Today I'm really excited to talk to you about
a group of vitamins really vital for female health useful for ladies particularly with
hormone dysregulation, PCOS and weight issues.
The B vitamins are very important in helping
to improve the symptoms of PCOS. In nature if we get a balanced diet we get lots of the B vitamins in things like Meat, Fish, Eggs, Milk and green leafy veggies. If you want to have them in one source ie a vitamin, Its really important to make sure you have
these vitamins in a combined formula as they all work together on different
elements!
Vitamins B2, B3, B5 and B6 are particularly useful for weight and
maintaining and managing it. One of the B vitamins - Vitamin B2( riboflavin)
helps to turn the food you eat via fat, sugar and protein to the energy we need
to survive(its also the one that turns your wee bright yellow!) B3 another vitamin, s an important co-factor
in supporting glucose tolerance factor (GTF), GTF is something that allows your body to keep an eye on blood
sugar . It needs vitamin B3 to help this process, almost like food for your
GTF! Vitamin B5 is also important as it helps your body metabolises fat, so
important if you are overweight and need to lose weight to qualify for
fertility support! B6 is also marvellous
as it supports proper hormonal balance and may be one deficiency present if you
suffer from PMT. It helps to maintain blood sugar, oestrogen and also
progesterone and helps in mood regulation via serotonin. Many women with PCOS
have deficiencies in this and also low progesterone, so worth topping up your
levels with B6 in this case. B6 is also part of a ‘gang’ with B2 and B3, that
will help your body to make and move thyroxine, needed for normal thyroid
hormone production.
Let’s not forget folate B9! Many of you maybe
on folic acid for your fertility as this is the basic component of many B
complex vitamins. However I like to super charge my ladies and always go for
the superior version of folate called Methlyfolate. Folate is such an important
substance, its not just needed for helping to prevent Spina Bifida and Neural
tube defects, its needed for all our cells to replicate which happens hundreds
of thousands of times a second in our bodies, so vital for health, not just to
get it in supplement form but in natural forms through leafy greens!
Folate works in conjunction with B12 also a
co-factor and together they help to reduce a substance or by-product of
methylation called homocysteine. This can have implications of cardiovascular
issues if too high and homocysteine can creep up if taking metformin, without replacing
both B12 and folate in the diet.
Deficiencies in these vitamins can happen
easily if you have an inflammatory condition like PCOS, so having a great
combined B vitamin will enable the body
to maintain balance more easily so it can do its job!
B12 is an important vitamin and many people
are deficient in this mineral. It is found in lots of foods such as Meats, fish
and dairy, so often vegetarians can become deficient in this vitamin, particularly people who don't eat a healthy diet. B12 together with folate is really needed by the
body to help cell replication and DNA, which we need constantly as cells die
and are replenished. When we eat protein B12 is released and is then further
broken down by something called intrinsic factor which helps B12 to get absorbed
into the blood stream. You need good levels of Hydrochloric acid for B12 to be released so for many this may be the issue of constant low B12 despite
supplementation. So taking some cider vinegar in war water before food helps
with stomach acid support. B12 becomes
deficient in the body by using metformin, so it really important to take this
to help red blood cells and oxygenated blood travel round the body. Thorne
Research Basic B has a super absorbable B12 called Methylcobalamin in it, which is an
excellent version of B12, and one of only 2 I recommend together with Adenosyl cobalamin and Hydroxocobalamin. I'm not a fan of
the standard B12 forms you see in most
supplements – Cyanocobalamin. I’ll be honest it isn't my favourite form as it
uses cyanide as a binding factor instead of more natural forms. It is a very
small amount and we do have naturally occurring cyanide in some food, however I
like my B12 without a side order of poison personally! So if you, like me, are not into this, always
read the labels of supplements to see what’s in them and if possible go for
active b Methylfolate.
The B vitamins are also essential for the
liver , which has 2 phases. The first one processes substances such as hormones
and toxins and metabolises them – B vitamins particular B2, B3, B6, B9 and B12,
are important at this stage. The second stage is where these substances
are ‘ conjugated’ . B
vitamins do their thing at this stage also and help the liver to get rid of excess and old hormones so they can be
eliminated by the body. If you have PCOS its more than likely you have an
excess of oestrogen, so this is where B vitamins can really help your liver!
Here a diagram to show how well absorbed methylfolate is in the body compared to folic acid as well as where B12 and Homocysteine come into things as we break the vitamins down via food and
supplements for the body to use.
Many ladies with PCOS I’m working with are having great
results combining this supplement with Inositol which also helps regulate blood
sugar via the insulin receptors. It also works on the liver to support its
function and in trial has supported reducing higher FSH and reducing oestrogen.
In trails particularly for IVF this has helped egg quality and also improved
outcome in IVF. There are also loads of studies on using Inositol for PCOS.
.
8.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21463230
9.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199904293401703
10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854115
11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854115
12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18854115
