NY Times- Top Stories- Vitamins: More May Be Too Many

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

 

And so it begins... The major media spin to dishearten & scare

people away from alternative solutions such as vitamins... Just in

time for the June 7th deadline for response on the FDA's new

regulation on supplements...

 

Interesting how that works, eh?

 

Be Well,

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

 

Top Stories - The New York Times

 

Vitamins: More May Be Too Many

By GINA KOLATA The New York Times

 

A growing number of medical experts are concerned that Americans are

overdoing their vitamin consumption. As many as 70 percent of the

population is taking supplements, mostly vitamins, convinced that

the pills will make them healthier.

 

But researchers say that vitamin supplements cannot correct for a

poor diet, that multivitamins have not been shown to prevent any

disease and that it is easy to reach high enough doses of certain

vitamins and minerals to actually increase the risk of disease.

 

 

No longer, the experts say, are they concerned about vitamin

deficits. Those are almost unheard of today, even with the

population eating less than ideal diets and skimping on fruits and

vegetables. Instead, the concern is with the dangers of vitamin

excess.

 

 

" There has been a transition from focusing on minimum needs to the

reality that today our problem is excess excess calories and, yes,

excesses of vitamins and minerals as well, " said Dr. Benjamin

Caballero, a member of the Food and Nutrition Board at the National

Academy of Sciences (news - web sites) and the director of the

Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University.

 

 

Dr. Caballero said that for some supplements, including vitamin A,

the difference between the recommended dose and a dose that could

lead to bad outcomes like osteoporosis was not large. Popular

multivitamins, he added, often contain what could be risky doses.

 

 

" Certainly, " he said, " by consuming supplements, people can reach

that level. "

 

 

Doctors who once told patients that multivitamins were, at worst, a

waste of money now say they are questioning that idea.

 

 

" All of a sudden, scientists are rearing back and saying, `Wait a

minute, do we really know that we need this and do we really know

that we need that?' " said Dr. Ruth Kava, nutrition director at the

American Council on Science and Health, a consumer foundation in

Manhattan that is in part financed by industry.

 

 

With vitamin A in particular, it is easy to step over the edge into

a danger zone, said Dr. Joan McGowan, chief of the musculoskeletal

diseases branch at the National Institute of Arthritis and

Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

 

 

" You can be eating Total cereal, drinking fortified milk, taking a

multivitamin, " Dr. McGowan said. " You can get into a situation where

you're getting more than you need. Until recently, there was little

concern about vitamin A and bone health. "

 

 

Now, she added, " we may have to rethink the issues. "

 

 

Similar questions are being raised about other vitamins and

minerals, notably iron and vitamins E and C.

 

 

Researchers say the questions involve multivitamins taken by healthy

people, not specific vitamins or minerals taken by groups with

specific needs. Some elderly people, for example, may be deficient

in vitamin B12 because they lose their ability to absorb it from

foods. People who spend little time outdoors may require vitamin D,

which the skin makes when it is exposed to sunlight. Even when older

people are in the sun, aging skin loses much of its ability to

synthesize the vitamin.

 

 

Pregnant women who do not receive enough folic acid, a vitamin in

fruits and vegetables that is added to enriched flour, are at

increased risk of having babies with neural tube defects. Because

the vitamin is needed at the very start of pregnancy, some advocate

folic acid supplements for all who might become pregnant, just to be

sure they are protected.

 

 

For most people, however, the issue is not deficits. Instead,

nutrition researchers ask: Do people eating relatively healthy diets

with fresh fruits and vegetables and not too many calories or fats

benefit from multivitamins or other supplements? Do those whose

diets are abysmal, heavy on fast foods and lacking in fruits and

vegetables, make up for some deficits if they take multivitamin

pills?

 

 

Dr. Annette Dickinson, president of the Council for Responsible

Nutrition, a group that represents the supplement industry, says 70

percent of Americans sometimes take supplements usually

multivitamins or individual vitamins and minerals and 40 percent

take them regularly.

 

 

" Our position, " she said, " is that most people, literally most

people, would benefit from taking a multivitamin every day. It's

insuring adequate and even generous intake of all the nutrients. "

 

 

 

 

 

The most popular individual supplements are vitamins C and E, said

Dr. Robert M. Russell, the director the Human Nutrition Research

Center of Agriculture Department at Tufts University, who is head of

the Food and Nutrition Board. Scientists once thought those vitamins

could help prevent ailments like cancer and heart disease, but

rigorous studies found no such effects.

 

Vitamin E supplements can increase the risk of heart attacks and

strokes, and studies of vitamin C supplements consistently failed to

show that it had any beneficial effects.

 

" The two vitamins that are the most not needed are the ones most

often taken, " Dr. Russell said.

 

Excess vitamin C is excreted in the urine, but excesses of some

other vitamins are stored in fat, where they can build up. Of

particular concern, researchers say, is vitamin A. It is found in

liver, and small amounts are added to milk. But for most people who

are reaching worrisome levels, the main source is supplements,

multivitamins, nutrition bars, health drinks and cereals.

 

Several recent large studies indicate that people with high levels

of vitamin A in their blood have a greater risk for osteoporosis.

People can easily reach a potentially dangerous level, about five

times the recommended dose, by taking vitamins and supplements,

nutrition researchers say. Some popular multivitamins run 1,500

micrograms a pill, twice the recommended daily amount and a level

that, in one recent study, doubled the risk of bone fractures. Some

supplements provide as much as 4,500 micrograms a day, well above

the level that the National Academy of Sciences calls an upper limit

for safety.

 

" If you have a good source of vitamin A in your food and you take a

supplement with another 100 percent, you can easily reach a level

that can accumulate " to one associated with increased risk of

osteoporosis, Dr. Caballero said.

 

Dr. Dickinson said that multivitamin manufacturers were decreasing

the vitamin A in their products, but that it might take a year for

the reformulated products to appear.

 

Others warn about overdosing on other vitamins and minerals.

 

Dr. Richard J. Wood, director of the mineral bioavailability

laboratory at Tufts, worries about iron overload, which can increase

the risk of heart disease. In a large federal research effort, the

Framingham study, Dr. Wood found that 12 percent of the elderly

participants had worrisome levels. " Hardly anyone had iron

deficiency anemia, " he said. " But 16 percent were taking iron-

containing supplements. "

 

While readily noting that the proof of a benefit is not in, some

researchers said they took multivitamins. They agree with Dr. Joann

E. Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's

Hospital in Boston, who takes a multivitamin and recommends it to

patients whose diets seem imbalanced.

 

" I think it's a good form of insurance, " Dr. Manson said. " I don't

think there's a significant downside. We don't have the evidence yet

that it is beneficial. "

 

Dr. Robert H. Fletcher, a professor of ambulatory medicine at

Harvard Medical School (news - web sites), also takes multivitamins.

For him, the deciding factor was whether he ingested enough folic

acid. Studies have suggested that high levels of folic acid can

protect against heart disease by lowering levels of another

substance, homocysteine. High levels of homocysteine are associated

with increased risks of heart disease, but there is no study showing

definitively that reducing homocysteine levels protects against

heart disease.

 

So far, the folic acid studies are suggestive, not definitive. But

Dr. Fletcher said, " If I were a betting man, I'd bet on it. "

 

But a European study, reported recently at a meeting of the American

College of Cardiology, found that folic acid supplements actually

made matters worse for heart disease patients. The study, the Folate

After Coronary Intervention Trial, involved 626 patients who were

having stents inserted into blocked arteries to keep them open. Half

were randomly assigned to take folic acid, and the rest took a

placebo. Six months later, the arteries of those taking folic acid

were significantly narrower than the arteries of those taking a

placebo, exactly the opposite of what the investigators had

expected.

 

A previous study, however, had found that folate helped such

patients. Dr. Eric Topol, an interventional cardiologist at the

Cleveland Clinic, said he thought the truth was that it was neither

helpful nor harmful for most people. " Over all, the likely

explanation is that there is a neutral effect, and these relatively

small trials found opposite findings due to the play of chance, " he

said.

 

Dr. Topol said B vitamins, like folic acid, " can't be recommended "

at this point, except for people with extremely low levels of

homocysteine, and even then their value has not been rigorously

demonstrated.

 

Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientist for Weight Watchers

International, has a compromise. She takes a child's multivitamin,

with its much lower levels of vitamins and minerals.

 

" 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. " People ask me what vitamins I take, " she said. " I say I

don't take any. They look at me askance. They can't believe I'm a

nutritionist. "

 

Dr. Caballero also does not take vitamins. " There is no disease I

know of that is prevented by multivitamins, " he said.

 

In fact, Dr. Caballero said, typical pills, which contain a variety

of minerals as well as vitamins, have ingredients that actually

cancel out one another. " Minerals antagonize each other for

absorption, " he said. " Zinc competes with iron which competes with

calcium. "

 

Dr. Caballero also notes that large, rigorous studies that were

supposed to show that individual vitamins prevented disease ended up

showing the opposite. Those who took the vitamins actually had more

of the disease it was meant to prevent.

 

Two large randomized trials of vitamin A and beta carotene that

researchers hoped would show a protective value against cancer found

no benefit, and one found that participants who took the supplements

had more cancer.

 

A large study of vitamin E and heart disease found that it did not

prevent heart attacks and that people taking it had more strokes.

 

Another study, of women with heart disease, found that antioxidant

vitamins might actually increase the rate of atherosclerosis.

 

Dr. Caballero said people were deluding themselves if they thought

multivitamins could make up for poor diets.

 

" If you eat junk food every day, vitamins are the least of your

problems, " he said. " You cannot replace a healthy diet. We don't

know what ingredient in a healthy diet is responsible for which

condition. We do know that people who consume five servings or more

of fruits and vegetables have less disease. But we don't know which

ingredient. We tried beta carotene, vitamin E and antioxidants, and

they didn't work.

 

" People are looking for the magic bullet. It does not exist. "

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

I have a question... This vitamin topic seems to be controversial and I am

trying to figure out what is best... I know getting nutrients from fresh

foods, etc. is best, but is it enough? I eat three meals a day and usually

of good quality. I don't eat that much junk food and we may eat out once a

week, but I often wonder if I get enough of everything.... As an example, I

have a problem with dry eyes and the eye doctor said it was blari...

something or another, but basically I don't have enough fatty acids to keep

my eyes moist and I can be prone to swelling of the eye, etc. I know this

is true because I have had the swelling before. Now my mother explained

that my grandmother had it, too. Which may or may not mean anything. I

have researched and it may just be a deficiency of omegas. Which brings me

back to whether I am eating enough of everything and should I take a

multi-vitamin..... What I did start to do is just take say two multivitamin

instead of the three recommended. I do also worry about my other daughter

who is still breastfeeding and I don't want to harm her in any way.

Although from what I understand, our bodies " know " what nutrients to put in

the breastmilk, but maybe that is not a correct assumption... Sometimes I

think there is too much information out there, my problem is trying to

decipher what is correct and what isn't....

 

Anyway, thanks for any input.

 

Lisa

 

 

" Misty L. Trepke " <mistytrepke

 

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 16:00:24 -0000

 

[s-A] NY Times- Top Stories- Vitamins: More May Be Too Many

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

And so it begins... The major media spin to dishearten & scare

people away from alternative solutions such as vitamins... Just in

time for the June 7th deadline for response on the FDA's new

regulation on supplements...

 

Interesting how that works, eh?

 

Be Well,

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Lisa...

 

Being a homeopath, I focus on the subtle processes that happen in

the body, that happen behind the body's chemistry...

 

So one of the things I would suggest is that there is a process

going on with your eyes that is resulting in the swelling of the

eyes- now is this process causing vitamins to be absorbed in excess,

deficiency, etc., I really don't know. But I do know if you can

give the body the information it needs (from the perspective of my

discipline, in the form of homeopathic remedies) the body will

correct whatever imbalance that is occuring in the body to result in

swollen eyes; therefore the eyes should not swell.

 

Now that being said, the body needs proper nutrition- if the

obsticle to cure is lack of proper nutritients to work with, there

is simply no way around that. I am not a nutritionalist, and this

is going beyond my expertise, so hopefully a professional

nutritionalist here can pick up where I leave off...

 

Firstly, what are you eating? Does it include lots of grains,

legumes, fruits & veggies? My next question would be do you eat

organically? Organic food is supposed to have higher nutritional

values than non-organic. Thirdly, have you considered sprouting?

It is a fun, economical way to get highly nutritious foods. Some of

my favorite sprouts are: sunflower, sesame seed, alfalfa, green

peas, buckwheat, and the queen of sprouts- wheatgrass juice. One

ounce of wheatgrass juice is equal to 2 1/2 pounds of garden

vegetables!!

 

My personal preference is to go the all natural foods way, but there

are a lot of people who use vitamins. If you are concerned about

how the vitamins are affecting your nursing daughter, perhaps you

should call the manufacturer (or seller) of the vitamins and ask.

 

I hope that helps,

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

 

In , Lisa <malica98@p...>

wrote:

> Hi all,

>

> I have a question... This vitamin topic seems to be controversial

and I am

> trying to figure out what is best... I know getting nutrients from

fresh

> foods, etc. is best, but is it enough? I eat three meals a day

and usually

> of good quality. I don't eat that much junk food and we may eat

out once a

> week, but I often wonder if I get enough of everything.... As an

example, I

> have a problem with dry eyes and the eye doctor said it was

blari...

> something or another, but basically I don't have enough fatty

acids to keep

> my eyes moist and I can be prone to swelling of the eye, etc. I

know this

> is true because I have had the swelling before. Now my mother

explained

> that my grandmother had it, too. Which may or may not mean

anything. I

> have researched and it may just be a deficiency of omegas. Which

brings me

> back to whether I am eating enough of everything and should I take

a

> multi-vitamin..... What I did start to do is just take say two

multivitamin

> instead of the three recommended. I do also worry about my other

daughter

> who is still breastfeeding and I don't want to harm her in any way.

> Although from what I understand, our bodies " know " what nutrients

to put in

> the breastmilk, but maybe that is not a correct assumption...

Sometimes I

> think there is too much information out there, my problem is

trying to

> decipher what is correct and what isn't....

>

> Anyway, thanks for any input.

>

> Lisa

>

>

> " Misty L. Trepke " <mistytrepke>

>

> Wed, 30 Apr 2003 16:00:24 -0000

>

> [s-A] NY Times- Top Stories- Vitamins: More May Be Too

Many

>

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> And so it begins... The major media spin to dishearten & scare

> people away from alternative solutions such as vitamins... Just in

> time for the June 7th deadline for response on the FDA's new

> regulation on supplements...

>

> Interesting how that works, eh?

>

> Be Well,

> Misty

> http://www..com

>

>

>

>

>