Did You Hear the latest About Vitamins

Last week I read about a couple of vitamin studies conducted recently, and just released. There are millions of Americans that already take at least two vitamins a day, and the varieties are overwhelming. The choices range from A to Z and everything in between.

One of the studies, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, had to do with heart disease in men. They found that vitamins C and E do not seem to protect men from getting heart disease. In addition, in rare cases vitamin E might raise the risk of a bleeding stroke. However I believe that vitamin C and E still are still good anti oxidants that fight free radicals. And in the study, women receiving vitamin E experienced 24% less total cardiovascular disease deaths.

The other study, of interest to women, came out in the Journal of the national Cancer Institute. They found that a daily dose of vitamin D and calcium did not protect women against invasive breast cancer.

Originally both studies thought that the opposite might be true. Even though these results are discouraging, they were only single studies and are not the final words on these issues.

Just taking Vitamins or supplements alone are not going to be a magic cure for anything, and new studies come out all the time. There are at least 3 factors that need to be balanced to lead a healthy life. You cannot forget about diet or exercise. In addition heredity also has to be factored into the equation.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen interviewed 4 doctors, and also offered some advice on how to choose the right vitamins.

The male doctors both took a multivitamin and Vitamin D, and one also took magnesium, and one to increase cellular health and function like Co-Q-10.

The male doctors advised men not to take iron unless their doctor says they have a deficiency, and men taking calcium supplements could increase the risk of prostate cancer.

On the female side both took calcium and vitamin D, and Fish oil/Omega3. Also on the list were coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant and magnesium, and one took a multivitamin as an insurance policy for disease prevention.

What not to take for postmenopausal women was iron (too much might pose a heart risk) and beautiful skin vitamins really were not much help, it's much better to get the nutrients from your diet, drink water, and wear sunscreen.

Check out the resource list on this blog along with these sites for more information:

Natl Library of Medicine's info page
NIH Fact Sheet

Mayo Clinic info center

Can E Vitamins Help With Diabetes Also?

In researching ways to help control diabetes I ran across some nutritional supplements that may help control blood sugar and help manage diabetes. One of them is Vitamin E.

Vitamin E has been known for its antioxidant abilities, which seem to reduce the free radical damage that causes the complications of diabetes, like heart disease and nerve damage, which can lead to blindness and amputation. Research shows that daily nutritional supplements of vitamin E can really reduce the damage in diabetics that later on leads to cardiovascular disease. Seventy percent of deaths from diabetes are related to damaged and clogged arteries.

Recent studies have not confirmed vitamin E effectiveness in preventing cardiovascular disease, but most experts still believe it still may. From the FDA's website: "Some scientific evidence suggests that consumption of antioxidant vitamins may reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer. However, FDA has determined that this evidence is limited and not conclusive." There is also evidence suggesting specific benefit in managing diabetes.

Ishwarlal Jialal, MD, PhD, professor of internal medicine and pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas found that giving 1,200 IU of E Vitamins a day to people with diabetes greatly reduced the tendency of LDL cholesterol to begin creating a buildup of fat and other debris on artery walls.

Since it's impossible to get such large amounts of E from your diet, "it's not unreasonable to take an E supplement," he says. Diabetes experts recommend 600 IU of E a day.

There are two types of vitamin E, natural (d-alpha tocopherol) and synthetic (dl-alpha tocopherol). Milligram for milligram, natural is more potent, so it takes less to get the same benefit. Vitamin E can be found in single ingredient supplements, multivitamins, and herbal preparations. But large doses are generally found as single-ingredient nutritional supplements.

The National Institute of Health lists good ways to get Vitamin E from foods. In addition food manufacturers fortify many products with vitamins and minerals. It is important to read the nutrition facts panel of the food label to determine whether a food provides vitamin E. Here is a short list from National Institutes of Health of foods containing vitamin e:

Wheat germ
Corn
Nuts
Seeds
Olives
Spinach and other green leafy vegetables
Asparagus
Vegetable oils -- corn, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed
Products made from these foods, such as margarine, also contain vitamin E.

P.S. I almost forgot. If you would like to check out more supplements online, click here

R U Serious About Aging Gracefully and Antioxidant Supplements

All nutritional health supplements tackle the free radical component of aging through the use of antioxidants.

One of the most potent antioxidants on the market today is L-Glutathione. However, this is not a cure all ingredient. It needs to be backed up by a wide range of other powerful antioxidants. The synergy created as these age defying nutrients interact together at the molecular level create far more potent results in neutralizing more free radicals and bringing their production back more acceptable levels.

Here’s a list of the most potent antioxidants which you need backing up L-Glutathione in your supplement: N-Acetyl, L-Cysteine, Lutein, L-Carnosine, Green Tea Extract, Ginkgo Biloba, alpha lipoic acid, lutein, bilberry and grape extract.

Keep in mind that free radicals are ONLY ONE of the four primary causes of aging so there is a lot more that a supplement has to tackle to truly address the anti aging issue and protect you from degenerative disease. The others are Glycation, Methylation, and Inflammation.

Anti Aging and Supplements

That word ‘anti aging’ has been used in all kinds of media for years now. Lately it seems that it has become just another marketing buzz word. Everywhere I look there is another commercial promoting some form of ‘anti aging’ product.

From a business marketing point of view the term ‘anti aging’ simply means looking and feeling younger in some way or to some degree and ‘anti aging’ has basically become nothing more than a valuable brand through which businesses can increase sales.

With nutritional science constantly evolving and promising ‘better and better’ results, people are spending increasing amounts of their disposable income in the hunt for stronger anti aging properties.

What do we mean by ‘anti-aging’? The term ‘Anti Aging’ has evolved to represent a number of different common meanings depending upon whether you’re dealing with the medical, scientific or business communities.

While we cannot reverse the aging process, we can get it to be more normal. When it comes to the word ‘reverse’ (certain) supplements can undo (to varying degrees) the effects of degenerative and age-related disease and technically speaking, make some people feel and look younger.

The market’s best nutritional health and vitamin supplements are also believed to be able to improve damaged DNA. This goes far beyond their abilities to simply limit oxidative damage to DNA with antioxidants. This actually repairs damage that has already occurred.

This is an area that leading industry experts are focusing on today. Find a way to clinically prove that supplements actually do repair damaged DNA. Presently science can slow down and normalize your aging process, and bring it back more natural.

We also need to remember that anti aging is relative to the times we live in and the way in which we are now aging. In other words it is linked to current environmental, emotional and dietary/nutritional stressors which are impacting our aging processes.

The bottom line here is that the daily effects of these stressors has resulted in a speeding up or pre mature aging process for an overwhelming majority of the population.

We read the ever increasing statistics for degenerative disease like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke etc. and know that these diseases are happening at earlier ages.From the point of view of nutritional health, vitamin supplements CAN create significant anti aging benefits for the user.

Overall your supplements must be capable of using Antioxidants to reduce and control your free radical production, preventing Glycation which leads to Aging, balancing Methylation for Healthy DNA, and reducing Chronic Inflammation which contributes to degeneration.

The tricky part is that these components are all interdependent on each other. So it’s all about balancing the effects of all of these aging agents.