Women's Vitamins and Their Benefits

Every woman's body has different nutritional needs, depending on age, medical conditions and dietary habits. Vitamins are usually found in the foods we consume, but often due to bad diet, our vitamin intake is barely sufficient. This is when we head out to the local neighborhood pharmacy to fill up our pantries with every available vitamin we can find, and believe me, there are a lot of them. So many in fact, that those less knowledgeable on the subject just don't have any idea where to start.

In our desire to improve our physical health, we resort back to popping those trusted one a day vitamins; we feel at least, as if we're doing something right. Knowing what our needs are as females doesn't have to be quite so difficult. It's true that there are literally hundreds of vitamins on the market. But if we understand that our bodies needs are simple and the majority of vitamins we need, we get from the foods we eat, providing your eating a sensible healthy diet. Women, of course should pay special attention to calcium and iron, as calcium builds bones during our developing years and keeps us strong as we grow older, low calcium intake has been known to cause osteoporosis. During adolescence and as we age, its important to be sure that we are getting a sufficient calcium intake, the recommended dosage for females aged 19 to 24 is 1200 milligrams, 25 and older the dosage decreases to 800 milligrams. A lot of foods we eat, such as milk, cheese, and ice cream, can add calcium to our diet, Just make sure and choose low fat versions.Yogurt, salmon, tofu, broccoli, peas, beans, seeds and nuts are all excellent sources of calcium. But even if you eat an excellent healthy diet it is recommended that you add a calcium supplement to your daily regimen.Iron is also a very important addition to our diets, 15 milligrams a day has been shown to be what our bodies need, to build our blood vessels and help keep our bodies strong. Women need more than men because during menstruation, we lose an average of 15 to 20 milligrams of iron, low iron in our blood can lead to anemia. Vitamin A is essential in maintaining smooth healthy skin and healthy cell membranes. Vitamin D helps absorb calcium and is essential in the growth of healthy bones and joints.

I'm much the same as everyone else, living under the false impression that, just because a vitamin has a fancy name and outrageous price tag, it must be better for you. Not so! I recently underwent gastric bypass surgery to lose weight, under the advice of my surgeon, I stopped all vitamins except my flintstones multivitamin, and yes, they are formulated for children but actually have everything adults need as well, my chewable calcium supplement several times daily and this really wasn't so bad; they taste amazingly like chocolate, also a chewable vitamin b12 and iron pill. In other studies its been shown that omega-3 fish oil capsules, can relieve the hot flashes and other unpleasant side effects of menaupause. Selenium is known as a miracle mineral and can cut your risk of bladder cancer, Just 55 micrograms a day is all you need to reap the rewards. The addition of vitamins and minerals to our daily regimen is very important, to receive information on whats right for you, contact your physician. www.womenshealth.com, www.webmd.com, and www.mayoclinic.com.