Vital Wellness

Research suggests that long-term alcohol use causes the liver to excrete vita­min A and impairs the body’s ability to convert beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Vitamin A Food Source

So it should come as no surprise that people with cirrhosis of the liver, a disease commonly caused by chronic alcohol use, are frequently deficient in vitamin A. Vitamin A plays an important part in helping you to reproduce, to grow new cells, to fight infection, and, because of its important role in the retina, to see at night. Read the rest of this entry »

You probably know someone with a drinking problem. In fact, maybe that person is you.

Problems with alcohol are fairly common in the United States. Two- thirds of all Americans drink and sixty percent are light to moderate drinkers, but up to 10 percent drink excessively.

Alcoholic Problem

The lights to moderate drinkers are probably in pretty good health, because is safe and may be beneficial, since it lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. But excessive alcohol consumption is another story. Excessive drinking on a daily basis—more than three drinks for a woman and more than six for a man—increases your risk of cancer and can damage the liver, pancreas, heart, and brain, and also increases the risk of breast cancer in women, says doctor. It can cause vitamin deficiencies resulting in anemia, memory loss, osteoporosis, and night blindness. Although rare in this country, when scurvy due to vitamin C deficiency and pellagra due to niacin deficiency do occur, it’s usually in alcoholics. Read the rest of this entry »

Because alcohol can derail the transportation system that escorts minerals such as zinc and magnesium out of the liver and into your bloodstream, researchers agree that anyone with a drinking problem also runs the risk of zinc and magnesium deficiencies.

Both zinc and magnesium are excreted in relatively large amounts when people are drinking excessively. They can be replaced by eating a well-balanced diet, he adds. Shellfish, pot roast, and eggs are all good sources of zinc, while nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and tofu are pretty decent sources of magnesium.

If you have heart or kidney problems, it’s important that you talk to your doctor before taking magnesium supplements. Read the rest of this entry »