Speaking of Women's Health
The Speaking of Women's Health Podcast is excited to bring you credible women's health information from host and Executive Director, Dr. Holly L. Thacker. Dr. Thacker will interview guest clinicians discussing relevant women's health topics and the latest news and tips.
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Speaking of Women's Health
Unveiling the Hidden Dangers of Banned Food Additives
Are you aware that some of your favorite American foods are banned in other countries due to health concerns? Join Dr. Holly Thacker as she uncovers the shocking truth behind the ingredients in our diets that have led to a rise in diabetes, obesity and chronic diseases in America.
Learn about the impact of oils, sweeteners, and food dyes on your health and why some everyday items like chewing gum are treated differently around the world.
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
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Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, and I am back in our sunflower house for a new pod, and it's on a really interesting topic, something that's been in the news a lot, and when I was doing some research for this, I thought I was, you know, pretty well educated about nutrition. I've raised three boys, I have three grandchildren, with a fourth on the way, and even though nutrition isn't really classically taught extensively in medical school, I really thought that I had really boned up on the topic. So as I started to investigate this, I was really surprised about what I didn't know. So I hope you will enjoy this podcast on food freedom and what foods are, interestingly, banned in other countries and maybe, concerningly, allowed here in the United States. And then there's a few foods that are banned here in the United States that aren't elsewhere. So I just want to break down this topic today and go over this. You know, as Americans, we kind of take pride American pride in our freedom, and many of us can recite the Bill of Rights, talking about our God-given rights that are enshrined in the United States Constitution, and so, while it's very important to remember that, while we cherish our freedom and enjoy a variety of food choices here in the United States.
Speaker 1:Other countries definitely have different regulations regarding food. Some of this is due to health reasons, which, of course, is what I am mainly interested in. Some of the ones are foods that Americans ingest regularly, and you don't have to look around too much, not just on summer beaches or at the mall, but just all around you. We really in the United States, have an exploding diabetes epidemic, and there's been a lot of increases in chronic disease, not just in adults, but in our youngest citizens, our children, and a lot of this is related to diet and physical activity. So I think, now more than ever, it's important for us to look at what we eat, and we've had several podcasts on food food as medicine, nutrition, superfoods. So I thought it would be interesting to go over some of the foods that we see all the time in our grocery stores you may be serving it might be in your pantry that are actually banned in other countries.
Speaker 1:Now, some foods are prohibited in certain countries for religious reasons, so I'm not going to go over any of that. And in the United States, of course, our First Amendment freedom of speech includes our religious freedom, which is what our country was founded on, so it's wonderful to have a diversity of religions and practices and people have the right, of course, not to be religious at all, and food does play a big role in many cultural events and religious events. But what I really want to focus on are the banned foods that are restricted due to concerns about additives, substances, chemicals, colors, and why they're prohibited. And should we take heed and maybe think second about buying, serving, ingesting these foodstuffs? So this is everything you need to know about banned foods in other countries that are allowed here, and then there's some that are, vice versa, that are banned here, that you can get in other countries.
Speaker 1:Now, food can be medicine. So, just like you don't want to ingest the wrong medicine, an expired medicine, the wrong dose, one that might have a drug-drug interaction with something else that you're taking, we need to be aware of what foods that we're ingesting to nourish our bodies and souls, and it's really not simply calories in, calories out, and not all food or calories really are equal. Now, thermodynamically, calories are calories. Thermodynamically, calories are calories, but there's a lot more to this equation than that. Now I think that many of us certainly I include myself in this thought oh, I know, we don't want fast foods, we don't want processed foods, we don't want junk foods, trans fats you know those are bad for our health. So I think that a lot of people think that they have a pretty good idea about what is good food and what might be something that you really shouldn't be ingesting regularly, but how many of you are aware of limiting or avoiding highly processed seed oils?
Speaker 1:Our functional medicine colleagues and we've had a few podcasts on functional medicine, and we have a lot of content on our Speaking of Women's Health website by our wellness group, our integrative medicine group, our allied health and our functional medicine colleagues. One of the blood tests that I've seen them do for quite a while on their patients is an omega-3 fat ratio. On their patients is an omega-3 fat ratio. In fact, I'm planning to have mine done soon, because almost every single patient I see many of them who I know are focused on a healthy lifestyle don't have normal levels, and so that indicates to me that people are ingesting way more of these inflammatory, chemically processed seed oils. So we will talk a lot more about that Now. I've had columns on olive oil being the elixir of life. My husband and I recently have gone to purchasing olive oil from overseas because of our concerns about, you know, contamination with seed oils and some of the products on the shelf.
Speaker 1:How many of you know that all sweeteners are not the same and even something as simple as food dyes may actually be carcinogenic? So we'll start off with a little bit of a light topic about a food or a substance that we have here in the United States that is allowed but, for instance, is not allowed in Singapore. China. They ban chewing gum because they're valuing clean streets, but chewing gum for medicinal reasons is actually allowed. Now, in terms of quality of chewing gum, certainly it can be a choking hazard for young children, but if you're going to chew gum, if you like to chew gum although I personally always thought it was just a little bit unseemly, although I personally always thought it was just a little bit unseemly it really should be sorbitol-based and sorbitol-based toothpastes and mouthwashes and gums. If you eat something and you don't have access to brushing your teeth, popping in some sorbitol-based gum can help cleanse your teeth, but don't do it in Singapore.
Speaker 1:Sprinkles I never was a sprinkles fan. It just just seemed like gratuitous sugar with artificial colors. It certainly never really appealed to me, but it's amazing how it entrances young children, and my granddaughter, artemis, loves sprinkles and not long ago we were at one of her friends house for a play date and the mom was serving a cupcake that had a little bit of sprinkles and I scraped off the sprinkles because I didn't want her to eat them. I just wanted her to have you know more of the healthy homemade muffin underneath and, oh boy, she was trying to search out those sprinkles. Well, I was just mortified when I was reading that in several countries American sprinkles are banned because of carcinogenic effects. And if you look at a lot of the things that are marketed to children, that are treats that are easily packaged in small amounts, I haven't really thought about this too much for quite a while, but now I am again because of the grandchildren, and a lot of these foods are actually banned in other countries.
Speaker 1:Mac cheese, now you would think good old pasta and cheese. I had a whole column and podcast on cheese. We bonehead doctors who specialize in osteoporosis like foods rich in calcium and cheese can be a very important part of a diet for those that don't have any dairy intolerances for protein and calcium. But mac cheese is banned in certain countries and in Great Britain and other countries the American sprinkles are banned. So you will not find red, white and blue sprinkles from America in the UK, and that's because FD&C red number three in the United States contains erythrosin and this additive makes the sprinkles a very pretty colored red, but it has been reported to lead to hyperactivity in children. Now my daughter-in-law, artemis's mother, likes to bake and she has found sprinkles that have natural colors, without food additives, I think at Trader Joe's or, you know, know, one of the more health food related type stores. But even if you're in a health food store, they can carry a lot of foods that are not healthy. That might just appear that way on the surface. So back cheese. That has to be one of Artemis's favorite kind of comfort foods. But imagine my shock when I found out that some countries have specifically banned American boxed mac cheese due to the food dyes. So does that mean you can't have mac cheese? No, it just means you need to read labels and if you're buying a boxed pasta, if it's got artificial colors in it, I would not purchase it.
Speaker 1:Now, most of us are so time-pressed, you know, and even though I think a lot of us have very good intentions and we really want to make things from scratch, it can be very time-consuming. I was just talking to our administrative assistant, julie Stahl, who was on one of our earlier podcasts on how to get an appointment. Oh my goodness, I refer people to listen to that all the time. Even if you're not trying to get an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic, where our Center for Specialized Women's Health is, anybody anywhere trying to access a busy healthcare center, those tips are really great. But anyway, she has been really focusing on eating whole foods and healthy foods and taking out preservatives and things from her diet.
Speaker 1:And the other day I saw her eating quesadilla, which looks so good, with like some homemade salsa and I said, wait a minute, that might have some you know, seed oils in it. And she's like no, no, it's all made from scratch with all the ingredients. She said I don't even buy the pre-shredded cheese Because if you look at the label, they put a mold inhibitor on the pre-shredded cheese and sometimes it's coated with different substances to make it not stick. So sometimes I buy shredded cheese but I'm trying to buy block cheese more often and just shred it myself. Again, it is more time consuming, but a lot of things that we just take for granted. We think, oh, this is just American cheese, this is cheddar cheese, this is is just American cheese. This is cheddar cheese. This is Colby cheese, gouda cheese, which has K2 in it. It may also have other substances in it. Another cheese dip that is banned in certain countries it's one my husband likes is a con queso cheese dip, because many of them have added dye number five and dye yellow dye number six, and they can be linked to severe allergies.
Speaker 1:Now pickles. I love pickles and pickles can be good for your gut microbiome. Any kind of fermented foods are terrific, but I was shocked when I looked at one of my bottles of pickles. It had yellow dye five in it. So I'm like, oh, not going to be eating this. So I have found some pickles that are color free or some that are just colored with the natural spice turmeric, which gives it some color color.
Speaker 1:Now, getting back to those kid favorite foods, I certainly had my fair share of them as a child pop tarts, fruit loops, skittles well, I mean, those haven't been in my home, you know, for decades and decades. But there's a lot of busy parents and kids that are picky eaters that I am sure they feel like it's maybe not the best food, but okay it's. You know it's fine and growing children can have maybe more sugar than an adult, but these foods are banned in many countries because, again, of the artificial colors, primarily the yellow five and the yellow six being of the most concern. That being said, there is a lot of gratuitous sugar and many children will get hyperactive after sugar and sugar is obviously easily metabolized. But with the growing epidemic of diabetes, even in children, I think gratuitous sugar foods that have high fructose corn syrup added to them really should be avoided.
Speaker 1:Now, rare hamburgers. Now, hamburgers are pretty much American fare, aren't they? But rare burgers are banned in some countries due to bacterial risk E coli. Conversely, if you go to France, steak tartare is very popular and raw or rare meat unfortunately can carry toxoplasmosis, which is a particular problem for immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women. I myself actually contracted toxoplasmosis when I was pregnant with my first son, stetson, the PhD who's been on this podcast and is starting his own podcast, and he'll be a guest to talk about a lot of different anti-aging and other interesting topics coming up. But we were at a restaurant and it was kibini and my husband thought it was just a vegetable dish. No, it was raw lamb which 90% of it is infected with toxoplasmosis, which can be devastating to the growing baby if it passes through the placenta. So I actually had to leave the country and get a medication that's still not available in the United States actually to treat it.
Speaker 1:The like family joke is you can actually get it in America. Veterinarians can prescribe it for pig little piglets who have infections. So we call Stetson he's a big, big eater, just like his two daughters they're taking after him. I told his wife that little Beatrice certainly looks like her pretty mother but she eats like her father. So we just tease him that since he was exposed to that spiromycin in utero but thankfully he was born without any infection. But speaking about piglets, that's kind of an intro into pork.
Speaker 1:Now many people don't eat pork for various reasons, sometimes religious reasons. My brother doesn't eat pork just because he has seen how a lot of pork is raised and it just turns him off, even though he's a big meat eater. But in over a hundred countries American made pork has been banned due to the use of substances like ractopamine and that is used. Sometimes it's injected, I think, into pigs. Other times it's put in their feed. It's used to promote growth, to make these fat, juicy pigs, and these substances are not required to be listed on the label, so it's not just a matter of reading the label.
Speaker 1:So I again, just from my research, recently found out about this and I'm like, oh my goodness, I can't believe it. I haven't even known about this. I mean, for some time I've been buying bacon that it's raised by farmers that don't use any other antibiotics or other injectables in pigs, because my granddaughter loves bacon and bacon has K2 in it, which is good for the bones and cardiovascular system. It has K2, which is also known as M7. We have a nice little landing page on speakingofwomenshealthcom that lists foods that are rich in K2, because there's not very many of them, and so she does enjoy bacon, so I have been purchasing.
Speaker 1:It is definitely more expensive, there's no doubt about that, but I haven't for pork chops and my husband loves pork chops and he's like you've ruined this for me, you've ruined it for me and I'm like no, you can actually, if you want to ingest pork specifically, buy pork from a trusted farmer, or look for the AGA logo and that stands for American Grass-Fed Association. Now I have, just for the taste and the quality, I have been primarily purchasing grass-fed beef, american beef and definitely American-grade beef, even though I think there can be beef from other countries that's labeled as such but isn't actually American beef, and beef from certain African countries, depending on how they handle their feed. You know, there's potentially some concern for prion disease, so I'm pretty specific about that. But I think that since 100 countries have banned American-made pork that uses this ractopamine, it may be worth avoiding. It may be worth avoiding.
Speaker 1:So other foods, an American food that's called French fries In some countries any pre-processed, pre-made French fries are banned if they contain azodicarbonide, which is a substance that's added to extend their shelf life. It's also added to pasta some pastas for color and making it pop. The pasta pop and azodicarbonide can be harmful to individuals diagnosed with asthma, and this substance is also used in yoga mats. So you'll see some things on the internet called the yoga mat chemical and how to avoid breads and pastas with that. Well, apparently it's used on some pre-processed French fries that are banned.
Speaker 1:Now again to make homemade French fries. My husband does a pretty good job with that, takes a lot more time and I understand how busy moms and grandmothers and single people that are working two and three jobs. It can be really hard to make all your own food, but certainly reading labels should be something that we teach children as soon as they can read, to do early on, particularly if you have asthma, you know, or allergies, and I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid purchasing foods with ingredients that you can't pronounce. I had to go practice the pronunciation of this azodicarbonamide before I started this pod and you have been listening to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast and I am your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of Speaking of Women's Health, and we were talking about many foods that many of us ingest here in the USA that are banned in other countries and why that is, and maybe we should be a little bit more discerning, even though of course, we as Americans want food freedom and we want the ability to eat foods that we like to eat and there's a lot of meaning that's associated around food.
Speaker 1:But sometimes these things are added because they promote the shelf life of foods that may last a long, long time and there can be some advantages, you know, for putting away food extra in case there's, you know, a rainy day or you want something to have very long shelf. Half-lives, like my husband at Christmas, will get survival packs to have everyone put in their car in case they're stranded because of bad weather or long traffic jams, to have enough water and have some sustenance. So there may be a role for having some of that on hand if necessary. That's not going to go bad, but on a regular, daily basis I think we should be a lot more discerning Now. It's definitely best to buy whole foods and to cook from scratch, but many of us are very time pressed and for some of of us cooking is not necessarily a skill that we have or one that we enjoy.
Speaker 1:Instant potatoes I remember a funny story. One of my girlfriends, the first time that she had homemade potatoes mashed potatoes at my house, she said potatoes at my house. She said do you realize that for several years I only thought potatoes were smooth, because my mother only ever served instant potatoes. I had never had homemade mashed potatoes that are naturally lumpy. I made a batch of mashed potatoes the other day and it just was all gooey and it just wasn't very good. And so my husband looks up to find out why that happened, although after it was refrigerated it was just fine on reheating. But apparently if you cut your potatoes too small and you don't start the potatoes in cool water and then when you mix you know your milk and your butter to mash up your potatoes if they're not room temperature, I guess that can promote that, that chemical process. There's really a lot of science that goes along with cooking and I know that my sons have really enjoyed cooking shows that are science-based, like Alton Brown's.
Speaker 1:So many processed foods do contain preservatives to extend the shelf life, but they offer no health benefits and they can pose some risk. And some brands of instant potatoes use the preservative BHA, which is butylated hydroxyanisole, and that is a known carcinogen so it should be avoided. It's also been added BHA to lots of cereals, so that's why some cereals and instant potatoes are banned in countries but not here in the USA, and because so many cereals are loaded with artificial colors and sugar. Because so many cereals are loaded with artificial colors and sugar and also this BHA. I'm glad that cereal was never a staple, except for occasionally cream of wheat or cream of rice or sometimes oatmeal homemade in my family, but I know that a lot of children and a lot of families think that grabbing for that box of cereal and then they get the milk in the bowl is healthy, and it really isn't.
Speaker 1:Sliced white bread, oh my goodness, that is like an American food, right, other than maybe mom's apple pie, which we have some recipes on, speaking of Women's Health for apple pie that you can check out. But in many countries, american made white bread which contains potassium, potassium bromate and potassium bromate apparently is added to breads to speed up the baking process, and potassium bromate is banned in many countries because it has been linked to kidney damage and nervous system damage. So anybody with kidney impairment should definitely avoid excessive potassium intake, and that includes many healthy foods like fruits and vegetables if it's end stage kidney disease. But there's a lot of adults walking around with just like stage two, stage three kidney impairment, and they're just told to avoid nephrotoxins too much, motrin, advil, aspirin, et cetera, keep their blood pressure and weight down. But I think something we should also add is don't be ingesting breads that have potassium bromate in it either.
Speaker 1:Crackers, well, certainly. Cheese and crackers, I think, go great, great. And American crackers, though, are banned in many European countries, including Hungary, due to the heavily chemically altered hydrogenated cotton seed oil. Of all the seed oils, probably cotton seed oil is one of the worst, but even things like corn oil and canola oil and palm oil and sunflower I mean. Doesn't sunflower oil, I mean sunflowers we're in the sunflower house, doesn't that sound good? No, it's actually not good. Soybean oil as well. They are chemically altered oils. So really you should definitely opt for healthier alternatives, including pure, cold pressed olive oil or avocado oil.
Speaker 1:Now, coconut oil can be ingested and it is very rich in medium chain triglycerides. Some people it might negatively affect their lipid panel, but it can be ingested in moderation. It's also a great moisturizer for hair and face. It's used in lots of little beauty routines and products. Now, fats that come from butter and beef tallow. They're fully saturated fats. A lot of these chemically altered polyunsaturated fats which maybe years ago we were told were so healthy and that we should use margarine instead of butter. No, they're not. They're highly inflammatory. So brownie mixes Many American brownie fudge mixes are banned in Europe because of the cottonseed oil and the soybean oil. But you can find them right in your grocery store. But there's a lot of good recipes that you can make brownies without that. You can use avocado oil, some cottage cheese and some cocoa, add maybe a little bit of mashed bananas. I mean, you can mix it up yourself and you don't have to have a mix Soybeans.
Speaker 1:Now, as many are embracing vegan diets, the demand for soybeans has increased exponentially and, interestingly, increased exponentially and interestingly, many European countries have banned genetically modified soybeans. So these GMO soybeans have been banned in almost half the countries in the European Union because this genetic modification has been linked to some health concerns. But soy protein in general can lower cholesterol and it is a vegan protein alternative. And certainly genetically modifying some foodstuffs, like getting vitamin A into rice, has helped reduce blindness. So certainly many advancements and alterations have allowed us to have a lot more food, a lot more stability, feed a lot more people.
Speaker 1:But unfortunately we've kind of overfed a lot of us and it's contributed to insulin resistance and this diabesity and elevated blood sugar. And even if someone has normal body weight, if they have just a little bit of extra central adiposity and their sugar goes up and their blood pressure goes up, it really increases dementia risk, heart attack, stroke, arthritis, gallbladder disease. So I really think it behooves us to pay a lot more attention to what we're eating Mountain Dew. It's a popular United States soda, especially in the American South, but it's been banned in Japan and other European countries due to several ingredients. Yellow number five color ingredients Yellow number five color the high fructose corn syrup.
Speaker 1:Caffeine, which you know. Caffeine can be beneficial for reducing pain, improving alertness, reducing fatty liver, although children certainly don't need to be revved up on caffeine and other preservatives. Now, apparently, mountain Dew has removed the brominated vegetable oils from their formula that was another problem but still may have some of the other substances. Salmon, now salmon, everybody thinks is being healthy, omega-3, good for mood and vision and joints and inflammation. But our friends down under in Australia and New Zealand have banned farm-raised salmon due to the petrochemicals used to pinken up the salmon. So for quite a while I've certainly only looked to buy wild natural salmon. It is expensive, though, natural salmon. It is expensive though, but it is rich in omega-3 fats. Now, seafood, just like meats, especially organ meats, can be very high in purine, and I think I'll do a future column and podcast on gout and high purine and low purine diets.
Speaker 1:So pasta. I always joke that my husband, who has a lot of Italian friends he's part of the Italian men's association and he has zero Italian blood in him but he loves Italian food and he's a great cook and who doesn't enjoy pretty much an Italian pasta dish. The European Union and Australia have banned some boxed pastas that contain that azo-dicarbonide, that yoga mat chemical. It's used as a bleaching agent in flour and some countries consider it potentially carcinogenic. So while that azodicarbamide makes the color of the pasta pop and the dough softer, the reality is that many countries not the United States, not the FDA here, but many other countries do consider it toxic. And there is a range of substances banned in Europe but allowed in the US. And that also includes that potassium bromate, which isn't so great on the kidneys. Titanium dioxide, which might be good to smear on your skin for sunscreen because it's chemically inert, but not necessarily ingest brominated vegetable oil. Avoid that propylparaben and that azodicarbonide. So please read labels and choose wisely.
Speaker 1:So the truth about salt, sugar and saturated fat. Many folks believe that processed food is unhealthy primarily because of salt, sugar and saturated fat. But here's the truth Salt our bodies need sodium. It is okay for most people in moderation. But not all salts are equal. Kosher salt does not have iodine in it. We do need some iodized salt. The pink Himalayan salt is something I recommend to a lot of my patients who might be low in potassium or have hypertension. It's potassium-based, not sodium Sugar. Now sugar is kind of like the new nicotine Addictive, kind of poisonous.
Speaker 1:There's no such thing as an essential sugar or an essential carbohydrate, but we do have essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6, and we have several essential amino acids which make protein. So you do need protein and you do need fat every day in your diet. Now, saturated fats we do need essential fats and it is fine to consume healthy fats like olive oil and nuts, but we do want to avoid those chemically altered seed oils because they're very high in those unsaturated inflammatory fats and they have double bonds of their fatty acid chains, unlike the saturated fats like butter and beef tallow. Now there is an app I was looking at that tells you what restaurants don't use seed oils. Unfortunately, most of them do so.
Speaker 1:If you're going to eat out, if other people are making your food, if you're eating a lot of food that's already pre-made or has long shelf half-lives, most likely you're getting way too much seed oil, and certainly in the patient's labs that I'm getting, I'm seeing that. So substances you need to be aware of are not limited to just the titanium dioxide and the polysorbate 80 and microplastics, you know, in terms of ingesting plastics in food, in bottles Carboxymethylcellulose yellow number five, blue number one, potassium bromate, trans fats, seed oils, parabens, which is wax, atrazine, propylene glycol, that azodicarbamide, so-called yoga mat chemical and high fructose corn syrup. Certain dishes do need to be sweetened Honey, as long as it's not for an infant or toddler because of the concern about botulism. Local honey is better for allergies. 100% maple syrup from Vermont I sometimes use in recipes instead of sugar. Sometimes I'll get 100% applesauce with no added. You know high fructose corn syrup. I'm always reading labels.
Speaker 1:So, as we kind of wrap up, you might ask does the United States ban foods that other countries do? Actually, yes, scottish haggis Many Scots and I've certainly got a lot of Scots-Irish in me they love their haggis because it's their national dish. I had never even heard of this, but it's stuffed sheep lungs and heart. And in the United States this has been completely banned because the US agricultural law bans the consumption of any animal lung. Raw, unpasteurized milk is banned in Canada and it is banned in some parts of the United States. This is primarily because of concerns about Listeria and Salmonella, but there's a lot in the news about raw milk and milk freedom. Some people with Crohn's disease, lactose intolerance, severe allergies.
Speaker 1:There are medically some groups of people that their gut seems to do a lot better with all the bacteria, naturally, and the heat of pasteurization can kill certain substances in the milk that may have health benefits. So more and more I'm hearing about people trying to purchase raw milk primarily because of gut health, which I think we have a lot to learn about the microbiome, but I think it does impact lots of areas of health. I have a lot of patients asking me to send them to functional medicine doctors, primarily to do stool assessments to see what their bacterial count in their gut is. To do stool assessments to see what their bacterial count in their gut is. But what I would say if you're immunocompromised, if you're pregnant I mean, we already tell pregnant women to avoid soft cheeses because they're more prone to getting listeria infections and you really have to check what your local and state laws are about whether you can purchase raw milk. But what I tell people who don't have the ability to purchase raw milk and they're concerned about their gut microbiome? We have kefir yogurt, especially if you get the yogurt with the active lactobacillus colonies, especially if you get the yogurt with the active lactobacillus colonies. And there's lots of great fermented foods kamichi, pickles, sauerkraut that are beneficial for your gut microbiome.
Speaker 1:So, in general, it's best to get your vitamins, minerals and nutrients from whole foods and definitely talk to your healthcare clinician, because this is just for general information to empower you to have important conversations with your own individual healthcare team. In general, the most common supplements that I recommend, even in people eating a healthy diet, is vitamin D, especially for people over 40, northern climate folks. Next is magnesium, especially if you have insomnia, leg cramps, migraine, headaches, constipation. And getting enough magnesium, a recent study showed, may reduce cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and even type 2 diabetes and even type 2 diabetes. So I have a list on our website on speakingofwomenshealthcom, of magnesium rich foods and it's great that we can nourish our bodies and souls and share good food with our friends and family. If you're interested in other topics along this line, we have a lot on our website.
Speaker 1:Food is medicine foods that could interact with medications. Superfoods. Nutrient dense foods, quercetin rich foods. Foods high in iron lots of women and children are low in iron. Foods high in histamine that histamine sensitive people might want to avoid. Foods that contain vitamin D 16. Foods high in choline great for muscle cramps and brain development.
Speaker 1:Biotin A lot of women take biotin supplements and it messes up their blood work and a lot of times doesn't help their hair. But there are foods that do have biotin, which certainly can help your nails. Foods rich in zinc I get lots of zinc levels on my patients and I would say over half of them are low, even in the ones that say that they eat meat. Selenium if you didn't hear our podcast on thyroid, dr Abed was talking about how she sometimes gets selenium levels. That's important for thyroid function. Uh, omega-3s most of us are getting too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3. Uh, the mind diet uh, alzheimer's disease is a big problem. Half of women by age 85 have it. Men also can get it, and so it's really important to protect your brain. And too much sugar and simple carbs can drive diabesity, hypertension, stroke, memory loss, even glaucoma.
Speaker 1:We have a column on food to fight fatigue and we had a fun podcast on celebrating July 4th with food, fun and family and friends. So thank you for listening and tuning into another pod. We're so grateful for your support and we hope that you'll share this podcast with others. And if you don't already subscribe or follow on Apple Podcasts, tunein Spotify wherever you listen, please subscribe so you'll be notified of new podcasts, so you won't miss any future ones. And if you've got any questions, you can go on speakingofwomenshealthcom and send us your question. Thanks again for listening and we will see you next time in the Sunflower House. Be strong, be healthy and be in charge.
