New studies and claims about vitamins are published daily, and many seem to contradict each other. What does an average consumer really need to know about vitamins? “The fairly simple answer is, not much. Almost everyone can benefit from taking a supplement with calcium because most people don’t get as much as they need through their diets — 1,000 mg a day for adults, increasing to 1,200 mg after age 50.
Some vitamins become especially important at certain times in a person’s life. Pregnant women or women who may become pregnant should be certain to get enough folate, or folic acid, a B-complex vitamin — 600 units a day, rather than 400. And as you age, you should probably take a daily supplement to get additional B12.
Vitamins and Healthy Living: Not as Easy as A, B, C, and D
Maintaining a balance of the vitamins we need is important yet tricky.
While vitamins work together in the body to ensure our health — the most obvious being the way vitamin D aids in absorbing calcium — the interaction between vitamin supplements and prescribed medications can cause health problems. For example, calcium can interact with some pharmaceuticals, limiting the body’s ability to absorb the prescribed medication. So whenever your doctor gives you a new prescription or changes one, it’s important to discuss all of the vitamin and mineral supplements you’re taking to avoid any potential problems.
Vitamins and Healthy Living: Is Taking more Better?
Some people take large amounts of supplements — hundreds or thousands of times more than the recommended amount — to treat or prevent illnesses or diseases, in effect treating vitamin supplements like drugs. “That’s different from taking them to get the recommended amount. Using supplements as therapy should be done only with a doctor’s guidance, as side effects and complications can and do occur.
As an example, Thomas points to niacin, or B3, which in very high doses can harm the liver. However, in many cases niacin is a good drug for reducing statin levels. To evaluate any supplement as a medical treatment, consider the body of evidence supporting any health claims and seek information from a pharmacist, dietitian, or your family doctor
Now expecting mothers will be able to tell if they are having a boy or a girl by using simple home test that predicts the gender of the baby as early as 10 weeks after conception.
The Intelligender Boy or Girl Gender Prediction Test was developed by the scientists of theIntelliGender, the Plano, Texas. The simple urine-test that responds to the combination of hormones released during pregnancy to reveal if a woman is expecting a boy or a girl. Just like most pregnancy tests, it uses morning urine, which turns green if you are having a boy or turns orange if you are having a girl.
Happy parents have an opportunity to know the gender of their baby beginning from the 10 week of pregnancy (six weeks after missed period). It takes about 10 minutes to know the results of the test.
The creators of the “Boy or Girl Gender Prediction Test” say that they developed the test because most parents are very curious to know if they are having a boy or a girl as early as possible. Usually, a pregnant woman has a chance to know the sex of the baby between 18 to 20 weeks with the help of ultrasound. The accuracy of the ultrasound results will depend on such factors as the position of the baby or the stage the pregnancy.
The test is said to be 78 to 80 percent accurate in prediction the sex of the baby. The company warns that a pregnant woman should also use other diagnostic tools such as ultrasound exam if her physician indicates to make sure the results are more accurate.
