J. Douglas Bremner
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 But do multivitamins help? Large studies have shown that a multivitamin a day or taking a suite of individual vitamins does not decrease the numbers of infections that people get. At best it may reduce the time you spend being sick by a day or so.
The multivitamin craze started with epidemiological studies showing lower rates of cancer and heart disease in people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables. It was assumed that the antioxidant properties of the vitamins in fruits and vegetables must prevent oxidative damage to LDL cholesterol and DNA. |
Dr. Steve Blake
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 In supplements, riboflavin is most commonly found in vitamin B-complex preparations and in multivitamins. n
Y
Summary for Riboflavin—Vitamin B2
Main function: energy metabolism. RDA: men, 1.3 mg; women, 1.1 mg. No toxicity reported, no upper intake level set. Deficiency condition: ariboflavinosis. Healthy food sources: whole grains and leafy green vegetables.
Degradation: easily destroyed by light, especially ultraviolet light. Coenzyme forms: Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide
(FAD) and Flavin MonoNucleotide (FMN). |
Bill Sardi
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 The most commonly used were multivitamins, vitamin E, vitamin C and calcium. [Urology 66: 161-66, 2005] Men commonly take saw palmetto berry for prostatitis, but not for prostate cancer.
Cancer doctors are talking about the use of vitamin E, selenium, lycopene, saw palmetto, resveratrol, fish oil and vitamin D, to prevent prostate cancer. |
Hyla Cass
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 This dose is fine to take in addition to the tocopherol form of vitamin E that's usually found in multivitamins.
D-Ribose
While we're on the topic of heart health, I'd like to introduce one of my favorite supplements, D-ribose. It works by helping your heart cells to produce energy. Just think of it: your heart muscle is beating at least sixty times a minute, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. It never rests! So it has to be supplied with a continuous and reliable source of fuel. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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 The impact of multivitamins on the onset or worsening of AMD has not been tested in clinical trials.
TABLE 3 Summary of Evidence Relating Diet to Diabetic Retinopathy (DR)
Nutritional Exposure
Strength of Evidence
Comment
Dietary fat and fiber
Antioxidants
Other potential dietary factors
A benefit of high-fiber diets that are low or moderate in fat may be that they help to maintain blood glucose control, which is strongly related to the development of DR.
Some observational studies support lower risk of DR among people whose diets are high in fiber and low in fat. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| FOLIC ACID
The most practical reason for women of childbearing age to take multivitamins with folic acid supplements is the prevention of neural tube-related birth defects like spina bifida. Prevention of neural-tube birth defects is accomplished with 400 meg of folic acid daily, obtained from food and/or vitamin supplements. Foods high in folate include leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach as well as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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| Since the 1980s, a body of evidence has accumulated to indicate lower rates of cataracts among populations of people who eat micronutrient-rich diets or take multivitamins (summarized in Table 1). These findings, discussed later, support the idea that nutritional status over adult life influences the development of cataract with age. Yet most epidemiological studies of relationships of diet to cataract have been conducted in relatively well-nourished and older populations in developed countries, and over short time periods. |
| In a recent randomized, crossover trial, eating two or more cups of brassica vegetables (such as broccoli) lowered a urinary marker of oxidative stress, whereas moderate levels of supplementation with antioxidants in multivitamins did not [134]. However, it is not known whether the non-nutritive antioxidants in foods reach the retina (besides lutein and zeaxanthin, which are discussed next) or whether lowering the systemic level of oxidative stress by consuming such foods influences age-related macular degeneration. |
| Based on 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, more than half the population are using dietary supplements; approximately 33% take multivitamins; and over 12% use vitamin E or C supplements [6]. This increased interest in effects of vitamins in general and specifically the class of "antioxidants" as protecting agents was sparked by a series of articles beginning in the 1970s. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| Feskanitch and colleagues followed 72,337 nurses from 1980 to 1998 and showed that women in the top 20% of vitamin A intake (through diet and vitamin supplements such as multivitamins) had a 48% increase in hip fracture compared with women in the bottom 20% of vitamin A intake.2
I don't want to leave you with the impression that vitamins and supplements are always dangerous, because they are not. Nor do I want to leave you with the impression that vitamin and nutrient supplementation of the food supply is always a bad thing. However, if you are a resident of the U.S. |
Jack Challem
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 Dosage: As with multivitamins, read the fine print on the label to ensure that you're getting 50 mg each of vitamins Bl, B2, B3, and B6. The potencies of other B vitamins will vary, but they should be fairly consistent between brands. If you want to take individual B vitamins, always take them in addition to a high-potency B-complex or multivitamin supplement. (You most likely do not have to take both a high-potency B-complex and a high-potency multivitamin.)
Vitamin Bl
Principal use: To reverse fuzzy thinking and lack of energy. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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| In addition to multivitamins, there are single vitamin D supplements largely available as cholecalciferol in 10 pg (400 IU), 25 pg (1000 IU), and 50 pg (2000 IU) dosages. Some calcium supplements contain various amounts of cholecalciferol or ergocalciferol, in the range 10 to 25 pg (400-1000 IU) per tablet. These supplements are intended for maintenance of status or for persons who have less-than-adequate vitamin D intakes. They are not intended for repletion of vitamin D deficiency. |
Hyla Cass
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| We are also supplying 3,000 seniors who are at risk for malnutrition with multivitamins, and we get wonderful letters all the time, thanking us for the difference our vitamins have made in their health and well-being (www.nourishamerica.org).
Even if your diet is perfect, the world you live in isn't. We're surrounded by toxins and pollutants, some of which we take in through our food. We need extra nutrient protection to help guard against the harm they can do. Most of us have stressful, busy lives, which means higher nutrient requirements. And—let's face it—who has a perfect diet? |
| In one revealing study, only 17 percent of diabetics who took multivitamins reported having an infection—such as a cold, the flu, or a stomach flu—while 93 percent who took a placebo (dummy) pill did report having one. This same study found that 89 percent of diabetics who took the dummy pill missed at least one day of work during the one-year study, while none of the multivitamin users missed work in that time period! This sounds like cheap and simple enough insurance! (To read more, see www.diabetesincontrol.com/ modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid= 10070. |
Brenda Watson and Leonard Smith
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 Sometimes we can get amino acids in our multivitamins or in supplement form, but for the most part foods provide the wealth of amino acids we need.
Meat and other animal foods are said to contain complete protein, meaning they contain all of the essential amino acids. Individual vegetarian foods are technically incomplete because they are missing at least one essential amino acid. As a rule, though meats contain complete protein, they are not necessarily better for you than the protein found in vegetarian foods. |
Dawson Church
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 Supplements: at minimum, a capsule each day of multivitamins, antioxidants, and fish oils.
?Proficiency in a chronic stress-reduction technique such as meditation, prayer, or contemplation, plus an acute Energy Psychology intervention for use in crises.
The first three items provide a foundation of physical and mental health on which a structure of spiritual wellbeing can be built. It's hard to meditate, do yoga, contemplate, or pray with serenity when your body is sick, so addressing basic physical wellbeing is an early-stage requirement. |
Jack Challem
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| Studies have found that multivitamins can help to reduce mood swings, aggressive behavior, and explosive rage. Note: Vitamin B2 will turn your urine bright yellow. The yellow color is normal and not harmful.
Vitamin C. The first symptoms of low vitamin C intake are irritability and fatigue, both of which are usually present with anger. Brain levels of vitamin C are significantly higher than levels in the blood. Vitamin C is needed to make certain neurotransmitters, and it protects the brain from amphetamines—one clue to its mind-calming benefits. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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 And green pee is a fairly common reaction to certain multivitamins and some drugs used to treat depression, allergies, nausea, pain, and inflammation. Patients who've been given the anesthetic propofol sometimes pee green alter surgery (although some have been known to pee pink).
But green urine can also be evidence of a buildup of bilirubin, the greenish chemical found in bile and produced by the liver that's also responsible for jaundice. (See Chapter 2.) Excess bilirubin may signal diseases of the liver and pancreas. (See Pale Poop, above. |
Jack Challem
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| After just three months, women taking the multivitamins reported that their moods had substantially improved. These improvements continued throughout the study, and by its end, women taking vitamins reported that they felt more composed, more "agreeable," and in better mental health. Their thinking processes were sharper as well. Men in the study also reported feeling better and more agreeable.
Equally dramatic improvements have been found in children. Bonnie J. Kaplan, Ph.D. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 SUBSTANCES TO AVOID DURING PREGNANCY
Besides supplementing with multivitamins, minerals, and other appropriate nutrients, a pregnant woman improves her chances for a complication-free pregnancy and birth by avoiding harmful substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and recreational and prescription drugs. Teratogens are substances that cause birth defects, miscarriage, or pregnancy complication when a pregnant woman is exposed to them, especially in the early stages of pregnancy. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| They went on to conclude that if the allegations that these three studies were not reliable were true, then the remaining evidence base suggested no benefit for the use of multivitamins for preventing infections in elderly people. This conclusion was confirmed in 2005 by the Mineral and Vitamin Intervention Study (MAVIS), which randomly assigned 910 men and women over age sixty-five to multivitamin and mul-timineral treatment or placebo for one year. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 The strongest association was with the combination of vitamin E and vitamin C, with or without multivitamins (multivariate adjusted odds ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.05 to 0.6). The combination of vitamin E and vitamin C also apparently reduced incidence (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.99). For incidence, associations were not significant for vitamin E alone, vitamin C alone, multivitamin use alone or in combination (Zandi et al, 2004). |
Bottom Line Health
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| The women took the calcium supplement in addition to their average daily calcium intake of 110 mg from food or multivitamins, for a total calcium intake of 1,110 mg, which "is close to the national recommendation" for women older than 50, according to Andrea LaCroix, coprincipal investigator of the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
After tracking the women's bone health for seven years, the researchers found that hip bone density rose an average of 1.06% in the group taking the supplements compared with the placebo group. |
| In a clinical trial, people who took multivitamins daily not only had improved immunity against infectious diseases but also had more energy. In general, it is best to get vitamins from food, but many people don't get the necessary amounts, so I suggest taking a multivitamin/mineral supplement daily.
•Prevent dehydration. Consuming an inadequate amount of fluids, particularly if it's hot outside or you're exercising, can deplete energy and lead to weakness, dizziness and headaches. Drink at least six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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| One study suggested that long-term intake of antioxidant supplements or multivitamins may protect against prevalent DR. Short-term trials of single antioxidants have not demonstrated benefit on blood glucose control.
The benefit of consuming diets rich in many nutrients is suggested:
Potential roles of magnesium, B-vitamins, and vitamin D in DR development are suggested by emerging evidence.
New studies also suggest that genetic differences in enzymes involved in the metabolism of these nutrients may modify associations between diet and DR relationships. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Vitamins May Fight Cravings
In a recent study, people who had taken multivitamins, B vitamins or chromium regularly for the past 10 years gained less weight than people who did not take them.
Possible reason: The body's craving for certain essential nutrients may cause hunger. Vitamin/mineral supplements may lessen hunger by supplying nutrients that would have been supplied by food.
Best: Take a multivitamin/mineral that provides chromium and the daily recommended intake of vitamins B-6 and B-12.
Emily White, PhD, epidemiologist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 We have used high-dose therapeutic multivitamins for years using 20 to 50 times the RDAs of certain nutrients. Pets do extremely well when you do that. You do no harm by giving these amounts to your pets, especially when the forms are coenzyme vitamins and other nutrients the body recognizes.
Then we have Essential Fats for Pets. Again, I think that the research has shown that dietary lack of essential fats constitutes a major deficiency. People and pets are very deficient in essential fats.
Food manufacturers take them all out, because they oxidize. So people and pets become very deficient. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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| The strongest association was with the combination of vitamin E and vitamin C, with or without multivitamins (multivariate adjusted odds ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.05 to 0.6). The combination of vitamin E and vitamin C also apparently reduced incidence (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.99). For incidence, associations were not significant for vitamin E alone, vitamin C alone, multivitamin use alone, or in combination (Zandi et al, 2004). |
Mike Adams
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 The best strategies for doing so are:
** Avoid "cheapo" multivitamins: Many store-bought multivitamins are made with such cheap, synthetic ingredients that they probably do more harm than good. Avoid the popular brands found at common retailers, and invest in quality supplements from the companies I recommend in the resources section (chapter 6) of this book. Many of the common "cheapo" multivitamin producers, by the way, are owned by various branches of pharmaceutical companies. |
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