Multivitamins are without a doubt essential to all women's
general wellbeing and the type or composition a women should consume
will vary with her age, basically the life cycle. At different stages of
a woman's physiological development, her multivitamins requirement
undergoes a shift by either reduction of a certain nutrient composition
or an increase in the other, or total avoidance of one especially in
cases of certain pathology.
Vitamin Requirements for Young Women (Below 40s)
Here we consider womens who are sexually active and are at a child bearing age. At this stage, the predominant hormonal activity is that of estrogen and with commencement of menstruation, the need for multivitamin intake becomes even more necessary. The packed cell volume (PCV) of a woman at this age should be maintained at about 35% to 45%. However, monthly menstrual flow sometimes reduces the packed cell volume (PCV) of most women far below the lower range exposing them to anemia.
Iron Alert!
Where there is menorrahlgia (very heavy or prolonged menstrual flow) the woman may become very pale and, weak which is a sign of anemia. In order to avoid the health problems associated with this, women of this age group should make it a habit of taking multivitamin supplements to help rapidly replaced lost blood in anticipation of the next menstrual cycle. Iron is needed to ensure new blood cells formation but you should supplement iron separately from multivitamins as iron should not be consumed on a daily intake basis, it should only be taken in supplement form if it is needed, i.e. if you have a deficiency or other medical need, and then only for the duration that it is needed to rebalance levels.
Folic Acid
Another type of vitamin beneficial for young women is those multivitamin with high folic acid content. The practice is that, women who plan to bear children should include folic acid vitamins in their consumption. While others suggest every woman of child bearing age should be administered vitamins rich in folic acid as many women get pregnant even without planning to. The use of folic acid will not only help her avoid anemia in pregnancy (which is very dangerous and a major cause of maternal mortality especially in developing countries of the world), but will also protect the unborn child from congenital malformations notably Spinal Bifida.
Multivitamins for Pregnant Women?
The supplement needs of prenatal women and nursing mothers are very different. While both can benefit from omega 3, iron and folic acid, pregnant women should only consume a multivitamin as recommended by their doctors. In fact, in modern medical practice, pregnant women are encouraged to take daily folic acid through out the duration of the pregnancy and even several weeks after birth. This is a very delicate period in a woman's life and so no chances should be taken. To stress the importance of folic acid in pregnancy, women are now being administered folic acid not as part of multivitamins composition but by itself up to 400 mcg daily intake.
Multivitamins for Mature Women (Above 40s)
Older women are at a stage in life where estrogen exposure no longer exists as they approach menopausal. At this stage, they no longer menstruate, so the monthly blood loss is no longer a problem. Therefore, they can derive most of the iron and folic acid they need for body maintenance from diet alone except in cases of illnesses.
However, the peculiar multivitamins need of this age group is high calcium containing formulas. There has been a lot of misconception about use of multivitamins to reduce the risk of various cancers in elderly women. But a new large-scale study on multivitamin use for cancer and heart disease prevention suggests that this believes needs to be re-assessed. One of the largest to examine diet and health practices among postmenopausal women, the study shows that taking a multivitamin does not lower the risks of various cancers, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, renal, bladder, stomach, lung and ovarian cancer.
The researchers led by nutrition epidemiologist Marian Neuhouser, analyzed data from more than 161,000 women ages 50 to 79 who participated in the Women's Health Initiative observational study for an average of eight years during the 1990s. More than 41 percent of them used multivitamins.
"Population studies have shown that if you eat fruits and vegetables, your chances of cancers are relatively low compared to people with deficient diets," confirmed internist Aditya Bardia, an oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University. "But when they tried to convert those nutrients into tablets, that's where the failure has been."
This shows that, older women should concentrate more on good diet of fruits and vegetables as they are better protected than multivitamins. Their interest in multivitamins should be focused on only those with adequate calcium content because of the increase bone resorbtion that occurs at this age exposing them to osteoporosis. This is a good time for women to begin to build up good calcium storage for old age.
As a woman advances in age, usually after menopause, she is prone to bone fractures usually due to low or reduced calcium in take in her youth. So women should also be looking out for multivitamins capsules, or solutions with a high calcium concentration not just to prevent bone fractures as she advances in age but to provide adequate calcium as it will be needed for adequate bone formation.
Vitamin Requirements for Young Women (Below 40s)
Here we consider womens who are sexually active and are at a child bearing age. At this stage, the predominant hormonal activity is that of estrogen and with commencement of menstruation, the need for multivitamin intake becomes even more necessary. The packed cell volume (PCV) of a woman at this age should be maintained at about 35% to 45%. However, monthly menstrual flow sometimes reduces the packed cell volume (PCV) of most women far below the lower range exposing them to anemia.
Iron Alert!
Where there is menorrahlgia (very heavy or prolonged menstrual flow) the woman may become very pale and, weak which is a sign of anemia. In order to avoid the health problems associated with this, women of this age group should make it a habit of taking multivitamin supplements to help rapidly replaced lost blood in anticipation of the next menstrual cycle. Iron is needed to ensure new blood cells formation but you should supplement iron separately from multivitamins as iron should not be consumed on a daily intake basis, it should only be taken in supplement form if it is needed, i.e. if you have a deficiency or other medical need, and then only for the duration that it is needed to rebalance levels.
Folic Acid
Another type of vitamin beneficial for young women is those multivitamin with high folic acid content. The practice is that, women who plan to bear children should include folic acid vitamins in their consumption. While others suggest every woman of child bearing age should be administered vitamins rich in folic acid as many women get pregnant even without planning to. The use of folic acid will not only help her avoid anemia in pregnancy (which is very dangerous and a major cause of maternal mortality especially in developing countries of the world), but will also protect the unborn child from congenital malformations notably Spinal Bifida.
Multivitamins for Pregnant Women?
The supplement needs of prenatal women and nursing mothers are very different. While both can benefit from omega 3, iron and folic acid, pregnant women should only consume a multivitamin as recommended by their doctors. In fact, in modern medical practice, pregnant women are encouraged to take daily folic acid through out the duration of the pregnancy and even several weeks after birth. This is a very delicate period in a woman's life and so no chances should be taken. To stress the importance of folic acid in pregnancy, women are now being administered folic acid not as part of multivitamins composition but by itself up to 400 mcg daily intake.
Multivitamins for Mature Women (Above 40s)
Older women are at a stage in life where estrogen exposure no longer exists as they approach menopausal. At this stage, they no longer menstruate, so the monthly blood loss is no longer a problem. Therefore, they can derive most of the iron and folic acid they need for body maintenance from diet alone except in cases of illnesses.
However, the peculiar multivitamins need of this age group is high calcium containing formulas. There has been a lot of misconception about use of multivitamins to reduce the risk of various cancers in elderly women. But a new large-scale study on multivitamin use for cancer and heart disease prevention suggests that this believes needs to be re-assessed. One of the largest to examine diet and health practices among postmenopausal women, the study shows that taking a multivitamin does not lower the risks of various cancers, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, renal, bladder, stomach, lung and ovarian cancer.
The researchers led by nutrition epidemiologist Marian Neuhouser, analyzed data from more than 161,000 women ages 50 to 79 who participated in the Women's Health Initiative observational study for an average of eight years during the 1990s. More than 41 percent of them used multivitamins.
"Population studies have shown that if you eat fruits and vegetables, your chances of cancers are relatively low compared to people with deficient diets," confirmed internist Aditya Bardia, an oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University. "But when they tried to convert those nutrients into tablets, that's where the failure has been."
This shows that, older women should concentrate more on good diet of fruits and vegetables as they are better protected than multivitamins. Their interest in multivitamins should be focused on only those with adequate calcium content because of the increase bone resorbtion that occurs at this age exposing them to osteoporosis. This is a good time for women to begin to build up good calcium storage for old age.
As a woman advances in age, usually after menopause, she is prone to bone fractures usually due to low or reduced calcium in take in her youth. So women should also be looking out for multivitamins capsules, or solutions with a high calcium concentration not just to prevent bone fractures as she advances in age but to provide adequate calcium as it will be needed for adequate bone formation.
For a detailed comparison of good medical-grade multivitamin designed for women, visit Best-MultiVitamins-Guide.com now.
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