Natural perimenopause remedies fall into two categories, those that promote overall health and longevity, and those that relieve perimenopause specific complaints. I will start with the general health remedies and follow that with herbal remedies for perimenopause complaints.
Our bodies in perimenopause need optimal nutrition to function well. Most women, with busy lives and no time to study or research nutritional issues, end up popping a one-a-day multiple vitamin mineral and trust that it is providing them with what they need. It is certainly understandable. Unfortunately, a one-a-day while perhaps insuring against deficiency diseases like scurvy, pellagra and beri-beri does not provide the nutrients we need for a vibrant, energetic and long life. Most one-a-day's are certainly better than nothing at all, but our goal here is health and vitality through old age, not just prevention of the classic vitamin deficiency diseases.
Why one-a-day multiple's don't make it
Why doesn't a one-a-day do it? One-a-day's generally do contain the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for the major vitamins and minerals. Most do not contain additional anti-oxidants, nor trace minerals or essential fatty acids. You cannot fit everything a 40+ woman needs into one tablet daily. Nutrition supplement manufacturers would have you believe so, but you simply cannot. This is true even for one-a-day's which purportedly focuses on the nutritional needs of 40+ women.
A good 40+ woman's multiple vitamin mineral should contain more than 100% of the RDA for vitamins and minerals. It should also contain anti-oxidants, trace minerals and phyto-nutrients too. Phyto-nutrients are plant based molecules with a multitude of health benefits, over and above their anti-oxidant benefit. Resveratrol is an example of one such phyto-nutrient that is recommended for 40+ women. Optimal nutrition for 40+ women in perimenopause requires taking a multiple that not only has the above groups of nutrients, but has them in adequate quantities to actually have a positive impact on health. Phytonutrients for instance, do not have RDA's. Supplement manufacturers take advantage of this fact with misleading statements. A brand will distinguish itself saying that it contains resveratrol for instance. Looking closer at the label one finds that it contains just 3 mg of resveratrol per tablet. Yet to effectively get the benefits of resveratrol, one should take something near 20 mg of resveratrol daily.
Look too at the quality of the nutrients in your multiple. Often my patients bring in their supplements and I check the ingredients on the label. A brand will advertise for instance that it contains "calcium for bone health". The RDA for calcium is 1000 mg per day for women aged 19-50 and 1200 mg for women aged 51-70. (Many nutrition companies will use cheaper ingredients, to bring the price of the product down. Since most people tend to buy the cheapest bottle on the shelf, they do so to sell their product.)
The cheapest form of calcium is calcium carbonate, found in shells, limestone and chalk. Calcium carbonate is poorly absorbed by many older women for lack of adequate stomach acid. Calcium citrate is a more expensive form of calcium which is better absorbed in low acid conditions is therefore advisable. Multiples with calcium citrate cost more, but the benefit outweighs the cost.
To summarize then, a high quality multiple vitamin mineral is an essential part of any perimenopause health strategy. But it must contain adequate quantities of all vitamins and minerals, of anti-oxidants and trace minerals, and even phytonutrients. In practical terms, what this means is spending upwards of $1 per day and taking a least 3 tablets daily. You would do best to buy your multiple from a health food store or an alternative health practitioner who is educated in nutrition.
Herbal menopause remedies
The second part of a natural health strategy for perimenopause addresses the specific complaints of perimenopause. These are varied and different for all women. The most common initial complaints of women entering perimenopause is erratic menstrual periods and hot flashes. Other complaints include sweats, vaginal thinning and dryness, irritability and anxiety, insomnia, urinary control problems, aching and stiffness in joints, to name a few. While these complaints are varied and involve the entire body, there is a common thread among them. They are all effects of lowered production of estrogen and progesterone.
Restoring the levels of these two hormones gives profound relief of these perimenopause complaints. Consider hot flashes and night sweats for example. Hormone replacement therapy has been shown to reduce hot flashes by 94%. The problem is that conventional medical hormone replacement is fraught with risks. So much risk in fact, that medical doctors are now reluctant to prescribe it for relief of menopause related complaints. But there is an alternative in what are called phytoestrogens.
Phytoestrogens are plant molecules that have a weak estrogen effect in the human body. The effect is so weak that they pose no health risk. Yet some of these plant estrogens have been shown to relieve perimenopause complaints attributable to low estrogen. One in particular, has been reported in the prestigious medical journal Menopause. The second part of a perimenopause natural health strategy is one of the phytoestrogen containing herbs.
No comments:
Post a Comment