Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (161 page)

Promote radiant skin and prevent wrinkling

Increase your metabolism and help stabilize blood sugar

Support your vision

A good supplement provides nutritional support in four basic cate gories: antioxidants, omega-3 fats, B vitamins, and minerals. (See the table on page 742 for a list of important nutrients from each category.) Providing specific information for every vitamin or mineral on this list would take an entire library, but I will cover the basics.

Antioxidants

Sometimes referred to as “antiagers,” antioxidants help protect the body at the cellular level by ridding it of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that are released when you eat poorly, are under considerable amounts of stress, and are exposed to environ mental pollutants, as well as through normal body functions. Smoking of all kinds (including marijuana), drinking alcohol, taking drugs, drinking caffeine, and eating high-glycemic-index foods are all stressful for the body and produce free radical damage. If left unchecked, free radicals can damage cell membranes and change the way DNA is expressed, thus accelerating aging and putting your health at risk. The most common antioxidants are vitamins A, C, and E, although there are many others, including glutathione, coenzyme Q10, and alpha lipoic acid. One of my all-time favorites is oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC). Often called pycnogenol, it’s made from grape seeds or pine bark. Many people have taken it successfully to reduce arthritis symptoms because of its anti-inflammatory properties. And since OPC enhances the suppleness of collagen throughout the body, it’s also good for hair, skin, and nails. Antioxidants work together synergistically—thus OPC also boosts the body’s vitamin E levels, which can thwart free radical damage, such as oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol. (See the box for a note on vitamin E.) This in turn helps protect the cardiovascular system and boost the immune system. For those who have inflammation problems, start off with approximately 1 mg of OPC per pound of body weight in divided doses throughout the day. For example, a 140-pound woman would start with about 140 mg of OPC (40–50 mg three times per day with meals) for two weeks to load the tissues. (Tablet size varies, so shoot for a daily loading dose that’s within 20–30 mg of your total weight in pounds.) After that, you can reduce the dose to 30–90 mg per day. Take more or less depending upon the amount your body requires. (Many brands of OPC are available at natural food stores. I use Proflavanol brand from USANA Health Sciences.)

VITAMIN E IS SAFE AND IMPORTANT

A 2005 study presented at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans by Edgar Miller, III, M.D., Ph.D., and co-workers received a totally overblown amount of publicity and scared people into thinking that vitamin E isn’t safe. Just the opposite is true. Dr. Miller’s study, which was a meta-analysis of previous studies—many of which were small and dissimilar—suggested that high-dose vitamin E supplementation may increase mortality in adults.
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Many studies that could have been included in the analysis were eliminated because total mortality rates were low. And many of the studies that were included were conducted with older adults who already had advanced chronic degenerative disease. In other words, most studies that Dr. Miller in cluded were not conducted on normal, healthy adults. And he left out many of the studies showing the most benefit for vitamin E! Many of the studies he did include were small, involving fewer than a thousand people. More important, only the smaller studies showed significant adverse effects. None of the larger (and therefore more powerful) studies, involving several thousand subjects each, showed a statistically significant impact on mortality of vitamin E supplementation. Moreover, the researchers’ secondary analysis showed that differences in death rates were statistically insignificant, and that at the highest dose, risk of death was actually lower!

This is a perfect example of how the mainstream media manipulates scientific data in confusing ways. Years of clinical research have shown that vitamin E supplementation is effective and safe.
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For example, the fa mous Nurses’ Health Study, which involved thousands of women over many years, showed that vitamin E from supplementation (but not from food) reduced the risk of heart attack by 30 percent.
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In the Iowa women’s study, it was associated with a significant reduction in bowel cancer.
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Vitamin E has also been shown to reduce the risk of dementia.
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And a recent study from Tufts showed that this powerful antioxidant slows the development of cataracts.
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Vitamin E should be part of a comprehensive supplementation program.

It’s well worth noting the huge discrepancy between the different nutritional guidelines for these powerful substances. For example, the government’s RDAs for the antioxidants vitamin C (75–90 mg), vitamin E (15 mg), and selenium (0.055 mg) total only about 100 mg a day. But if you follow the advice of the most current USDA dietary guidelines suggesting we eat a classic Mediterranean-style diet rich in fruits and vegetables (five to nine servings daily), whole grains, legumes, and nuts, you’d be consuming roughly 1,500 mg of these antioxidants each day. However, taking into consideration all the current research, the total amount of the various antioxidants we need daily for optimal health is at least 2,000 mg.
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Omega-3 Fats
See page 718–719.

B-Complex Vitamins

The right levels of B vitamins can bolster your energy level and stamina. Women who take birth control pills or hor mone therapy, who are under a lot of stress, or who experience hormonal changes are likely to require additional B vitamins. The liver needs this nutrient to metabolize hormones. When estrogen isn’t metabolized properly, too much of it stays in the bloodstream, especially in relation to progesterone levels, resulting in estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance leads to an imbalance of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, which makes you prone to anxiety, nervous tension, and PMS symptoms. In addition, B vitamins support the adrenal glands, which are often strained during stressful periods.
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Over the past ten years, we’ve learned a lot about the benefits of folic acid, one of the B vitamins. It’s one of the B’s that helps metabolize hormones in the liver. It also can support cardiovascular health by lowering homocysteine levels.
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Many individuals are genetically predisposed to having high homocysteine levels, an independent risk factor for heart disease, and taking enough folic acid (800–1,000 mcg a day) effectively metabolizes homocysteine and eliminates risk.
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Perhaps more important, 800 mcg a day can help prevent birth defects, such as cleft lip, spina bifida, and neural tube defects, when taken before conception. It’s important to take folic acid with the other B vitamins because they work synergistically. Along this same line, research has also shown that taking multivitamins prior to conception significantly reduced the risk of prematurity. It also enhances fertility.
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Minerals

A variety of minerals, but especially calcium and magnesium, are typically associated with bone health, but they’re responsible for so much more. Magnesium, for example, can mitigate neuromuscular pain, lessen the severity and frequency of migraines, and keep your heart healthy. (See “The Wonders of Magnesium,” on page 734.) Further, copper and selenium support the immune system, chromium and vanadium can help stabilize blood sugar, and manganese can boost the antioxidant process. Of course, calcium is needed for strong bones, but it doesn’t act effectively on its own. It needs to be taken along with all the other bone-building minerals, including magnesium, boron, zinc, manganese, and copper. Enough vitamin D must also be present. Most menstruating women need iron. Craving ice is a sign of deficiency. I know—I used to have this symp tom! The usual amount of iron to take is 30 mg per day, and this is espe cially important during pregnancy. The mineral chromium has been found to increase the metabolic rate. Chromium is in short supply in nine out of ten American diets, and it is absolutely essential for normal insulin function.
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Ingestion of 200 mcg of chromium daily has been shown to support optimal blood sugar.
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Sometimes it is necessary to increase chromium up to 1,000 mcg per day in problem cases. Look for it in the form of chromium polynicotinate.

THE ELEMENT IODINE AND HEALTHY THYROID FUNCTION

Healthy metabolism and optimal thyroid function go hand in hand.

Many women have thyroid problems due to iodine deficiency and don’t know it. When iodine levels are ideal (which you can reach by taking between 3–12.5 mg of iodine per day, either in drops, in tablets, or by eating iodine-rich seaweed), metabolism and thyroid function often normalize on their own. However, some women will still need supplemental thyroid hormone. In many cases, supplementing with only T4 (Synthroid) is not enough. You also need T3. You get this by taking prescription thyroid medication containing both T3 and T4 (e.g., Nature-Throid or Armour Thyroid) or by having a compounding pharmacy provide you with the right balance.

When you have your thyroid function tested, your TSH should be 3.0 or below, although some experts (including myself) recommend a limit of 2.5. Higher levels indicate subclinical hypothyroidism. Likewise, if your free T3 and free T4 levels are in the very low range of normal, you might need thyroid supplementation. (See
chapter 14
, and also the discussion of iodine in chapter 10.)

Calcium and the Dairy Foods Question

My siblings and I didn’t drink bottled milk growing up and my children didn’t drink it, either, which many authorities would have you believe meant that we didn’t get adequate calcium. When my sister once told a pediatrician friend that my children didn’t drink milk, her response was, “They’ll die.” This is not a scientific evaluation. It is pure emotion, and a typical response.

My children were breast-fed until almost age two. Human milk, a living, dynamic food, is designed for the optimal growth and development of baby humans. Cow’s milk, very different in composition from human milk, is designed for the optimal growth and development of baby cattle. Children are bigger today than they used to be. Cow’s milk produces rapid growth in children, just as it does in cattle. This is one of the reasons why the American children of relatively small immi grants are so much bigger than their parents. In this country we asso ciate bigger with better.
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