Vitamin D is important for cellular calcium uptake, bone health, and a number of other functions. There is also a direct link between the widespread vitamin D deficiency problem and brittle bones and osteoporosis among post-menopausal women, according to a large Chinese study that is published in Frontiers in Nutrition. It is important to include magnesium and vitamin K2, as they also contribute to bone health.
Are you stressed?
- then make sure to get enough of the essential nutrients so you can cope with more
Stress is a large problem for many people. It is believed that the majority of people who consult their physician do it because of stress-related problems. Many people try to relieve their stress with sweets, coffee, alcohol, painkillers, and sleeping medication just to get through the day. However, in the long run, this can turn into a vicious cycle that increases your risk of disease and faster ageing. There are dozens of books about stress that can be useful for solving problems and slowing down your pace, but don’t forget that stress is also physiological. It is a condition that deteriorates tissues, burdens the body with free radicals and increases your need for B-vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, selenium and coenzyme Q10. If you make sure to get the necessary essential nutrients before it is too late, you can cope with more.
Professor Maret Traber from the Linus Pauling Institute in the United States has studied vitamin E for a number of years. Traber, in a review article, looked at the most recent science concerning this important, lipid-soluble nutrient. Judging from her work, it looks as if we only need the form of vitamin E called alfa-tocopherol.
The most harmful heavy metals are mercury, cadmium, lead, nickel, and cobber, but aluminum, fluoride, iron, and calcium can also be toxic. Poisoning with heavy metals and minerals blocks other minerals such as selenium, iodine, magnesium, and zinc, all of which support numerous essential enzyme processes. At the same time, if you lack these important minerals, heavy metals are able to cause unhindered damage and increase your risk of impaired immunity, impaired fertility, autoimmune diseases, thyroid diseases, brain damage, neurological diseases, depression, hypersensitivity, etc. Chronic heavy metal toxicity is an overlooked problem, but in this article, you can read more about the subject and find out how to deal with it.
AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration) is a common eye disease that impairs your reading vision in particular. High-dosed supplementation with vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc and other antioxidants has been shown to help. The recommendation of these nutrients is based on documentation from a large American research project and demonstrate that normal recommendations (DRI = Daily Reference Intake) are inadequate as treatment for various disorders. There are also different foods that are highly relevant for preventing AMD or as part of a treatment against the condition.
When it comes to COVID-19 and other seasonal virus infections most of the focus is concentrated on vitamin D deficiency. According to a Belgian study, however, lack of selenium and zinc additionally increases the risk of infections, complications, and death, especially among patients who already suffer from chronic diseases. The scientists conclude that supplementation with selenium and zinc may help improve treatments. Selenium and zinc deficiencies are rather common and that is a problem for public health. Even with a healthy diet, it is practically impossible for Europeans to get enough selenium because of the nutrient-depleted farmland. There are also many people with zinc deficiencies due to unhealthy diets, ageing, chronic diseases, and other contributing factors. We must be much more focused on getting enough selenium and zinc, not least for the sake of preventing virus infections and other problems.
Type 2 diabetes and early stages of the disease such as insulin resistance are spreading like a bushfire. The good news is that if you consume many antioxidants from fruit, vegetables, berries, tea, and dark chocolate and limit your intake of alcohol, you can lower your risk diabetes risk. This was shown in a new study that is published in the European journal Diabetologia, which focuses on diabetes research.
Selenium is a constituent of at least 25 essential proteins (selenoproteins), including several antioxidants that protect cells against oxidative stress and disease. A team of researchers from Munich in Germany has mapped out the mechanisms, which the selenium-containing antioxidants use to protect neurons in the brain against cell death. The scientists see a whole new potential with selenium because of its ability to protect against neurological disorders and cancer. It is problematic, however, that we have widespread selenium deficiency in our part of the world. Even if you stick with the official dietary guidelines, it is very difficult to get enough selenium to saturate all the different selenoproteins.
The corona crisis has shed new light on the importance of having a strong immune defense, one that protects us against virus infections in the long run. Selenium plays a vital role for a number of different reasons but, unfortunately, there is widespread deficiency which increases the risk of infections and related complications. In a new review article that is published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences, the authors look closer at selenium’s role in connection with different types of virus infections such as influenza, HIV, and hepatitis with particular focus on COVID-19. The purpose of their article is to inform about new nutritional strategies that may contribute to a strong and well-functioning immune defense – mainly when it comes to COVID-19 and virus types that tend to mutate all the time.
An important element in skincare and natural anti-ageing is to protect our cells against free radicals, which are aggressive oxygen compounds that we humans are exposed to. The free radical burden increases tremendously as a result of stress, too little sleep, ageing processes, smoking, inflammation, poisoning, medical drugs, and sunburns. Our only source of protection against free radicals is the presence of different antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E, selenium, zinc, and Q10, but we also need essential fatty acids. Optimal skincare requires that we get adequate quantities of the different nutrients, which are also an important element in our energy turnover. But what is skin ageing really? And why can we not simply stop it with anti-wrinkle creams, Botox, and plastic surgery? Also, which antioxidants and essential fatty acids are difficult to get in the right quantities?
Vitamin B2, also know as riboflavin, is found in different foods and in supplements containing multivitamins and strong B-vitamins. Most people are unaware that the vitamin has a host of important functions, which are especially relevant for energy levels, the nervous system, the psyche, the body’s iron metabolism, vision, skin, and lips. A study that is published in Neurology also shows that taking large amounts of vitamin B2 can help prevent migraine headaches. It appears that vitamin B2 deficiency is a common problem because of stress, ageing processes, unhealthy diets, the use of birth control pills, medicine, and certain other causes. In the following, you can read more about this exciting yet overlooked vitamin and find out how best to utilize vitamin B2 from your diet or from supplements.
"After about one week of taking the Q10 supplement I could feel a huge difference," says 23-year old Alan Piccini, who has been suffering from extreme fatigue and muscle aches ever since he was a child.
“Taking capsules with co-enzyme Q10 has freed me of the severe side effects of my cholesterol lowering medicine,” Mrs Franken explains.