Supporting Women's Health: 6 Nutrition Tips Every Woman Should Know

Supporting Women's Health: 6 Nutrition Tips Every Woman Should Know

There may be months dedicated to breast health awareness and annual mammogram reminders, but caring for your breasts is important every day of the year. In addition to knowing what’s normal for your body, and monitoring changes in your breast health, your everyday habits also matter. 

That’s why we’ve gathered 6 ways you can support your breast health through simple nutritional habits, starting today. 

1. Get More Antioxidants

Antioxidants are compounds that help protect your cellular health from the harmful effects of free radicals (unstable molecules that are both found in our external environments and produced in our bodies). When free radicals build up, they can cause oxidative stress that leads to damage and disease. Antioxidants work to neutralize these threats. 

Find antioxidants in colorful fruits and vegetables, like berries, tomatoes, bell peppers, as well as dark chocolate and green tea. 

2. Boost Omega-3 Intake

Omega-3 fatty acids (ALA, EPA, and DHA) help support your body’s normal inflammatory processes and also appear to support healthy hormonal balance. Both of these properties are especially important for breast health. 

Get omega-3s from fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and trout, as well as ground flaxseeds and walnuts. If you don’t eat many of these foods, consider a supplement like our Omega-3 Fish Oil.

3. Check Your Vitamin D Status

Vitamin D is important for immune health. It can be obtained from sun exposure and certain foods — like egg yolks, UV-treated mushrooms, fish, and fortified milk — but many people still don’t get enough to meet their needs. It’s a good idea to have your vitamin D levels checked. 

This can tell you whether an additional supplement is warranted and at what dosage. If so, you might consider our Vegan Vitamin D3 or D3 + K2 supplements. 

4. Eat Your Broccoli

Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. These contain compounds like indole-3-carbinol and sulforaphane, which support healthy estrogen metabolism and your body’s ability to maintain a balance between beneficial and harmful estrogen forms.

Looking for other ways to boost your green veggie intake? Try our Raw Greens Superfood Powder, made with nutrient-packed organic whole foods, including raw greens like spirulina, barley grass, alfalfa, wheat grass, chlorella, kale, spinach, and broccoli, and fruits like acai, blueberry, and goji berries.

5. Don’t Fear Soy

There’s a misconception that soy foods are bad for breasts because they contain phytoestrogens, which are plant compounds that mimic estrogen in the body. However, research shows that phytoestrogens attach to receptors in the body that can help modulate estrogen levels and have protective effects — not harmful ones. 

Try adding organic soy foods to your diet, like tofu, tempeh, and edamame (young soybeans). 

6. Feed Your Gut

There’s a strong connection between your gut microbiome (the community of bacteria living in your digestive system) and your overall wellness, including breast health. A healthy gut can help support hormone regulation and immune function. 

In addition to eating a variety of fiber-rich plants and probiotic-containing fermented foods, like sauerkraut, tempeh, and miso, a daily supplement may be helpful. 

For example, our Whole Food Multivitamin for Women contains a blend of digestive enzymes and probiotics to help your body break down and absorb the nutrients in your multivitamin and your food, and to support healthy digestion and a happy gut.*

Curious about other women’s health supplements? Find our whole collection here. 

Sources 

  1. Ali SS, Ahsan H, Zia MK, Siddiqui T, Khan FH. Understanding oxidants and antioxidants: Classical team with new players. J Food Biochem. 2020;44(3):e13145. doi:10.1111/jfbc.13145
  2. Madison AA, Belury MA, Andridge R, et al. Omega-3 supplementation and stress reactivity of cellular aging biomarkers: an ancillary substudy of a randomized, controlled trial in midlife adults. Mol Psychiatry. 2021;26(7):3034-3042. doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01077-2
  3. Charoenngam N, Holick MF. Immunologic Effects of Vitamin D on Human Health and Disease. Nutrients. 2020;12(7):2097. Published 2020 Jul 15. doi:10.3390/nu12072097
  4. Yagishita Y, Fahey JW, Dinkova-Kostova AT, Kensler TW. Broccoli or Sulforaphane: Is It the Source or Dose That Matters?. Molecules. 2019;24(19):3593. Published 2019 Oct 6. doi:10.3390/molecules24193593
  5. Domínguez-López I, Yago-Aragón M, Salas-Huetos A, Tresserra-Rimbau A, Hurtado-Barroso S. Effects of Dietary Phytoestrogens on Hormones throughout a Human Lifespan: A Review. Nutrients. 2020;12(8):2456. Published 2020 Aug 15. doi:10.3390/nu12082456
  6. Siddiqui R, Makhlouf Z, Alharbi AM, Alfahemi H, Khan NA. The Gut Microbiome and Female Health. Biology (Basel). 2022;11(11):1683. Published 2022 Nov 21. doi:10.3390/biology11111683

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