fish oil

Calcium and vitamin D are essential in our diet and not so easy to get unless you eat and drink a lot of dairy products.  So have a look at the information provided by the source below, and re-think your shopping list.  If you have difficulties getting enough vitamin D and calcium via foods, especially in the winter time, you might want to consider Nature Made Calcium Tablets with Vitamin D, 500 mg, 300-Count Bottles (Pack of 2) as a supplement to your diet.

Via: BC HealthFile

What is calcium and vitamin D?

Calcium is one of the many minerals that you need to be healthy. Calcium is very important to ensure strong, healthy bones and teeth. It also helps muscles and nerves to work properly. In addition, calcium may help you to manage your weight and blood pressure, and play a role in preventing colon cancer. Vitamin D helps you to absorb and use calcium and has other health benefits.

How much calcium and vitamin D do I need?

Recommended Calcium Intake
Age (Male and Female)
0-6 months 210 mg/day
7-12 months 270 mg/day
1-3 years 500 mg/day
4-8 years 800 mg/day
9-18 years 1300 mg/day
19-50 years 1000 mg/day
Over 50 years 1200 mg/day

Recommended Vitamin D Intake

Age (Male and Female)
0-1 year 400 IU/day
1-50 years 200 IU/day
51-70 years 400 IU/day
Over 70 years 600 IU/day

People with osteoporosis may need more calcium and vitamin D. Check with your doctor.

What foods contain calcium?

Breastfeeding is the best way to meet your baby’s calcium needs. Infant formula provides calcium for babies who cannot be breastfed.

Dairy foods are very high in calcium, especially milk, yogurt and cheese. Other good sources include calcium-enriched orange juice, rice beverages, and soy beverages. For more information, see Food Sources of Calcium below.

What foods contain vitamin D?

There are only a few food sources of vitamin D. Good sources of vitamin D are fortified foods and beverages like milk, soy drinks, and margarine. Check the labels on these foods. Fish, liver, and egg yolk are the only foods that naturally contain vitamin D.

If you do not eat vitamin D rich foods often, you may want to consider taking a vitamin D supplement. Most multiple vitamin supplements contain vitamin D. Breastfed babies under 1 year of age need 400 IU of vitamin D from a supplement each day. People over 50 need extra vitamin D and should take 400 IU from a supplement each day.

More Information and Lists of Calcium and Vitamin D Sources

Via: redOrbit

A HARDCORE sceptic is now trumpeting the use of natural remedies to help people become healthier and happier. But pharmacist, doctor and medical researcher Shaun Holt is adamant his message is based on pure science, not hearsay. His just- released book, Natural Remedies That Really Work, A New Zealand Guide, comes with a bottom line: “What medical research actually says about natural health products and therapies.” The British- trained, Tauranga-based medical expert says he’s looked at the most compelling “good” research from scientists the world over during the past few years and been wowed by their findings.

Holt wasn’t always so convinced about natural remedies.

“Basically, I was a card-holding, paid-up member of the Sceptics Society,” he says.

Systematic scientific studies, especially large randomised controlled trials and meta-analysis (overview of many studies of one medicine or natural remedy), changed his way of thinking.

However, he’s quick to point out that the difference between natural products and pharmaceuticals is often smaller than people realise.

“A quarter of prescription drugs are taken directly from plants or are chemically modified versions of compounds that are taken directly from plants, and over half of pharmaceuticals are made from natural compounds,” he says.

Of the 76 natural remedies outlined in his book, the one that is head and fins above the rest is fish oil, also known as omega-3.

Fatty fish plays a pivotal role in 16 of the 148 studies Holt has chosen for the first edition of the guide. Including 1 gram (1000mg) of fish oil in your daily diet can have positive effects in treating back and neck pain, cardiac arrhythmia, depression, bipolar depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, psychiatric patients with a history of self-harm and Alzheimer’s.

Omega-3 also helps reduce mental and cognitive decline in the aged, the chance of developing renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and the risk of dying from coronary artery disease.

Full Article

Via: eurekalert.com

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A great deal of scientific evidence shows that cholesterol-reducing medications known as statins can help prevent coronary artery disease. Although the safety of these medications has been well documented, as many as 40 percent of patients who receive a prescription for statins take the drug for less than one year. Doctors believe that several factors — including cost, adverse effects, poor understanding of statin benefits and patients’ reluctance to take prescription medications long term — may explain why some patients stop taking these medicines. In the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a group of researchers from Pennsylvania examine whether an alternative approach to treating high blood cholesterol may provide an effective treatment option for patients who are unable or unwilling to take statins.

Study design

Researchers followed 74 patients with high blood cholesterol who met standard criteria for using statin therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to either the alternative treatment group or the statin group and followed for three months.

The alternative treatment group participants received daily fish oil and red yeast rice supplements, and they were enrolled in a 12-week multidisciplinary lifestyle program that involved weekly 3.5-hour educational meetings led by a cardiologist, dietitian, exercise physiologist and several alternative or relaxation practitioners. Red yeast rice is the product of yeast grown on rice. A dietary staple in some Asian countries, it contains several compounds known to inhibit cholesterol production.

The statin group participants received 40 milligrams (mg) of Zocor (simvastatin) daily, as well as printed materials about diet and exercise recommendations. At the end of the three-month period, participants from both groups underwent blood cholesterol testing to determine the percentage change in LDL cholesterol.

Results

The researchers noted that there was a reduction in LDL cholesterol levels in both groups. The alternative treatment group experienced a 42.4 percent reduction, and the statin group experienced a 39.6 percent reduction. Members of the alternative therapy group also had a substantial reduction in triglycerides, another form of fat found in the blood, and lost more weight.

“Our study was designed to test a comprehensive and holistic approach to lipid lowering,” notes the study’s lead author, David Becker, M.D., a Chestnut Hill Hospital and University of Pennsylvania Health System cardiologist. “These results are intriguing and show a potential benefit of an alternative, or naturopathic, approach to a common medical condition.”

Dr. Becker acknowledges that a larger, multicenter trial with longer follow-up is necessary to determine long-term compliance with the alternative regimen, because previous studies involving diet and exercise have found a high rate of patients unable or unwilling to follow lifestyle recommendations.

“The excellent adherence in the alternative group was undoubtedly related to the intensive follow-up, education and support provided for this group,” says Dr. Becker.