Monthly Boost May 2006

Read on..don’t let me interrupt you….…..White bread is stripped of its nutrients to start with…and they only add back some of the nutrients that have been stripped away in the refining process and then charging more for it! Why not stick with whole-grains instead and get the natural goodness?..actually why not just educate the public on the benefits of whole foods rather than just ‘throwing’ in a few nutrients here and there to prevent major health complications.

The reason for adding folic acid to white bread is due to the high rate of Spina Bifida, a neural tube defect in new borns. Folic acid in itself is an absolutely vital vitamin, just to further emphasise it’s importance, let me jot down a few of its vital functions for you…

• Intimately involved in the synthesis of both RNA and DNA (other words cell replication)
• Shown to protect against certain cancers including cervical (especially those taking oral contraceptives…more on these later), bronchial squamous metaplasia (in long-time heavy smokers) and dysplasia associated with ulcerative colitis and colon cancer
• Prevents birth defects such as neural tube defects, cleft palate, cleft lip
• Prevent/helps in the prevention of heart disease by lowering homocysteine levels
• Manufacturing of brain chemicals including serotonin, the so-called ‘happy molecule’
• Prevention of various mental health imbalances

And get this…, folic acid supplementation has no side effects! Refreshing don’t you think? I have only pointed out a few of the health benefits of folic acid. I thought I would spare you from ‘over-sharing’ information. So now that I have got this out of the way, let me inform you on a few things about the contraceptive pill….., now please don’t get me wrong, I am not an anti-contraceptive pill Hitler as I do believe in some cases it has its ‘benefits’, but here are the nutrients the contraceptive pill depletes……

1. Folic acid (yes the one that is ‘responsible’ for preventing neural tube defects but also for cell replication)
2. Vitamin B2
3. Vitamin B3
4. Vitamin B6
5. Vitamin B12
6. Vitamin C
7. Zinc
8. Magnesium
9. Tryptophan
10. Tyrosine

Now you may not even recognise the last few nutrients but all you need to know for now is that they are ALL vital for good health. The last two nutrients (tryptophan and tyrosine are also involved in balancing the ‘brain chemicals’ such as noradenaline, dopamine, serotonin…etc)

The contraceptive pill apart from nutrient depletion has many other side effects, which I am going to avoid listing, as I want to really focus on the fact that if you are a woman planning a pregnancy in the near future and are taking the contraceptive pill, would it not make sense to not only come off the pill a few months prior to trying to conceive but also to take a good multivitamin and mineral supplement with decent levels of B vitamins?

If the goal of fortifying bread with folic acid is to prevent birth defects in the newborn (very obvious folic acid deficiency symptoms) how do we know that the other nutrient deficiencies are being addressed? Although most women are aware of the importance of folic acid during pregnancy, not many know that it is just as vital prior to conception….let alone the other above mentioned nutrients.

Generally nutrients work in combination. To this day I have never recommended just folic acid alone as a supplement whether one is pregnant or not, WHY? …because both vitamin C and B3 and the thyroid hormone are required to ‘activate’ folic acid and B6 is required to release folic acid from its storage and to further add to the complexity of our amazing biochemistry, folic acid works in partnership with B12. This is why supplementing folic acid in the presence of a B12 deficiency can mask a B12 deficiency until severe neurological damage occurs due to the long term lack of B12.

So my message in a nutshell is the general medical industry is at least 10 years (rather conservative estimate) behind implementing the scientific research on nutrients and good health, so don’t let that hinder you and your family’s health, but get some ‘wholesome’ nutritional advice from an expert to optimise not only your pregnancy but the health of your newborn for the long-term!

Did you know that the mother’s nutrient environment during AND before conception can have an impact the newborn's health when he/she is not so newborn? …hhhmmm so much to learn and so little time well that’s why we are here. For more information go to www.khushmark.com or for bookings contact us at info@khushmark.com.

To great health!

Khush Mark