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.
It is virtually impossible to find an adult multivitamin and mineral supplement that is only 100 percent of the R.D.A.,” Ms. Miller-Kovach said. “All are 150 percent or so. I worry about getting too much and I worry about imbalances. They put in more of the things that are inexpensive, like B vitamins and things with consumer appeal like vitamin C. The formulas are based on market forces, not nutritional needs.” Others decided against taking the pills. Dr. Kava, of the American Council on Science and Health, said she abstained.
In other cases, immigrants who adhere to traditional dress codes that call for covering of their heads, arms and legs are not getting enough exposure to the sun, which helps the body produce vitamin D, the researchers said. Because of the discovery, people with persistent, nonspecific body aches and pains should be screened regularly for vitamin D deficiency, Plotnikoff and his colleagues say.
The study also suggests the problem may be even more widespread among younger Americans and members of certain racial and ethnic groups. Every one of the African-American, East African, Hispanic and American Indian participants in the study were vitamin D deficient. All participants younger than 30, regardless of nationality, also were found to be deficient. Of those, more than half were severely deficient.
Among the study participants with the highest homocysteine levels, men were about four times more likely to fracture a hip and women about twice as likely, compared with the 25 percent with the lowest levels. “This should be another wake-up call to eat better, when you’re older, especially,” Kiel said.
My doctor today gave me the name of a book that he refers to often whenever he has a patient in which regular medicines or allergies to such cannot help a patient. The author is someone named Hulda Clark and it is called “The Cure For All Diseases”. He says you can get it at most book stores. Hope it helps those of you that are interested in nutrition. Just a note, though, he said that he thinks some things are out there, too. But who knows? I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know what he means. Now I am curious. If anyone has this book, could you look and see what looks out there and let me know? Sometimes I get very alarmed at various posts here about what people are eating. Do not be deceived, it is *very* possible to starve yourself to death trying to hold your BGs down.
