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Iodine Deficiency: You Can Prevent it With These Foods

Iodine is an essential trace element. A lack of iodine can even lead to an underactive thyroid.

Iodine is an essential trace element

Iodine is important for mental and physical development, especially in children, according to the AOK Federal Association. Iodine deficiency is a gradual process that is often not noticeable at first. But in the long term, a deficiency can trigger changes or diseases of the thyroid gland. The consequences range from depression to difficulty concentrating. “Iodine is a vital trace element. The body needs it for the formation of thyroid hormones, among other things,” says Dr. Julian Bleek, doctor in the AOK Federal Association.

According to the German Society for Nutrition, the recommended daily iodine intake for children is between 100 and 200 micrograms, depending on their age. For adults it should be around 200 micrograms daily. Pregnant and breastfeeding women have a particularly high iodine requirement (230 or 260 micrograms per day).

Hypothyroidism due to iodine deficiency: These are the symptoms

If the thyroid does not get enough iodine, it can no longer produce enough hormones. It then first tries to compensate for this deficit by enlarging itself. As a result, a goiter forms, also called goiter. From a certain size, a goiter is also visible from the outside and can cause symptoms, for example problems with swallowing or a wheezing noise. The suspicion of goiter can be clarified by means of a palpation examination and ultrasound.

If the thyroid gland is no longer able to produce enough thyroid hormones despite this enlargement, the result is hypothyroidism. Those affected then feel listless and tired and complain of a physical and mental drop in performance. There may be other symptoms.

skin changes (dry, cool, pale yellow, or doughy skin)
dry, brittle hair
rough, hoarse voice
weight gain
constipation tendency
decreasing fertility and potency
slow heartbeat

The iodine requirement can easily be covered with everyday foods

In order to cover the daily need for iodine, one can quickly become active oneself, as the element is easily absorbed through food: The “Bavarian Consumer Center” recommends that iodized salt be preferred over the non-iodized salt and that it should be used in the kitchen. Loosely packaged bread and baked goods and sausages are usually also produced with iodized salt.

However, iodine is not only contained in salt, but also in sea fish and seafood. The trace element is also contained in smaller doses in spinach, broccoli, rye bread, algae and dairy products

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Lifestyle

Room Layout with Furniture Room Divider

Tips for dividing up space with furniture, room dividers, and clever furnishing ideas. Especially if a room is to fulfill several functions, you can also visually structure the room with room divider furniture.

Room dividers make sense, especially in small apartments with little space, because you can make two rooms out of one room. For example, you can extend the living room with a room divider into an integrated study.

Half-height shelves

Half-height shelves have proven particularly useful as room dividers. In other words, shelves without a rear wall can be filled from both sides. You can also place matching boxes in the openings to block the view from one side to the other.

Screen as an individual room divider

Another variant is individual room dividers. For example, you can make or buy a paravent and customize it with color, affixing photos or covering it with fabric and giving the room a special touch.

Sliding doors

Last but not least, rooms can of course also be clearly divided using sliding doors. If this method is too time-consuming and too expensive for you, you can use modern sliding curtains instead, which are available in many colors and patterns. These allow flexible room changes because you can close them or leave them open as needed.

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Food

Calcium Suppliers: With These Foods you Strengthen Your Bones

Calcium is the most important building block for healthy bones. But you don’t have to take calcium tablets straight away to meet your needs.

Why the combination of calcium and vitamin D is crucial

Vitamin D is mainly absorbed from the sun through the skin and only a little through food. But that’s less of a problem, especially for older people. “Vitamin D3 tablets are suitable here,” reports the umbrella organization for osteology.

Good sources of calcium include dairy products such as milk, cheese and so on. If you have a lactose intolerance, you can alternatively use water containing calcium. If the mineral water contains at least 150 milligrams of calcium per liter, it may be labeled “calcium-containing”.

But some vegetables such as spinach, kale or broccoli are also rich in calcium. It should be noted that you should not boil the vegetables but steam or stew them. When cooking, the calcium would settle out in the cooking water. In addition, the calcium storage can also be well filled with legumes and nuts.

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health

Lipoic Acid: This Dietary Supplement Helps With Weight Loss

Alpha lipoic acid is a prime example of the advances that nutritional science has made in recent years. We tell you everything about the scientifically proven weight loss effect of lipoic acid.

What exactly is lipoic acid?

Alpha lipoic acid is an antioxidant that plays an important role in energy metabolism. The sulphur-containing fatty acid also neutralizes free radicals and thus slows down the aging process in the body. However, alpha lipoic acid has now come into focus mainly because of its effect on weight loss.

Scientists at Oregon State University in the US have shown that lipoic acid has a positive effect on weight loss. The researchers found that people who regularly consumed alpha lipoic acid clearly lost body fat and weight. According to the researchers, people who are very overweight and women in particular benefit from lipoic acid.

But why exactly is that? Normally, the body only produces a minimum of lipoic acid to meet the needs of the enzymes involved in energy metabolism. If you take additional alpha-lipoic acid, the fatty acid also has a positive influence on glucose metabolism, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory effect.

Lipoic acid as a dietary supplement?

Although this assumption is still sufficiently proven, the US researchers assume that alpha-lipoic acid also has positive effects on diseases such as diabetes, heart disease or age-related cognitive impairments such as senility. According to Gerd Bobe from the research team, people who took lipoic acid showed significantly greater success in losing weight.

As a dietary supplement, the fatty acid is mainly available in pill form. A regular intake of alpha lipoic acid pills should also have a significant effect. The only downside to the pills is the higher price, according to Tory Hagen, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Oregon. But this cannot be said in general, since you can get 60 pills for less than 20 euros.

Other areas of application

However, alpha lipoic acid does not only work when you lose weight. As a powerful antioxidant, it is also used to treat some forms of dementia or chronic fatigue syndrome. Lipoic acid is also used in cancer therapy, in heart and liver diseases or in metabolic disorders.

In general, a daily dosage of 100 to 300 mg of alpha lipoic acid is recommended. However, you should always speak to your family doctor first before treatment or dietary supplementation with alpha-lipoic acid and coordinate the dose exactly.

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health

Miracle Spice: Cumin Helps With Weight Loss and Gastrointestinal Problems

Cumin is best known for its taste – but the oriental spice can do much more. Studies have shown that cumin helps with weight loss. Cumin also relieves stomach problems and can even have a stress-reducing effect.

Studies show: weight loss and lower BMI thanks to cumin

Targeted weight loss is often not that easy: Some foods are actually real calorie bombs – but this does not include cumin, as a study published in 2014 by the “Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences” shows. It involved 88 overweight women who were randomly divided into two groups. One of the two groups ate plain yogurt with three grams of cumin twice a day. The second group also got two portions of yoghurt per day – but without the addition of cumin. As the authors of the study report, the diet plans of the two groups were otherwise identical.

The result is quite remarkable: the cumin powder helped, among other things, to lose more weight and fat mass. In addition, the body mass index (BMI) and the waist circumference decreased. In summary, the authors of the study state that cumin powder in a weight-reducing diet shows an improvement in anthropometric and biochemical parameters in overweight or obese women.

A study by the Iranian “Kashan University of Medical Sciences” with 78 subjects between the ages of 18 and 60 also caused a stir. The participants were divided into three groups and had to swallow one capsule three times a day for eight weeks. One group received a cumin capsule, and another group received a fat blocker capsule. The third group only received a placebo. The results showed that the cumin group achieved about as much weight loss and reduction in BMI as the fat-blocker-agent group. Subjects who only received a placebo lost less weight. In addition, taking cumin had a positive effect on insulin metabolism

Aid in digestion and stress-reducing effect

The essential oils of the spice, which account for up to six percent, are also healthy. Cuminaldehyde is particularly valuable because its intake stimulates the formation of various digestive juices, such as gastric juice and pancreas. In this way, cumin helps to improve the digestive process. This function can be used in dishes that often cause digestive problems.

Cumin is also said to help with various intestinal complaints, such as constipation. An Indian study published in 2014 also showed that cumin helps with diarrhea by inhibiting the frequency of diarrhea, for example. Flatulence and discomfort are also said to be alleviated by eating cumin.

In addition, cumin is said to have other positive effects: a study with rats showed that cumin seeds can have a stress-reducing effect. The anti-inflammatory effect is also interesting

Cumin in the kitchen: healing properties in tea

In the kitchen we can also benefit from the taste and the positive effects. A popular tea is cumin, which can help with indigestion. Only a few ingredients are required for the preparation: cumin seeds, ginger – a real all-purpose weapon – honey and lemon.

Difficult to digest meals can also be enriched with cumin. Recipes with peas, lentils or beans quickly trigger digestive problems – the addition of cumin can prevent this.

Little is known about the side effects of cumin. However, those suffering from diabetes should be more careful: Since the consumption of cumin lowers blood sugar levels, the blood sugar balance can be shaken.

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Food

Are Vegetarians Really Healthier? Study With a Surprising Finding

Many people take Lent as an opportunity to let bad habits rest – also in terms of nutrition. One possibility is, for example, not eating meat. But how healthy is it to give up meat? A detailed study provides surprising insights into the question.

Long-term study on meat abstinence: data analysis of more than 48,000 people

The medical journal reviewed vegetarian and vegan diets in a July 2019 in-depth study by the University of Oxford. In the course of their surveys, the researchers evaluated the data of around 48,000 subjects who had neither heart disease nor stroke in the past.

About half of all participants reported eating meat. The other half was divided into vegetarians, vegans and pescetarians, i.e. people who do not eat meat but eat fish.

Over a research period of 18 years, 2,820 cases of heart disease and 1,072 strokes were recorded among the subjects.

Meatless diet: Lower risk of heart disease

It was striking that meat eaters showed a significantly higher susceptibility to heart disease. Compared with the pescetarians, the risk of heart disease was increased by 13 percent. Compared to vegans and vegetarians, it was even 22 percent. According to the researchers, this could be due to the significantly higher body mass index (BMI) and elevated blood cholesterol levels.

In contrast to the heart diseases, the subjects with a meatless diet performed significantly worse when it came to the risk of a stroke. According to the study, a plant-based diet increases the risk of stroke by more than 20 percent.

The scientists at the University of Oxford attribute this to the low levels of vitamin B12 in vegetarians and vegans. The vitamin is mainly found in animal products such as fish, meat and cheese. Despite the lengthy study, the researchers said more research is needed to definitively confirm the results.

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health

Losing Weight With Chips and Coke? Yes, it Actually Works – This is The Secret Trick to Achieving Your Desired Weight

Lose weight without much effort? – That’s fine. Because the key to every success in losing weight is not in meager diets: A fitness expert explains why it can theoretically also work with chips and cola to let those annoying pounds tumble.

In theory, you can also lose weight with chips and cola

The calorie requirement is the index of energy that the body needs to function. However, this is not the same for every person, but individual. Nutrients are divided into three so-called “macronutrients” or “macros”. These are carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
one gram of carbohydrates is over four calories
a gram of protein is over four calories
a gram of fat over nine calories
Fitness trainer Yannick Reinlein is certain that you can fill your calorie balance with unhealthy foods. For example, you can very well lose or maintain your weight with a diet that consists only of chips. However, Reinlein emphasizes that from his point of view this is not recommended. “You can definitely lose weight with the motto calories equal calories, but whether that’s healthy is a completely different question,” he says.

According to Reinlein, there are two main reasons why you shouldn’t do this: satiety and the feeling of hunger. “50 grams of carbohydrates from potatoes or gummy bears make no difference in terms of the calorie balance, but potatoes have a significantly higher satiety effect. So you don’t have to go hungry,” says Reinlein.

After all, unhealthy foods don’t have this name from just anywhere. Logically, it’s ultimately about the calorie balance that keeps the body functioning, but similar to an internal combustion engine, it’s always important to have the right fuel for the engine in question. “It’s exactly the same as cream and salmon. Both have fat, but the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids in salmon is much higher than that in cream, making it a much healthier source of fat,” explains the fitness expert.

You can lose weight by eating unhealthy foods

Especially with a diet that focuses on losing weight, it is important to change your diet and use healthy foods. True to the motto “you are what you eat”, nutrition is the lynchpin for physical well-being.

“A healthy body loses weight better than a sick one. Digestion is negatively affected by an unhealthy diet, and it can also promote the formation of inflammation in the body. Only when the body is healthy can it fully perform the function of burning fat,” says Reinlein.

Nevertheless, everyday movement should not be underestimated. Every step and every extra effort ensures that the calorie turnover increases. Consequently, if you burn a lot, you also need a higher calorie intake. Conversely, this means that you increase your calorie turnover through an increased amount of exercise and the combustion is boosted. If you then also save on calorie intake here, you will quickly lose weight. A good example of this is Bernd Stelter. According to him, he has only changed small habits, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or simply walking more every day. With success: Stelter has become a whole 25 kilos lighter!

Additional movement increases combustion

Ultimately, it is even true: Calories equal calories. But even if the body functions equally well on a diet of chips and cola as on a diet of vegetables and meat, you can’t compare it. This confirms that you can lose weight through an unhealthy diet, but that there is no guarantee that you will be healthier afterwards than before. If you also want to go one step further and lose weight as quickly as possible, you will still not be able to do with additional exercise. Nevertheless, the old rule applies here too: Patience makes perfect.

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Food

Does Caffeine Help With Lack of Sleep? – Study With a Clear Result

A recently published study examined how caffeine counteracts the loss of performance caused by lack of sleep. The result is clear and underlines the importance of sleep.

How caffeine affects cognition during sleep deprivation

It is well known that sleep deprivation has negative effects on cognition. The research team led by psychology professor Kimberly Fenn therefore investigated to what extent the increase in caffeine can counteract this.

The 276 subjects were initially asked to complete a simple task that required little attention. There was also a difficult task to solve in which the participants had to complete several steps in a specific order – no steps could be skipped or repeated.

“We found that sleep deprivation impaired performance on both task types and that caffeine intake helped people successfully complete the easier task,” study author Fenn said in a Michigan State University news release. However, the intake of caffeine mostly had little effect on the more difficult task.

Conclusion: Caffeine cannot replace sleep

While caffeine can help you stay awake and get a task done, it does little to prevent procedural errors that can lead to medical errors or car accidents, for example. “Caffeine increases energy, reduces drowsiness, and may even improve mood, but it certainly doesn’t replace a full night’s sleep,” says Fenn.

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Food

Poison in Honey: How Contaminated is it With The Highly Toxic Ragwort?

Traces of Jacob’s Ragwort have been found in honey. This is a highly poisonous plant that is now even being fought nationwide. The poison can cause severe liver damage.

Ragwort is becoming a problem in pastures

Jacob’s ragwort is not a popular sight on the pastures of cattle, sheep or horse farmers.
As a rule, the inedibility of the animals is noticed by the animals before they are eaten, but even the smallest amounts are enough to poison the grazing animals over a long period of time. In the silage or in the hay, the ragwort can no longer be recognized by the animals as such and they eat it with them.

The herb can have fatal consequences for the grazing animals, but for our bees it is a blessing due to the lack of food and the lack of flowering areas. Bees like to use ragwort as an alternative forage plant.

Liver-damaging toxin in honey

The proliferation of ragwort probably has something to do with the fact that wild rabbit populations are declining sharply. Rabbits are resistant to the plant’s toxin and prefer to eat the plant’s roots.

In the meantime, the poisonous plant, which is spreading rapidly, is being combated by uprooting it and mowing it in a targeted manner before it flowers, so that propagation via flying seeds can no longer take place.

Furthermore, it is recommended to pay attention to the careful disposal of the clippings after mowing the Ragwort so that there is no new sowing.

Imported honey particularly polluted

Because bees and other pollinators value ragwort as an alternative food source, ragwort has made its way into some foods, such as honey and teas. So far, German honey has been less contaminated with the liver toxin of Jacob’s ragwort than honey imported from abroad. Not infrequently, however, German honey is mixed or diluted with honey imported from abroad.

Due to the high level of toxicity of the plant, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment requires zero tolerance for the detection of the plant’s poison in food. To this day, however, we have no regulations, guidelines or controls on the maximum levels of the poison from ragwort in food. It is currently unclear when and if this requirement will be implemented at all.

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Nutrient Deficiency Despite Healthy Eating? With These Foods You Improve The Bioavailability of Your Body

How well does your body utilize vitamins and minerals from food and dietary supplements? To find out, it is important to know your own bioavailability.

What is bioavailability and how does it affect nutrient deficiencies?

One speaks of bioavailability when it comes to how well certain substances, including micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, can be absorbed by the body. In other foods, vitamins and minerals are integrated into the respective cell structure. They are part of the so-called food matrix. Bioavailability refers to how easily substances are released in the body and in what quantities they can be absorbed, absorbed and used further.

In the form of dietary supplements, you can take vitamins, minerals and other substances in concentrated form to supplement your diet. The substances are usually not integrated into a matrix, but are present in an isolated form. The body thus has easier access to the supporting substances and can continue to use them directly because it no longer has to decode the matrix.

When dosed correctly, dietary supplements are no more unhealthy than the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals found in food. The chemical structures are identical. Therefore, the human organism cannot differentiate between the two. However, according to Verbraucherzentrale.de, the products are neither tested for effectiveness nor for safety by the manufacturers or official authorities and can be harmful to health in the event of an overdose, previous illness or in combination with medication.

Possible reasons why the bioavailability can be disturbed

There are certain factors and nutrients that can significantly affect bioavailability, making it difficult or impossible for the nutrients contained in a food to be utilized. These can interfere with the digestion of micro and macro nutrients
they compete for the same transport system,
change the chemical form of the nutrients contained in food,
which bind nutrients and make them unusable for the receptors in the small intestine.
In addition, the following factors influence bioavailability:
ingestion of alcohol
Physical activity, stress, illness
Previous operations of the gastrointestinal tract
The health of the intestinal flora
The additional intake of medication or dietary supplements
The duration of chewing food
The combination of foods
age and gender
Possible consequences of a nutrient deficiency with disturbed bioavailability: Iron deficiency can lead to general weakness, a weakened immune system and impaired brain function. Calcium deficiency manifests itself in the long term as osteoporosis. In adults, vitamin D deficiency leads to muscle weakness, a weakened immune system, weak bones and an increased risk of fractures and cancer. Children may experience stunted growth and weak bones. Common symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency are enlargement of red blood cells, impairment of brain functions and increased homocysteine ​​levels, which can lead to various diseases.

Which substances inhibit bioavailability?

Bioavailability can deteriorate not only through the wrong food supplements, but also through food. Alcohol, coffee and vitamin B1 impair the absorption and utilization of vitamins. Another factor that can negatively affect bioavailability is the battle of two nutrients for the same absorption pathway, according to a study by the University of Chile. For example, copper and iron inhibit the absorption and processing of zinc.

Oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium. It is found, for example, in spinach, chard, rhubarb, almonds and sweet potatoes. Tip: If you enjoy eating these foods, heat them up before eating to reduce the oxalic acid content.
Phytates are found in grains, legumes, seeds and nuts, which should actually be on the daily menu. Tip: By soaking, fermenting or sprouting you improve the bioavailability of these foods.
Protease inhibitors are found in legumes. They can significantly reduce the bioavailability of protein-rich foods by inhibiting the metabolism of protein-splitting enzymes.
Lectins are also considered disruptive. The substance can cause inflammation in the intestines. It is found, for example, in legumes, cashew nuts, peanuts, cereals and tomatoes.
Polyphenols are found, for example, in tannins (tannins), coffee, green or black tea. They can reduce bioavailability if consumed with a meal.
To avoid such reactions, you can pay attention to the ingredients on the packaging when buying food. If these substances are present, you may want to look for an alternative.

This improves the bioavailability

When choosing, preparing and assembling food, keep a few basic things in mind in order to be fully productive again and to fully exploit the nutrient potential of your healthy and varied diet.

Good combinations for optimal nutrient absorption would be:
Oatmeal with fruits, nuts and seeds
Cereals with orange juice or vegetables rich in vitamin C
Lentils or beans with parsley and paprika
Spinach with lemon or fruit
Some vitamins and minerals can influence each other and increase bioavailability: For example, calcium with vitamin D or iron with vitamin C. Legumes should always be cooked before consumption, as they are toxic when raw and can cause intestinal inflammation. Tip: You can also increase your bioavailability with sunshine vitamin D.

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