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Long before the term "women's health" even existed, we hear women talk about their health concerns: what they need, what works for them and what doesn't. They have always been interested in health and beauty care. Natural choices seem to be more in tune with their instincts, especially with the increased concern about using drugs with so many side effects.

Today, every woman has many options to grow as a wife, mother and career leader. Generally being the primary caretakers of the home and children, women speak single solutions for their lives because the demands on their times are so great.

A modern woman's body needs help to balance stress levels, maintain consistent energy levels and strong physical health to cope with busy and demanding lifestyles. This can only be achieved with wholesome foods, proper exercise and natural supplements specifically designed to support a healthy and active lifestyle.

The most basic support a woman should choose is a multi-vitamin and mineral formula formulated to meet her specific dietary needs.

Some may ask why they should take supplements if they are already eating the right food. But are you eating the right amounts?

Even if you eat a healthy plant-based diet based on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, you can't be sure that they are as properly nourishing as expected due to the depletion of soil minerals. Additional stress may be placed on your body by chemical and pesticide exposure and bad commercial methods of agriculture, which not only deplete the soil of precious minerals but also destroys the plant's ability to utilize them. So our food is nutritionally deficient from the start. Even worse, it gets refined. With all the changes and stresses in our lives, we need all the help we can get.

Nutritional support is inevitable.

But what types of nutritional supplements should a woman take?

There are some vital nutrients and important factors that a woman should consider at different stages of her life such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, menopause, diabetes and even cancer. Now it's time to take charge of your health and make some decisions.

Women have special needs and are affected from higher incidence of osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, and other gender-related problems. For example, because of the nutritional and hormonal differences between men and women, osteoporosis primarily affects females.

Osteoporosis is characterized by loss of mineral from the skeleton, resulting in thin bones that are susceptible to fracture.
Osteoporosis cannot be cured -- it can only be prevented or its progression delayed.
The best way to prevent the disease is to build strong bones early in life primarily by consuming a well-balanced, calcium-rich diet and by making exercise a part of daily routine.
Half of all women between the ages of forty-five and seventy-five show signs or some degree of osteoporosis. Bone mass (the amount of mineral in the bone) reaches it's peak in women between the ages of thirty and thirty five. After that, it begins a gradual decline.
Between the ages of forty-five and seventy-five women experience a 30 to 40 percent loss in bone mass. There are no symptoms while this is occurring, so it goes unnoticed until the loss is significant.
Many people have the impression that osteoporosis is caused solely by a calcium deficiency and that it can be remedied simply by taking calcium supplements. This is not quite true. Calcium is very important in dealing with Osteoporosis. However, Vitamins, C, D, E, and K all play a very important role. Regulating the amounts of minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, boron, zinc, manganese, and copper are very important for maintaining proper levels of calcium in the body. Many nutrients influence bone formation, thus underscoring the importance of a balanced diet.
Building and preserving bone strength is important for all women

To help prevent osteoporosis and to protect your bones:

Take calcium-1,500 mg total (diet plus supplements) daily with meals for better absorption and take between 400 and 800 I.U. of Vitamin D a day. Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption, and as we get older our bodies are less able to absorb Vitamin D from sunlight.
Exercise regularly
Cut down the amount of protein in your diet-eating too much protein leaches calcium from your bones.
Avoid drinking alcohol, caffeine, and carbonated sodas (which contain high levels of phosphates). All of these dietary factors can also affect bone health and increase bone loss. High intakes of caffeine, alcohol, sodium, and protein increase the amount of calcium lost in urine.
Eat plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, especially leafy green vegetables, and consider taking a nutritional supplement like ProCycle Gold for trace minerals and nutrients.
Increase the amount of soy protein in your diet by adding soybeans, soy nuts, soy milk, tofu or other soy products to your meals and snacks. Soy contains phytoestrogens called isoflavones. The amount of isoflavones in soy foods varies50 mg of isoflavones per day is a good target amount. Remember, soy milk and soy products do not replace cow milk.

Today there are tremendous resources available from nature-more than ever before thanks to an increase in alternative health research. No matter your what concern is-candida, osteoporosis, menopause, PMS, heart disease, cystitis, yeast infections, arthritis-there are safe, natural effective nutritional support products.

Women, society, and health professionals have been slow to recognize the importance of cardiovascular disease to the health of women. Women are vulnerable to many of the same risk factors for cardiovascular disease as men, although the significance of the risk may vary between the sexes. Certain nutrition-related risk factors stand out as powerful predictors for cardiovascular disease in women.

Again, exercise regularly, with steady aerobic exercise: walking, jogging, bicycling. Exercise is also essential for bone health. People who are immobilized because of illness lose massive amounts of skeletal mineral.
Eat a very low-fat diet-no more than 2 grams of fat per 100 calories-and avoid saturated fats.
Omega 3 fatty acids may have a role in preventing heart disease. Fish is a good source of omega 3 fatty acids (mackerel, herring, tuna, sardines, salmon, shellfish).
Meditate or perform other stress reduction exercises every day. Stress plays a significant role in the development of heart disease.
Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol at healthy levels and monitor them regularly.
Take 100-400 I.U. of Vitamin E daily. Studies show that this may reduce heart attack risk.
Ask your doctor if you should take aspirin. Low-dose taken daily or every other day, can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by decreasing blood clotting.
Finally, to greatly decrease your risk for bone fractures, heart disease, and stroke-stop smoking. Smoking may also cause an early menopause in some women. Smoking adversely affects bone density. Smoking causes estrogen to be metabolized more quickly, reduces production of estrogen, causes earlier menopause, and negatively affects calcium absorption .

Menopause is also part of a changing lifestyle for a woman. It is a natural event, not a disease. Estrogen loss at menopause increases the risk of losing bone mass and developing heart disease in the years after menopause.

Vitamin E and a low-fat diet high in vegetables may have the added benefit of reducing hot flashes and other symptoms without estrogen. Black cohosh has also been found to reduce hot flashes.

Excess body weight also predisposes women to other risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and increased levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides.

Diabetes mellitus predisposes women more than men to cardiovascular disease and it is a major health problem for women, particularly as they age. In the presence of diabetes mellitus, women face a variety of increased health risks, many of which are responsive to nutrition-related interventions.

As with many other malignancies, breast cancer is likely the result of a lifetime of insults and complex interactions. Diet may make the difference between progression or prevention of the disease . Dietary fat may have a negative effect. One theory mentions that it increases estrogen levels and another mentions that it suppresses the immune system. But one thing researchers agree upon is that eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is an effective way to lower fat intake and a positive step that may decrease the risk of breast cancer.

Research is ongoing to study the relationship of nutritional supplements and health in general and specifically women's health.

In the meantime, dietetics professionals should advise women to reduce fat in their diets while increasing intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains -- the sources of potentially protective antioxidants and fiber. In addition, maintaining a healthy body weight seems to have a positive effect in preventing cancer and other diseases that afflict women of all ages.

Clearly, nutrition plays a major role in relation to risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women. Dietetics professionals can lead the way in creating an awareness of the disease and promoting programs designed to reduce its nutrition-related risk factors specially in what concerns women's health.

In addition, policy makers and other health professionals must be made aware of the unique health needs of women and encouraged to support further research into the role of nutrition in women's health.

Prepared By:

Dr. Maha G Alnakkash
Clinical Pharmacologist
Dubai

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