Last time we talked about the Vitamin D Council and its research on vitamin D deficiency. Today I’ll add some observations from the front lines of doctoring, as well as my updated recommendations on supplementing with D.
Category: D
Vitamin D – Again
Nutritionally oriented physicians agree that the hottest topic over the last couple of years has been vitamin D.
Vitamin D and Your Heart
I’ve written quite a bit on the beneficial effects of vitamin D, from building bones and helping with fibromyalgia to preventing cancer–click here and scroll down on the Health Tips menu for previous articles.
D-ribose: New Supplement of Note
Any primary care physician will tell you the number one symptom that prompts a visit to the doctor is fatigue, expressed as “I’m tired all the time,” “I crash at three in the afternoon,” or “My get up and go just got up and went.”
Drug-Free Hormone Balancing
You yourself can balance your sex hormones–estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone–by making some key lifestyle choices.
Taking these steps will also help you look and feel spectacular (exercise, good foods, and supplements really do work):
Eight Ways to Eat the Triple Whammy Way
This list is adapted from my book, The Triple Whammy Cure:
Diets
Regular readers know I’m not a big fan of diets. In a recent Journal of the American Medical Association article, researchers from Stanford University Medical School worked with about 300 overweight women, ages 27-50, who hadn’t gone through menopause to see what diet worked best. They divided the women into four groups, according to diet.
Diet Drugs
Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical industry giant, enjoyed a tasty chunk of good news this month. Their friends at the ever-cooperative FDA have allowed them to bring a milder version of their prescription fat-blocking drug, Xenical, to the over-the-counter market this summer. The new OTC drug is called alli.
Q&A: Vitamin D
Q: You’ve written a lot about the value of vitamin D, especially for women living in overcast places. I live in Minneapolis and I’m wondering how much I should take every day. Also, I read that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and there are risks if you take too much. How much is too much?
Important Depression Update
For many susceptible women, the combination of holiday stress and the dark short days of winter trigger a flare-up or first-time appearance of depression. If it happens to you, you’re not alone. Epidemiologists (who chart the incidence of disease) now believe that up to 10% of people suffer from depression, and that after pain, depression is the second most common cause of disability.
Vitamin D and Fibromyalgia
You may have noticed I’ve been sending out a lot of messages about vitamin D lately, but there’s a good reason for this. Worldwide, there’s much new research relating vitamin D to puzzling and seemingly unrelated medical conditions, and it’s important to keep up with the latest information as it’s published.
Cancer and Vitamin D
If I caught your attention with that headline, why not review your supplements right now and add up the total number of units of vitamin D you’re taking every day.
Let the Sun Shine: Preventing Breast Cancer with Vitamin D
The next time you send your daughter outside to play on a sunny day, go along with her and you’ll both be protecting yourselves from breast cancer.
SAMe for Depression and Arthritis
SAMe (pronounced “sammy”) is the abbreviation for a molecule already made by your body, S-adenosylmethionine. Some good clinical studies have shown that SAMe supplements are effective for three seemingly unrelated conditions: depression, arthritis, and liver disease.
Digestive Enzymes
I’m frequently asked if it’s helpful to take supplemental digestive enzymes. The answer is an unequivocal “sometimes.”