6 Essential Minerals for Women's Health
Minerals are essential micronutrients that are required in small amounts for the body to function properly. Untreated mineral deficiencies can cause serious health problems including endocrine (hormone) imbalances, osteoporosis and anemia.
The main sources of minerals are certain types of whole foods, but following a diet that contains all the necessary nutrients can be a challenge for any woman. Taking a multivitamin with added essential minerals can help you reach the recommended amount of minerals you need to stay healthy. Food-based natural mineral supplements are also very beneficial.
Magnesium
Why you need it: Magnesium is an essential mineral that is involved in more than 300 enzyme and metabolic reactions. Low levels in the body can cause irritability, headaches, muscle weakness, irregular heartbeat, muscle spasms or twitches, constipation, and insomnia. In addition to maintaining normal muscle and nerve function, magnesium helps to keep your heart rhythm steady and supports a healthy immune system. Magnesium is as important as calcium in developing and maintaining bone health, so an ideal bone support supplement will contain equal amounts of both calcium and magnesium.Magnesium is also involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis, since the body requires it for completing certain chemical reactions pertaining to the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats. Finally, magnesium is required for the synthesis of the antioxidant glutathione, which is crucial for detoxification activities and a healthy immune system.
Where to get it: Although supplements are available, nature provides a number of dietary sources of magnesium, including leafy green vegetables, seaweed or green algae, avocados, nuts, beans, raw chocolate, and grains such as brown rice and millet.
Calcium
Why you need it: Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body and is required for healthy muscle function, nerve transmission, intracellular signaling, and hormonal secretion. Almost all the calcium in the body is stored in the bones and teeth, where it is vital for their support and structure. It is especially important for women to get adequate amounts of calcium in order to reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis, which can lead to an increased incidence of fractures. In addition to its benefits for the bones, calcium is also effective in lowering blood pressure, treating migraines and reducing symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for calcium is around 1,000 mg, while some research suggests that even higher levels may have added health benefits. Some forms of calcium have much better absorption than others, so it is best to choose sources such as calcium citrate, malate, chelate, and orotate, which are more easily absorbed by the body.
Where to get it: While some of the richest sources of calcium include dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese, it is best to stick to non-dairy sources such as sea vegetables, Chinese cabbage, kale and broccoli, as well as foods, juices, drinks and cereals that are fortified with calcium. The reason is that eating large amounts of dairy products can actually cause the body to leech calcium and minerals, due to dairy's extreme digestive challenges for even non-lactose-intolerant people. Dairy products also contain low amounts of magnesium and high levels of phosphorus, which can decrease the availability of calcium.
Women's health initiative fails to inspire
The Muskoka Initiative, formally announced Friday, has largely failed to inspire both at home and abroad. Despite the $2.85-billion, five-year commitment of Canadian taxpayer money, the initiative is high on rhetoric but short on detail.
Buzzwords -- like voluntary family planning, country ownership, health workers, information systems, continuum of care, accountability and effectiveness -- are abundant. But the details are missing. How will the initiative be co-ordinated with existing global health activities, particularly the Global Fund? Will the initiative promote universal access to health care for women and children, and if so, how will this be financed? While named in the communiqué, it is not clear how the initiative fits in with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the UN Joint Action Plan for Women's and Children's Health.
The G8 communiqué claims the initiative will prevent the deaths of 1.3 million children five years and under and 64,000 maternal deaths while enabling 12 million couples to access family planning. Yet no information is provided on how these goals will be achieved. Perhaps this lack of specificity is the reason that matching contributions from other G8 countries were disappointingly low. A request for billions of dollars is normally accompanied by a strategic plan.
The lack of enthusiasm abroad is met with skepticism at home. This government recently cut funds to organizations working for the rights of women in Canada and abroad. It also decimated Status of Women Canada, and shut down gender equality units at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
If Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants Canada to contribute to reducing maternal mortality, he must recognize that maternal health is not a one-off, stand-alone issue.
Improving maternal health depends on the protection, promotion and advancement of the rights and freedoms of women and girls. Canada needs to push countries to fully respect these rights and support programs at home and abroad that allow women and girls to realize them.
Such rights include the ability to access affordable, appropriate and effective health care, as well as the right to clean water and sanitation. Women have a right to be educated, deserve equal opportunities for employment and credit, as well as protection of their property and inheritance rights. The right of women to mobilize as members of civil society and to seek political office must be supported. Voluntary family planning is only voluntary if women's rights are respected and if they have choice. To quote from the Beijing Platform, women must "have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."
The Muskoka Initiative also needs to be closely linked to Canadian engagement in broader global health initiatives. In advance of the UN's September MDG Summit, experts are debating how to generate more resources while ensuring that global health interventions are better co-ordinated and managed at the country level. Despite its G8 focus on maternal health, Canada has been largely silent on these debates, nor are they reflected in the G8 communiqué.
This silence is not new. Canada's response to global health challenges has been largely reactive, driven by public policy issues such as the threat of H1N1, or by international processes at the World Health Organization and other multilateral agencies. This policy vacuum is accompanied by institutional fragmentation. Global health responsibilities are dispersed among CIDA, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. CIDA does not even list health as one of its three priorities, while Health Canada has few resources for international programming.
Canada, with its expertise in public health and its experience delivering universal health care to a dispersed and diverse population, should be a natural leader in global health. To realize this leadership potential, the government should articulate a bold Global Health Strategy -- like the U.S. and British strategies -- that identifies how Canada's global health engagement will protect and improve the health of Canadians and of people around the world. This vision would articulate how best to marshal Canadian government, civil society and academic resources, and clearly delineate institutional responsibilities to implement global health initiatives.
Harper can take this opportunity to frame the maternal health initiative as a key component of Canada's larger engagement on global health, and accompany the initiative by championing the rights of women and girls. Doing so will not only allay the cynics, it will provide a more inspirational, successful and sustainable foundation for the Muskoka Maternal Health Initiative.
Valerie Percival is an assistant professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.
Buzzwords -- like voluntary family planning, country ownership, health workers, information systems, continuum of care, accountability and effectiveness -- are abundant. But the details are missing. How will the initiative be co-ordinated with existing global health activities, particularly the Global Fund? Will the initiative promote universal access to health care for women and children, and if so, how will this be financed? While named in the communiqué, it is not clear how the initiative fits in with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the UN Joint Action Plan for Women's and Children's Health.
The G8 communiqué claims the initiative will prevent the deaths of 1.3 million children five years and under and 64,000 maternal deaths while enabling 12 million couples to access family planning. Yet no information is provided on how these goals will be achieved. Perhaps this lack of specificity is the reason that matching contributions from other G8 countries were disappointingly low. A request for billions of dollars is normally accompanied by a strategic plan.
The lack of enthusiasm abroad is met with skepticism at home. This government recently cut funds to organizations working for the rights of women in Canada and abroad. It also decimated Status of Women Canada, and shut down gender equality units at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
If Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants Canada to contribute to reducing maternal mortality, he must recognize that maternal health is not a one-off, stand-alone issue.
Improving maternal health depends on the protection, promotion and advancement of the rights and freedoms of women and girls. Canada needs to push countries to fully respect these rights and support programs at home and abroad that allow women and girls to realize them.
Such rights include the ability to access affordable, appropriate and effective health care, as well as the right to clean water and sanitation. Women have a right to be educated, deserve equal opportunities for employment and credit, as well as protection of their property and inheritance rights. The right of women to mobilize as members of civil society and to seek political office must be supported. Voluntary family planning is only voluntary if women's rights are respected and if they have choice. To quote from the Beijing Platform, women must "have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."
The Muskoka Initiative also needs to be closely linked to Canadian engagement in broader global health initiatives. In advance of the UN's September MDG Summit, experts are debating how to generate more resources while ensuring that global health interventions are better co-ordinated and managed at the country level. Despite its G8 focus on maternal health, Canada has been largely silent on these debates, nor are they reflected in the G8 communiqué.
This silence is not new. Canada's response to global health challenges has been largely reactive, driven by public policy issues such as the threat of H1N1, or by international processes at the World Health Organization and other multilateral agencies. This policy vacuum is accompanied by institutional fragmentation. Global health responsibilities are dispersed among CIDA, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. CIDA does not even list health as one of its three priorities, while Health Canada has few resources for international programming.
Canada, with its expertise in public health and its experience delivering universal health care to a dispersed and diverse population, should be a natural leader in global health. To realize this leadership potential, the government should articulate a bold Global Health Strategy -- like the U.S. and British strategies -- that identifies how Canada's global health engagement will protect and improve the health of Canadians and of people around the world. This vision would articulate how best to marshal Canadian government, civil society and academic resources, and clearly delineate institutional responsibilities to implement global health initiatives.
Harper can take this opportunity to frame the maternal health initiative as a key component of Canada's larger engagement on global health, and accompany the initiative by championing the rights of women and girls. Doing so will not only allay the cynics, it will provide a more inspirational, successful and sustainable foundation for the Muskoka Maternal Health Initiative.
Valerie Percival is an assistant professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.
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