In general I think we
should try to meet most of our nutrient needs by eating fresh foods.
After all, that’s the
the way humans are adapted to absorbing nutrients. Isolated, synthetic nutrients don’t have the
same effect on our bodies, because most nutrients require co-factors and
enzymes to be properly absorbed and activated.
These are not often present in supplements.
Cod liver oil is a
notable exception. In fact, even though
most people think of it as a supplement, it’s more accurate to refer to it as a
food – or perhaps “superfood”.
In particular, I
recommend that all men and women trying to get pregnant, and all women that are
pregnant and breastfeeding, take fermented cod liver oil (sold by Green
Pastures – I have no affiliation with them).
Why cod liver oil?
It has large amounts
of pre-formed vitamin A (retinol).
Vitamin A plays several crucial roles in reproductive health. It promotes full-term pregnancy, proper development of the face, kidneys and
lungs and prevents prolonged labor, deafness and internal organ displacement –
among other things. As I mentioned in a
previous article Why You Can’t Get Vitamin A From Vegetables, animal foods like
liver and cod liver oil are the only significant sources of vitamin A in the
diet.
It has more vitamin D
per unit weight than any other common food.
Vitamin D is another important nutrient for fertility and pregnancy that
up to 50% of women are deficient in.
Vitamin D promotes proper development of the bones, especially in the
3rd trimester when the fetal skeleton begins to grow rapidly. It also plays a role in the development of
the lungs, and protects newborns from tetany, convulsions and heart failure.
It has vitamin E,
vitamin K2 (mk-7 form) and various quinones.
These fat-soluble vitamins are important to health and, in the case of
K2 especially, aren’t commonly found in foods.
It has healthy amounts
of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA & DHA. DHA is particularly important for fertility
(both male and female) and pregnancy.
DHA is preferentially incorporated into the rapidly developing brain
during pregnancy and the first two years of infancy, concentrating in the grey
matter and the eyes. It’s also crucial
to the formation of neurons – the functional cells of the brain – and to
protecting the brain from oxidative damage.
Why do I specifically
recommend Green Pastures fermented cod liver oil?
It is cold-processed
through fermentation. This is important
because processing with heat (which is what almost all other brands do) can
damage the fragile long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, which in turn makes them
potentially harmful to ingest.
It contains naturally
occurring fat-soluble vitamins. Most
companies bleach and deodorize the cod liver oil in processing it, and before
they do that, they have to remove the naturally occurring vitamins to prevent
them from becoming damaged. Then they
add the vitamins back in afterward – except that when they do, they add back
synthetic vitamins instead of the naturally occurring ones.
I recommend a dose of
between 5 mL to 10 mL per day for women trying to get pregnant or who are
already pregnant or breastfeeding, and a dose of 5 mL per day for men.
No comments:
Post a Comment