Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Do Antioxidant Supplements Help Women?

New research is coming out all the time that seems to indicate antioxidants can prevent cancer, strengthen your immune system and even keep you from aging. Antioxidants work by sucking up free radicals that can damage your body's cells and transporting them to the liver where eventually they exit the body.

Heart Disease in particular has been the subject of recent studies. Researchers in Italy examined three hundred and seven middle aged women for Atherosclerosis. This is the formation of plaques and lesions in the coronary arteries, which can signal the development of cardiovascular disease years before a doctor diagnosis's it.

These women did not take vitamin supplements containing vitamins A, C or E. The researchers took blood samples to measure the women's baseline level of various antioxidants, took questionnaires and performed ultrasound examinations of their carotid arteries and branches of the heart. They found that women who had plaques building in their arteries had a low intake of vitamin E.

Women with the lowest baseline concentrations of Vitamin E in their blood were twice as likely to have plaque build up in their carotid arteries and branches of the heart.

In a side note some promising research has come up relating to breast cancer in women. Researchers gave thirty-two women between the ages of thirty-two and eighty-one with metastasized breast cancer a multivitamin supplement. It contained vitamin C, E, Beta Carotene, selenium, coenzyme Q10 and other vitamins and minerals daily for eighteen months.

None of the patients died during this period, which is wonderful because without supplements it could be expected that at least four of the volunteers would have died. Also the cancer in each of the patients appeared to stop spreading. Six of the patients showed partial remission. One of the six patients in partial remission had her dosage of coenzyme Q10 increased to 390mg daily and within two months her tumor could no longer be seen on a mammogram.

Antioxidants are beneficial but they seem to be able to do only do so much. In a French study publicized in 2004 it was found that antioxidants tended to benefit men more than women. The Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale and Unite de Surveillance et d'Epidemiologie Nutritionnelle studied the effects of taking supplements in more than thirteen thousand men and women for seven and a half years. The participants were divided into groups, each one taking a different antioxidant daily.

The antioxidants were ascorbic acid, Vitamin E, Beta Carotene, Selenium, Zinc and a placebo. At the end of the study they found that the men who took antioxidants were thirty-one percent less likely to develop cancer than women.

Some of us women may be automatically thinking what a sexist finding! While it is possible that antioxidants are simply more effective in men it's not probable. It is more likely that the men had a lower baseline of antioxidants in their bloodstream than women, in other words women may have a better diet than men with lots of antioxidants and their baselines were already high. So the antioxidants that men took simply brought the men's baseline up and the antioxidants that women took may have been superfluous.

As a result of this study the researchers suggested that you are able to get a high and beneficial level of antioxidants in your blood with a diet containing lots of fruits and veggies.

About the Author
Author Vincent Platania represents the Stanley Home Products. Stanley Home Products has been in business since 1936, and offers high quality home and personal care products to keep your home and your body clean. Visit http://www.stanley-home-products.com

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Omega 3 Supplements Help In Digestive Problems

Even western doctors are now beginning to urge patients with Chronic diseases (especially auto-immune diseases) to take the Omega 3 supplements. Omega 3 is a fish oil supplement, one of the most widely used.

Fish oil supplements have serious anti-inflammatory properties that can prove to be critical in diseases where the immune system is known to attack itself and create inflammation.

A perfect example would be digestive problems like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease. These diseases create massive inflammation inside the digestive lining and Omega 3 is normally recommended by doctors now as a part of the treatment, in combination with many other drugs.

However, fish oils such as Omega 3 are not only good for digestive conditions but have been known to help with:
- Hypertension (high blood pressure) - Rheumatoid arthritis

Interesting note is that digestive problems or "Inflammatory Bowel Diseases" are also finding to have close relationship to Rheumatoid Arthritis, so Omega 3 having a positive impact on both would make perfect sense.

The basic acids inside the Omega 3 have elements that are important to many processes in the body such as blood clotting and the immune system.

Fish oils are also known to reduce blood pressure and help improve your heart. Actually the health benefits of Omega 3 are too long to list, whether you have any illness or not, taking Omega 3 supplements can be incredibly helpful!

In case you want to avoid taking pills then it is suggest that you eat fish on a daily basis that is grilled. Almost all fishes have a very high serving of Omega 3 and carry very health beneficial elements.

In addition to Omega 3, fish are also very high in protein while being incredibly low in fat. Patients with digestive problems have also noted and reported that fish is much easier to digest than other "tougher" meats such as pork, beef and even turkey.

Consuming the proper amount of fish or fish oil supplements is becoming critical to helping boost your immune system and improving your overall health.

About the Author
For more information on what nutrition and diet changes to make for digestive conditions like
Crohn's Disease...
http://www.CrohnsHelp.com has hundreds of articles written on the topic of fighting back against Crohn's Disease through proper Crohn's Disease diet and nutrition.

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