Mothers and Children Vitamins

Mothers who are health conscious and take multivitamin supplements are the ones most likely to give their daughters vitamins. Now a new study reveals some other commonalities.

The study published in the current issue of Pediatrics tries to explain why some women give their children vitamins. In 1980, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that, with a few exceptions, "children do not need multivitamin supplements." Despite these guidelines, studies show about half of 4- to 8-year-old children are given supplements.

Mothers who give their daughters multivitamin supplements are more likely to:

Take supplements on their own
Pressure their daughters to eat healthy
Monitor their daughter's intake of food
Be successful at dieting

None of the research pointed to mothers giving their daughters supplements to make up for a lack of vitamins or minerals in their diets. Instead, the researchers write, "The pattern of findings suggests that mothers who gave multivitamin supplements to their daughters may have been attempting to address perceived, rather than real, shortcomings in their own and their daughters' diets."

In this study of 192 mother and daughter pairs, 55 percent of mothers were taking supplements and 44 percent of 5-year olds were taking them. The researchers conclude mothers should be encouraged to promote even healthier habits for their daughters, instead of offering them supplements.

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2002;109

Calcium Supplements

Calcium supplements are an excellent alternative for people who fear their diet preferences are not giving them enough calcium. This is especially true for people who avoid dairy or who are lactose intolerant. The two main forms of calcium in supplements are carbonate and citrate. Calcium carbonate is more commonly available and is both inexpensive and convenient. The carbonate and citrate forms are similarly well absorbed, and both can be taken with or without food. One caveat, however, relates to people who don’t make much stomach acid, as is the case for those taking a proton-pump inhibitor or hydrogen blocker. In this scenario, taking the calcium supplement with a meal is best. Other calcium forms in supplements or fortified foods include gluconate, lactate, and phosphate. Calcium citrate malate is a well-absorbed form of calcium found in some fortified juices.

How well your body absorbs calcium from a supplement depends, in part, on how concentrated elemental calcium is in that supplement. Absorption is highest in doses equal to or less than 500 milligrams. So, for example, if you like to take 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day from supplement, it’s ideal to split the dose and take 500 milligrams at a time, two separate times during the day. Those who take a proton-pump inhibitor like Prilosec or Nexium to contral acid reflux and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or Tagamet or Zantac (which work a different way but have the same effect of inhibiting the production of acid in the stomach), need to be extra careful about getting enough calcium. Because stomach acid helps the body absorb calcium by dissolving the calcium pill, thus freeing the calcium so it can be absorbed by the small intestine, lowering stomach acid levels may stop its proper absorption. In 2006, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study suggesting that long-term (more than a year) use of proton-pump inhibitors in high doses increased the risk of hip fracture by 245 percent. The subjects in the study were all over the age of fifty, and the researchers said the effects were particularly in people already at risk of osteoporosis.

However, if you take your calcium pill with a meal, as your meal is being ground up in the stomach so, too, is the calcium pill – without the need for stomach acid. This is why doctors tell their patients to take their calcium pill with their meals.

Some people who take calcium supplements experience gas, bloating, constipation, or a combination of these symptoms. These symptoms can often be resolved by spreading out the calcium dose throughout the day, taking the supplement with meals, or changing the brand of supplement used. The older you get, the harder it becomes to produce adequate stomach acid, as you did when you were younger (and able to down just about anything without gastrointestinal problems). For this reason, taking a calcium supplement with a meal is best.

Supplements that combine calcium and vitamin D are an even better option, as the vitamin, once it gets activated in the liver and kidneys, increases calcium absorption and provide other health benefits. Vitamin D is essential to the uptake of calcium from your diet, helping the calcium to become more easily absorbed in the bloodstream and bones.

Because of its ability to neutralize stomach acid, calcium carbonate is found in several over-the-counter antacid products, such as Turns and Rolaids. Thus these drugs serve two purposes – calming stomach acid and providing bioavailable calcium. The fact that you’re chewing the calcium makes it easily absorbed.

People at Risk for Calcium Deficiency and Why

Postmenopausal women: Low estrogen stores dampen proper calcium metabolism and regulation.

Vegetarians: Avoiding diary and consuming mostly vegetables, some of which have compounds known to inhibit calcium absorption, including phytates and oxalate, act as a double whammy.

People whose diets include lots of protein and sale: High intake of sodium and protein increases calcium excretion.

Lactose-intolerant people: Those who have trouble digesting dairy products, and thus avoid them, are frequently found to be calcium deficient and have lower bone density.

USANA Vitamins Body Rox™ Active Calcium™ Chewable - Features the benefits of USANA’s Active Calcium formula and formulated to support bone development during the teenage growth spurt.

What About DHA Supplements?

If you can’t get at least 200 milligrams of DHA each day from seafood or fortified foods (pregnant and breast-feeding women need 300 milligrams), then consider taking a supplement. Try USANA Vitamins and USANA Products. Fish oil supplements are fine, but make sure to check the label. You want a supplement that spells out exactly how much DHA you are getting, not one that just lists the amount of fish oil. Some people complain of a few nasty side effects from fish oil capsules, such as burping or heartburn. Supplements of algae-based DHA also are available and are less likely to cause the fishy burping, especially when taken with meals or a glass of warm milk or orange juice.

When taking a supplement, always remember that just because some is good doesn’t mean more is better. Omega-3s are blood thinners, so taking too much (such as more than 3 grams a day) could cause excessive bleeding. They should be taken only with a physician’s approval if you are on blood-thinners, such as warfarin (coumadin) and other medications; aspirin; or high doses of vitamin E. Omega-3s also can lower blood pressure, so your doctor might want to lower the dosage on any blood pressure medications if you are taking DHA or other omega-3s. to be on the safe side, discuss any supplement, including fish oils or DHA, with your physician.

DHA is a key factor in the diet of happy, fit people. You need at least 200 milligrams from fatty fish, foods fortified with DHA, or supplements. And you need to get that amount most days of the week. No ifs, ands or buts. Just do it!

Omega-3 Nutrient

It is a no-brainer that the omega-3 fats lower heart disease – researchers have known that for decades. Hundreds of studies, from prestigious groups like the National Institutes of Health and universities like Harvard and Tuffs, repeatedly and consistently show that when you add omega-3-rich foods or supplements to the diet

Blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels drop and the good cholesterol, called HDL, goes up;

The bad cholesterol, called LDL, changes in size so it is less harmful to arteries;

Your blood is less likely to form nasty blood clots that block arteries and lead to heart attack and stroke;

There is less inflammation in your arteries, so they are more resistant to the development of atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart disease; and

Even your blood pressure and heart rate drop.

Benefits are seen whether you take omega-3s in general or only the omega-3 DHA. These benefits are experienced by men and women with heart disease, by healthy people, by vegetarians and by people at any age from infancy to the elder years. The benefits to your heart also appear to be cumulative. The more you eat, the healthier your heart. Eat omega-3-rich foods once or twice a week and you lower heart disease risk by 30%, but include those foods every day and our risk drops by up to 83%.

For years, nutrition experts focused on this exciting heart disease connection. Then a few researchers started to ponder the effects omega-3 might have on the brain. They had noticed an interesting phenomenon: people with heart disease also had an unusually high rate of depression. Could there be a common factor underlying both problems? If DHA and other omega-3 fats could dramatically lower heart disease risk, what were the possibilities for brain tissue, which is so much more dependent on these fats? DHA was the omega-3 of choice for their studies, since both the brain and the retina of the eyes contain up to 30 times more DHA than any other omega-3. There had to be a connection between those high tissue levels and DHA somehow regulating mod, memory and brain health.

In the 1990s, the results of those studies started to rolling in. Study after study showed that people who are depressed and women with postpartum depression have much lower DHA levels in their blood, fat tissues and cerebrospinal fluids, up to 36% lower than happy people. It is now clear that DHA levels drop, so do levels of the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, leaving people grumpy, blue and downright depressed. Even the severity of depression is affected; as tissue levels of omega-3s drop, depression worsens. On the other hand, boost intake of DHA by including more DHA-rich foods or by taking supplements, and serotonin levels rise and mood improves in men, women and new moms. Studies show up to a 50% reduction in depression in people who are the toughest to treat and even an improvement in well-being for those battling everyday blues.

The time factor varies form person to person; some people report improvements in mood within days or even hours of eating daily omega-3-rich meals. And it doesn’t take huge amounts. Even a slight increase in blood levels, say a 1% to 5% increase, is enough to see the sneering wicked with turn into happy-go-lucky Pollyanna.

The mood-boosting benefits of DHA go far beyond just a few studies. DHA can change the mod of entire countries. Depression rates vary up to sixty-fold form one country to another. Those rates mirror rats for heart disease and also reflect omega-3 intake. For example, as people switch from their culture’s traditional diets that are adequate in omega-3s to Western-style diets almost devoid of omega-3s, the country’s rates of heart disease, depression and postpartum depression skyrocket.

Light, Food and Supplements

Where are you going to test your Vitamin D? You have three choices: 1. spend time in the direct sun, 2. eat lots of foods rich in this vitamin and 3. take a vitamin D supplement. The first option is near impossible. Either you live south of Los Angeles and Atlanta and have not heeded the warnings to use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer, or you are at risk for a vitamin D deficiency. The second option also is difficult, since so few foods naturally contain much vitamin D and fortified foods are limited to no more than 100 IU per serving. That means you must drink 10 glasses of milk a day to get the latest recommended intake of 1,000 IU a day. Not likely.

That leaves supplements. If you live in hot, sunny climates and drink some milk or soy milk, then aim for 400 IU from supplements to fill in the gaps. For everyone else, talk to your physician about taking a supplement of 1000 IU a day.

Vitamin B12: Maximum Brain Support

The mind shuts down without vitamin B12. It might even start shrinking! You need this B vitamins to ensure your brain cells can send messages back and forth quickly, so you have no trouble putting two words together, remembering a friend’s name or staying quick-witted. It’s no wonder that studies, like one from the University of Oxford, repeatedly find that you lose your ability to think, remember and react in direct proportion to your B12 levels. Even happy people tend to tumble into depression when B12 levels are low. Studies show that people with markers for low vitamin B12 status have a more rapid drop-off in mental function at younger ages compared to people with optimal vitamin B12 status. In fact, many researchers speculate that doubling a person’s vitamin B12 levels by taking supplements could slow cognitive decline by one-third or more.

Even people who are tested for vitamin B12 and are found to be in the low-normal range could be deficient, according to a study from the University of Oxford. Tamara knows firsthand how powerful and influence vitamin B12 has on mood. She had battled serious depression for five years despite taking a variety of antidepressant medications. In desperation and at the age of 42 years, she turned to her doctors one more time for help. Routine blood tests had shown she wasn’t anemic or even low in B12 but her doctor decided to put her on supplemental vitamin B12 and folic acid anyway. Within weeks, her depression completely vanished. A year later, she was still blues-free. “I’ve not had a miserable day since”, she adds.

Many studies also find that people living in nursing homes because of memory loss often improve beyond anyone’s wildest dreams when they are given high doses of vitamin B12.

The older you are, the more vitamin B12 you need, with young people needing as little as 2 micrograms a day, while anyone over the age of 50 years needs at least 25 micrograms, maybe more. It would be difficult to get that much from diet alone, and besides, vitamin B12 is another nutrient better absorbed from supplements than from foods. You might even need to take shots instead of pills.

Vitamin B12 requires a substance in the stomach, called Intrinsic Factor, for absorption. Ample stomach acid is needed to trigger intrinsic factor, but acid often decreases as a person ages and definitely decreases when people take antacids or other medications for heartburn. Consequently, risk for vitamin B12 deficiency increases steadily as some people get older. Increased supplemental intake of this vitamin can offset this reduced absorption in many cases, but some people might require vitamin B12 shots, especially if they are on heartburn medications or have low stomach acid.

B Good to Yourself

The right supplements taken in the right amounts can fill in the nutritional gaps on the days when you don’t eat perfectly, and provide a helping hand when the body fails to make enough of some mod-boosting chemicals.

If you feel down in the dumps, too pooped to play or can’t remember your own name, then it just might be that you aren’t getting enough of the B vitamins.

That’s what Darlene, a teacher in Albuquerque, learned after suffering debilitating exhaustion and depression. She brushed it off – and the 25-pound weight gain that accompanied it – as the start of premenopause. Her physician put her on a stew of medications, from antidepressants to thyroid hormones. “Sure, the drugs helped improve my mood”, she says, “but I wanted to get to the root of the problem, so I found a doctor who was willing to work with me on alternative approaches”.

As Darlene slowly weaned herself off the antidepressants, she replaced them with supplements of B vitamins, along with omega-3 fats and several other nutrients known to affect mood (such as calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, zinc and vitamin E). “The transition was seamless. I felt energized, positive, eager to get up in the morning, yet was finally off all medications”! What’s more, the weight dropped off without her even tying.

The B vitamins are everywhere in the brain. Some B vitamins, especially vitamin B1, B2, and pantohenic acid, help release energy to brain cells so you can think straight. Some Bs, like vitamin B6 and folic acid, are star attractions in making nerve chemicals that keep you happy (like serotonin). Other Bs, like vitamin B12, build the insulation sheath around brain cells that allow messages to travel lickety-split from once cell to another. Include enough of these in your diet and you think fast, feel good and have lots of energy.

Supplements versus Food

Sure, you still need to eat right, but nutrition and supplements are not an either-or issue. The two enhance each together, not cancel each other out. You don’t always get optimal amounts of all the vitamins and minerals from food, just as pills don’t contain everything that food has to offer.

For one thing, supplements can replace the vitamins and minerals, but they will never supply the thousands of other health-enhancing phytonutrients obtained from real foods. Second, while a well-chosen supplement can improve some of the nutritional shortcomings of a good diet, it can’t compensate for bad eating habits. You know deep down in your heart that you can’t live on French fries and hamburgers, then take a vitamin E supplement and think you’re doing fine. So eat right, but also take a multivitamin as a good safety net for those days when you eat well, but not well enough.

What should you look for in a multi-vitamin?

•Select a broad-range multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. Choose one that contains vitamin A, D, E, and K, all of the B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin and folic acid), and the trace minerals (chromium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc).
•Ignore chloride, pantothenic acid, biotin, potassium, choline and phosphorus since the diet either already supplies optimal levels of these compounds or supplements contain too little to be useful. Also ignore nickel, iodine, vanadium and tin, since it’s not clear whether they’re essential for people.
•Read the column titled “Daily Value” on the black label. Look for a multiple that provides approximately 100%, but no more than 300% of the Daily Values for all nutrients provided. You want a “balanced” supplement, not one that supplies 2% of one nutrient, 50% of another, and 600% of another.
•Supplement your multi-vitamin. All one-pill-a-day multiples are short on calcium and magnesium, so consider taking a calcium-magnesium supplement if you consume less than three glasses of milk and several servings of magnesium – rich soybeans, wheat germ and dark green leafy vegetables each day. Look for one that supplies these two minerals in a two to one ratio, such as 500 milligrams of calcium to 250 milligrams of magnesium.

Try Resveratrol

It appears that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, is the key to unlocking the maddening “French Paradox”. Though, at this juncture, most of the research has been conducted on nonhuman species, those studies suggest that the fat-soluble compound helps the liver to process carbohydrates – boosting metabolism. Resveratrol acts as an antioxidant and may help to protect against atherosclerosis and heart disease. It also activates SIRT1, a gene that helps the body process fat, improves overall aerobic activity, and may have a positive impact on longevity. Resveratrol should not be used with drugs that increase risk of bleeding, including warfarin/Coumadin, aspirin, heparin, and lovenox. Until more is known about the estrogenic activity of resveratrol in humans, women with a history of estrogen-sensitive cancers, such as breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers, should avoid resveratrol supplements.

Try Proteolytic Enzymes

Proteolytic enzymes help regulate protein functions. Your body produces these enzymes naturally, but production slows as you age. Some of the food you eat – cooked or processed meat, for example – causes the enzymes to be diverted from their main role to help digest the food. Proteolytic enzymes also combat inflammation by neutralizing biochemicals associated with the problem. Between the body’s natural slowdown in enzyme production and diversion of the enzymes for digestion, you are losing a soldier, so to speak, in the battle against inflammation caused by free radical damage. Supplements work well in replacing those lost enzymes. You can find proteolytic enzyme supplements at any health food store.