| From benefits to the brain and mood, to the tips of your toes with diabetic neuropathy, Inositol, which used to be known as Vitamin B8, is an overlooked and underappreciated nutrient considered “conditionally essential” because it cannot be synthesized by the body in sufficient amounts for our daily needs. It is so powerful and has so many brain-body benefits that, like many “natural medicines, it is being suppressed by Big Pharma-Big Medicine establishment.
Inositol has been studied as a supplement helping to improve glucose-insulin regulation in PCOS for many years, as I described in my book on PCOS in 2007 updated in 2017. In the last few years, inositol has gained some additional attention for its many other health benefits, including anti-cancer properties. In today’s Health Tip, I wanted to update you on the many exciting areas of research and uses for inositol, which is a major reason we included a powerful inositol complex supplement, TruInositol™ Complex, in our Truth for Health store products.
Chemically inositol is a complex sugar alcohol found in foods and can be synthesized to some degree from glucose, but it may become essential to supplement under certain conditions such as illness, stress, or rapid growth.
Inositol has a cyclohexanol structure, a six-carbon cyclic polyalcohol that occurs naturally in all living cells. which allows for the formation of nine different isomers. Myo-inositol and D-chiro-inositol are the two most common and the most significant isomers in the human body.
Inositol is found in fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, and nuts. But in an average 1800-2500–calorie daily diet, only about 225-1500 mg of myo-inositol is available. Of the nearly 100% of ingested myo-inositol that is absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, more than half becomes lipid bound. The body also produces another 4 grams each day synthesized from glucose, primarily in the kidneys, but also in tissues where it’s needed, such as the brain, liver, ovaries, and testes.
Clinical studies showing inositol’s many health benefits have used doses up to 18 gms per day for a month and demonstrated effectiveness with minimal to no side effects. So unfortunately we may not be able to get all we need from just eating fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, and nuts.
Although I had known for a number of years about the earlier research using inositol in PCOS, I learned more about significant anti-cancer benefits of inositol in Dr. William Makis COVID INTEL newsletter on Substack “IP6 and Cancer – Inositol Hexaphosphate and the Latest Research since 2020”. I have summarized below some of the key cancer benefits from Dr. Makis’ literature review in his article.
In addition, I wanted to explore, and share with our readers, the many other health benefits that directly applied to the patients I see in my medical practice:
- Treating PCOS, a common endocrine disorder in young women caused by androgen excess, with insulin resistance and marked weight gain, acne, excess body hair, mood swings and menstrual irregularities leading to infertility.
- Metabolic syndrome, also known as Pre-Diabetes, marked by middle body weight gain, high triglycerides, hypertension, hyper-lipidemia (high cholesterol), abnormal glucose-insulin regulation.
- Anxiety and mood disorders
- Sleep disturbances
- Hormonal imbalances.
I regularly include TruInositol™ Complex as a supplement added to prescription medications for an integrated treatment plan for these conditions.
Inositol’s health benefits are derived from its complex mechanisms of actions that basically result in three main functions, making it what I call “a Master Regulator” compound:
- Insulin Signaling and Glucose Regulation – due to inositol’s function as a secondary messenger
- Steroidogenesis and Hormone Regulation – influences steroid hormone production – that includes critical reproductive/metabolic hormones like estradiol, testosterone, DHEA along with others.
- Antioxidant Capacity – modulator of oxidative stress to reduce damage from reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Let’s look at these functions and benefits in more detail:
Metabolic Health
- Improving Metabolic Syndrome: Inositol helps mitigate risk factors for metabolic syndrome, including excess abdominal fat, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar.
- Reduces total and LDL cholesterol levels
- Reduces blood triglyceride levels
- Improves insulin resistance
- Reduces blood sugar levels, which in turn helps lower Hemoglobin A1C
- Supports blood sugar regulation: Inositol helps improve insulin sensitivity, which in turns helps lower body fat buildup from excess insulin in the bloodstream. Improved insulin sensitivity, which gets worse as we age or gain middle body fat, potentially improves blood sugar control. This makes inositol especially beneficial for men or women with diabetes, or women at risk of pregnancy-induced (gestational) diabetes.
- Inositol plus folic acid supplements during pregnancy have been found to help reduce the risk of gestational diabetes also helps reduce the risk of women giving birth prior to full-term pregnancy,
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS): For more on this, read Dr. Vliet’s book on PCOS (2017 edition), available on Amazon Kindle App, and in the Truth for Health Foundation store. CLICK HERE!
- Women struggling with the marked weight gain of PCOS: Inositol can help improve symptoms of PCOS, such as insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and high triglyceride levels, and weight gain.
- Significantly reduced total and free testosterone levels
- Significantly reduced SHBG levels
- Reduced fasting glucose levels and AUC-insulin levels
- Reduced Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Reduction in the menstrual irregularity seen in PCOS, with improved menstrual cycle length in those taking inositol supplements.
- Improved fertility in women with PCOS undergoing IVF by increasing the number of mature oocytes and improving fertilization rates.
|
