Vitamins For Women – Cutting Through The Clutter To Find The Best Supplements

When reading about female health issues, invariably the subject of vitamins for women will come up. With so many options, choosing the right vitamins can be a web of confusion. Please keep in mind that many authors now use the word vitamins interchangeably to refer to not only vitamins, but also minerals, phytonutrients, amino acids, enzymes, herbs and other nutrient forms found nutritional supplements.

Women’s Nutritional Needs

Because of their unique nutritional needs at various times in their life cycle, women require gender specific nutrients when it comes to vitamins for women. To maintain a healthy diet, the average female requires five to eight daily servings of fruits and vegetables. This is no simple task given the typical diet of women today and the stressful lifestyles most lead. It has been reported that nearly half do not eat any fruit and 80 percent only eat leafy green veggies, which contain protein, fiber and antioxidants, once every four days.

Furthermore, consider the fact that numerous vegetables have lost much of their nutritional composition in the last 60 years. A good example is spinach. 100g of spinach has lost 137mg of its vitamin C content since 1950.

When your body doesn’t get the nutrients it eventually develops marginal deficiencies which can produce a whole host of problems which many people do not recognize as health problems at all. Some of the more common include:

• Mood swings

• Fatigue

• Nervousness

• Headaches

• Confusion

• Muscle weakness

And, with sustained nutrient deficiencies, the average person puts themselves at risk for serious diseases, such as cancer, hypertension, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
So, if the average diet is unable to supply the all nutrients needed in sufficient daily amounts, what can a woman do to make sure her body is protected? The answer is really quite simple - sensible supplementation.

By taking quality, science-based supplements with the correct balance of vitamins for women, along with a wide range of all types of micro-nutrients, a female will be able to keep her body in balance, maintain higher energy levels and greatly reduce the risk of developing the serious degenerative diseases mentioned above.
High Vitamin Doses Are Not Required!

Before you rush out to purchase a multi vitamin and mineral formulation, it is important to remember that if you already maintain a reasonable diet, you don’t need supplements with high doses of vitamins and minerals.

Most vitamin supplements available in the market contain way over the top dose amounts of vitamins and minerals. These are the cheapest ingredients in supplements! While they are important, they are only required in small amounts to top up marginal deficiencies which are common in many western diets. Far more important are the total number, dose amounts and potencies of key phytonutrients and herbal extracts contained in a supplement - these play a much greater part in determining the efficacy and value for money of a supplement. Consumers must learn what to look for and how to compare these ingredients.

Derived from plant extracts, phytonutrients are powerful, antioxidant disease fighters. While there are many vitamins for women type products containing some phytonutrients and standardized herbal extracts, virtually all supplements are manufactured to a price and can't afford to include enough nor in sufficient potencies to be of much benefit.

Clinical studies have shown certain phytonutrients, amino acids and herbal extracts to be particularly powerful and effective and in treating numerous health conditions and for preventative health measures. These are highly efficious ingredients that should be in your multi ingredient health supplement. (All of them are included in the supplement I use).

• L-Glutathione

• L-Carnosine

• Bilberry

• Resveratrol (high potency)

• Turmeric (high Potency)

• Zeaxanthin

• Tocotrienols
L-Glutathione – A Key Ingredient!

L-Gluthathione is the most abundant antioxidant enzyme in your body, and crucial for cell health and organ survival. As a person ages, their production of this vital substance decreases. However, because of its exorbitant cost (around $800 / kilo, wholesale) most supplements do not include it in their list of ingredients.

Supplements containing L-Glutathione must contain the reduced form of the enzyme so that it can penetrate the intestinal cell walls. Supplement manufacturers often cut costs by including the much cheaper 'regular' form which offers extremely low absorption levels. L-Glutathione is highly susceptible to destruction by stomach acid so any supplement containing it must be enteric coated.
Hormonal Pre-Cursor Herbs
In addition to phytonutrients, herbal extracts are key ingredients in vitamins for women products. Certain herbs help to maintain and/or re-balance hormone levels during menstruation and menopause and help ease discomfort and associated symptoms. The five most clinical established hormonal precursors are:

• Black Cohosh

• Red Clover

• Dong Quai

• Wild Yam

• Isoflavones

These are key ingredients to look for in vitamins for women supplements!
Amino Acids – Powerful Proteins

Known as the building blocks of proteins, amino acids play a key role in increased energy, healthy immune, nervous and musculoskeletal systems, balancing hormones and blood sugar and overall brain health. Essential amino acids and derivatives include:

• L-Taurine

• L-Arginine HCL (conditionally essential amino acid)

• L-Methionine

• L-Threonine

• L-Tyrosine

• L-Carnosine

• L-Glutathione

• L-Proline

• L-Lysine

• N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine

• Carnitine / Acetyl-L-Carnitine
What To Look For In The Best Supplements

In order to identify professional grade supplements offering the strongest and safest health and lifestyle benefits, a few simple criteria should be followed. These should be clearly spelled out on a supplement company’s website. If they are not, ask yourself WHY.

1. Make sure that all herbal extracts and active enzymes are standardized. This guarantees the potency and amount of the disease fighting active ingredients.

2. Safety, purity, and potency, are all guaranteed when a supplement manufacturer sources all raw materials from GMP registered and audited facilities.

3. All ingredients MUST have a Certificate of Analysis (COA) on file to confirm potency. Reputable and transparent supplement companies should make copies available to customers and potential customers on request. I know mine does as I requested to see several of their COA’s in the past.

4. Look for supplement companies who self manufacture. There are not many out there (you can count them on one hand) but those that do have invested a huge financial commitment and are more quality focused - not just out to make a quick buck like many companies who contract out their manufacturing.
By taking the time to study labels and know what to look for when it comes to vitamins for women you will end up with a safe, high quality supplement that does what it promises to and is true to its label. These types of products are few and far between in the supplement industry.

Many supplements lack product integrity and are poorly put together by marketers and doctors rather than by highly qualified bio-scientists who work with the latest cutting edge science.

Brett Seagrott worked in the supplement industry and is the author of nutritional supplement truths.com The site discusses vitamins for women along with its main theme of ‘Evaluating and Comparing Supplements’. It presents in-depth evaluations, reviews and transparent/fair comparisons of industry leading supplements so consumers can see which supplement(s) sit(s) at the top of the pack.