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Losing weight without compromising your health
By Marcus Elliott, M.D.

Americans are overweight and struggling to get thinner. Unfortunately, in their efforts to lose pounds, Americans are also compromising their health. While many dieters are familiar with the various dieting strategies, few are aware of how the stress of even mild caloric restriction increases the requirements of certain nutrients.

Amazingly, research now makes it clear that many dieters are probably unknowingly and unnecessarily compromising their long-term health. The medical literature is littered with recent studies showing significant changes in nutrient needs in individuals striving to reduce their daily calories. In light of these recent scientific findings, it has become obviously clear that those attempting to shed a few pounds must be more aware of their nutritional needs and compensate with increased vitamin and mineral intake, naturally or through quality supplements.

* A 1998 study in the Journal of Bone Mineral Research found that even mild caloric restriction appears to increase calcium loss and subsequent bone density decreases. The study also found that when the dieting subject's diets were supplemented with high levels of calcium capsules, their bone density actually increased over levels found before they began the dieting study. It's important to note that if you are on one of the moderately high protein diets; your calcium losses in the urine can be significantly elevated, further increasing your risk.

* Another 1998 study found that when dieting, individuals developed iron deficiencies. This deficiency occurred even when the dieters were consuming twice the USRDA for iron. Perhaps most concerning was that the researchers concluded that while dieting the individuals developed difficulty sustaining attention and that their poor performance on attention tests may have been an early sign of iron deficiency.

* Other findings include decreased antioxidant potential in dieters (antioxidants are essential in fighting free radical damage), decreased essential fatty acids, and elevations of homocystein, a substance believed to be one of the most important markers for heart disease.

These discoveries, although concerning, mean that individuals who make the effort to lose weight now don't need to compromise their long-term health, rather they must consciously compensate for the nutrient losses by increased food consumption or through high quality nutritional supplements to make the weight loss worth while. Because being skinny and sick isn't any better than being overweight and unhappy.