Why Omega-3s Are Important? – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 569
This supplement is extremely important in overall health but specifically heart, brain, and eye health. Listen now to Allie Mights Podcast on omega-3.
Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
This supplement is extremely important in overall health but specifically heart, brain, and eye health. Listen now to Allie Mights Podcast on omega-3.
The summer months can be exciting for those who had a harsh winter season. Be careful with the sun exposure and learn more to help maintain healthy skin.
Overall Health
Subscribe Today!
Please see below for a complete transcript of this episode.
Hosted by Melissa Bistricer, RDN
*Intro music*
InViteⓇ Health Podcast Intro: Welcome to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast, where our degreed healthcare professionals are excited to offer you the most important health and wellness information you need to make informed choices about your health. You can learn more about the products discussed in each of these episodes and all that InViteⓇ Health has to offer at www.invitehealth.com/podcast. First time customers can use promo code PODCAST at checkout for an additional 15% off your first purchase. Let’s get started!
*Intro music*
Melissa Bistricer, RDN: [00:38] Welcome back to another podcast at InViteⓇ Health. You have probably heard that vitamins and minerals are important in your body. Today we’ll be talking about supplements to promote overall health. Deficiencies in these supplements can lead to negative impacts. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about the importance, the science and how it works in the human body, all of its functions, and what we can do to support taking multivitamins, Vitamin D3, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acid and CoQ10 the Ubiquinol form.† [01:08] My name is Melissa Bistricer, I am a registered dietitian. I am so excited to bring to you the nutritional aspect of nutrients here at InViteⓇ Health. Nutrition, Food for thought: Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted. Overall, health is extremely important now do not wait till it is too late. InViteⓇ Health promotes an integrative approach and providing vitamins into your daily life to increase your quality of life in conjunction with nutrients. It is also important to learn and include other lifestyle modifications like nutrition, exercise and sleep. These practices with the use of vitamins will promote optimal benefit in your daily life.†[01:52]
[01:53] Now let’s get on to talking about the five most important nutritional supplements to take for overall health. This can support individuals looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle through the use of supplements. But remember, diet is extremely important as well. Let’s dive deeper into the nutritional supplement that will benefit overall health. The core five are good quality InViteⓇ health multivitamins, vitamin D3, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acid and coenzyme Q10 the Ubiquinol form. † [02:24]
[02:24] Let’s start by talking about multivitamins. We know that multivitamins are used to fill nutritional gaps to make sure people are getting their daily intake of essential nutrients and aren’t under consuming these nutrients. A multivitamin is supplementing the nutrients that we are not getting enough of through food and may be deficient in which can cause serious illnesses, poor nutrition, digestive disorders and other health conditions. Multivitamins are micronutrients made up of vitamins and minerals that are essential for the body. They can not be produced in the body and therefore need to be consumed from outside sources such as foods that we eat or being supplemented.† [03:04]
[03:05] The typical American diet does not resemble what dietitians and experts recommend for fruits and vegetables and whole grains, which has very important vitamins and minerals. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommended getting essential micronutrients while eating a variety of a healthy, balanced diet. This is important to be realistic, and even if a diet is planned, well, it is not possible for every single person to choose foods containing the correct recommended amount that are essential micronutrients and they may fall short. However, it is hard to assume the population will get all their nutrients from food. As individuals, diets are lacking in the intake of vegetables, fruit and whole grains. With time consuming, a poor diet may result in several deficiencies leading to serious health conditions. Over time research has been done to assess the use of multivitamins and minerals to improve health. The vitality and utility of taking a multivitamin and minerals supplement has helped to fill small but crucial nutritional gaps. That have helped to prevent conditions such as anemia, neural tube defects and osteoporosis. There has been some evidence suggesting the use of multivitamins in regard to preventing cancer and the prevention of delayed cataracts and aspects of cognitive function as well.† [04:23]
[04:23] The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey about half of the non industrialized civilians living in the US are taking a dietary supplement such as the most common one is a multivitamin mineral. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 clarifies that supplements are for supplementing the diet and not for preventing or treating a disease. Again, that is extremely important to understand that supplements are for supplementing the diet and not for preventing or treating a disease. Therefore, let’s get into the details about why our supplements here at InViteⓇ Health are so unique and the benefits of purchasing them is that there are no synthetic products added, they are scientifically formulated under the cGMP, which stands for current good manufacturing practices.† [05:11]
[05:12] The Multivitamins support energy, vision and nutrient depletions. Our Core Multivitamin contains lutein and lycopene, which is specifically helping eye health that can help blue light damage and too much screen time. We all know how much we sit at the computers for multiple hours of the day, and these nutrients will help maintain the eye health from the blue light and screen time. The Men’s Multivitamin supports overall aging, sexual health, immunity, and vision. The Men’s has all the same nutrients as the Core Multi but has an additional four nutrients. It has quercetin, which is a flavonoid that supports respiratory circulation and prostate health. Black Cumin which helps lung metabolism and prostate health. Beta-Sitosterol helps healthy cholesterol levels and lastly, Maca helps to enhance endurance, mood level, sexual function and prostate health. The Women’s Multivitamin supports overall healthy vision, sexual health and energy. The Women’s has all the same nutrients as the Core Multi but has an additional four nutrients. It has iron bisglycinate, a gentle iron to not cause constipation or nausea. Collagen hydrolysate to support skin, hair, nails and joints. Purple Andean Corn Extract contains a flavonoids to help with the brain, eye, breast, and metabolism. And lastly DIM to help breast cervical health. The Performance Multivitamin has the same nutrients as the Core Multi but provides two additional nutrients that are powerful antioxidants. SOD and Rhodiola have performance enhancing nutrients to benefit any lifestyle. Specifically for athletes and individuals with diabetes.† [06:52]
[06:52] You may be thinking what is so unique about our multivitamins here at InViteⓇ health? They offer active forms of folate and methylcobalamin. This means the body has an easier time metabolizing these nutrient. The active form of folate supports protection of the brain, heart and cellular protection as well as the active form of Methylcobalamin, also known as B12, which is the active form to support nerve and brain health. † [07:18]
[07:18] 1-25 dihydroxy vitamin D3 is cholecalciferol the active form of vitamin D3. That is a lipid soluble compound that plays a significant role in calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Vitamin D naturally comes from sunlight, but with time, people are getting less sunlight, spending more time inside. According to Cleveland Clinical Mercy Hospital states that approximately 42% of US Americans are deficient in vitamin D. This can be because vitamin D comes from sunlight and from minimal food sources such as eggs or sardines. Most Americans are not getting enough sunlight and can have issues with prescribed medications depleting vitamin D stores leading to the need for supplementation. Vitamin D is needed in order for calcium to be absorbed in the body. Calcium is the main component of bone health. Therefore, vitamin D has to be present in the body to be able to absorb calcium. Vitamin D supplementation should be prescribed according to your lab value. If you are on the lower end of 20, then you may want to take the vitamin D3 3000 IU. If an individual only needs a maintenance dose, then they may just need the vitamin D3 1000 IU. Vitamin D dosing really depends on your lab value to assess the appropriate amount for your specific body needs. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to serious health conditions, especially as people age. We hear about the prevalence of the elderly breaking their hips or fracturing other bones. This can be due to the limited exposure to the sun as they age and not getting enough of the active form of vitamin D leading to more complications such as fractures or even worse, osteoporosis.† [09:04]
[09:06] According to the Science daily, if an individual does not have sufficient magnesium levels, then vitamin D cannot be metabolized. This means that vitamin D is stored and inactive for about 50% of Americans. Magnesium is important since it plays many different roles in the body. Magnesium is a cofactor in more than 300 enzymes that regulate diverse biochemical reactions in the body, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve transmission, neuromuscular conduction, single transduction, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation. Magnesium is important for structural functions of proteins, nucleic acids, or mitochondria. Low levels of magnesium generally will not cause any issues, but severely low magnesium can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, type two diabetes, or osteoporosis. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey they report nearly half of Americans have inadequate intake from food or water of magnesium. Therefore, not consuming an estimated average of requirement of 350 milligrams depending on age and gender.† [10:14]

[10:15] At InViteⓇ Health we have two ways you can buy magnesium, either magnesium glycine or magnesium citrate. Magnesium glycine is quickly absorbed and binds itself to a non essential amino acid called glycine and it is not proven to have a stool softener effect. Magnesium citrate provides a natural regulatory activity due to its strong bond to citric acid. This form attracts water and helps for the occasional constipation, causing diarrhea essentially. It is best to start low and slow it with magnesium supplementation as it can have a bowel softener effect for some individuals, starting with 200 milligrams at night and see how you feel and the intensity of the bowel movements then determine if you can increase or stay at 200 milligrams.† [11:02]
[11:02] Over the past 200 years, there has been an increase in scientific scrutiny on the public interest in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have been proven to help anti-inflammatory cytokines, antiarrhythmic, and antithrombotic properties. Fish and fish oils are high in omega-3 fatty acids specifically in EPA and DHEA, which are in fatty fish. Alpha lipoic acid, also known as ALA, is also an omega-3 fatty acid, but is discussed less due to alpha lipoic acid. Being a plant based product such as only in seeds, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and beans. Omega-3 are found in fish, which have been broken down in the form of EPA and DHA. While omega-3’s in plant foods may not have been, this essentially means the body will need to convert DHEA and EPA further. The reason why fish is the preferred form to get EPA and DHA is because it leads to more significant health benefits. This is because the EPA and DHA are generally found in foods, but in the Westernized diet, individuals are not getting a sufficient amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids has the potential to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, reducing inflammation, and lowering triglyceride levels.† [12:23]
[12:23] There are three options in InViteⓇ that provide you with the benefits without having to eat fish. If you really dislike it. There is the fish oils, krill, oil and flaxseed. Fish oils are derived from cold water, oily fish which have the best source of omega-3 fatty acid, EPA and DHA. This helps to support your brain, memory, mood, and cognition health. Krill Oil Advanced has Antarctic source shrimp that supplies DHA and EPA. The anthocyanins that are provided have powerful antioxidants that help to support heart health and inflammation. If you have an allergy to fish or shellfish, the alternative is to use the High Lignan Flaxseed Complex or the Organic Flaxseed Powder. Flaxseed supplies omega-3 fatty acids to support heart and brain as well as omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids. Omega-6 supports immune health and omega-9 supports circulatory health. This is a great alternative to fish or krill oil. The dose for the fish, krill or the flaxseed complex are two capsules per day, and the organic flaxseed powder is between 1 to 3 scoops per day added either to yogurt or water. † [13:32]
[13:32] Lastly, let’s talk about the importance of CoQ10 and specifically the Ubiquinol form an energy source. The body naturally produces CoQ10, which is an antioxidant that helps with growth and maintenance. With age or certain medications such as statins, diuretics, blocking agents or acetaminophen like Tylenol the levels in your body start to decrease. Which can result in low energy, fatigue and other health concerns. Coenzyme Q10, which is Ubiquinol, is the preferred form as it is the reduced form of CoQ10, which is more absorbable and ubiquinone is an oxidized form. Ubiquinol is needed for energy, without Ubiquinol, you will not have energy in the body.† [14:15]
[14:16] The role of CoQ10 has shown to help in the mitochondrial coenzyme, which is essential for production of ATP. Otherwise simply known as our energy. Cardiac cells are extremely sensitive to the deficiency of CoQ10, which can be produced by cardiac diseases. Therefore, CoQ10 supplementation has the ability to help prevent and treat heart alignments to improve cellular bioenergetics. It has also helped to lower LDL oxidation and the progression of atherosclerosis. CoQ10 can also decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines, decrease body viscosity to help patients with heart failure or coronary heart disease. Significant improvements have been seen by taking CoQ10 with patients going through heart failure, hypertension, ischemia, heart disease, and other cardiac illnesses. The dosage for Ubiquinol is generally for the age of 40 years older under 60 milligrams is sufficient. If you are over 60 years old, 120 milligrams is sufficient depending on your health conditions as well. † [15:20]
SHOULD YOU USE COQ10 OR GINSENG FOR ENERGY? – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 337 >> Listen Now!
[15:20] Let us briefly talk a little bit more about the diet as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend getting essential micronutrients while eating a variety of healthy, balanced diet. Again, we know that some people can eat a healthy diet and still need certain supplements to help ensure they are replenishing any nutrients that may be depleted based on lifestyle factors. A healthy overall diet is based on an intuitive eating mindset. Intuitive eating is defined as a non dieting approach to have a balanced diet. Some might be more familiar with following the “Choose My Plate” guidelines with three main concepts for you to remember and planning a healthy, balanced diet are the three P’s pick, plan, and portion. The idea is to pick healthy choices, prepare foods in the healthiest way and portion to make sure you are eating proper portion sizes that your body may need. A plate should look like a quarter of protein, a quarter of carbs. And lastly, the most important, a half of your plate should be non-starchy vegetables. Non-Starchy vegetables are examples are broccoli, carrots, zucchini, eggplant, or mushrooms. Key takeaways are that half of your carbs should come from whole grains, including vegetables, fruits of all different colors, and switching from fat free to low fat dairy products, drinking low calorie or no calorie beverages, choosing lean proteins versus high fat proteins and increasing physical activity.† [16:45]
[16:45] So getting exposure can come in different ways. My advice to you is to use one of our multivitamins, which has an excellent array of vitamins and minerals. Then we spoke about four other core vitamins to take daily, which is magnesium, vitamin D, fish oil or krill oil. And lastly, CoQ10, the Ubiquinol form. This can benefit your overall health and targets to benefit the multitude of pathways in the body. You can go check out the products sold here at invitehealth.com and if you have any further questions, you can always chat with myself as a nutritionist or any of our health care providers to assist you here at invitehealth.com or you can email me at mbistricer@invitehealth.com.† [17:24]
[00:17:24] I am Melissa Bistricer, RDN ready to share the knowledge to help you modify your lifestyle to live a happier, more successful life. I’m looking forward to continuing to provide you with educational podcasts and blog post, Again, nutrition, food for thought: Time and Health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted. Have a great day and tune in for the next podcast coming your way soon.† [17:24]
*Exit music*


Picking the right supplements for your goals can be daunting, but we’re here to help! Read now to see what Allie Might, INHC, recommends to get you started.
Did you know that diet can impact both ADD and ADHD? If you’re eating sugary foods, you may be making things worse, but foods packed with vitamins and minerals may help.
eye
Subscribe Today!
Please see below for a complete transcript of this episode.
Hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH
*Intro music*
InViteⓇ Health Podcast Intro: Welcome to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast, where our degreed healthcare professionals are excited to offer you the most important health and wellness information you need to make informed choices about your health. You can learn more about the products discussed in each of these episodes and all that InViteⓇ Health has to offer at www.invitehealth.com/podcast. First time customers can use promo code PODCAST at checkout for an additional 15% off your first purchase. Let’s get started!
*Intro music*
Amanda Williams, MPH:
[00:00:40] The COVID-19 pandemic changed our society and especially in regards to work, that commonly people are working remotely, so their meetings, their conversations, exchanging info and ideas is often virtual, and this is leading to spending a great deal of time on computer and smartphone screens. So people of all age groups are becoming aware of vision health and are increasingly seeking info on eye health. So many nutrients stand out when it comes to vision and eye health, and possibly chief among them is lutein. We’ll explain what that is later on and the foods that can supply lutein. So your screens, all those screens from your computer, your cell phone, your high-definition TV, your video games and of course, outside the sunlight, it depletes your eyes of lutein, but it also depletes the brain of lutein. So in healthy young people and also middle aged people, this leads to eye fatigue and even brain fatigue. But in our elderly, me included, this actually contributes to vision loss and even some memory loss. So in my opinion, the health benefits of lutein are strongly underestimated, and it is important for ophthalmologists and optometrists to inform their patients about lutein that could be derived from foods, but as you get older, it becomes increasingly important to supplement with lutein. So hi, my name is Jerry Hickey. I’m a licensed pharmacist specializing in nutrition, which I’ve studied for many, many decades. Welcome to my episode, Doctors and Supplements, Episode Two: Eye Doctors Need to Know About This Supplement. You can find all our InViteⓇ episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or go to invitehealth.com/podcast. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @invitehealth, and please subscribe and leave us a review.† [00:02:48]
[00:02:50] So let me get into this. It’s hard to say enough about lutein. Several decades ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School found that older people who ate a great deal of green leafy vegetables generally had better vision than their peers. Soon after, it was discovered that the most prominent nutrients in the greens were pigments called lutein and zeaxanthin. Now, lutein is a, an amber-orangish pigment, zeaxanthin is yellowish, in fact, you find it in corn. Corn is called zea maize. They named zeaxanthin after zea maize. So these are in the carotenoid family. We know of many, many, many hundreds of carotenoids. Many are very important to the human body, such as astaxanthin, which is the pink carotenoid you see in cooked shellfish and in flamingos or beta carotene that you find commonly in plants and also lutein and zeaxanthin, they’re very important… Lycopene, the red one in tomatoes and other fruits. They’re very important for human health.† [00:04:02]
[00:04:04] Now, an early study was from the Moran Eye Health Center, that’s at the University of Utah. They took a pretty good sized population of elderly people, and it gave them either a placebo, which is an inactive substance, or a supplement of lutein and zeaxanthin every day for a year. And they found that eye health improved, vision was better, in the people taking the, the lutein. So why… So that’s just an example of some of the evidence behind it. But there’s many, many, many hundreds, perhaps thousands of studies on lutein at this point in our health.† [00:04:41]
[00:04:42] So why the issue with lutein and electronic screens? Electronic screens like your cell phone and your computer use LED, light emitting diode, background technology. This gives greater clarity. It enhances the colors. It’s more, more vibrant a picture. And part of that is it emits blue light. Now, blue light has a very short wavelength, so millions of rays of blue light are hitting your, your eyes when you’re on your computer or cell phone. And this creates a glare. These flashes create a glare, and lutein is meant to absorb and protect the eyes from blue light. That’s one of its outstanding benefits because blue light can really damage the eyes. So a young person on computer screens all day long, they’re using up their lutein, their eyes and their brain get fatigued and simply reestablishing lutein takes care of that. In fact, some of the younger people I’ve known in college and also a lot of IT people, I’ve recommended lutein to them who were studying, who are doing intensive studies. So what are some sources of lutein? Well, egg yolks are a good source. Green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli and Swiss chard. Pistachio nuts have a little. As far as supplements, the major source has been marigold flowers, and there’s a great deal of research on that. These supplements absolutely work.† [00:06:20]
[00:06:22] So what does lutein do in the eye? There’s this protective moat in the eye, a barrier called your macular pigment, and one of its activities is absorbing blue light. See, in the back of the eye where vision takes place, there’s a lot of little vulnerable organs that could be damaged by, by blue light. So the macular pigment, this kind of catcher’s mitt, blocks the blue light from getting into the back of the eye. It’s largely made out of lutein and zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin and there’s a lot of the mineral zinc in there, too. And inside the same macular pigment, there’s a little structure called a fovea, which looks like a broken egg yolk. That’s really important for core vision. When you’re looking at something, you’re really only clearly seeing something about the size of a breadbox in your vision. The rest of your vision is just kind of a little bit out of focus, right? That’s the full view. So if that gets damaged, if your macular tissue gets damaged, you develop basically a dark hole in the middle of your vision. It’s a form of blindness, in fact, it’s the most common form of blindness in elderly people. The most common form of blindness in young people, which happens in areas where there’s wars and famines is xeropthalmia, where they’re they’re lacking Vitamin A, A as is in apple. But in older people, it’s due to a lack of lutein and zeaxanthin, which are not Vitamin A, but they’re relatives of Vitamin A in their structure.† [00:07:52]
[00:07:53] But lutein is also important for brain power. So when you deplete lutein in the young, they develop eye fatigue and brain fatigue, but giving them a source of lutein refreshes the brain and the eyes, but… And this is true for middle aged people too. But in us elderly, when you deplete lutein consistently, it affects our memory as well as our vision. Now, here’s some interesting research on lutein and the brain. Studies, early studies from the United States showed that lutein is the prominent pigment in the brains of babies. 60% of the pigments in the brain of babies is lutein. But then people who are octogenarians and centenarians, the amount of lutein in the brain drops dramatically. In fact, it was this very interesting study done down south, I think it was done in Alabama, where they took a large population of centenarians people, 100 years or over 100 years of age, which is amazing, couldn’t have done that 20 or 30 years ago, right? Get such a good population. I think it was 100 elderly people. And when they checked their, their brain power, the ones with greater brain power had more lutein in their brain.† [00:09:18]
[00:09:20] So a systematic review is one researchers looked through evidence of something. It could be a drug, it could be a food, it could be a disease, whatever it is, something scientifically. They do a a screening of all the studies out there. And that’s easy to do today because we have all these electronic sources such as PubMed. That’s the Library of Congress website, where they collate all research on, on, on nutrients and medicine, etc. And there’s Embase and Ovid. There’s a whole bunch of these electronic websites where researchers can now go and very easily download studies on anything, basically anything to do with health, so in this case, it’s lutein, and then they do a meta analysis so they choose the study that are looking at exactly what they want. But the studies have to be high quality. They have to be well-designed, well-reported, lacking bias. That’s called a meta analysis. That’s important because when a meta analysis is done properly, it tells you of something either works or it doesn’t work. So there’s been many scientific reviews, meta analysis where they bunch these studies together and they find that lutein really does benefit older people’s eyes and also older people’s memory. In fact, throughout your age, throughout your life, your lifespan, whether you were an infant or an adult or elderly adult, lutein is important for your brain and vision.† [00:10:57]
[00:10:59] So this is the journal Nutrients, and this happens to be a meta analysis that was published May 2021. It’s the Department of Cognitive Health Sciences. That’s the University of Toshiko. It’s in their division where they also study memory, aging and cancer. And also researchers in England at the University of East Anglia in Cambridge. And they looked at nine studies in total. They found seven studies using brain scans using MRIs, functional MRIs, magnetic resonance imaging, and two studies where they used electroencephalograms of the brain. So nine studies in all, very high quality studies. They found that 10mg of lutein a day as a supplement, natural lutein… And always take lutein with food. It’s fatty-soluble. It’s absorbed better with food. It improved brain activity, but it also, well, it improved the structure of the brain, which was very exciting. And this is in healthy older adults. So it improved the function of their brain during resting or during cognitive tasks. So when the brain was challenged with a test or doing math, et cetera. But they also found that it directly affected the volume of the gray matter of the brain. So in the gray matter, which is many, many billions of cells as well different estimates, sometimes 80 billion, 100 billion, 50 billion, but it’s a lot of cells. In a gray matter, memory takes place for the most part, and it has to be rich in lutein. And they found that when they gave these people, elderly people lutein, not only did it improve the function of the brain and support memory structure and memory activities, but gray matter volume increased. It actually supported the volume of gray matter. I mean that’s some interesting… I’ve only seen two things do that. One is lutein, and the other thing is type one collagen. Apparently, the brain has a large volume of type one collagen.† [00:13:10]
NOT ALL COLLAGEN TYPES ARE THE SAME – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 370. Listen Now>>
[00:13:13] So my recommendation? For young people, you can easily absorb lutein from food, and these foods are good for the heart, they’re good for the eyes, the brain. Obviously, they’re good for your, your circulatory system. They have anti-cancer effects. There’s a lot of benefits from these green leafy vegetables. But older people have more difficulty absorbing lutein from their food for some reason. So they really should supplement their diet with a good lutein supplement. There is one called Lutein 2020, and that also has zeaxanthin and other forms of zeaxanthin that are good for vision. Now other nutrients that are good for the eye? I mean, obviously the eye is complex, just like the brain. And interestingly, the supplements that have value for the eyes have value for the brain. So why should that be? For the supplements, for nutrients to get to your eyeball, they have to go through the brain first, and the brain grabs all the nutrients it needs, and whatever’s left over, it gets to the eyes. So if you’re not absorbing enough from your food, not enough is going to be there possibly for the brain, but certainly not for the eyes. So fish oils, omega-3 fatty acids, which are longer chain omega-3 fatty acids and shorter chain ones from like vegetables like flaxseeds. A little bit of omega-6 fatty acids, which are found in vegetable oils. They’re also found in evening primrose oil. You don’t want to overdo the omega-6 fatty acids because that can lead to inflammation. But omega-6 fatty acids are needed by the eyes. In fact, they found that dry eye disease and dry eye syndrome you can really help treat it with omega-3 like fish oils and omega-6 vegetable fat helps with dry eyes caused by things like contact lenses. Zinc is very important for the eyes, and it’s very important for the brain. We’ve done a number of podcast episodes on zinc for the immune system, for vision, etc. Very important element. And zinc is another nutrient that you absorb less with age. So older people really should consider taking a zinc supplement, especially since it’s so important for the immune system. Vitamin C, you could get that, of course, from fruits and vegetables. A Vitamin E, natural Vitamin E is very important for the eyes. They protect your eyes just like lutein and zeaxanthin shield the eyes, so do Vitamin C and Vitamin E and zinc. They work as anti-inflammatory antioxidant nutrients in the eyes. Beta carotene found in vegetables, very important for the eyes. Really should be natural beta carotene, synthetic beta carotene doesn’t work well. Just like Vitamin E should be natural. The synthetic Vitamin E doesn’t work very well. Beta carotene is converted to a form of Vitamin A that creates rhodopsin. So you could see clearly and you could see well at night, etc. B-vitamins are important for energy for the eye. A B2 directly works in the eyes. You know it’s called riboflavin. Magnesium and taurine are important for the eyes. Magnesium’s an amazing supplement. In fact, I did a podcast episode last week looking at magnesium for cardiologists. Taurine, on the other hand, is a sulfydryl amino acid. It’s kind of like in a class of its own. It’s very important for the brain, is very important for the, for the gallbladder and the kidneys. It’s very important for the heart’s circulation. It’s also very important for your vision. You could get taurine from fish.† [00:16:39]
[00:16:41] So thank you for listening to today’s episode. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or go to invitehealth.com/podcast. Please subscribe and leave us a review if you can. You can also follow Insight on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @invitehealth. I want to thank you for listening to today’s episode. I hope you listen… I hope to see you again in future episodes. So this is sort of a continuing series on nutrients, key nutrients for specific doctors practices, but it’s important that you know these things. So thanks for listening and Jerry Hickey signing off.† [00:16:41]
