holotranscobalamin II and methylmalonic acid concentrations, and hyperhomocysteinemia in vegetarians. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jul;78(1):131-6.

www.thepaleodiet.com
Colon Cleanse

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Alternative Medicine, Athletes, B-12, Carbohydrates, Diet, Dietary, Evolution, Exercise, Fat, Fat-loss, Fitness, Health, Metabolism, Nutrients, Nutrition, Overweight, Paleo, Protein, Sports, Supplements, Vegans, Vitamins, Wellness

Move Over Fish Oil – Vegans Bring in the Spirulina

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:27:39 +0000

For all those vegans (and non-vegans) out there who are hesitant to supplement with fish oil there’s an even better solution for you.
It’s called spirulina and it is one of the most incredible foods our planet has to offer. Spirulina is a blue-green algae. Spirulina usually grows in waters of lakes naturally alkaline localized in arid zones.
Spirulina has unparalleled health benefits (explained later) and is an incredibly sustainable food source. For instance, according the journal Human Nature, spirulina presents a fast reproduction rate, dividing itself three times a day! Therefore, an area exclusively aimed at spirulina growth may produce 125 times more protein if compared to an area of the same size aimed at growing corn and 70 times more protein if compared to the breeding of cattle.
Furthermore, the spirulina presents some advantages in relation to other algae and seaweeds such as presenting no problems with digestion and no toxicity to humans. This can’t be said for other seaweeds such as Chlorella.
Spirulina – the omega-3 food choice for vegans!
Now let’s get to the good stuff. If you’re a vegan and looking for an alternative to fish then spirulina is what you want. This is because algaes, like spirulina, are athe original source of omega-3 fatty acids. Algaes are what small, bottom-feeding fish consume. These fish are then eaten by larger ones, and then eventually by humans. Cold water fish, which are well-known for their omega-3 fatty acids, owe their “omega-3 fame” to the consumption algaes such as spirulina, even if indirectly.
Here are some more incredible nutritional characteristics of spirulina. For starters, spirulina is the probably the highest vegetarian protein source consisting of 60-70% protein! It is also rich in chlorophyll and carotenoids, vitamins (vitamin A, especially) and tons of important minerals from deep in the seabed. An important note (especially for vegetarians and vegans) is that spirulina is a terrific source of vitamin B12 and iron.
Iron is the most common mineral deficiency in the world. Since spirulina contains high iron concentrations its bioavailability has been tested in comparison to ferrous sulfate which is the typical iron supplement. One such comparison was revealed in the journal Nutrition Research, spirulina fed rats absorbed 60% more iron than rats fed the iron supplement!
So next time someone asks you where you’re getting your protein, iron, or B12 from just tell them you’re eating an incredible blue-green powder called spirulina.
Aside from human breast milk and evening primrose oil, spirulina is the only food source rich in gamma linoleic acid (GLA). The GLA content comprises 25% of the total polyunsaturated fatty acid content of spirulina, a number that is much higher than the GLA content of evening primrose oil (only 7%)!
The Importance of GLA
GLA is essential fatty acid that has numerous benefits to the body. Along with omega-3 fatty acids, GLA has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Both are excellent skin fatty acids for preventing and treating eczema, psoriasis, wrinkles, rashes and more. Research has confirmed that GLA has positive effects in breast cancer treatment; they enhance lubrication in those with Sjogren’s syndrome; help relieve PMS symptoms, breast pain, skin conditions (including eczema and psoriasis, and wrinkles), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children; improve cardiovascular health, mental health; and much more!
A British study published in 2000 observed women who had locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer (when cancer cells spread elsewhere in the body). They found that women with breast cancer who were taking Tamoxifen (a drug that blocks estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer) and received GLA demonstrated faster clinical response than those taking Tamoxifen alone. Study participants received 3 grams of GLA. The researchers concluded that GLA was a useful adjunct to primary Tamoxifen treatment with no serious side effects: “… this study suggests high-dose oral GLA to be a valuable new agent in the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer.”
Spirulina’s Effects on Blood Lipids and Cholesterol
Numerous studies on rats have shown that spirulina has powerful effects on blood lipids and cholesterol. Almost all these studies show a reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and fat deposits in the arteries upon consuming spirulina.
A human study investigating the cholesterol-lowering effect of spirulina published in Nutrition Reports International looked at 30 male volunteers who had mild hyperlipidemia and mild hypertension. They were divided into two groups. Group A subjects were given spirulina at 4.2 g/day and group B subjects the same amount of spirulina for 4 weeks and, then were observed for the next 4 weeks without spirulina.
The results showed a statistically significant reduction of LDL-cholesterol in Group A subjects after 8 weeks. The LDL-cholesterol also fell significantly in Group B subjects after 4 weeks of spirulina consumption, but thereafter increased to its baseline value after administration of spirulina was discontinued.
Anti-Cancer and Anti-Radioactive Properties of Spirulina
Several animal studies have shown that spirulina inhibits tumor and protects the body from cancer propagation.
There are also unpublished reports from scientists and doctors about the radioprotective effect of spirulina in experiments conducted on child victims of the Chernobyl radiation. In a study involving 49 children, 3-7 years old, in Beryozovka, administration of spirulina for 45 days resulted in an increase in T-cell suppressors and beneficial hormones. In addition, the radioactivity of the urine decreased in 83% of the children!
These are just some of the powerful benefits and healing powers possessed by spirulina. So whether or not you supplement with fish oil, I would highly recommend spirulina as an addition to your diet for lifelong health, strength, and vigor!
References:
Furst PT. Spirulina – a nutricious alga, once a staple of Aztec diet, could feed many of the world hungry people. Human Nature 1978;3:60.
Nakaya N, Honma Y, Goto Y (1988) Cholesterol lowering effect of Spirulina Nutr. Rep. Int. 37: 1329-1337.
Johnson P, Shubert LE (1986) Availability of iron to rats from Spirulina, a blue-green alga. Nutr. Res. 6: 85-94.

lake district cottages

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: B12, Blue-green Algae, Cancer, Fish Oil, GLA, Iron, Omega 3, Protein, Spirulina, Vitamins, Yuri

Vitamin B12 Deficiency, Often Seen in Vegans, Causes Low Energy

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:20:37 +0000

Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, and hence it’s other name, cobalamin. Like all the B vitamins, it plays many key roles in the body. It is required for energy production and red blood cell formation, as well as for proper nervous system development and maintenance. B12 has been shown to improve memory and promote a healthy heart, as well as to prevent infertility in men. It also works as a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic, and is involved in immune function.
New research shows success with B12 and managing cancer, especially in blocking the development of tumors. It also helps to relieve fatigue, depression and poor concentration. It is associated with lower levels of homocysteine in the blood, which has been shown to be good for lowering the risk of heart disease and perhaps also that of Alzheimer’s.
B12 is also important in the production of myelin, the covering that insulates nerve fibers and keeps electrical impulses moving in your body.
Extra Vitamin B12 Requirements
Research shows that the elderly are often low in B12, either because of not getting enough in the diet or poor absorption. In fact, deficiencies are more likely to be associated with a failure to properly absorb B12, which can happen in the elderly as their digestion system functions less well. Long-term use of various drugs, including cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs and oral contraceptives also seems to deplete body of Vitamin B12. This vitamin is largely supplied in animal foods, so vegetarians, especially vegans, often become deficient, although it does take a long time to deplete the B12 stores in the body.
Deficiency Symptoms of B12
Deficiency of B12 can result in pernicious anemia and various problems with your nervous system, such as memory loss, confusion, loss of balance, and more. Pernicious anemia is characterized by low energy levels, poor skin color, listlessness and being short of breath. Some other symptoms include heart palpitations, tinnitius, dizziness, poor resistance to infection and dementia . B12 deficiency has also been linked to multiple sclerosis-type symptoms, probably because of its function of helping to produce the myelin nerve sheaths. When B12 deficiency occurs over a long period of time, it can cause both nerve degeneration and irreversible neurological damage, so if you suspect a B12 deficiency, you want to have it checked right away.
Food Sources of Vitamin B12
B12 is found primarily in meat, eggs and dairy products. It can be found in seaweeds and algae, as well as in fermented soy products like miso, but studies have shown that the B12 in plant foods is just not a reliable source of B12. The best food sources of vitamin B12 are definitely all animal sources, which is why it is crucial that vegans supplement. Some of the best sources include seafood like cooked oysters, king crab, herring, salmon, and clams. It’s also found in cheese, poultry, yogurt, eggs, organ meats and nutritional yeast. If you decide to supplement, we recommend only a natural B complex source, especially over the long term, so as to avoid other problems with B vitamin imbalances.

Karen Pijuan is the owner of several health-related websites and has written numerous articles about healthy living, whole food supplements, natural weight loss and more. Find out more by visiting EcoViva or The Truth About Vitamins.
Learn and Master Guitar

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Vitamin, Vitamin B12, Vitamins

Vegans At Risk Of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:34 +0000

When it comes to getting lots of vitamins and minerals in their diet, vegetarians and vegans are generally more successful than the average omnivore. After all, they consume more fruits and vegetables than the general public.
Where they do sometimes fall short is with nutrients found mainly in animal products, like vitamin B12. Vegans in particular need to look into the possibility of taking a supplement to be sure they’re getting what they need.
What Does Vitamin B12 Do?
Vitamin B 12 is essential for healthy living. Its main functions involve the formation of red blood cells and the maintenance of a healthy nervous system. B 12 is necessary for the timely synthesis of DNA during cell division. This is especially important in tissues where cells are dividing rapidly, particularly the bone marrow tissues responsible for red blood cell formation.
B 12 is also important in maintaining the nervous system. Nerves are surrounded by an insulating fatty sheath which is made of a protein called myelin. B 12 plays a vital role in the metabolism of fatty acids essential to maintain healthy myelin. B 12 deficiency over a long period of time can lead to nerve degeneration and irreversible nerve damage
Reliable sources of vitamin B12 are in animal products like meat, eggs and dairy products. Some research has shown that it also occurs in some kinds of plants, such as seaweeds, an algae called spirula, and fermented soy products. However, recent studies have come to the conclusion that humans cannot process this form of the vitamin, so these are not effective sources of B12 for vegans and vegetarians.
Fortunately, a large number of cereal products are enriched with vitamin B12. Breakfast cereals are an excellent source as well as some enriched breads. By paying attention to the nutrition labels on these kinds of products, it is possible to supplement a diet that is otherwise lacking in B12.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
How will you know if you are deficient in B12? The deficiency can take years to show up in a noticeable way, so if you develop symptoms long after your diet has changed, make sure you get your doctor to check it out. Some of the symptoms that can point to a deficiency are: dizziness, paleness, shortness of breath, fatigue, anemia and hearing problems.
These are early symptoms. If the condition remains untreated the effects are more serious. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause progressive damage to the nervous system, especially the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
When the spinal cord is involved, the first symptoms include difficulty in feeling vibrations in the feet, loss of position sense, and loss of muscle co-ordination. Other advanced symptoms are weight loss, exaggerated reflexes, damage to the optic nerve, hallucinations, personality and mood changes. Eventually those suffering from a deficiency will develop an enlarged spleen and liver.
If all of that has you running out to find the biggest B12 supplement on the market, put the brakes on for a moment. A healthy, young adult should be able to get most of the B12 he or she needs by either eating animal products or enriched cereal products.
A multi-vitamin supplement which includes B12 is a good idea if your diet is limited. As you get older, your body’s ability to absorb B12 from animal sources actually decreases. So supplements become more important after the age of 50.

The vitamins and supplements portal owned by Mike Selvon contains more great tips on vegans and vitamin b12. Why not visit us to educate yourself further and leave a comment at our vitamins and supplements blog.
Make Money with Google

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Supplements, Vitamin B12, Vitamins, Vitamins And Supplements

Why You Should Take a Daily Nutritional Supplement?

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:18:55 +0000

Wouldn’t you like to improve your health? Did you know that a daily nutritional supplement can change your life and improve your health tremendously? What you ingest in your body makes a huge difference in how you feel and how your body responds to fighting disease. Due to lifestyles we live and the foods we eat these days we done get the proper nutrients our bodies need to be healthy.
Daily nutritional supplements have able to help treat many conditions and diseases. They can give more energy and vitality to your body so that you feel a sense of overall wellbeing. They can help with things like stress, fatigue, colds, flu, and insomnia. It can help balance and clear up your mind, so many people don’t realize the potential and capabilities of the brain. When you have an overall healthier state of mind your body just automatically feels better. Having a positive attitude and a healthy mind set can increase the effect of the supplement you are taking and you can get the max benefit from them.
Certain people have higher than normal nutritional requirements. People who are pregnant need to take supplements. Those that is high in folic acid and iron. Folic acid reduces the incidence of defects in newborns and iron can prevent anemia that can cause weakness and fatigue in the mother to be. Vegetarians and vegans need to take a supplement as well. They normally lack B-12 which is important for creating red blood cells. If your not taking in any dairy products like vegans do then a calcium supplements may be required to protect their bones. Not eating any meat will cause low iron so taking an iron supplement may be required to get the proper amount needed.
Premenopausal women need to take iron as well, women lose iron in their menstrual cycles every month. People who have a diet that consists of convenience foods and fast foods are very unhealthy and don’t get the nutritional requirements that they need. If your on a diet that restricts your calorie intake you may be cutting out some very important nutrients that you need. Taking a multi vitamin will ensure that you’re still getting everything you need to be healthy and not adding calories to your diet.
Taking a daily nutritional supplement or multivitamin is not a substitute for eating the proper nutrients you get from fruits and veggies. It will help you get more of nutrients that are needed but replace them. Taking a daily supplement can help the aging process, metabolism, digestive, system, and chemical imbalances. It can help with stress and increases energy. It strengthens the immune system and can promote proper growth and development of body tissues, muscles, bones, nails, and teeth, not to mention hormones.
Alterative Health Supplements offers a great daily nutritional supplement called MyDailyDose by Urban Nutrition. It can and will change you health for a feel better new you. It starts working the first time you take it and is combined with minerals that make sure that the body absorbs and utilizes the vitamins and minerals properly in the supplement.

Student Aid

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Colds, Daily Nutritional Supplements, Fatigue, Menstrual Cycle, Minerals, My Daily Dose, Stress, Vitamins

Dr. Mark Hyman Shares Information On Nutrition, Toxins And Vitamins

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:45:28 +0000

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s The Healthiest Year of Your Life Program which can be found at http://www.thehealthiestyearof.com http://yourlife.com. In this excerpt, Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D. weighs in nutrition, toxins and finding the right the vitamins.The Healthiest Year of Your Life Excerpt with Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D., a best-selling author, a respected medical consultant and a leader in the field of functional medicine. Kevin: Let’s talk about a little bit about the raw food and vegan diet and how it fits into this type of functional medicine.Mark: Sure. I think everybody is different and I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all diet. Some people thrive on a vegetarian diet. Other people are extraordinarily sick on a vegan or vegetarian diet. I’ve had many patients on raw foods and vegan diets who are extraordinarily malnourished. Then I’ve seen people who manage it quite well.
I think you have to look at what’s right for each person. So I don’t think that any general recommendations are helpful. I also think it depends on where you live. If you’re living in Manitoba, a raw food diet is probably not the best thing. If you’re living on the island in Fiji, you probably could thrive on a raw food diet. It’s also think locally, eat locally. I think it’s a very important thing. What’s local? What’s native to your area? What’s going on with your own biology and genetics and body. I think you have to be careful if you’re doing a raw food, or vegan diet. It’s easy to become malnourished and you have to supplement, I believe, with nutrients and really be smart about it.Kevin: Anything specific?Mark: What I would say is that probably 90% of your diet should be a plant-based diet. Whether it’s cooked or uncooked, I think Michael Pollan said, “Eat food, meaning real food.” Not too much and mostly plants. Plant foods have all the phytochemicals and nutrients and things that your body needs to thrive and without them you don’t. The phytochemicals that are from colorful fruits and vegetables in plant foods that are essential for life.Kevin: What are some of the most potent toxins that you encounter?Mark: I would say probably without a doubt, the most serious threat to our health in terms of toxins is mercury. It’s something I see and treat every day that affects, I would say, the majority of my patients in one way or another. It’s important to identify. It’s mostly ignored and it’s relatively easy and safe to treat.Kevin: Anything else?Mark: Well, I think the rest of it is all common sense. We should be eating food that’s organic whenever we can. We should stay away from hormones, pesticides and antibiotics and any animal products. There are over 3500 food additives added to our food supply. There’s no reason that we need to be eating anything other than food.Kevin: Yeah. What I like about your books and your programs is that you give real world examples of things working. What are some of your favorite stories, or favorite successes?Mark: Well, I have many, many of them. One of them was a doctor who had been sick for 30 years and had chronic fatigue and heavy metal poisoning. She was overweight, had diabetes, couldn’t sleep. She was depressed and not able to function anymore. She had some very deep issues and we detoxified her and used heavy metal detoxification, used intravenous glutathione, sauna therapy, a whole integrated approach and she recently performed in a triathlon, which is fantastic for someone who could barely get out of bed. So that was a very gratifying experience.
I’d seen another woman who had severe depression for 30 years and when we detoxified her she got better.. Another young girl who was unable to focus or concentrate on multiple psychiatric medications, but with sauna therapy and intravenous treatment for toxicity, as well as oral treatment, she did phenomenally well and said to me the other day, “Dr. Hyman, I had not even been able to read a magazine or book in seven years and I feel I have myself back and I wake up every day happy and alive, where I thought it was going to kill myself.”Kevin: Wow. You mentioned glutathione. Can you explain what that is for people who don’t know?Mark: Yeah. The body had its own system for detoxifying and the major force in that system is glutathione. It is the body’s major detoxifier and it’s made from a number of amino acids, glutamine, systene and lysine that are eaten in our food, mostly in sulfur containing foods, such as whey protein or eggs, garlic, and the broccoli family. It’s critical in the detoxification process, as well as the major antioxidants and it’s also involved in immune function and inflammation, but what happens is that because of our overwhelming toxic load and because half of us have a gene that makes us not too able to actually do this, then we become depleted in glutathione. So we have to learn, one, that if we are and two, we have to actually do a lot of things to boost our own glutathione levels, which we can do through diet, eating broccoli and collards and the whole cruciferous family and the garlic family, if you’re taking herbs or using various supplements, like vitamin C, selenium, zinc and systene and lypoic acid and a number of other things. So all of these things are ways we can actually help the body detoxify.Kevin: What do you think about the philosophy of intuitive eating? Do you think there’s some ground to that, that your body knows what to eat and when to eat it?Mark: Well, certainly that’s true of animals, right? And it’s certainly true of babies. They self regulate. I think we have to recognize that our bodies have innate wisdom and that if we provide things which are naturally supportive of our body’s physiology, it will self regulate. I think that when we get off of the toxic foods, these are extraordinarily addictive kinds of substances and the additives and sugars and high fructose corn syrup and trans fats, our bodies self regulate very well.Kevin: Now, I want to talk about some of the things that you’ve covered in some of your books, like feed reactive protein and homocysteine and those effects on health. I think it’s kind of important to know what those are and what someone can do to recognize if they have high levels of them.Mark: Right. What I do talk about in all The Seven Chis to Ultra Wellness and in my books are how to look at each systems. One of the tests you can do if you think you have a problem, so if you take the quiz and you find you have an issue in one or a different area, what do you do about it and there are a lot of different tests I use. You mentioned two I talked about, but it certainly doesn’t mean that there are only two. One is called feed reactive protein and it’s a non-specific type of test that measures inflammation. So it’s a very good marker of generalized inflammation in your body. If it’s high it tells you that something is wrong. It doesn’t tell you what it’s from, but it tells you there’s something wrong. It will then drive you to look for something. The second thing is that inflammation can also relate to toxicity, but it’s often another allergen or infection, or dietary things, sugar and so forth.
Homocysteine is a marker of a level of folic acid and also a function that we call, methylation, in your body and there’s two things are required for detoxification. One is sulfation, which is the process of moving around sulfur molecules and producing glutathione and any other is methylation, which is moving around of carbon and free hydrogen. That is a key function in the body that is involved in every chemical reaction and in order for you to have a proper methylation system, you have to have adequate levels of folate, B6 and B12 and if you’re homocysteine is high, it’s an indicator that you may be deficient and you may have some problems in this area. It’s very easy to treat by getting really, really very good quality folate in special forms, as well as adequate levels of B6 and B12.Kevin: Is there a way that the consumer can figure out what’s the best quality supplement?Mark: Yeah. I think there’s generally a couple of things I should say about this. First, there’s no regulation in this industry. So it’s up to self policing of these companies to determine whether not they’re actually going to put what they say on the label in the bottle, or whether they’re going to put other things in there that are toxic. There are ways of finding out how these companies do their manufacturing. Do they send their products out for third-party analysis to look for impurities, toxins, as well as the active ingredients? Do they use fillers and additives and shellacs and petrochemicals and colors and dyes in the supplements?
In other words, if you’re taking some of the common multivitamins that are blue and pink, why do you want to be taking blue dye for the rest of your life, if you’re taking a multivitamin? It’s just common sense with some of these things and then there’s generally different places these are sold. For example, in large places like Wal-Mart and Costco they only have poor quality brands and then there will be the drugstore brands and then there will be the health food brands, which are generally better and from smaller companies and then there’s the professional brands, which is what I use, which are really designed for medical and nutritional therapy and they’re a little bit harder to get, but you can get them from various pharmacists and doctors.Kevin: Great. Well, I do want to wrap up by talking a little bit more about The Ultra Simple Diet.Mark: Well, The Ultra Simple Diet was something that I wrote almost as an add-on to my book, Ultra Metabolism and I realized that people needed a quick start and I basically just put together iwhat I’ve learned in my practice over the last 15 years working with people and doing these programs with them on an individual basis and what I found was really profoundly effective. It’s very clear, very simple, laid out step-by-step what to do to help your body take a break and the reason that I designed it this way and that I encourage people to do it is that most people don’t know how bad they feel, number one and number two, that this is a relatively simple thing that anybody can do. It’s not a fasting program, but it is a powerful detoxification program, so you can continue your life without having to stop and go to an island and drink juice all day. I think that it’s extraordinarily effective in helping people connect how bad they feel with what they’re eating and their behaviors, which most people don’t do.. They think that their symptoms and how they feel is sort of random. It’s unrelated to what they’re doing and the choices that they’re making, but it’s not and they have full control over it and when they do this program and anybody can do anything for a week, then they make the connection and see how they are acting and how they feel and then they can make a choice. Do I want to feel like this, or not?

safety procedures

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: Detoxification, Food, Health, Nutrition, Raw, Toxins, Vitamins