Are You Minding Your
Bsssss?
All stressed out and everywhere to go??? Are you a "Type A" personality on the road to a heart attack or some form of heart disease? If so, then you wouldn't be alone! Heart disease is one of the top killers of both men and women in the United States.
What does this mean to you? Among various recommended guidelines to more healthy living is the recommendation of the American Heart Association to get adequate amounts of vitamins B6, B12, and Folic Acid. Studies with these vitamins show a strong correlation to helping maintain a healthy heart and help prevent heart attacks and strokes. Not only that, but people who drink alcohol or take oral contraceptives should be especially careful to get enough folic acid: these substances interfere with the absorption of this vitamin.
Some doctors and nutritionists suggest taking the B-complex vitamins as a group for overall good health. However, most agree that the best way to get our B vitamins is naturally -- through the foods we eat!
What are good sources of these B vitamins?
Examples of foods rich in
vitamin B-6 include meats (chicken, turkey), bananas, avocadoes, fortified cereal, potatoes, and hazelnuts.
Vitamin B-12 is present in fortified cereals, beef, chicken, turkey, fish, egg, milk, and shellfish such as clams and crab.
Good food sources of
Folic Acid include green leafy vegetables, beans, lentils, soybeans, and wheat germ, but the vitamin is vulnerable to heat (i.e., cooking).
But what if we aren't eating right? Or have special conditions that require more of these important nutrients? At that point, most folks turn to some sort of daily supplementation in order to get the amounts that they need.
- "According to the Georgia State University Nutrition Dept., CNN Health Story Page - April 1998, older Americans need more B-vitamins -- Up to 30% of people who are over the age of 50 have lost the ability to absorb adequate amounts of vitamin B12 from meat or dairy products, and recommended that older Americans eat fortified cereal or grains or take a daily vitamin supplement to absorb enough.
I don't know about you, but if I try to eat enough food to get enough of all my vitamins and minerals I would gain way too many pounds! Even if I cut out all sweets, fat-laden foods,etc; at my age it's simply too many calories for what my body really requires vs the amount of nutrients I need and actually absorb. So, under a doctor's care, good quality vitamin B supplementation is the next best answer for many folks.
But not all vitamin Bs are created equal! Most B vitamins that you can buy over the counter give great benefit for a short while after they are first taken. However, what your body doesn't need at that very moment -is kicked out instead of being saved for later when you do need it. So, you still don't get the full benefits that you paid for in that vitamin pill.
Thus, a time-released B vitamin is going to give your body
more overall benefit to utilize as much of that vitamin pill
that you're taking. And don't forget that quality counts too!
There can be a big difference between the many
over-the-counter products versus one made with the highest
pharmaceutical grade ingredients. So choose carefully - your
heart and the rest of your body will thank you for it!
