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Our
Need for Nutritional Supplements
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Supplementation |
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Vitamin
Deficiency, Megadoses, and Some Supplemental History My attention has been
called to the cover story on vitamins which appeared in the April 6,1992 Time
magazine. Another major article on nutrition appeared in the March 10,1992 New
York Times with the heading on page B5 "Vitamins Win Support as
Potent Agents of Health" and on page B9 "New Support for Vitamins
as Agents of Health." Both articles were probably inspired by a New York
Academy of Sciences meeting held in
I will comment on the Timemagazine's feature article on Vitamins a little later. Now, I'll list the
vitamins that were first available commercially from 1934 through 1940 from
Merck & Co.. More than a half century ago I started to use these vitamins
in the successful treatment of my patients who had a variety of health
problems.
1934 Ascorbic Acid
(vitamin C) Vitamin A and D were
available before 1934, Biotin in 1943, and Beta carotene, vitamin B 12, and
folic acid soon thereafter.
Thus, none of these
vitamins are "Johnny-come-lately's. In over a half century, a huge
medical literature is available on the diagnosis of vitamin deficiencies and
the safe therapeutic use of vitamins even when some were used in megadoses.
Food as food and additional vitamins, macro- and micro-minerals supplements
are often important factors in improving the health and well being of many
millions of people in this country.
DIET Humans display
considerable biochemical individuality, and therefore there are also
differences in nutritional needs for different people. A diet that is
healthful for a non-allergic person, may make another person allergic to some
of the components of such a diet quite ill. Individuals foods can vary
greatly in their nutritional content at the time of purchase. Food tables
will not dependably tell you the vitamin and mineral content of the food you
are purchasing. Simply putting vinegar on a freshly cut cole slaw salad
will cause a 53% loss of vitamin C content in an hour. Potatoes are a good
source of vitamin C. But reconstituting dehydrated potato flakes to make
mashed potatoes and keeping this on the steam table for an hour will
eliminate all the vitamin C. Oranges and potatoes held in storage for many
months before being sold to grocery stores will have a decreased nutritional
value. Cooking foods in a conventional manner can cause considerable loss of
both heat labile and heat stable vitamins as well as of minerals. A
nutritionally important oil has been genetically engineered out of soybeans
to decrease spoilage which simultaneously decreased this type of soybean's
nutritional value.
Now that preservation of
some foods by exposure to heavy doses of radiation is being allowed, it would
not be surprising if these foods have their nutritional value diminished plus
the possibility that some of the molecular changes in the foods caused by the
radiation may engender toxic substances which over time might cause
ill-health. Milling wheat to make white flour causes a 70 to 80% loss of vitamins
and minerals which, despite the so-called current “enrichment,” leaves white
bread inferior to whole wheat bread nutritionally because the loss of vitamin
B6, vitamin E, chromium, manganese and fiber, all of which have not been
corrected by additional supplementation.
DOCTORS WHO BELIEVE
FOOD ALONE SUPPLIES ALL NUTRITIONAL NEEDS During the early part
of World War II, GI's whose severe wound infections were treated with
penicillin had to save all their urine so that the penicillin which had
been excreted in their urine could be recovered and then used to treat other
GI's with life threatening wound infections. If one only considered the
penicillin that was excreted in the urine and not the benefits that the GI
had in having his infection cured by penicillin, one could sneer that
penicillin's only function was to give the GI an expensive urine. If one
considered only the function of penicillin in the GI's body, one would have
to marvel at the miracle of its curing a potentially lethal infection,
The two-liner
attributed to Dr. Victor Herbert in the Time magazine's vitamin
article "We get all the vitamins we need in our diets. Taking
supplements only gives you an expensive urine" completely overlooks the
benefits vitamin supplements can produce in our bodies before being excreted
in our urine.
MOST DOCTORS ARE
NUTRITIONALLY ILLITERATE In 1992, what do
"Only about one
third of the 125 or so medical schools require students to take courses in
nutrition. And, most of the courses are short. The one at Cornell is eight
hours...." "The
"Nutrition, of
course is laced through the many departments in medical school--physiology,
gastroenterology, cardiology, biochemistry. But students do not necessarily
recognize that it can be applied to preventive medicine. ... Dr. Young said
"All studies show that if information is not taught as nutrition but is
incorporated into other courses, students come away not knowing that it is
nutrition. They think of it as physiology or whatever and so they do not use
it in terms of practical applications of preventive medical care.”... In a
recent survey conducted in the southeastern region of the
"Without
question," Dr. Weinsier said, "A greater awareness and knowledge
(of nutrition) among physicians could well impact on the prevalence of
disease...”
Is it any wonder that
most doctors are nutritional illiterates? Is it any wonder why doctors who
are nutritional illiterates, often hide their lack of nutritional knowledge
under the aegis "food provides all the nutrition a person will ever need"?
For the last half
century, there have been recommendations that nutrition should be taught in
medical schools as a required course. Currently, experts suggest that all
medical schools should devote at least 40 hours to teaching medical students
nutrition.
LINUS PAULING I think the three
reporters who made the denigrating statement in the Time Magazine's Vitamin
article "Certainly Linus Pauling lost much of his Nobel-Laureate luster
when he began championing Vitamin C back in the 1970's as a panacea for
everything from the common cold to cancer" were very remiss in not first
reading and then calling attention in their article to the important
government sponsored meeting which resulted in the following report:
SPECIAL COMMUNICATION: "(T)here has been
considerable public interest in the possibility of a role of this vitamin
(vitamin C) in cancer. In order that this debate might take place in a
rigorous and informed manner, we attempted to bring together not only the
latest research on basic actions, such as free-radical scavenging or enzyme
functions, but also some of the basic laboratory and animal studies relating
to cancer
"The well known
anti-oxidant and free-radical scavenging activities (of vitamin C) are
discussed in the first series of papers. Because free-radical damage and
formation of lipid peroxides are suspected in carcinogenesis as well as
cardiovascular disease, this (vitamin C) may be important for disease
prevention
"Approximately
half of the symposium addressed the role of ascorbate in cancer prevention or
as adjuvant in cancer therapy, primarily in animal models. In vitro studies
included research on oncogenic transformations and effects on the HIV virus.
Moreover, several researchers presented data that suggest a role for
ascorbate in reducing the toxicity or improving the effectiveness of
conventional (anti-cancer) therapies. Finally, a review is presented of all
human epidemiologic studies between vitamin C and cancer prevention."
Here are a few
statement's taken from Gladys Block's abstract, EPIDEMIOLOGIC DATA ON THE
ROLE OF ASCORBIC ACID IN CANCER PREVENTION".
"Approximately
three-fourths of the epidemiological studies (33 of 46) of the role of
vitamin C in cancer incidence or mortality have found statistically
significant protection effects. . . The evidence for a protective effect of
vitamin C or some component of fruits is strong and consistent for cancers of
the esophagus, larynx, oral cavity and pancreas and there is strong evidence
for cancers of the stomach and cervix . . .A major meta-analysis of breast
cancer studies suggests a significant protective role for vitamin C in that
cancer as well. While it is likely that ascorbic acid, carotenoids, folate,
and other factors in fruits and vegetables act jointly, an increasingly
important role for ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in cancer prevention would
appear to be emerging."
I cannot take the time to
note all the titles of abstracts that indicate vitamin C inhibits the growth of
cancer. However, to give you the flavor, I will cite just three:
(1) INHIBITING EFFECT OF
ASCORBIC ACID. ON THE GROWTH OF HUMAN MAMMARY TUMOR XENOGRAFTS IN MICE,
(2) INHIBITION BY VITAMIN
C OF INCIDENCE AND SEVERITY OF RENAL TUMORS INDUCED BY ESTRADIOL OR DI
ETHYLSTI LBESTEROL
(3) REDUCED INCIDENCE AND
TUMOR BURDEN IN SPONTANEOUS MOUSE MAMMARY TUMORS AND UV--INDUCED TUMORS WITH
INCREASING ASCORBIC ACID.
Thus, Linus Pauling's
view that Vitamin C has important anti-cancer properties is gaining substantial
support in current laboratory and animal experiments. Where are the people
who formerly ridiculed his ideas that vitamin C has anti-cancer actions?
A word about Vitamin C
for colds: In the early 1940's, the health service of one of a mid-west
University prescribed vitamin C to relieve students' nasal congestion
associated with colds. Although Charlotte and I go decades without having
colds, we have used 250 milligram doses of vitamin C to decongested our nasal
membranes when these get congested from a variety of allergies. However, this
effect of vitamin C has a short half-life. Thus, it needs to be given at one
and a half to two hour intervals during the day and upon awakening during the
night. This keeps the nasal membranes decongested, reduces pain and
discomfort and prevents sinusitis. Usually, in 24 hours there is no further
need to take vitamin C in this manner.
THE FDA The RDI system proposes
to ignore the RDA's for different age groups and sexes. ,,"Instead of
endorsing an allotment appropriate to ravenous fast growing teenage males, it
would simply average the RDA's for different age groups. The new figures are
considerably lower, and are a better barometer nutritional needs. Essentially
the reflect the requirements of adult women.", This new system the
FDA have created slashes the RDA's of Vitamin A, B's, C E and other nutrients
from 10 to 80%. This will allow food manufacturers to put food products on
the market legally that are much less nutritious than the ones that now have
to conform to the RDA system.
There is already an
enormous amount of malnutrition in this country because the large population
of the poor cannot afford decent nutrition and much of their ill-health and
lack of initiative is based on such malnutrition. The FDA will worsen this
situation with its reduction of the RDA's.
One of the very important
documents in the field of nutrition, is the Bulletin of the National Research
Council Number 109 November 1943 "INADEQUTE DIETS AND NUTRITIONAL
DEFICIENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES, THEIR PREVALENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE,"
published by the National Research Council,
Its conclusions and
recommendations are just as applicable to today's widespread malnutrition as
they were when this report was issued
Items taken from the
Summary and Conclusions of this Report:
"All the evidence
from numerous surveys over the past ten years to the present among persons of
all ages in many localities is without exception in complete agreement that
inadequate diets are widespread in the nation. Although an appreciable
percentage of diets failing to meet the Council's recommended dietary
allowances were more than 50 percent deficient in amounts of several
essential nutriments, most of the diets were less than 50 percent deficient.
Accordingly, there is widespread prevalence of moderately deficient
diets.
"All the data
from numerous surveys with new methods among persons of all ages in many
regions are entirely in accord in showing that deficiency states are rife
throughout the nation. Relatively few are the traditional severe acute types,
Most are milder in intensity and gradual in their course. Predominantly they
are subacute or chronic states: some marked, but very many mild or
moderate..."
"From this
evidence it is clear that there is both a preventive and corrective problem.
On the preventive side, it is evident that production of sufficient food
should be maintained and that effective distribution of proper food is
needed. For the latter, it would seem advisable to give further consideration
to the program of judicious enrichment of appropriate foods since this would
add much to the guarantee of successful nutrition. It is also evident that
diet education must be intensified and extended to the utmost and raised to
new heights of effectiveness."...
"On the
corrective side, there is need for detection and therapeutic treatment of
deficiency states among the population. For this project it is necessary to
disseminate the new diagnostic methods among the medical and public health
professions. Foremost among the steps in this direction would be (1)
preparation of a handbook on methods of detecting deficiency states (2)
establishment of training centers for instruction in the medical aspects of
nutrition, especially the diagnosis of deficiency states; and, (3)
introduction of adequate courses in nutrition, particularly its clinical aspects,
into medical schools."
The conditions that
existed nutritionally in the 1930's and early 1940's are just about the same
as exist now in the working poor, in those on public assistance and even in
those better off economically. The suggestions made about the need for
prevention and curative measures are just as needed today as they were in the
1930's and 1940's.. So is the need for adequate instruction in nutrition for
every medical student in every medical school. So is proper nutritional
enrichment of foods.
What the FDA is planning
to destroy the RDA system of nutritional standards and substituting an
illogical system, RDI (Reference Daily Intake) that promotes a severe
reduction of nutritional standards in a manner which if followed would ensure
a great increase in nutritional deficiencies in the population of the
What is astonishing in
the Time magazine article is that leaders in nutrition make such
statements "The long term effects of high-dose supplements are still
unknown and doctors warn of dangers even in the short term . . .Advises Dr.
Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Pubic Health: "At this time I
don't take megadoses, I'm not ruling out that in two or three years we might
change our mind."
What has been known for
more than a half century is that vitamins even in properly chosen megadoses
(and macro- and micro-mineral supplements can greatly improve the long term
health and well-being of many persons eating their ordinary diets. Some of
these older observations that vitamins can improve health are just being
rediscovered as if they were brand new scientific findings The rediscovery of
old and proven observations can't believe their own findings, They call their
conclusions tentative, and seem afraid of recommending vitamin megadoses that
should be widely be used in nutritional treatment.
If doctors want to know
the long term effects of various vitamin megadoses, they have to go back and
study the literature. Since most articles and books on this subject cannot be
found by electronic means, it requires that they make such a literature
search manually,
The FDA's rejection of
the three nutritional applications (which proposed to use vitamins to treat
disease) as being premature also is part of the anti-nutritional bias. Just
think: if a nutritional approach would delay myocardial infarctions by ten or
fifteen years. Would not this be crippling blow to the profits of
pharmaceutical companies that produce cardiac medications and cholesterol
reducing agents?
(My wife) Charlotte
and I have taken megadoses of vitamins (and appropriate amounts of macro-and
micro-minerals). The fact that we are alive today is attributable to the
beneficial effects of this nutritional supplementation. Dr. Linus Pauling has
taken megadoses of vitamin C for decades.
One fascinating thing is
that from 2 to 5% of all hospital admissions result from severe adverse
effects from prescription drugs. Yet, doctors have no compunction in
prescribing these.
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