Ascorbic acid is not vitamin C. Alpha tocopherol is not vitamin E. Retinoic acid is not vitamin A. And so on through the other vitamins. Vast sums of money have been expended to make these myths part of Conventional Wisdom. If you have several college degrees and all this is news to you, don’t feel bad. Unless you think your education ended at Commencement. Which is generally true Vitamins are not individual molecular compounds. Vitamins are biological complexes.
They are multi-step biochemical interactions whose action is dependent upon a number of variables within the biological terrain. Vitamin activity only takes place when all conditions are met within that environment, and when all co-factors and components of the entire vitamin complex are present and working together. Vitamin activity is even more than the sum of all those parts; it also involves timing. Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform their specific life functions within the cells. When isolated into artificial commercial forms, like ascorbic acid, these purified synthetics act as drugs in the body. They are no longer vitamins, and to call them such is inaccurate.
The study by doctors at University Hospital in Uppsala was reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. It involved 2,322 men. Vitamin A is known as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are believed to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Government studies show one-third to one-half of Americans take vitamin A or multivitamins containing it. Vitamin A can interfere with cells that produce new bone, stimulate cells that break down old bone and interfere with vitamin D, which helps the body maintain normal calcium levels.
One in three people around the world are not getting enough vitamins and minerals, a report suggests. Officials say it is preventing millions of people from meeting their physical and intellectual potential. The report, by Unicef and The Micronutrient Initiative, calls for urgent action to tackle the problem. It says efforts to eradicate poverty, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health all hinge on ensuring better access to vitamins and minerals.
But the promise of high-dose vitamin pills has been increasingly contradicted by scientific research, Lichtenstein wrote in The Journal of the American Medical Association late last month, with a Tufts colleague. For example, consider beta carotene. It was trumpeted as the ultimate cancer fighter. But researchers in one study showed that high doses of the nutrient, which the body converts to vitamin A, actually increased the chance that a smoker would develop lung cancer. Then there’s folate. Physicians still encourage women trying to get pregnant to take supplements that include folate because of scientific studies showing it prevents birth defects.
Protein Needs for Blood Type A People Blood type A people should be nearly vegetarians. The above information should make it clear that you should avoid most soy products unless they are fermented (tempeh and miso). You should not have soy protein or tofu. To obtain optimal protein though you will need to eat about a dozen organic eggs per week, unless you are allergic to them. Try not to eat them on consecutive days. You should also soak your seeds and nuts overnight to deactivate the enzyme inhibitors and phytates.
This is a highly refined product in which both vitamin and protein quality are compromised-but some trypsin inhibitors remain, even after such extreme refining. Trypsin inhibitor content of soy protein isolate can vary as much as 5-fold. In rats, even low level trypsin inhibitor soy protein isolate feeding results in reduced weight gain compared to controls. Soy product producers are not required to state trypsin inhibitor content on labels, nor even to meet minimum standards, and the public, trained to avoid dietary cholesterol, a substance vital for normal growth and metabolism, has never heard of the potent anti-nutrients found in cholesterol-free soy products.
