After my last post about Vitamin D, I received a comment from a reader that I wanted to share with you.

I don’t know how many of you click on the comments area, so I asked permission to re-print her comments here. Here is her story…

I had an experience with Vitamin D deficiency that I wanted to share with you. I was struggling to get my blood pressure under control. It was consistently too high in spite of eliminating salt, losing some weight and consistently exercising. My doctor tested me for Vitamin D deficiency and we found it was quite low. Four days after I started supplementing with Vitamin D-3, my blood pressure was in the normal range and consistently remains there without blood pressure medication. I was thrilled!

Debbie S.

Wow. Powerful stuff, huh?

Now, please don’t run out to your health food store and starting swallowing large amounts of Vitamin D supplements just yet. That’s not the point of my bringing this topic up. In fact, you need to be careful with Vitamin D, or any fat soluble vitamin for the matter, because ingesting too much could be harmful. Unlike water soluble vitamins which will be excreted in your urine if you ingest too much, excess fat soluble vitamins are stored in your body. So, you always want to be careful when adjusting your supplement intake. That is why I recommend you talk with your health care practictioner to see if adding additional Vitamin D to your supplement regimen makes sense. My point with this post and my previous post is simply to make you aware that there is research out there that is indicating additional Vitamin D may be beneficial. It’s a good conversation starter at your next check up!

So, to recap, these are the take home messages about Vitamin D:
-It’s hard to get enough from food.
-Current RDA for Vitamin D is 400 IU, but most experts are recommending it be raised to 1,000 IU.
-Research shows there are significant health benefits of Vitamin D supplementation in some populations.
-Many individuals may be deficient in Vitamin A and they don’t even know it. A simple blood test can detect whether you are.

Thanks again to Debbie S. for sharing her story!

Have a great weekend,

Becky

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Well, there is nothing I know of that will maintain our youth forever, but as far as anti-aging nutrition goes, fish oil is at the top of the list!

Study after study shows that fish oil (and, more specifically the long-chain omega-3 fats DHA and EPA) can benefit us in so many ways. Based on scientific evidence, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that the ingestion of fish and/or fish oil supplements can benefit us in the following ways:

-Reduce blood pressure
-Reduce triglyceride levels
-Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease
-Reduce inflammation
-Reduce the incidence of macular degeneration (an eye disorder)

These are only the top four benefits the AHA mentions as having “strong scientific evidence”. It’s the tip of the iceberg–the list of potential benefits from fish oil is several pages long!

We boomers are right smack in “mid-life” where a lot of life’s pains the rear (heart disease, high blood pressure, etc) start showing up. The evidence-based argument favoring fish oil in reducing the risk for these conditions is just too strong to ignore.

If you aren’t taking fish oil, I suggest you talk to your doctor about adding it in to your supplement regime. One word of caution: Folks who are allergic to fish or shellfish should not take fish oil capsules.

If you like fish, the best way to get omega-3 fatty acids is to eat fattier fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel. Trout is also high in both DHA and EPA.

If you don’t eat fish several times a week, a fish oil supplement may be in order.

What should you look for in a fish oil supplement?
-Look for a product containing Neptune Krill Oil. Neptune Krill Oil doesn’t give you “fish burp” or a fishy aftertaste, and reportedly has a higher antioxidant rating than other types of fish oil used for supplements.
-Look for a product that contains both EPA and DHA.
-Talk to your health care provider about the proper dosage of fish oil for your situation.

I use and recommend EFA-Icon from Prograde Nutrition for my Omega-3 supplement.

You can pick up some EFA icon at a discount right now!

Click here to get to the Prograde site. Once you’ve placed your order, put in the coupon code 012009 at checkout. You’ll save 10.9% off your entire Prograde order from now through midnight EST on Thursday, January 15th!

Yours in health,

Becky

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