Monday, April 9, 2007

Vitamin B12 Deficiency - 5 Warning Signs


Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is an essential building block of
DNA and is key to the maintenance of our body's genes. In this
role, it is an important element in ensuring the proper function
of the nervous system and maintaining a healthy hematological
profile.

A proper diet and good nutrition is almost always sufficient to
prevent B12 deficiency. The vitamin is naturally found in high
protein foods such as meat, eggs, fish and dairy. In addition,
those who regularly take a multivitamin are not likely to need
extra vitamin B12 supplementation. However, ensuring enough
B12 is ingested is important given that the body does not
easily store the vitamin.

There is a high incidence of B12 deficiency in a few select
groups. First, vegetarians or vegans who completely avoid
animal based foods are at risk. Children who follow strict
vegetarian diets absent of dairy products are particularly
susceptible to low levels of the vitamin. Also, it is
estimated that a high percentage of the elderly have some level
of B12 deficiency. This is because as we age, our ability to
extract and absorb B12 from food-based protein sources
diminishes. Also, seniors are more likely to have digestive
problems, a degraded stomach lining, or have gone through some
form of gastro-intestinal surgery. This contributes to the
possibility of deficiency among this population. Finally,
large amounts of alcohol and caffeine have been shown to
decrease the ability of the body to absorb the vitamin.

It is important to recognize the 5 warning signs of B12
deficiency.

1.Stomach pain or digestive issues
2.Fatigue and weakness
3.Loss of sensation or tingling in lower extremities
4.Impaired cognitive function or dementia
5.Depression, irritability or moodiness

Stomach pain may be a symptom of pernicious anaemia, a
condition where the immune system hinders the process by which
the digestive system is able to absorb B12. This results in
the premature death of red blood cells. The fatigue and
weakness that often accompanies low levels of the vitamin are
also caused by anaemia.

Given the importance of B12 to neurological function, a
deficiency may result in several brain function issues such as
the last three warning signs mentioned above. Given a
predisposition to B12 deficiency in those over 50, the loss of
cognitive function, moodiness and irritability is often blamed
on age as opposed to not getting enough of the vitamin. This
is compounded by the fact that impaired mental function and
dementia are often symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Therefore,
something as simple as a dietary gap is often overlooked as a
cause of mental degradation. This is where supplementation with
B12 can result in significant improvements.

Also, it is important to note that the effects of B6 and Folic
Acid in coordination with B12 are collectively more powerful
than just B12 alone. This is because the systems dependent on
B12 also rely on these other substances for proper function.
B12, along with Folic Acid and B6 are necessary to keep
homocysteine in the blood down to healthy levels. Several
studies have shown that increased levels of homocysteine are
associated with greater incidence of heart disease and stroke.
These vitamins can reduce the risk of cardiovascular issues in
that they convert homocysteine to methionine, an amino acid
that is used in a productive manner by cells. In two other
studies, vitamin B12 and folic acid were also shown to have a
role in reducing the number of abnormal, pre-cancerous
bronchial cells in heavy smokers.

The primary form of B12 used as a nutritional supplement is
cyanocobalamin. However, it is important to note that the
absorption of B12 is much higher when the source is food based
as opposed to via supplementation. While for extreme cases of
deficiency, vitamin B12 is available via prescription as an
injection or nasal gel, most supplementation is as part of a
multivitamin, delivered as a pill, sublingual tablet, or
lozenge. The Recommended Daily Intake of B12 is 6 micrograms
(mcg), even though supplements will often deliver as much as 30
mcg. Despite the wide range of dosage options, most healthy
adults only need 3 mcg each day. Additionally, B12 taken
orally is well tolerated by most and there have been no
documented cases of overdose or toxicity associated with the
supplement. While occurring infrequently, the side effects of
B12 include rash, hives and itching. Those who take any of the
following medications may be at risk for B12 deficiency in that
they have been shown to hinder absorption: Antibiotics, Proton
Pump Inhibitors Cholestyramine, H2 blockers, Metformin, and
Potassium Chloride. Calcium supplementation may also assist the
body in its ability to absorb B12.

If you feel that you may be at risk of vitamin b12 deficiency,
or are exhibiting any warning signs, go see your doctor
immediately for more information. Aside from those with
extreme medical conditions, the rest of us can easily ensure
that we are getting enough of the nutrients essential to health
by taking a well-formulated multivitamin.

About The Author: Want to learn more about the best
multivitamins and the role of other supplements? Visit us at
http://www.naturalfitsupplements.com/

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What Are The Seven Dietary Guidelines For Americans?

Promoting health and preventing disease have a lot to do with
one's diet. The Food and Nutrition Information Center of the
United States Department of Agriculture laid out seven dietary
guidelines for people above the age of two years old regarding
intelligent food choices that promote health and prevent
disease.

These guidelines are:

1. Consume different varieties of food.

Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals can foster disease in
your body. It is important that you consume different types of
food so that your body can get a good spread of all the
necessary vitamins and minerals.

2. Perform physical activity in proportion with the amount of
food that you are taking in.

Balancing the food that you consume with corresponding physical
activity to burn off the energy is extremely important in
maintaining a healthy weight. You will gain weight if you
consume more calories than what you burn off through your
physical activities.

3. Include a lot of grain products, vegetables, and fruits in
your diet.

Fiber, vitamins, and minerals are essential for your health and
well-being. By eating a different variety of grain products,
vegetables, and fruits you will be feeding your body the
essential elements that it needs.

4. Eat foods that are low in fat, saturated fat, and
cholesterol.

Foods high in cholesterol and saturated fat are amongst the
biggest killers in our society today. Eating foods that are
low in fat content is important if you do not want to have a
heart attack in your future. Do not avoid all kinds of fat.
Your body does need some fat to function properly. Unsaturated
fats are the best type to consume.

5. Only allow a moderate amount of sugars in your diet.

Sugars are high in calories and many of the foods that we eat
already contain sugar. These can be sugars that occur
naturally in fruits or that are added during the manufacturing
process. Watching your sugar intake will help you avoid
gaining unnecessary weight.

6. Only include a moderate amount of salt and sodium in your
diet.

Scientific studies suggest that a high amount of salt and
sodium intake could increase your blood pressure. When this
occurs it could lead to serious and sometimes fatal health
risks.

7. Consume alcoholic beverages in moderation, if you consume
them at all.

There are almost no nutrients in alcoholic beverages and yet
these drinks contain a lot of calories. Excess consumption of
alcohol could lead to serious health problems in addition to
the social and relationship problems that it also causes.

To many people the seven dietary guidelines will sound like
common sense. If it were common sense, one wonders why such a
large percentage of the population is obese.

Following these seven dietary guidelines will help you lead a
more healthy and active life, give you more energy to perform
your daily activities, and improve your general health and
well-being.

About The Author: Tisha Diaz recommends the fat loss and weight
control program at http://www.losefatpro.com/ that will help you
get rid of those excess pounds and help you reach and maintain a
healthy body weight.

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A Weight-Loss Supplement The FDA Says Might Really Work

Government regulatory agencies are usually not big fans of
weight-loss supplements. In January 2007, for example, the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined four supplement companies
a total of $25 million for making what the FTC said were
unscientific claims about their weight-loss products.

I'm sensitive to such a slight (even if I think the FTC was
right in this case) because I'm the co-author of a book about
science-backed vitamin and herbal supplements that can aid
weight loss, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy (Broadway, 2007).

I wrote the book with Harry Preuss, MD, a professor at
Georgetown University Medical Center, a researcher with more
than 300 scientific studies to his credit, a nutritionist, and
a world-class expert in using natural remedies for weight-loss.

Dr. Preuss and I were very careful to present only the
vitamins, herbs and food factors that study after study shows
can safely and effectively help you lose weight—by gently
boosting metabolism…or slowing the body's fat-making
machinery…or reducing appetite…or building calorie-burning
muscle…or blocking the absorption of fats and carbohydrates.

The natural remedies featured in the book include (get ready
for a barrage of acronyms):

• EGCG (green tea extract)
• CLA (conjugated linoleic acid)
• HCA (hydroxycitric acid)
• MCT (medium-chain triglycerides)
• Chromium
• Chitosan and other soluble fibers
• 5-HTP (5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan)
• HMB

And there's one more weight-loss remedy on that list. It's a
natural substance so effective, that the FDA has given
permission for products containing it to include on their
labels the fact that the supplement works.

The ingredient is a carbohydrate digestive enzyme inhibitor, or
what is more commonly known as a starch-blocker.

Extracted from white kidney beans, it works by blocking the
action of alpha amylase, the digestive enzyme that breaks down
starch in the intestines. The result: it prevents a portion of
the carbohydrates in any high-carb food (like pasta, bread or
potatoes) from being absorbed.

And that's a good thing if your diet includes lots of refined
carbohydrates from white bread and white flour, which are often
stored in the body as fat. With carb-blockers, you can have your
cake (or at least an occasional slice) and eat it too.

In 2005, Dr. Preuss helped conduct a 1-month Italian study on
carb-blockers. The researchers gave either starch-blockers or a
placebo to 60 overweight but healthy people, aged 25 to 45, who
ate a carbohydrate-rich diet of 2000- to 2500-calories a day.
Their weight was measured at the beginning and end of the
1-month study.

The people taking the starch blockers lost 10 times more weight
than the people taking the placebo—6.6 pounds, compared to 0.6.

A year earlier, researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine
found that dieters taking a starch-blocker lost twice as much
weight as people taking a placebo.

In both cases, the researchers were studying Phase 2, a
starch-blocker ingredient used in many brands, like Carb
Intercept from Natrol, Carb Shredder from Vitamin Shoppe, Carbo
Tame from Jarrow Formulas, Phase 2 from Now, and Starch Blocker
from CVS.

In November 2006, the FDA told the manufacturers of Phase 2,
Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc., they could use the following two
statements on products containing Phase 2:

May assist in weight control when used in conjunction with a
sensible diet and exercise program, and

May reduce the enzymatic digestion of dietary starches.

If you decide to take a carb-blocker, here are a few helpful
tips from Dr. Preuss. Take it with 8-ounces of water to help
absorb the supplement. Take it with a meal, either right before
or right after. And follow the dosage recommendation on the
label.

And remember that carb-blockers are not miracle pills. (There
are no miracle diet pills.) You can't eat a couple of doughnuts
every day and take carb-blockers and not gain weight.

If you'd like to know more about carb-blockers or any of the
weight-loss supplements mentioned in this article, please take
a look at my book, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy. You can find
out more about it—and my other books on health and healing—at
www.drugfreehealing.com.

About The Author: Yours for better health, Bill Gottlieb,
author The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy and Alternative Cures (1.5
million copies in print) billgottlieb@drugfreehealing.com
http://www.drugfreehealing.com

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Food Pyramid Can Help Structure A Low Cholesterol Diet

Are you ready to improve your heart health and lower your
cholesterol level? Then it's time to starting thinking
seriously about the foods you eat each day. If you're looking
for a diet plan to help you structure your low cholesterol
diet, the food pyramid is a great place to start.

The United States Department of Agriculture has refashioned the
food pyramid of the past into the MyPyramid plan which considers
age, gender and amount of physical activity you get each day.
Still, this pyramid is a good way to know how much of each food
group and what types of foods you need to eat each day to be at
your healthiest.

One of the food groups included in a low cholesterol diet is
made up of the grains you eat. You should make sure that you
eat three ounces of grains each day. Make sure that at least
half of this comes from whole grains. Whole grain products are
those that contain the bran, germ and endosperm of the grain.
The other form of grains are refined grains. The process of
refining removes the grain and bran for a finer texture
product, but also removes many of the nutritional benefits of
grains.

Food Group

Another food group that is important for good heart health is
vegetables. You should eat 2-3 cups of vegetables depending on
your gender and age. Be sure to include more dark green and
orange vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, turnip greens,
squash, sweet potatoes and pumpkins in your diet. Dried beans
and peas are also an important part of a low cholesterol diet.
Good choices include black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans
and black-eyed peas.

Fruits are another good food choice when trying to lower your
cholesterol. Again, depending on your age and gender, you
should try to include 1&1/2 - 2 cups of fresh fruits in your
diet each day. Good fruit choices for your low cholesterol diet
include berries, melons, apples and juices made of 100 percent
fruit juice.

The next food group is one that you should avoid, or eat only
sparingly. These are the oils and fats, such as butter.
Although we add these generously to our foods, it is healthier
to skip them altogether. Most people will get the recommended
amounts of oils from the foods they eat. Good sources of oils
include fish, nuts and vegetable oils. You should only consume
about 5-7 teaspoonfuls of oils each day. A final note, avoid
oils that are solid at room temperature, such as butter,
because they contain saturated fats. Eating a diet high in
saturated fats can raise your cholesterol level and should not
be included in your low cholesterol diet.

Dairy Products

Dairy products are an important addition to your diet because
they give you your needed daily calcium which is good for
strong bones. You should include 3 cups of milk, cheese or
yogurt in your diet each day. For good heart health and for
your low cholesterol diet, stick with low fat or reduced fat
dairy products.

Meats are another food group where you should watch what you
eat carefully when you are trying to eat a low cholesterol
diet. You should include 5-6 ounces of meat in your diet each
day. The best choices are fish, poultry, nuts and seeds. Eggs
are also included in this group, but if you want to lower your
cholesterol level; you should limit the number of egg yolks you
eat to 1 - 2 weekly. You should also grill your meats instead of
frying them.

If your goal is to lower your cholesterol, try using the
government's food pyramid as a guide for a low cholesterol
diet. Then make low fat or fat-free choices to help you meet
your goal.

About The Author: Get the latest in low cholesterol diet know
how from the only true source at
http://www.lowercholesterollog.com. Check out our low
cholesterol diet pages.

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