Lactoferrin is a protein found naturally in cow and human milk. Colostrum, the first milk that develops after a baby is born, is especially rich in the protein. It’s also found within fluids in the nose, respiratory tract, eyes, intestines, and elsewhere.
What Is the Role of Lactoferrin?
This protein binds with iron and cooperates with other proteins to metabolize iron and form energy, store and transport oxygen, and support detoxification. It’s also involved with the production of blood cells and the body’s ability to fight off infection. Research suggests exercising could increase lactoferrin. In some cases, supplementation could have several benefits.
Improve iron absorption in women, including athletes and pregnant women, as well as in infants
Reduce body fat in individuals with obesity
Control inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with hepatitis C
Additionally, lactoferrin appears to help fight off infections caused by viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It seems to slow the growth of bacteria. With these health-promoting properties, lactoferrin can help:
Treat diarrhea
Reduce swelling of the liver
Treat anemia
Help control cold symptoms
Help treat blood infections
Other potential applications for lactoferrin may include wound healing, allergy treatment, immune system health, and optimal health of key organs, including the lungs.
In some cases, elevated levels of lactoferrin could be indicative of underlying disease. For instance, fecal samples with high levels of lactoferrin can indicate the presence of irritable bowel syndrome. When found in blood or tears, it could indicate other types of disease.
If you’re considering lactoferrin supplements to support your wellness goals, consider speaking with a physician for proper dosing recommendations.
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes nutrient-rich eating from sources such as vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, and lean protein. The dietary approach has been praised for its health benefits in recent years, including improved heart health. Now, it’s also been hailed as a beneficial diet for people with type 2 diabetes, thanks to its ability to improve several key biomarkers, such as inflammation, insulin resistance, body mass index (BMI), and HDL cholesterol.
How the Mediterranean Diet Helps with Type 2 Diabetes
The Mediterranean diet is a flavorful eating pattern based on the dietary habits of people in countries near the Mediterranean Sea. It offers filling meal options that prioritize the nutrients bodies need to perform their best, while also limiting additives such as refined carbohydrates, red meat, and added sugars.
According to research published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, participants of the Mediterranean diet had the best A1C scores, which measure blood sugar over a three-month period. They also lost more weight and had the best cardiovascular health, including improved cholesterol levels, compared to peers who participated in high-protein, high-fiber, vegetarian, vegan, or low-carbohydrate diets.
While this heart-healthy diet can’t reverse diabetes, it can help reduce the risk of complications related to the disease. By reducing cholesterol, it protects the heart, thereby limiting the risk for serious issues such as heart attack and stroke. The diet also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by as much as 30%.
Which Foods Can You Eat on the Mediterranean Diet?
Fortunately, the Mediterranean diet isn’t restrictive and is quite simple. The idea is to incorporate as many fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet as possible and prioritize lean meat or plant-based protein, such as skinless chicken, fish, and legumes. Here are a few examples of which foods are commonly eaten in the diet:
Whole Grains: Choose whole-grain bread and pasta products, as well as quinoa, brown rice, barley, and farro.
Nuts, Seeds, & Beans: Heart-healthy nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pistachios are excellent choices. You can also have sunflower and sesame seeds, beans such as kidney, white, black, and cannellini beans, chickpeas, and lentils.
Vegetables: Eat a variety of vegetables such as bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, artichokes, carrots, beets, fennel, onions, and zucchinis, among others.
Fruits: While fruits do naturally contain sugars, they are also nutrient-rich and can be enjoyed in moderation. Consider snacking on melons, figs, dates, grapes, citrus fruits, berries, and apples.
Healthy Fats: Olive oil is a great source of healthy fats, and can be used for cooking or salads.
Fresh Fish & Seafood: Salmon, shrimp, halibut, mackerel, herring, trout, and other seafood rich in healthy fats are among the best protein sources.
Dairy & Poultry: Reduced-fat cheese, low-fat yogurt and milk, eggs, and lean poultry are all welcome choices on the Mediterranean diet.
While switching to an entirely new eating style can be overwhelming, you might consider taking small steps to work towards a full Mediterranean dietary lifestyle. For instance, you might start by reducing or eliminating processed foods, then aim to incorporate vegetables with most of your meals. Making healthy dietary choices can deliver numerous wellness benefits and is a worthwhile endeavor, even if it takes some time to adapt.
Probiotics are a variety of microorganisms intended to provide health benefits when consumed. While they’re found naturally in yogurt and fermented foods, many people take them in the form of dietary supplements to boost health.
With the right dosage, probiotics are believed to deliver health benefits including improved gastrointestinal health, a supported immune system, weight management, and potentially even brain health. As antibiotics become more ubiquitous, many medical experts are urging the importance of maintaining beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to support a healthy microbiome. Environmental and lifestyle factors can also alter the microbiome, so restoring its health is critical to supporting optimal wellness.
While much remains to be learned about the power of these supplements, we already know that probiotics are helpful for:
Treating diarrhea and other GI issues
Inducing or maintaining remission in ulcerative colitis
Treating periodontal disease
Preventing issues in premature infants, including sepsis
Controlling colic in babies
There is also research to support probiotics’ use for treating other conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, allergy-related issues such as atopic dermatitis and hay fever, asthma, urinary tract infections, acne, and upper respiratory infections.
The importance of a healthy balance of bacteria in the GI tract has been suspected for over 100 years since scientist Elie Metchnikoff established the link between yogurt and better health. Metchnikoff pioneered the use of probiotics for general use, but the boom of antibiotics in the 1940s has been affecting gut microbes for decades. While antibiotics are often necessary and allow us to fight off infections, they also cause good bacteria in the gut to be wiped out.
In addition to taking antibiotics, many other factors can affect the microbiome. Exposure to cigarette smoke and air pollution, for instance, can take their toll on gut bacteria, as can poor sleep, chronic stress, and a diet rich in heavily processed foods.
Addressing these issues is important, as a disruption of homeostasis in the microbiome can lead to issues such as dysbiosis and poor bacteria diversity. With dysbiosis, there are fewer good organisms than harmful ones, while lack of diversity in gut bacteria has been associated with an increased risk for disease. These issues can also lead to intestinal permeability, in which the barrier function of the intestine is compromised and intestinal activity is affected. Known as “leaky gut syndrome,” this condition has been linked to conditions such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Fortunately, probiotic supplements could help maintain a healthy microbiome, or repopulate a GI tract with good bacteria. Moreover, they’re generally regarded as being safe, with minimal side effects such as gas sometimes occurring. They shouldn’t be used in clinically ill or immunocompromised populations, however.
There are many different types of probiotics available, including specific strains and dosages. If you’re considering getting started on a regimen, it’s a good idea to seek professional guidance so you can determine the type that’s best for your personal needs.
Vitamin D deficiencies are a common problem in the U.S., with more than 40% of adults getting inadequate levels of the nutrient. The body produces the vitamin after the skin has been exposed to sunlight, so getting enough sun is important to maintaining healthy vitamin D levels. Of course, too much exposure to UV rays presents risks, including skin cancer. For this reason, we must learn how to get enough sunlight to make vitamin D without overdoing it.
The Risks of Low Vitamin D
There are many functions in the body supported by vitamin D. For instance, the nutrient prompts the cells in the intestines to absorb calcium and phosphorus, which is essential to bone health. And, without vitamin D, the risks of cancer, depression, osteoporosis, and muscle weakness are increased.
Vitamin D is notoriously difficult to get from diet alone, since it’s only found in a handful of foods, such as egg yolks, swordfish, canned tuna, and cod liver oil. And, eating these foods once in a while wouldn’t suffice; you’d have to eat them almost daily to get enough vitamin D. Exposure to sunlight is, therefore, a simple and effective way to get vitamin D.
Getting Vitamin D Through Sunlight the Safe Way
Research suggests that the body’s ability to make vitamin D peaks around midday, which is also the point in time when UV rays are strongest. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a long time outside to reap the benefits. Just 13 minutes of midday sun exposure is enough for Caucasian adults to maintain healthy vitamin D levels. People with darker skin might need a bit more exposure. This will allow adults to meet or exceed the recommended daily dose of 600 IU. It’s also believed that going out at noon could also be safer. Afternoon sun exposure appears to come with an increased risk for dangerous skin cancers.
Of course, it’s not always possible for people far from the equator to get ample vitamin D from the sun alone. People living in Boston, MA, for example, will struggle to make any vitamin D from UV rays alone from November to February. In the winter, it’s therefore important to get the critical nutrient from food and supplements.
Ultimately, while UV rays present their health risks, controlled sun exposure is believed to be beneficial to overall health. Whether you get it through the sun or supplements, vitamin D is essential to helping your body perform its best.
The Mediterranean diet has long been praised for its health benefits. The eating style emphasizes vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, and lean protein such as fish, poultry, beans, and eggs. It’s been linked to heart health and has recently been discovered as a means of lowering diabetes risk.
According to a 2020 study published in JAMA Network Open, women who followed the Mediterranean diet had a 30% lower rate of type 2 diabetes compared to their peers. Experts say that the eating style is linked to improvement in several key biomarkers, including insulin resistance, body mass index (BMI), HDL cholesterol, and inflammation. The study was a 20-year-plus follow-up to research that first enrolled participants in 1992 and 1993. The participants following the Mediterranean diet ate mostly vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, and moderate fish and dairy. Red meat and processed foods were limited or avoided. Additionally, they would drink red wine in moderation.
Other research has also pointed to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in the past. For example, a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology linked the eating style to a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, which is the umbrella term for a group of conditions that increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance.
Experts further investigated results from the 2020 study and believe that the Mediterranean diet is likely so effective because it replaces unhealthy foods with nutrient-rich options that don’t contribute to insulin resistance or inflammation, and in fact may improve insulin resistance. The diet may also optimize beta-cell function, which produces and secrete insulin, the hormone responsible for blood sugar regulation.
According to the findings, the diet may be most beneficial for women who are overweight or obese. While there was a benefit for all individuals, type 2 diabetes is commonly linked with excess fat, which is likely why women with a BMI of 25 or higher appear to benefit the most from the Mediterranean diet.
Even if you aren’t ready to fully transition to an entirely new eating plan, the experts note that incorporating just some of the diet’s principles could deliver health benefits. Seemingly small changes such as adding more vegetables to your meals could have long-term benefits and are worth pursuing for the reduced risk of several diseases.
This website and its contents are not intended to treat, cure, diagnose, or prevent any disease. Stemedix, Inc. shall not be held liable for the medical claims made by patient testimonials or videos. They are not to be viewed as a guarantee for each individual. The efficacy for some products presented have not been confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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