Vitamin Supplements

A common protest of patients whom I advise to embark on a fat- free diet is, ‘But don’t our bodies need some fat?’ Yes, in order to achieve optimum health they do. Now I’m going to introduce you to what I call the golden drops: essential fatty acids. So powerful are these fatty acids in maintaining health that they have been nicknamed ‘Vitamin F’. I like to think of them also as the master vitamins, because they play such a crucial role in nutrition. Read the rest of this entry »

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you (or your child) have an above-average risk of developing a vitamin D deficiency.

• Are you an older person? Skin production of vitamin D tends to slow down with age. Studies of older people—particularly older women—show that as many as 75 percent are at marked risk for vitamin D deficiencies.
• Are you confined indoors and not exposed to sunlight? With limited sun exposure, your skin will produce a minimal amount of vitamin D, leaving you to rely on diet alone for your vitamin D needs.
• Do you have kidney or liver disease? Vitamin D, formed in the skin, must be modified chemically in the kidney and liver before the body can use it. This process can be severely impaired if these organs are diseased. Read the rest of this entry »

Within the human body there is a surprising assortment of minerals. They have much to do with keeping us in good physical condition. Some minerals, such as calcium and phosphorus, are needed for building strong bones and teeth. If it were not for these, our bodies would collapse. Other minerals act more or less like chemical “spark plugs” through their association with the enzyme systems of the body. Still others have special functions of their own to perform.

The chief minerals of the body are calcium, phosphorus, iron, and iodine. We need more of these than of the others. For that reason, these four are the most likely to be missing from a deficient diet. There are only traces of the other minerals in the body, but most of them must also be present for normal health. Read the rest of this entry »

How Much Calcium Do You Need?

Not everyone agrees with the formal RDAs for calcium. A National Institutes of Health consensus panel on osteoporosis has advised that women consume more calcium than recommended in the RDAs-1,500 mg in the years after menopause if they are not taking supplemental estrogen. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends 1,000 mg per day for postmenopausal women who are not on estrogen replacement therapy.

Optimal Daily Allowance

Although the RDAs call for only 800 mg of calcium for men and women over the age of 25 (with an increase to 1,200 mg for pregnant and lactating women), we recommend a daily intake of 1,500 mg for everyone. Women clearly need more calcium to help protect them against osteoporosis, even if they are postmenopausal and on hormonal replacement therapy (which can also help protect their bones). Read the rest of this entry »

Calcium and Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of declining bone mass, or density (the amount of material contained in the bone). Bone mass normally accumulates until a person is about age 25 and begins to deteriorate around ages 50 to 60 years; the bones then become weaker and much more vulnerable to fractures. Women experience a particularly rapid decrease in bone mass because of their sharp decline in estrogen levels during menopause. Read the rest of this entry »

Calcium, the most abundant mineral in the human body, makes up about 2 percent of your body weight. About 99 percent of that is in the bones and teeth; the rest is in tissues and in the body fluids that bathe the cells. In order for your body to absorb the calcium from your diet and make use of it, you also need sufficient amounts of vitamin D.

A mechanism built into your body keeps the levels of calcium in your blood balanced—at sufficient but not excessive amounts. When calcium levels begin to rise too high, the thyroid manufactures a hormone called calcitonin, which draws excess calcium from the blood and deposits it in the bones; urine and feces also carry extra calcium out of the body. Conversely, when calcium levels dip too low, the parathyroid produces a hormone that pulls stored calcium from the bones and sends it to the blood. If the latter process goes on for too long, the bones are depleted of the calcium they need and become thin and weak. Read the rest of this entry »

Vitamin D is the joker in the pack. It masquerades as a vitamin but follows none of the rules. To begin with we don’t need it in the diet because we can make it ourselves, and secondly it doesn’t work as a coenzyme in the way that most of the other vitamins do. Vitamin D is formed from a group of chemicals which are known as sterols and react to sunlight and radiation to form the active vitamin. All animals including man possess these sterols and they are found close to the surface of the skin. When sunlight reaches the body it changes the structure of these sterols, and they are absorbed into the bloodstream as cholecalciferol and pass to the liver. Further changes occur here and the new products are transported to the kidney. Read the rest of this entry »

Phosphorus

FACTS:

Present in every cell in the body.

Vitamin D and calcium are essential to proper phosphorus functioning.

Calcium and phosphorus should be balanced two to one to work correctly [twice as much calcium as phosphorus]. Involved in virtually all physiological chemical reactions. Necessary for normal bone and tooth structure.

Niacin cannot be assimilated without phosphorus.

Important for heart regularity.

Essential for normal kidney functioning. Read the rest of this entry »

Magnesium

FACTS:

Necessary for calcium and vitamin-C metabolism, as well as that of phosphorus, sodium, and potassium.

Measured in milligrams [mg.].

Essential for effective nerve and muscle functioning. Important for converting blood sugar into energy.

Known as the antistress mineral.

Alcoholics are usually deficient. Read the rest of this entry »

Calcium

FACTS:

There is more calcium in the body than any other mineral. Calcium and phosphorus work together for healthy bones and teeth.

Calcium and magnesium work together for cardiovascular health.

Almost all of the body’s calcium [two to three pounds] is found in the bones and teeth.

20 percent of an adult’s bone calcium is reabsorbed and replaced every year. [New bone cells form as old ones break down.] Read the rest of this entry »