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Hello everyone. This is Lovneet Batra, your health expert and clinical nutritionist and you're listening to my podcast Nutrition by Lovneet.

If you are suffering from pcos, pcod chances are you would have heard of the word inositol. It also pops up when one researchers alternative therapies to treat anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and other compulsive behavioral disorders. But what is inositol? And how does it affect and improve our health? So let's take a closer look. Inositol is a natural substance found in many plant and animal foods. It is in fact a type of carbohydrate found in foods like grains, fruits, vegetables, and it can be made by our body if needed.

Now it is not only important for women who are pregnant, but also it is useful in treating hormonal imbalance, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder. There are many benefits of taking inositol and that includes helping with depression, panic attacks. There can also be effects on weight loss due to the way it helps regulate our insulin levels. Inositol has shown to help regulate moods and improve mental clarity, which is why it is often used to treat symptoms of anxiety and depression. In fact, studies have shown that people who take inositol for two weeks or more, they experience an improvement in mood without any side effects.

It is available as a dietary supplement. And the dosage would vary depending on person's age and health status. It is important to consult your doctor or nutritionist before you start taking it in a supplement form. But let's understand what does inositol do to your body. Now there are two main forms of inositol used in supplements that is Myo inositol and d chiro inositol. A combination of the two is used to treat different health issues. These two work effectively as a supplement to promote female fertility, restoring insulin sensitivity. So it can be beneficial for type two diabetes and also in reducing anxiety. It is used to restore spontaneous ovarian activity and consequently fertility in women suffering from pcos. It also helps clear up poly cystic acne. It reduces blood insulin ratios and regulates blood pressure. Now it is also required to maintain the integrity of cell membrane assists with the metabolism of carbohydrates and fatty acids and helps with the conduction of nerve signals. It can help control calcium concentration in our nerve cells and is necessary for the optimum function of insulin.

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Studies have shown that six to eight weeks of supplementation with inositol can help in regulating hormonal imbalance in pcos was by 73% as compared to placebo. Now you must be wondering that How come these supplements are becoming so popular? What really causes inositol deficiency? Now there could be many reasons for this. It could be something as basic as inhibition of gut and cellular uptake. But in most cases it could be eating unbalanced diet, a diet that is extreme that is deleting carbs or food groups from your plate or a diet that is very low calorie and it's a very common mistake that many women that are suffering from pcos tend to make they tend to completely eliminate food groups from their plate. So let's talk about foods that are high in inositol. Inositol belongs to the family of B vitamins. So foods that are rich in inositol all our whole grains, especially foods that contain the brand of grains so it would be wheat bran. It would be oats, steel cut oats or oat bran, grant wheat, even suji these are all good sources of inositol fruits like citrus, oranges, grapefruit, the melon family, cantaloupe are all good source of inositol, legumes, sprouts, beans rajma and even peas mutter peanuts are healthy and economical option to increase inositol and to fight hormonal imbalance. There are certain vegetables that help in promoting inositol and this would include easily available tomatoes, potatoes, and a little bit more exotic such as asparagus, or bell peppers. There are certain nuts that also help in promoting inositol levels in our body. And these would be soaked almonds and walnuts. So try to include at least three of these foods daily to get your daily dose of inositol and to fight hormonal imbalance with pcos pcod 

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