It is true that many of the things I originally learned about in nutrition were born out of necessity.
Diving deep into the world of psoriasis wasn’t on my list post graduation, but then this happened.
And I got interested pretty quickly !!
Turns out…..Oooop.
So when Natalie and I got together, soooo many years ago, and she had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), I started looking into it.
There is a clear increase in rates of diabetes and blood sugar dysregulation, and in this case elevated insulin then produces more testosterone.
This is why some females with PCOS have male characteristics, like acne, hair on the face, chest, or the “pubic runway”.
So blood sugar control, via a lower carb diet with plenty of protein and fat, is fundamental.
👇
Plus simple strategies we have talked about before in the diabetes newsletter like:
Apple cider vinegar with meals.
See below, the top line is white bread and the insulin it produces, then the three lines below are increasing doses of ACV.
Plus, we have good data on the order in which you eat and blood sugar.
Eat your protein and non-starchy vegetables first and carbs last, and you can drop your glucose response by up to 70%.
Over a period of 3 months, the patient’s HbA1c (how sticky your haemoglobin is, a long-term marker of glucose balance), also comes down nicely.
Plus, our old friend alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
Remember this is in META-BOOST.
But let’s get specific to PCOS: When you have too much glucose floating around it generates a lot of OXIDATIVE DAMAGE.
That needs to be improved, and this study did just that.
The set-up is metformin vs 200 mg CoQ10 + 2000 mg arginine + 2000 mg Carnitine for PCOS.
Remember, carnitine helps you burn fat for more efficient energy production. 👇
And Coq10 is an anti-oxidant and key energy molecule (the one statins block production of).
“Before treatment, both arms exhibited significantly elevated oxidative stress, alongside alterations in anthropometric, metabolic, and endocrine parameters. The treatment significantly altered the anthropometric profiles of participants in both treatment arms”
But, “The integrative therapy led to a greater reduction in oxidative stress markers” – which makes sense as they are taking anti-oxidants and carnitine to improve mitochondrial function.
“The integrative therapy group also showed significant improvements in hormonal parameters, Ferriman–Gallwey scores (how hairy you are), and ovarian morphology compared to the improvements observed in the metformin group”
If only there was a supplement that had both CARNITINE and ALA…….
Note 4 of these a day (x2 AM and x2 lunchtime) is 2000 mg carnitine and 600 mg ALA.
Plus SOD, the APEX anti-oxidant:
I would also use 4 g of myo-inositol.
“In conclusion, by analyzing different studies focused on MYO supplementation to improve several of the hormonal disturbances of PCOS, we provide a level Ia evidence of MYO effectiveness. MYO mechanism of action appears to be mainly based on improving insulin sensitivity of target tissues, resulting in a positive effect on the reproductive axis (MYO restores ovulation and improves oocyte quality) and hormonal functions (MYO reduces clinical and biochemical hyperandrogenism and dyslipidemia) through the reduction of insulin plasma levels.”
And magnesium.
“In total, 40 cases (20 in each group) were recruited in the study. A significant reduction in the serum insulin level (P-value = 0.036) and insulin resistance (p-value = 0.032) was observed in the case group. Prescribing magnesium supplements could also lead to lowering total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and fasting blood sugar along with increasing the level of high-density lipoprotein.”
150 mg x3 daily should do the job nicely.
We talked about this before:
