Tag: Pregnancy

Categories
Featured

Heartburn

[amazon_link asins=’B00BV47KTS,B00I8MI3MO,0976642530,B002TC8CDO,B005LHN60I,B0035JIP64,B0019J6XSY,B001CZ7G1I,0679767959′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’39c8256f-612d-11e7-a147-15cd2d3f5986′]

In many cases, this digestive problem can be prevented with some simple lifestyle changes. But when heartburn hits — as it does daily for more than 25 million Americans — natural remedies can provide quick relief from the disorder’s fiery sensations.

Symptoms
A burning sensation behind the breastbone lasting from a few minutes to several hours.

When to Call Your Doctor
If you have heartburn twice a week or more.

What It Is
To help digest food, the stomach produces about a quart of hydrochloric acid a day. Usually, the acid isn’t a problem, because the gastrointestinal tract is coated with a protective mucous lining. But when acid moves up the esophagus (the tube running from the throat to the stomach), look out. Lacking a protective coating, the delicate tissue of the esophagus is vulnerable to the acid’s corrosive action, which produces a burning sensation doctors label gastroesophageal reflux — and the rest of us call heartburn.

What Causes It
Stomach acid generally stays where it belongs, thanks to the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). This muscle relaxes only to admit food into the stomach and then shuts tightly. But sometimes the LES doesn’t close properly, allowing the stomach’s contents to wash up into the esophagus.

How Supplements Can Help

All the suggested supplements are effective for relieving heartburn — the first four immediately, the last three within a month or so. Try each methodically to see which one or combination works best for you. All can be used in addition to prescription or over-the counter heartburn drugs.

What Else You Can Do
Eat smaller, more frequent meals to minimize stomach acid production.

Supplement Recommendations

Calcium Carbonate
Licorice (DGL)
Aloe Vera Juice
Gamma-oryzanol
Choline
Pantothenic Acid
Thiamin

Calcium Carbonate
Dosage: 250-500 mg 3 times a day.
Comments: Chewable tablets provide the quickest relief.

Licorice (DGL)
Dosage: 2 deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) wafers (380 mg).
Comments: Take 3 or 4 times a day between meals as needed

Aloe Vera Juice
Dosage: 1/2 cup juice 3 times a day between meals.
Comments: Contains 98% aloe vera and no aloin or aloe-emodin.

Gamma-oryzanol
Dosage: 150 mg 3 times a day on an empty stomach.
Comments: Also know as rice bran oil.

Choline
Dosage: 500 mg 3 times a day.
Comments: For chronic heartburn, use in combination with pantothenic acid and thiamin for 1 month to see if symptoms abate.

Pantothenic Acid
Dosage: 1,000 mg twice a day.
Comments: For chronic heartburn, use in combination with choline and thiamin for 1 month to see if symptoms abate.

Thiamin
Dosage: 500 mg a day, taken first thing in the morning.
Comments: Also called vitamin B1. For chronic heartburn, combine with pantothenic acid and choline for 1 month.

Click for home remedy  of Heartburn Relief

Source:Your Guide to Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs (Reader’s Digest)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Related articles
Categories
Ailmemts & Remedies

Fibrocystic Breasts

[amazon_link asins=’B005MKP9OK,B004W6W0QA,B00UE595P2,B015HW7W74,B01DE3H95S,B002D9PCKY,B0040SYISS,B00CQ7U18G,1552128849′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c75d58d8-04d8-11e7-8455-77da85f16a74′]

Most doctors no longer call the pain and lumpiness of fibrocystic breasts a disease because this condition affects virtually half of all women under age 50. Selected supplements and a shift in diet may help diminish the symptoms of this disorder.

click  & see

Symptoms
Breast lumps or nodules that may be tender or not painful at all.
An increase in the size of lumps or in breast discomfort a week or so before a menstrual period.

When to Call Your Doctor
If a new lump develops, especially if you have not always had lumpy breasts.
If a lump grows larger, hardens, or does not diminish after your menstrual period ends.
If you have any discharge from either nipple.
If your breast pain is severe.
Reminder: If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor before taking supplements.
What It Is
Such premenstrual changes have long been labeled fibrocystic breast disease. But this condition is not a disease, and it doesn’t increase your risk of breast cancer (though having lumpy breasts may make identifying a cancerous growth more difficult if one develops). Normal lumps can usually be distinguished from cancerous ones because they move freely in the breast, changing with the menstrual cycle.

What Causes It
Fibrocystic changes in the breast are linked to the rise and fall of hormones associated with the menstrual cycle. Women who produce a particularly high level of estrogen in conjunction with a low level of progesterone after ovulation may suffer more. This combination can cause the body to produce too much prolactin, a hormone that triggers milk production in new mothers but increases breast tenderness in women who are not breast-feeding. Many experts think caffeine stimulates the growth of lumps or fluid-filled breast cysts (and some women showed improvement when they eliminate caffeine), but other researchers maintain there’s no firm evidence of any connection between caffeine and breast tenderness.

How Supplements Can Help
All the supplements listed can be used together and as needed; you should see improvement in a month or two. Many women report relief from breast pain after taking vitamin E. Just how it works is unknown, but some experts believe this vitamin blocks the changes in breast tissue possibly caused by caffeine.

What Else You Can Do
Eliminate caffeine and see if that helps. Besides coffee and tea, caffeine is found in chocolate, colas, and some over-the-counter medications. Be patient: Six months may pass before you notice any improvement.
Wear a bra with good support when your breasts are tender.

Supplement Recommendations
Vitamin E
Chasteberry
Essential Fatty Acids
Magnesium
Vitamin B6

Vitamin E
Dosage: 400 IU twice a day.
Comments: Check with your doctor if taking anticoagulant drugs.

Chasteberry
Dosage: 225 mg standardized extract each morning.
Comments: Also called vitex. Should contain 0.5% agnuside.

Essential Fatty Acids
Dosage: 1,000 mg evening primrose oil 3 times a day; 1 tbsp. (14 grams) flaxseed oil a day.
Comments: Or use 1,000 mg borage oil once a day for primrose oil.

Magnesium
Dosage: 600 mg a day.
Comments: Take with food; reduce dose if diarrhea develops.

Vitamin B6
Dosage: 100 mg twice a day for 1 week.
Comments: Take this amount only the week before menstruation; this dose can cause nerve damage if taken daily over the long term.

Source:Your Guide to Vitamins, Minerals, and Herbs(Reader’s Digest)

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.

Related articles
Categories
News on Health & Science

Nutrition: Fish Oil for Mom May Benefit Her Child

[amazon_link asins=’B06WGQ3VWG,B00KKA0G04,B002QMB55Y,B01NBTJFJB,B01GV4O37E,B000NPYY04,B00CAZAU62,B004U3Y9FU,B0046XC528′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d2be76b1-db55-11e7-a984-5d05f5e7fc18′]

Women who take fish oil supplements while pregnant may improve the hand-eye coordination of their children, according to a small Australian study.

In a trial published online Dec. 21 in The Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition, scientists divided 98 women into two groups. Beginning at 20 weeks of pregnancy and continuing until the women gave birth, the first group took a daily dose of four grams of fish oil, while the second group took four grams of olive oil each day. Neither the mothers nor the researchers knew which supplement the women had received until the study ended.

The researchers examined 72 children born to women who completed the study when the children were 2½ years old. In tests of locomotor ability, speech and hearing, vocabulary and practical reasoning, the children whose mothers were given fish oil during pregnancy scored slightly higher, but the differences were not statistically significant. However, after controlling for maternal age, birth weight, breast-feeding and other factors, the children of the women who took fish oil were significantly better at hand-eye coordination than those of the women who took the olive oil supplement.

The authors acknowledged that their sample was small, and that they could not exclude the possibility that the result was due to chance. Still, children who received prenatal fish oil did consistently perform better on all measures of development.

“These preliminary data indicate that supplementation with a relatively high-dose fish oil during the last 20 weeks of pregnancy is not only safe,” the authors concluded, “but also seems to have potential beneficial effects that need to be explored further.”

Source:The New York Times

Related articles
Categories
News on Health & Science

Fish Oil Linked to Lower Alzheimer’s Risk

A substance found in fish oil may be associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other dementias, researchers reported.

CLICK & SEE

The scientists found that people with the highest blood levels of an omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, were about half as likely to develop dementia as those with lower levels.

The substance is one of several omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fatty fish and, in small amounts, in some meats. It is also sold in fish oil or DHA supplements. The researchers looked for a reduced risk associated with seven other omega-3 fatty acids, but only DHA had any effect.

The study, in the November issue of The Archives of Neurology, used data from the Framingham Heart Study to follow 899 initially healthy participants, with a median age of 76, for an average of more than nine years.

The scientists assessed DHA and fish intake using a questionnaire and obtained complete dietary data on more than half the subjects. They took blood samples from all the participants to determine serum levels of fatty acids.

Ninety-nine people developed dementia over the course of the study, including 71 cases of Alzheimer’s disease. The average level of DHA among all the participants was 3.6 percent of all fatty acids, and the top 25 percent of the population had values above 4.2 percent. People in this top one-quarter in DHA levels had a 47 percent reduced risk of developing dementia, even after controlling for body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, smoking status and other known or suspected risks. Risk reduction was apparent only at that top level of DHA — those in the bottom three-quarters in DHA level showed no detectable difference in risk.

People who ate two or more servings of fish a week reduced their risk for dementia by 39 percent, but there was no effect on the risk for dementia among those who ate less than that.

The finding that DHA alone reduces risk, the authors write, is consistent with earlier data showing high levels of DHA in healthy brain tissue and low levels in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Ernst J. Schaefer, the lead author of the study, was cautious in interpreting the results.

This study doesn’t prove that eating fish oil prevents dementia, he said. “Itâs an observational study that presents an identified risk factor, and the next step is a randomized placebo-controlled study in people who do not yet have dementia.” Dr. Schaefer is chief of the Lipid Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University.

The study was financed in part by Martek, a concern that manufactures DHA, and one author received a grant from Pfizer, France.

Eating fish is not a guarantee of having high levels of DHA. In fact, fish intake accounted for less than half of the variability in DHA levels. Other dietary intake and genetic propensities probably account for the rest. Dr. Schaefer pointed out that the kind of fish consumed is important. Fatty fish, he said, is best, and frying will cause DHA to deteriorate.

Supplements may be an additional source of DHA, but an editorial in the same issue, by Dr. Martha Clare Morris, an associate professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, points out that there are no published human studies of the effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. The Food and Drug Administration does not endorse DHA or fish oil capsules, but recognizes doses of up to 3 grams a day of fish oil as generally safe. High intakes of fish oil can cause excessive bleeding in some people.

Dr. Morris writes that there are few human studies examining the effect of mercury intake from eating seafood, and it is not known if the risks of eating fish outweigh the benefits.

But, she adds, epidemiological studies consistently show positive health effects from fish consumption on mortality, cardiovascular risk factors and, now, dementia

Source:The New York Times

Related articles
Categories
Healthy Tips

Fish eating

[amazon_link asins=’1612123376,B004RUN8LC,B004RUN3G2,B00QJCUZ0I,B004RUN8H6,B00O49TEEG,B0000EIDC6,B002VLZ89Y,B0036QPQIG’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a3bd2bbf-1ad1-11e7-b00a-c3c42a93a956′]

[amazon_link asins=’B00Q2XYF9Q,B01MQQCSS0,B000256778,B00822Y6HQ,B004P888AW,B000MRUS08,B00B4NNRAW,B0078XMZPA’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’83e41824-1ad1-11e7-980a-91e6b78306fa’]

[amazon_link asins=’B000LRFZCU,0786866020,B00KEBT9A2,B004RUN3G2,B00HBTC4UC,B01K11YLIY,B00362RT3U,B004KAT9HQ,0142426423′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’64bdb2ca-1ad1-11e7-b817-252d51dfe8b3′]

FISH and other SEAFOOD can play an important role in a good diet. Because fish are high in protein but low in unhealthy fats, they make a great alternative to red meat. Fish are a good source of vitamins and minerals Fish has an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which may protect against coronary heart disease and stroke, and are thought to aid in the neurological development of unborn babies,” said Joshua Cohen, lead author and senior research associate at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis at HSPH.

CLICK & SEE

It is recomended that eating fish(particularly fatty fish) atleast two times a week is very good for health. Fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Two new studies give one more reason to eat a diet rich in fish: prevention of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in old age .

Even though the world’s fish contain slight amounts of mercury, eating lots of fish carries no detectable health risk from low levels of the substance, even for very young children and pregnant women, concludes the most comprehensive study of the subject yet.

The findings come from a nine-year University of Rochester study conducted in the Republic of the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean where most people eat nearly a dozen fish meals each week and whose mercury levels are about 10 times higher than most U.S. citizens. Indeed, no harmful effects were seen in children at levels up to 20 times the average U.S. level. The work is published in the August 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association 2005.

Who should choose their fish carefully?
Too much mercury and PCBs can cause health problems for anyone. Because they alter the way young brains develop, these pollutants can harm babies and children most of all. Both mercury and PCBs linger in the body and build up over time. They can pass from a pregnant woman or a nursing mother to her baby.

It’s especially important for all children under 15, teenage girls, and women who are pregnant or could get pregnant to avoid eating fish that have high levels of mercury or PCBs

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
css.php