New! One of the Foods That Lower Blood Sugar

Did you know that sweetners, natural or artificial, can cause Diabetics to store sugar in the bloodstream and store more belly fat?

Since the beginning of time, we have been eating foods that taste sweet, such as sugar cane, honey and molasses. The brain has a conditional response to eating something sweet.

As the tongue senses sweetness, no matter whether it is natural or artificial, the human brain triggers the liver to stop the manufacture of protein and starch from its body reserves and to begin to store glucose energy which circulates in the blood.

Even artificial sweeteners can trigger this reaction. Unless no calories reach the stomach, the body demands real food, causing surges from the liver to overeat and a desire more sweets and the process starts over again. The body almost instantly starts producing insulin, the "fat" hormone which stores sugar in the bloodstream and then programs "belly fat" to store more and more.

This reponse is called the "Cephalic Phase Insulin Response" (CPIR) which creates low blood sugar and triggers more strong craving for sweet tasting items and high glycemic foods.

CPIR is responsible for the fat storing effects of artificial sweeteners, high glycemic sweeteners, diet sodas, diet tea, coffee, energy drinks, sports drinks and flavored waters.

After the taste buds are activated by a sweet taste, the urge to eat can last 1-2 hours. No real food has fulfilled the body's need for energy.

Foods That Lower Blood Sugar:

One of the foods that lower blood sugar may be sweet infused fruits. They may serve a useful dietary management of blood sugar levels. There is a brand new product on the market which is a thermogenic, fat-burning drink that delivers natural high energy. It does not cause blood sugar swings or reactive hypoglycemia, and does not adipose tissue fat storing (belly fat).

Most Energy drinks and fat-burning drinks are notorious for stimulating belly fat due to high gycemic ingredients. There is a brand new product which has been certified Low Glycemic by the Glycemic Research Institute's government programs approved in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.

This product is the only fat-burning, high energy drink that contains Peach Sweet, an exclusive GBG all-natural Low Glycemic fruit sweetener. With its natural energy production diabetics will no longer suffer the constant feeling of being tired and will not suffer from blood sugar swings.

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How Does Exercise Affect Diabetes?

How Does Exercise Affect Diabetes?
The 2 types of diabetes are type I and type II. Type I diabetes is characterized by the pancreas making too little or no insulin. An individual with diabetes type I will have to inject insulin throughout the day in order to control glucose levels. Type II diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, is characterized by the pancreas not producing enough insulin to control glucose levels or the cells not responding to insulin. When a cell does not respond to insulin, it is known as insulin resistance.

When a subject is diagnosed with type II diabetes, exercise and weight control are prescribed as measures to help with insulin resistance. If this does not control glucose levels, then medication is prescribed.

The risk factors for type II diabetes include: inactivity, high cholesterol, obesity, and hypertension. Inactivity alone is a very strong risk factor that has been proven to lead to diabetes type II. Exercise will have a positive effect on diabetes type II while improving insulin sensitivity while type I cannot be controlled be an exercise program. Over 90% of individuals with diabetes have type II.

Exercise causes the body to process glucose faster, which lowers blood sugar. The more intense the exercise, the faster the body will utilize glucose. Therefore it is important to understand the differences in training with type I and type II diabetes.

It is important for an individual who has diabetes to check with a physician before beginning an exercise program. When training with a diabetic, it is important to understand the dangers of injecting insulin immediately prior to exercise.

An individual with type I diabetes injecting their normal amount of insulin for a sedentary situation can pose the risk of hypoglycemia or insulin shock during exercise. General exercise guidelines for type I are as follows:

• Allow adequate rest during exercise sessions to prevent high blood pressure
• Use low impact exercises and avoid heavy weight lifting
• Have a diabetic friendly energy drink nearby.

If blood sugar levels get too low, the individual may feel shaky, disoriented, hungry, anxious, become irritable or experience trembling. Consuming a carbohydrate snack or diabetic friendly energy drink approved by Glycemic Research will alleviate these symptoms in a matter of minutes.

Before engaging in exercise, it is important for blood sugar levels to be tested to make sure that they are not below 80 to 100 mg/dl range and not above 250 mg/dl. Glucose levels should also be tested before, during, after and three to five hours after exercise. During this recovery period (3-5 hours after exercise), it is important for diabetics to consume ample carbohydrates in order to prevent hypoglycemia.

How Does Exercise Affect Diabetes?
Exercise will greatly benefit an individual with type II diabetes because of its positive effects on insulin sensitivity. Proper exercise and nutrition are the best forms of prevention for type II diabetics. It is important for training protocols to be repeated almost daily to help with sustaining insulin sensitivity. To prevent hypoglycemia, progressively work up to strenuous activity.

As with individuals with type I diabetes, carbohydrates should also be present during training to assist in raising blood sugar levels if the individual becomes low.

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Whats in Your Drinking Water?

Did you ever ask yourself what's in the water that you drink? If you ever found out, it could make you sick. Maintaining your ignorance could make you sicker. We always assumed our drinking water is safe. We were wrong.

The coming water crisis Across the country, long-neglected mains and pipes, many more than a century old, are reaching the end of their life span. When pipes fail, pressure drops and sucks dirt, debris, and often bacteria and other pathogens into the huge underground arteries that deliver
water......

Whats in YOUR drinking water?

Lead, chlorine, disinfection by-products, cryptosporidia, giardia, bacteria, endocrine disrupters, pesticides, etc.

The geographic region where people live is an important contributing factor to both the quality and availability of fresh waterIf you are provided with municipal water, the responsibility for your safe drinking water lies with the water provider.

Although water companies in the US and many other countries are strictly regulated and the treated water must meet certain minimum purity and safety standards, all water companies are not created equal.

You can reasonably assume that most are doing the best they can with the resources available to them. In general, though, the larger water companies (in the US anyway) have greater resources available to treat and distribute the water and maintain the distribution infrastructure. And, because they serve more people, they are required to meet stricter regulations.

Some information for well owners or people who use surface water for drinking: People with private water supplies are responsible for the safety of their own drinking water.

While all wells, springs, and surface water should be tested regularly, there are some situations where it is critical to know what is in your water:

• If you use surface water or water from an unconfined aquifer and have any sources of pollution nearby, you are at risk for contaminated water.
• If you or members of your family are at higher risk of health problems from contaminants, you should know what is in your water.
• If the quality of your water suddenly changes - new taste

The depth of a well is not usually as important as the type of aquifer from which the well draws. Well water from an unconfined aquifer is much more prone to contamination than water from a confined aquifer.

Poorly designed or maintained septic systems are a potential source of contamination for wells or springs mostly in unconfined aquifers. The most common contaminants from septic systems tend to be E. coli and nitrates, but if other chemicals are flushed into the septic system by you or your neighbors, they can become part of the ground or surface water pollutants as well.

Water Testing: If you use municipal water you should be able to obtain a water quality report yearly and, except for special circumstances, would probably not need to test your water. If you use well, spring, or surface water, it is important to test your water periodically for contaminants liable to be present in your water. Water quality from a water source can change over time - particularly in surface water or shallow, unconfined aquifers.

Where You Live:
Home Located in an Industrial Area: The range of possible industrial pollutants is extremely large. Important contaminants include heavy metals and many thousands of kinds of manufactured chemicals.

Whats in your drinking water could come from:
Emissions into the atmosphere that either settle onto or wash onto the earth's surface and from there into the surface or ground water.

Waste dumps that leak into surface or ground water.

Leakage from storage areas of chemical products or their precursors.

Accidents and spills during transport of chemicals.

Direct dumping of contaminants into surface water for disposal.

Home Located in an Agricultural Area: Farms can have many potential sources of pollution for the underlying water, including: manure lagoon, feedlot / barn, septic system, earthen silage pit, fuel storage tank, chemical storage area, chemical mixing area, dump or landfill, and fields on which fertilizers or pesticides have been applied. In addition to the health effects of nitrates on children, discussed above, nitrates in drinking water have also been associated with an increased risk for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Chlorinated Water and the Risk of Disinfection By-products:
Is your water Chlorinated? Most municipal water treatment plants use chlorine to disinfect the water before it leaves the treatment plant and/or keep the water biologically safe during the distribution process. Many well users also use chlorine to disinfect their water.

Chlorine, while an excellent disinfectant, reacts with organic material in the source water to produce a group of chlorinated organic compounds collectively known as Disinfection Byproduct (DBPs).

According to several EPA articles:

"While disinfectants are effective in controlling many microorganisms, they react with natural organic and inorganic matter in source water and distribution systems to form DBPs. Results from toxicology studies have shown several DBPs to be carcinogenic in laboratory animals.

Other DBPs have also been shown to cause adverse reproductive or developmental effects in laboratory animals. Several epidemiology studies have suggested a weak association between certain cancers (e.g., bladder) or reproductive and developmental effects, and exposure to chlorinated surface water.

More than 200 million people consume water that has been disinfected. Because of the large population exposed, health risks associated with DBPs, even if small, need to be taken seriously."

In general, the levels of DBPs are highest in treated water from sources with high organic matter content, such as rivers and lakes, and lowest when the source is groundwater. Within a single water supply, however, DBP levels can vary greatly, depending on both water quality and treatment conditions.

The DBPs include Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) (including chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform), and Haloacetic Acids (HAAs) (dichloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid)

In 1979, the EPA set an interim Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for TTHMs of 0.10 mg/l (or 100 microgram/l) as an annual average. This applies to any community water system serving at least 10,000 people that adds a disinfectant to the drinking water during any part of the treatment process. By 2002 the MCL for TTHMS will be lowered to 0.08mg/l (or 80 ug/l) and a MCL for HAAs will be set at 0.06mg/l.

In addition to laboratory studies showing cancers and reproductive problems in animals, there is a growing body of evidence based on epidemiological studies that implicates DBPs as contributing to problems during pregnancy.

Epidemiological evidence suggesting a weak association between the consumption of chlorinated drinking water and the occurrence of bladder, colon, and rectal cancer (and possibly even some brain cancers).

In epidemiological studies, investigators compare health effects in a population of people who drink water containing higher levels of DBS with a similar group of people who drink water with lower levels of DPS. According to some estimates, anywhere between two and seventeen percent of all bladder cancer cases in the U.S. may be due to DBPs. It is a tough balancing act between adding too little chlorine (resulting in more microbial contaminants and fewer DBPs), and too much chlorine (resulting in dead microbes and higher levels of DBPs).

A 1996 study by King and Marrett concluded "that the risk of bladder cancer increases with both duration and concentration of exposure to chlorination by-products". They found that those exposed to chlorinated surface water for 35 or more years had a 1.4 times increased risk of bladder cancer compared with those exposed for less than 10 years, and those exposed to an estimated THM level greater than 49 micrograms/liter for 35 or more years had 1.63 times the risk of those exposed for less than 10 years.

Populations At Greater Risk from Water Contaminants: Pregnant Women, Children, Elderly, Immuno-Compromised
Any person who requires water of a specific microbiological purity should follow the advice of their doctor or local health officials regarding the use and consumption of tap water treated by ANY purification system.

Don' Think You Have Lead in Your Water... Check again

Home Age and the Risk of Lead Contamination:
The age of your home can be an important indicator of whether lead might be a contaminant in your drinking water. Lead is a serious threat to human health and can adversely affect almost every organ in the human body. Lead contamination usually occurs in the home as water dissolves lead from household plumbing made with lead containing materials. Even many "lead-free fixtures still contain some lead. More likely than not, water in buildings less than five years old or that were built before about 1987 have some levels of lead contamination.

Boiling the water will not reduce the amount of lead. Young children and pregnant women have the greatest risk from even short term lead exposure. An adequate calcium intake can help protect against lead poisoning - but that is NOT a substitute for lead reducing methods discussed below.

Indicators for high lead content in your drinking water. Lead levels in your drinking water are likely to be highest if: your home has faucets or fittings of brass which contains some lead, or your home or water system has lead pipes, or your home has copper pipes with lead solder, and the house is less than five years old, or you have naturally soft water, or your water is acidic, (pH below 7), or water often sits in the pipes for several hours, or you use hot water from the tap to make formula or drinks you regularly notice blue/green stains on sinks, tubs, and fixtures (this is probably copper, but it is an indication of corrosive water which will also dissolve lead).

Check for Lead Water Pipes
Inside your home: locate the pipe leading to the kitchen tap, and follow it as far as possible until it exits your home. Unpainted lead pipes are dull gray and soft. If you scrape the surface gently with a knife, you will see the shiny, silver-colored metal beneath.

Try to find a place where the supply line is accessible (water meter for example) and check for indications of lead pipe. Other types of pipe in use Copper - bright copper-brown color may have silver colored metal around the soldered joints - the solder may contain lead. Iron/Steel - black, may be rusty, and is quite hard. The pipe may have a shinny galvanized coating. Plastic - may be white, blue, gray, black, etc.

Lead compounds may also be present in some plastic plumbing components. Lead may be used in the manufacture of the plastic plumbing products as a plasticizer. Plastic plumbing components that are certified by the NSF International do not contain lead. Plastic materials certified by NSF are recommended for potable water plumbing applications. Plumbing components made of bronze and brass contain 3% to 8% lead.

If your drinking water has not been tested for lead, or if it does contain lead, seriously consider taking the following precautions:

• If the water has not been used in a particular faucet for six hours or longer, run the cold water tap until the water is noticeably colder, about a minute, to "flush" the pipes.
• Use only cold water from the tap for drinking, cooking, and especially making baby formula.
• Hot water dissolves materials better than cold water and thus may contain higher levels of lead.
• Frequently clean the screens and aerators in faucets to remove captured lead particles.
• If building or remodeling, only use "lead free" piping and materials for plumbing.
• If you are served by a public water system contact your supplier and ask whether or not the supply system contains lead piping, and whether your water is corrosive.
• If either answer is yes, ask what steps the supplier is taking to deal with the problem of lead contamination.
• One indication that your water is corrosive (if you have copper pipes) is that you may notice blue/green stains in tubs, sinks, and around faucets. If your water is dissolving copper, and if there is lead in the pipes, solder, or fixtures, there is a good chance your water is also dissolving lead!

Note: Drinking water is estimated to contribute only 10 to 20 percent of the total lead exposure in young children. Make certain you are informed about all of the risks for lead exposure.

Contaminants and Sensory Clues:
Great looking, smelling and tasting water is no guarantee that you have safe water! Many contaminants, lead, mercury, E. coli, disinfection byproducts.

If your water normally looks, tastes, and smells good and then suddenly becomes cloudy (turbid) or acquires a bad smell or taste it may be an indicator that the purification process has failed. Immediately begin using water filtered with a high quality filter, bottled water, or otherwise purified water until you have determined that your water is safe. That would also be a very good time to consider looking for a permanent water filtration solution.

Personal Water Filtration Bottle

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The Relationship Between Foods High in Antioxidants and Health

The ORAC score, short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances. Antioxidants vacuum up free radicals, the cell-damaging chemicals resulting from oxidation.

Certain foods, chemicals and even air can trigger oxidative stress. This type of cell damage is a major culprit in many chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s.

Free radicals are thought to be such bad factors because they are highly unstable, and wreak havoc on tissue in their quest to find a more stable state. Because antioxidants remove free radicals from circulation, they are protective against at least some of the chronic diseases that plague Americans.

The CDC (National Centers for Disease Control) estimate that 5 out of every 6 deaths in the US result from chronic disease, so the tiny free radical is a big problem.

It's all about dietary choice when it come to boosting antioxidants. Unprocessed whole fruits, vegetables and other plants are the primary source food high in antioxidants, though some fat-soluble nutritents found in fish and nuts are also rich. Herbs like cilantro and spices like ginger, cinnamon and cumin have very high ORAC scores. Oh yes, and chocolate is an ORAC superstar.

Curious? Here are a few foods and their ORAC scores.

Top-Scoring Foods High in Antioxidants
ORAC units per 100 grams (about 3 ½ ounces)


Many fruits and vegetables are known to be good sources of antioxidant vitamins, such as E, C, and beta carotene, a form of vitamin A. But these natural foods also contain other compounds, collectively known as phytonutrients, that may contribute to health.

Foods that score high ORAC score may also protect cells and their components from oxidative damage, according to studies of animals and human blood at the Agricultural Research Service's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston. ARS is the chief scientific agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC fruits and vegetables--such as spinach and blueberries--may help slow the processes associated with aging in both body and brain.
"If these findings are borne out in further research, young and middle-aged people may be able to reduce risk of diseases of aging--including senility--simply by adding high-ORAC foods to their diets," said ARS Administrator Floyd P. Horn.

In the studies, eating plenty of high-ORAC foods:

• Raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent


• Prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats


• Maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus--a function that normally decreases with age


• Protected rats' tiny blood vessels--capillaries--against oxygen damage

Nutritionist Ronald L. Prior contends, "If we can show some relationship between ORAC intake and health outcome in people, I think we may reach a point where the ORAC value will become a new standard for good antioxidant protection." (See table at end for ORAC values of fruits and vegetables.)

It can be difficult to get all these foods high in ORAC value into our diets. There are excellent vitamin and mineral supplements that can assist with this.

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Low Glycemic Index Foods and Diabetes

The glycemic index of food is a ranking of foods based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. Carbohydrate foods that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. Their blood sugar response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes.

What is the significance of Glycemic Index List of Foods?

• Low GI means a smaller rise in blood sugar and can help control established diabetes.
• Low GI diets can help people lose weight and lower blood lipids.
• Low GI diets can improve the body's sensitivity to insulin.
• High GI foods can help re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise.

How to switch to a low GI diet:

• Breakfast cereals based on wheat bran, barley and oats.
• "Grainy" breads made with whole seeds.
• Pasta and rice in place of potatoes.
• Vinegar and lemon juice dressings.

In short, the goal should be to build a good plan including the low Glycemic Index foods.

• Hunger is minimized
• Less tendency to "cheat" or overeat
• Consequently, you can continue to lose body fat or maintain your weight - once the excess pounds have been lost.
• Foods that are low on the glycemic index will help alleviate mood swings and regulate energy levels.

Some points to ponder:

• Foods that stimulate insulin surges can cause people to eat 60 - 70% more calories at the following meal.
• People who consume foods relatively high in glucose (such as white bread, most commercial whole wheat bread, and raisins) eat an average of 200 calories more at the next meal than those who eat fructose (a sugar found in fruits).
• Low glycemic index foods can be mixed with modest quantities of high glycemic foods without losing their hunger reducing effect.
  
  
  
  ***The purpose of the glycemic index chart is not to have you eliminate those nutritious choices from your diet. Instead, balance the foods that are "less desirable" by eating them with foods that are "desirable."
  

A low glycemic diet plan can be beneficial to:

• Diabetics
• Hypoglycemics persons with insulin resistance
• Syndrome X dieters
• Athletes

High glycemic foods:

• Elevate insulin and blood glucose
• Stimulate fat-storage
• Exacerbate hyperactivity
• Reduce sports performance
• Low glycemic foods do not.

A low glycemic diet plan is beneficial for:

• Helping balance blood glucose and insulin levels
• Reducing excess body fat levels
• Increasing sports performance

Low glycemic diet plans are not based on starvation or deprivation. Eating is a part of our lives and we should not have to sacrifice tasty foods in order to stay healthy.

Low glycemic food plans focus on reducing ingestion of foods that elevate insulin and stimulate fat-storage. We can't totally eliminate high glycemic foods from our diet, but we can be aware of the glycemic reaction that foods have so we can make better choice.

Low glycemic diet plans have been proven to reduce incidence of Type II diabetes and to help control Type I and II diabetes, hypoglycemia and hypertension. Low glycemic foods do not stimulate food-craving hormones like Neuropeptide Y and Lipoprotein Lipase. Stimulation of these hormones can cause chemically-triggered cravings for food and uncontrolled eating binges.

GBG’s Energy Matrix™ is certified low-Glycemic by the Glycemic Research Institute’s (GRI) clinical trials program approved in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (www.Glycemic.com).

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Where Can I buy Glutathione Supplements?

Glutathione, or GSH, is a naturally occurring protein that protects every cell, tissue, and organ from toxic free radicals and disease. It is a tripeptide of three amino acids - glycine, glutamate (glutamic acid), and cysteine.

These precursors are necessary for the manufacture of glutathione within the cells. Glutathione is a substance, the levels of which in our cells are predictive of how long we will live. There are very few other factors which are as predictive of our life expectancy as is our level of cellular glutathione.

Glutathione has been called the "master antioxidant", and regulates the actions of lesser antioxidants such as vitamin C, and vitamin E within the body. "We literally cannot survive without this antioxidant," -Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D. "What You Should Know about the Super Antioxidant Miracle"

"Without glutathione, other important antioxidants such as vitamins C and E cannot do their job adequately to protect your body against disease." -Breakthrough in Cell Defense, Allan Somersall, Ph.D., M.D., and Gustavo Bounous, M.D. FRCS(C)

"No other antioxidant is as important to overall health as glutathione. It is the regulator and regenerator of immune cells and the most valuable detoxifying agent in the human body. Low levels are associated with hepatic dysfunction, immune dysfunction, cardiac disease, premature aging, and death." -The Immune System Cure, Lorna R. Vanderhaeghe & Patrick J.D. Bouic, Ph.D.

"A review article published in the Annals of Pharmacology stated that glutathione is important in DNA synthesis and repair, protein and prostaglandin synthesis, amino acid transport, detoxification of toxins and carcinogens, enhancement of the immune system, and protection from oxidation and enzyme activations." -The Immune System Cure, Lorna R. Vanderhaeghe & Patrick J.D. Bouic, Ph.D.

Research suggests that abnormally low glutathione levels may increase your risk for Heart Attack. Eric Topol, MD, New England Journal of Medicine. GSH plays a role in eliminating many carcinogens as well as maintaining immune function. -Cancer Letters 57: 91-94 1991

GSH detoxifies many pollutants, carcinogens, and poisons, including many in fuel exhaust and cigarette smoke. It retards damage from radiation such as seen with loss of the ozone. -Annual Reviews of Biochemistry 52: 711-780 1983

In recent years much attention has been given to Glutathione, a substance naturally produced by the human body. Glutathione is regarded by many to be the mother of all antioxidants because decreased Glutathione levels can weaken the immune system and make the body more susceptible to sickness and disease. As a result, supplements that help the body produce more Glutathione have become increasingly popular over the years, especially among those suffering with terminal illnesses.

These fruits and vegetables do contain gluthione:

Where can I buy Glutathione supplements? According to its makers, GBG MA Plus works as a precursor to Glutathione, meaning it gives the body what it needs to naturally produce more Glutathione. This potent antioxidant serves as both a natural immune system booster and detoxifier which also protects the body against free radicals that can harm cells and accelerate the process of premature aging.

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Symptoms of Folic Acid Deficiency

Folic acid is known by a number of names. More commonly today, it is called folacin; but, as far as anemia is concerned, the two most popular names still used are “folic acid deficiency anemia” and “folate deficiency anemia.”

This type of anemia is a common, slowly progressive, megaloblastic anemia characterized by red blood cells that are larger than normal. The red blood cells are also deformed, and both their rate of production and their lifespan are diminished. Folic acid anemia occurs most often in infants, adolescents, pregnant and lactating females, alcoholics, the elderly, and in those with malignant or intestinal diseases.

Folic acid is needed for the orderly production of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in all tissue cells and is a component of three of the four DNA bases, thymine, adenine, and guanine; the fourth is cytosine. In bone marrow, it is required for the normal production of the red blood cells and for RNA synthesis. Folic acid circulates through and is stored in the liver and a deficiency is almost always because of insufficient amounts in the diet.

Absorption of folic acid occurs primarily in the upper small intestine and does not depend on built-in factors as vitamin B12 does. A deficiency of folic acid is more common than a cobalamin (B12) deficiency. Folic acid stores are also depleted more rapidly than cobalamin stores and, without proper dietary intake, a megaloblastic anemia will develop.

Clinical manifestations of folic acid anemia are similar to those of pernicious anemia except for the lack of neurologic symptoms common in a B12 deficiency. Evaluation is based on blood tests, measurement of serum folate levels, and signs and symptoms. Diagnosis is made following the Schilling test and a therapeutic trial of vitamin B12 injections to distinguish between folic acid deficiency anemia and pernicious anemia.

The elderly are particularly at risk for developing this type of anemia as their diets often wane for one reason or another, including a lack of interest in food, poverty, immobility, and/or ill-fitting dentures. Interestingly, when folate supplements are given to the elderly, good medical supervision must be undertaken as folate supplements can mask the megaloblastic anemia of B12 deficieny. Since the elderly are already at risk for B12 deficiency, giving folate supplementation by mistake, or by design, can aggravate an additional problem of B12 deficiency.

Alcohol abuse also contributes to this type of anemia since alcohol interferes with folate metabolism in the liver, resulting in a profound depletion of folate stores. Patients with neoplastic diseases and such skin diseases as chronic exfoliative dermatitis are also are at risk for folic acid anemia.

Folic acid deficiency anemia is common during pregnancy. Both folate and iron are essential for red cell production and during pregnancy there is an increased need to supply both the mother and the developing infant(s). This type of anemia is common in newborns because of the increasing survival rates of premature infants. Not only can it be a danger to the mother, but also contributes to fetal malformations. The most common birth defect resulting from a deficiency of this vitamin is spina bifida.
During the 1980s, a considerable body of evidence accumulated stating that spina bifida and other neural tube defects were associated with folate deficiency. It is now widely recognized that folate supplements are necessary and best started before pregnancy occurs since closure of the neural tube occurs by day 28 of pregnancy.

This is generally long before the woman knows she is pregnant. It was also established that receiving enough folate from fortified foods was nearly impossible and supplements were highly recommended.

Folic acid deficiency is also common in tropical areas where poverty results in a poor diet. In North America and other regions of the world where access to food is rarely a problem, folic acid deficiency still occurs because dietary needs are not met, especially during the growth of children and adolescents and during pregnancy. These age groups are more prone to folic acid deficiency anemia because of their heavy use of folate-deficient cow's milk, which also inhibits the absorption of iron, causing an additional risk of iron-deficiency anemia as well.

Causes of folic acid deficiency anemia include:

Alcohol abuse (alcohol prevents absorption of several nutrients especially the B vitamins)

Poor diets (common in alcoholics, the elderly, those living alone or in poverty, and infants, especially those with infections or diarrhea)

Impaired absorption because of intestinal dysfunction from such disorders as celiac disease, tropical sprue, regional jejunitis, Crohn's disease, or bowel resection

Bacteria competing for available folic acid

Overcooking of food, destroying valuable water-soluble nutrients, including a high percentage of folic acid

Limited storage capacity in infants

Prolonged drug therapy, especially from anticonvulsants and estrogens

Not addressing increased folic acid needs of certain age groups, as well as in patients with neoplastic diseases and some skin disorders (eg. chronic exfoliative dermatitis).

Signs and symptoms of folic acid deficiency anemia gradually produces clinical features similar to other megaloblastic anemias:

Progressive fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, weakness, Glossitis (inflammation of the tongue), nausea, anorexia, headache, fainting, irritability, forgetfulness, pallor and slight jaundice.

Conventional treatment consists primarily of folic acid supplements (about 400 mg. three times daily) and, more importantly, the elimination of contributing causes. Prophylactic doses are given in pregnancy or those considering getting pregnant. Parenteral administration of folic acid can relieve acute symptoms within 48 hours. Blood transfusions are given to treat severe cardiac or respiratory distress as a result of severe deficiency.

Good nutritional health supplements are a good, safe idea, even if you think you have a balanced diet.

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