PCOS Review Newsletter #112

A free health newsletter for women with polycystic ovary syndrome or polycystic ovaries.   Issue #112      August 8, 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Benefits of Carnitine + Right Diet

2) Is PCOS Becoming a Worldwide Epidemic?

3) You're Not Smoking -- Are You?

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1) Benefits of Carnitine + Right Diet

A large percentage of women who have PCOS also have difficulty maintaining normal levels of glucose (blood sugar) and insulin.

We have recommended for years that a low calorie density and a high nutrient density is an effective diet for normalizing blood sugar and insulin. By following this type of diet, you can cause your PCOS-related symptoms to diminish.

By low calorie density, we mean a relatively low number of calories per volume of food. For example, a walnut has a lower calorie density than walnut oil. A piece of broccoli has a lower calorie density than French fries.

By higher nutrient density, we mean there is more nutrition associated with every calorie you consume. Thus a walnut has more nutrition than walnut oil, and broccoli has more nutrition than French fries.

Food that is low in calorie density and high in nutrient density is a basic principle of The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility ebook.

By its very nature, this type of diet is a low-calorie or restricted calorie diet. For example, in this diet you can eat all the broccoli you want but French fries are excluded.

This kind of diet will help you to normalize your blood sugar and insulin.

But what could happen if you were to add specialized nutrients to this type of diet? Could you get even better results?

The answer is "yes".

A good example is l-carnitine. A small but very interesting study was just released from Sapienza University in Italy. They studied two groups of individuals who had blood sugar and insulin metabolism problems. One group was on a low-calorie diet. The other group was on a low-calorie diet, but also took 2 grams of l-carnitine twice a day for 10 days.

By the end of 10 days, both groups showed improvement in their blood sugar levels.

However, only the group taking the carnitine additionally had an improvement in their insulin function. Remember, insulin dysfunction is a root cause of PCOS. If you can reduce or eliminate the root cause, your symptoms will start to disappear.

This Italian study is just one example of the use of specialized nutritional supplements in combination with an optimal diet.

Of course, if you also include increased exercise, you'll get positive results even sooner.

We have quite a number of medical studies on file to indicate that selected nutritional supplements combined with proper diet is often more effective than diet alone.

One of the authors of the carnitine study had this to say about nutrition: "I strongly believe that nutrition will greatly help in facing the medical challenges of this era, since our genes have evolved over hundreds of thousands year to respond to nutrients. Drugs have appeared only a few centuries ago, and therefore our genetic profile is still more sensitive to nutrients, and will remain so for thousands of years to come."

Source: Molfino A et al, Caloric restriction and L-carnitine administration improves insulin sensitivity in patients with impaired glucose metabolism, JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2010 May-Jun;34(3):295-9

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2) Is PCOS Becoming a Worldwide Epidemic?

New evidence is suggesting that polycystic ovary syndrome is not confined to the "rich", highly industrialized, Western countries.

Chronic disorders such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and polycystic ovary syndrome appear to be advancing in those countries that are becoming increasingly "Westernized", i.e., eating a Western diet and adopting a more sedentary Western lifestyle.

The incidence of these diseases appears to be increasing dramatically in India and China.

In the case of India, it is not yet clear to us whether the genetic profile of Asian Indians predisposes them to PCOS when they consume a Western diet of refined, processed foods. In other words, we're not sure that Asian Indians are a high-risk group.

However, we have been getting informal reports from India to suggest the PCOS is becoming a big problem in that country.

Regardless of your country of origin or which country you live in, your diet, your lifestyle and your environment have a great influence on whether you develop symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

For example, Mexican women have a rate of PCOS that is roughly similar to other ethnic groups or countries. However, Mexican-American women have twice the rate of PCOS as compared to Mexican women. This illustrates that individuals within the same ethnic group have different rates of PCOS, depending on where they live and what they eat and do.

Sources: Allahbadia GN et al, Polycystic ovary syndrome in the Indian Subcontinent, Semin Reprod Med. 2008 Jan;26(1):22-34
Moran C et al, Prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome and related disorders in mexican women, Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2010;69(4):274-80

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3) You're Not Smoking -- Are You?

You know that smoking is very bad for you, right? And you probably know that second-hand smoke is almost as bad for you as directly smoking a cigarette.

If you're a reader of this newsletter, it's unlikely you are a smoker or live with a smoker. But if you do, read on.

The University Hospital Erlangen in Germany has reported that women with PCOS who are smokers have higher testosterone and insulin levels than non-smoking PCOS women. Smokers also have more insulin resistance.

So never mind lung cancer. If you're a smoker, cessation will definitely help you overcome polycystic ovary syndrome. It's also advisable to stay away from second-hand smoke.

Source: Cupisti S et al, Smoking is associated with increased free testosterone and fasting insulin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome, resulting in aggravated insulin resistance, Fertil Steril. 2010 Jul;94(2):673-677

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Thought for Today: "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." -- Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr.