Nutrition

[Mary Jo]

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted your opinion on this. On the advice of my oncologist I started taking a calcium supplement. Caltrate 600+D Plus Mineral Calcium Supplement is what I've chosen. It has 600 mg. of calcium, 400 IU of Vitamin D, and 40 mg of Magnesium, 7.5 mg of zinc, 1 mg of copper and 1.8 mg of manganese PER 1 chewable tablet and I take 2 tablets daily. One in the morning with breakfast and one in the evening at supper time. Also, I started taking Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil. It is 100 percent Arctic Cod Liver Oil that "meets our daily needs for DHA and EPA. It is molecularly distilled. It claims to have the highest level of Omega-3 fatty acids per teaspoon of any cod liver oil, with only naturally occurring vitamins A and D." The bottle also claims that "all Nordic Naturals products surpass all national and international pharmaceutical standards for freshness and purity, and are free from heavy metals, dioxins, and PCBs. Every batch is third party tested to guarantee exceptional freshness and purity levels" It has an orange flavor that is flavored with 100 percent natural orange oil. No gluten, yeast, artificial colors or flavors. I take 1 tsp. every evening after I finish with our supper.

Here are the supplement facts:

Serving size - 1 tsp.

Total fat - 5.0 g.
Sat. fat 1.0 g.
Trans Fat 0g.
Cholesterol 14 mg.
Vitamin A - 1000-2000 I.U.
Vitamin D 1-20 I.U.
Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) 5 I.U.
Omega 3s:
DHA 625 mg
EPA 410 mg
Other Omega-3s 225 mg
Total Omega 3s 1260 mg
Oleic Acid (Omega 9) 600 mg

I'd appreciate your feed back. I'm still learning all this nutrition stuff. Some of what I've typed here is "greek to me."

Thank you in advance for looking it over and offering me your feedback.

God Bless all.........

Mary Jo

[Becky]

Dear Marejo


The amount of calcium and vitamin D in the calcium supplement are fine but I have always learned/believed that the other minerals (zinc, copper,magnesium and manganese) should not be taken at the same time as calcium as they adversely effect calcium absorption. Normally, more magnesium is needed as it assists calcium absorption into the bones (need 250mg to 500 mg per day). So I take Calcium and D (like you a tablet at breakfast and dinner) but I take a 500mg tablet of magnesium at lunch. Avoid copper supplements as they aren't needed. Zinc - the jury is out on whether it is good or bad.

The extra A&D in the cod liver oil is good for you too. I try to get 1000iu of D per day somehow (I do drink milk as well as cod fish liver oil and what I get in the calcium supplement).

That's my comments. Others will probably have other opinions.

[Hopeful]

Becky,

What are the issues with zinc?

Hopeful

[Becky]

I just remembered this and other articles so I watch in regard to extra zinc supplementation.




http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22166&highlight=zinc

[chrisy]

I've been told to avoid copper. But I don't have the "science" down on that - maybe someoe else does?

Re the Nordic Naturals - I have a colleague who works there and it is very very high quality stuff - pharmaceutical grade and very pure.

[Becky]

Chrisy

I don't remember the science on copper (I will try to "re-find" the articles) but they basically said there is a lot of copper associated with cancer tissue. Now, this can be a flawed conclusion because perhaps cancer cells "eat up" other minerals or somehow concentrate copper from the blood stream and hang onto it as a catalyst for some downstream reaction. So, it may not be extra dietary copper that "assists" in the malignant process at all. Its just like if you are prone to kidney stones (which are made of calcium), that whole process doesn't stop just because you stop taking calcium supplements or eating dairy.

I think though, for the heavy metal mineral supplements, it is best to just rely on foods and perhaps, a multi vitamin only as I think the ratios of one to the other are important. Zinc, copper and manganese are used in such small quantities in the body (mostly as part of a catalyst in biochemical reactions) that one probably doesn't want that ratio to go too much awry.

I hope your scans turned out good Chrisy. Have a nice weekend.

[Hopeful]

The problem with all of these supplements is we don't know what the bioavailability of them is. What may look like a huge dose on a label doesn't necessarily translate 100% into what the body gets to use.

Hopeful

[Erin]

I just heard a discussion on talk radio (Dr. Dean Edell) talking about Copper and how new research has linked it to cancer. Don't know more details, sorry :-).

I am a big believer in fish oil. I take 4,800 mgs a day and find it is like a natural tranqilizer...in a good way! Increased concentration, calmer, better able to handle stress. I have heard that you need to take at least 3,000 mg a day to benefit.