Share & Voice: My Women's Health Issues class

We had an extremely interesting class period tonight for Women's Health Issues (an excellent class, everyone should take it!).  An herbal and supplement specialist and owner of "The Essence of Health" named Sharon Szukis came in and talked to our class.  I'm going to highlight all the most important/interesting things I learned. 

First off, something that might not be that well known is that the FDA doesn't really supervise herbal and supplement manufacturers.  There aren't really standards or guidelines for what they're throwing into their products.  This means we have to be really conscious, smart, consumers.  Fortunately, the majority of the larger, reputable supplement makers came to gather to make their own rules and regulations.  Basically they police themselves and hold themselves very accountable to high standards.  If you want to make sure you are getting supplements from these reputable supplement makers make sure somewhere on the bottle it's labeled "GMP" which stands for Good Manufacturing Procedure".  If it says GMP you know that the labels are accurate and you can trust the list of ingredients to be correct.  Now on herbal products you should look for something that says "Standardized" which will also guarantee you quality and safety.  Sharon also suggested that if you're looking for something particular like Vitamin C it's okay to go to Target or Walmart, or a grocery store; however, if you aren't sure exactly what you're looking for you should definitely go to specialty store because that's where the specialist are who can help you safely find what you're looking for.  She used the example of a person on blood thinners who might not realize that some herbal products thin your blood.  This could be a dangerous combination, but a combination that would likely be avoided by going to people who know, and do this for a living.  Also in line with being a smart consumer you should be weary of supplement and herbal products that come from China because China's manufacturing is known as being ahead of their policing.  Not always safe!

Sharon also told us that only around 5% of the population get the very basic vitamins that the body need.  That means 95% of us aren't even getting the basic, bare minimum of vitamins.  In light of this, she said that if she could suggest 3 supplements for women to take it would be a good multi-vitamin, calcium, and vitamin D.  Calcium is especially important  for those who drink soft drinks or any carbonated drinks because the carbonation is done with the use of phosphorus which basically eats away the bones.  On top of that caffeine interferes with calcium absorption.  I, myself have a bit of a soft drink problem so after hearing Sharon talk I'm already working on cutting down.  Vitamin D is also extra important for those of us way up north here (males and females)!  Vitamin D is intrinsically tied to our immune system and a deficiency in this vitamin is DIRECTLY linked to colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.  Just some really interesting things to look in to!