Author: World Vitamins Online

Alzheimer’s research in recent years has been finding some new and encouraging information about the supporting roles of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. As we age, we all become less able to absorb vitamins and other nutrients. Supplementation of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D can help to prevent or reduce the future risk of dementia like Alzheimer’s Disease.

Vitamin B12, also called Cobalamin, is essential for the maintenance of healthy nerve cells and red blood cells. This means that we need it for our brains and nervous systems to function in top form. And we need it for the health of our cardiovascular systems.

It has been discovered that a deficiency of Vitamin B12 can look very much like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. In cases like these, sufficiently high supplementation of Vitamin B12 can lead to the restoration of significant neurological, cognitive function for an individual who had previously been succumbing to mental confusion, depression, and personality change.

Vitamin B12 can be found in protein foods such as seafood, meat, milk and other dairy products. It can also be taken as a supplement, in tablet, gel or liquid form, or by injection. Read more…

No one wants to wake up in the morning with stiff, achy joints; but the reality is that twenty-one million people live with the stiffness and pain of osteoarthritis every day of their lives. Because of the side effects of anti-inflammatory medications, some people turn to natural alternatives for relief of painful osteoarthritis. One of the most commonly used natural treatments is glucosamine. Glucosamine for osteoarthritis is a natural supplement found in many health food stores that helps to rebuild cartilage damaged by the ravages of osteoarthritis. Unfortunately, not everyone experiences relief from taking glucosamine and studies have shown mixed results. Now, new research suggests that combining glucosamine with omega-3 fatty acids may be a more effective treatment than using glucosamine alone for osteoarthritis pain

Glucosamine for Osteoarthritis: Better Results with Omega-3’s?

In this study, published in the journal Advances in Therapy, researchers gave 177 volunteers with moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the hips or knees a glucosamine sulfate supplement or glucosamine plus omega-3 fatty acids for twenty-six weeks. At the end of this period, the participants were given tests to determine their degree of pain. The researchers found that the participants who took the combination of glucosamine and omega-3’s had less painful osteoarthritis symptoms and experienced reduced early morning stiffness.

Why Do Omega-3’s Help the Pain of Osteoarthritis? Read more…

How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do — by eating a diet that’s too rich in fats.

More importantly, according to two new studies led by a University of Utah human geneticist, fruit flies use the same molecular mechanisms as humans to help maintain proper balances of cholesterol and a key form of stored fat that contributes to obesity. The findings mean that as researchers try to learn more about the genetic and biological processes through which people regulate cholesterol and fat metabolism, the humble fruit fly, also called Drosophila, can teach humans much about themselves.

“Not a lot is known about these regulatory mechanisms in people,” says Carl S. Thummel, Ph.D., professor of human genetics at the U of U School of Medicine and senior author on the two studies. “But we can learn a lot by studying metabolic control in fruit flies and apply what we learn to humans.” Read more…

As we all get a bit older it becomes prudent and normal to start giving thought to our health and our diet. Heart issues, weight management, diabetes, and dementia risks begin escalating as we age and it’s no surprise that as these risks begin climbing most people try to address them by taking action and changing their diet, quitting bad habits, or even starting to exercise. Active dieting and exercise works both to drop pounds but also to improve the health and quality of the cardiovascular system. Arterial damage can even be reversed if significant changes are made.

If you are concerned about your heart health and have not had a cholesterol test done to determine what your cholesterol levels are you should do this first so that you have a baseline for comparison. No program of self-betterment is complete without a starting point. Without a baseline cholesterol reading how will you know if you lower LDL cholesterol levels or if they remain unchanged? Similarly HDL cholesterol levels work to decrease circulating LDL cholesterol and thus you want more of it. Your lipid profile will give you your needed baseline cholesterol levels to work from.

Once you know where you stand on your HDL-LDL cholesterol ratio you will need probably to start doing two things. You will have to start a LDL cholesterol diet aimed at decreasing the amount of LDL cholesterol in your blood stream. You will also want to compliment your LDL cholesterol diet with foods that support and raise HDL cholesterol levels and this will help in keeping you moving in the right direction. Read more…

Some men with low levels of vitamin D in their blood are at particularly high risk of developing heart disease and weakened bones that can lead to osteoporosis, researchers report.

In a study of more than 1,000 men, those with low levels of both vitamin D and the sex hormone estrogen were at significantly increased risk of having cardiovascular disease, says study head Erin Michos, MD, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins.

“They were also at dramatically increased risk of osteopenia,” or bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis, she says.

“Our results suggest that vitamin D supplements, which are already prescribed to treat osteoporosis, may also be useful in preventing heart disease,” Michos tells WebMD.

Men with low levels of vitamin D and testosterone, on the other hand, were not at heightened risk for heart disease or osteopenia.

Role of Estrogen and Vitamin D

The new findings build on previous studies showing that low levels of vitamin D and estrogen, a sex hormone found in differing amounts in men and women, are independent risk factors for developing plaque-laden arteries and weakened bones. Read more…

Osteoarthritis (OA), a highly prevalent disease, raised aggregate annual medical care expenditures in the U.S. by $185.5 billion according to researchers from Stony Brook University. Insurers footed $149.4 billion of the total medical spend and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures were $36.1 billion (2007 dollars). Results of the cost analysis study are published in the December issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate 27 million Americans suffer from OA with more women than men affected by the disease. Forecasts indicate that by the year 2030, 25% of the adult U.S. population, or nearly 67 million people, will have physician-diagnosed arthritis. OA is a major debilitating disease causing gradual loss of cartilage, primarily affecting the knees, hips, hands, feet, and spine. Read more…

As the battle over government-controlled health care continues, many Americans simply want out of the whole mess. They instead seek a plan of wellness based on healthy eating and natural supplements.

That approach, however, is the opposite of the health care agenda of the American Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical industry. Those forces, which literally control America’s health industry, are based on sickness. The sicker you are, the more drugs you will buy.

In addition, insurance companies, working hand in hand with the AMA and the drug companies, refuse to provide coverage for the wellness approach. Most won’t pay for natural supplements nor will they pay for visits to homeopaths or chiropractors. The only thing most Americans can do when sick (and unable to afford to pay for natural treatment out of their pockets) is to stick with the big pharma/AMA game plan. In short, it is cheaper to be sick than to try to stay well.

However, in spite of a stacked deck in favor of the sickness agenda, more Americans are going for wellness and the natural supplement industry is growing. In response, and to preserve their dominance over health care, big pharma is lobbying hard to get the Food and Drug Administration to make many natural supplements available only by prescriptions issued by AMA licensed doctors. In other efforts, they seek to drastically reduce the dosage of natural supplements sold over the counter, making them useless. Again, only a prescription would allow a workable dosage. Read more…

Vitamins are an essential part of a daily diet. It is important that students get an adequate amount of each vitamin in order to live healthy lives.

“Studies show that vitamin supplements improve overall health,” said Nichole Riley, an employee at GNC.

Riley said supplements provided at GNC help boost immunity and help people live longer.

There are several types of vitamins including Vitamins A, C, D, E, K and the B vitamin complex.

Vitamin B consists of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin V-6, vitamin B-12 and folate. These 13 vitamins are vital for healthy lives.

The Food and Drug Administration said vitamins are used for a variety of different bodily processes including growth, digestion and nerve function.

There are two types of vitamins — fat-soluble and water-soluble. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble.

The body stores these vitamins to use as needed.

Vitamin C and much of the vitamin B complex make up the water-solubles. They are easily absorbed by the body, and kidneys remove the excess vitamins that are not needed.

Each vitamin plays a specific part in keeping bodies healthy.

Not getting enough of any vitamin may cause disease or other medical problems. Read more…

VITAMIN D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. It is also produced by the body when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis.

However, vitamin D obtained from sun exposure, food, and supplements is biologically inert and must undergo two hydroxylations in the body for activation.

The first occurs in the liver and converts vitamin D to 25-hydroxy vitamin D, also known as calcidiol. The second occurs primarily in the kidney and forms the physiologically active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D also known as calcitriol.

Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption in the intestines and maintaining adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralisation of bone and prevent hypocalcemic tetany.

It is also needed for bone growth and bone remodelling by osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen. Vitamin D sufficiency prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis.

We are now going beyond the skeletal system and going into the cardiovascular system. Vitamin D it appears, is good for the heart.

A new study presented on Nov 16 at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Conference in Orlando, Florida, confirmed a strong association between the presence of reduced vitamin D levels and a greater risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure and dying among men and women 50 years of age and older. Read more…