Lets Take Vit C off market! Pharma brothers are loosing too much $$$$$$$$ to vitamin therapy

[Guest guest]

For Immediate Release Contact: Bill Sardi

Knowledge of Health 457 West Allen Avenue #117 San Dimas, CA 91773 USA

Telephone: 909 596 9507 Email: bsardi

 

 

by Bill Sardi

 

In an unprecedented action, the World Health Organization (WHO), the

United Nations (UNICEF), and an AIDS activist group that promotes drug

therapy in South Africa, joined forces in opposing vitamin therapy

that exceeds the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) - in particular

vitamin C in doses they describe as being " far beyond safe levels " .

 

These health agencies suggest nutrients be obtained primarily from the

diet and warn that supplemental doses of vitamin C that exceed a 2000

milligram per day upper limit could cause side effects such as

diarrhea. The AIDS activist group also suggests patients receiving

doses beyond the RDA should undergo proper counseling and informed

consent before being placed on high-dose vitamin C.

 

As outrageous as these statements sound, they burst into public view

recently with an ongoing battle between Dr. Matthias Rath, a former

Linus Pauling researcher, and The Treatment Action Campaign in South

Africa.

 

The public battle ensued after Dr. Rath published a full-page ad in

the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune advocating

vitamin therapy over anti-AIDS drug therapy. Coinciding with these

full-page newspaper ads is a legal battle underway in South Africa

where The Treatment Action Campaign seeks to censor statements made by

Dr. Rath.

 

Dr. Rath cites a study by Harvard Medical School researchers that

showed dietary supplements slow the progression of AIDS and resulted

in a significant decline in viral count. [New England Journal of

Medicine 351: 23-32, 2004] 'Harvard researchers responded by saying

vitamin therapy is important but may not replace anti-viral drug therapy'.

 

Diet promoted over supplements

 

UNICEF and WHO advocate a balanced diet rather than supplements

despite the fact AIDS patients have nutritional needs that exceed what

the best diet can provide. AIDS patients often exhibit nutrient

deficiencies due to malabsorption or diarrhea. Vitamin E, one of the

supplemental nutrients provided in a cocktail developed by Dr. Rath

for AIDS patients, is known to reduce the incidence of diarrhea. [sTEP

Perspectives 7:2-5, 1995]

 

RDA for vitamin C is bogus

 

Furthermore, the RDA for vitamin C established by the National

Institutes of Health (NIH), referred to by the Treatment Action

Campaign, was established using testing methods that have been proven

to be inaccurate.

 

A study published last year in the Annals of Internal Medicine by NIH

scientists clearly shows much higher vitamin C levels can be achieved

with oral dosing than previously thought possible. [Annals Internal

Medicine 140:533-7, 2004].

 

Twelve noted antioxidant researchers have petitioned the Food &

Nutrition Board to review the RDA for vitamin C now that it is

apparent the RDA is based upon flawed research

(www.knowledgeofhealth.com ). Steve Hickey PhD and Hilary Roberts,

pharmacology graduates of Manchester University, have authoritatively

outlined the flaws in the current RDA for vitamin C.

[www.lulu.com/ascorbate] Furthermore, the RDA was established for

healthy people and does not apply to patients with serious infectious

disease such as AIDS patients.

 

Health groups tip their hand

 

This battle over vitamin supplements may be a foretaste of what will

happen later this year when a worldwide body called Codex Alimentarius

will meet to establish upper limits on vitamin and mineral

supplements. Codex is governed under the auspices of the United

Nations and World Health Organization. These health organizations are

tipping their partiality for drugs over nutritional supplements.

 

For example, Codex may establish a 2000 mg upper limit for vitamin C

as previously proposed by the National Academy of Sciences, or as low

as 225 mg which was recently established by German health authorities.

Controlled studies do not support the use of either number.

 

Dr. Rath is reported to recommend 4000 milligrams of daily vitamin C

for AIDS patients. The amount of oral vitamin C that a patient can

tolerate without diarrhea increases proportionately to the severity of

their disease. [Med Hypotheses 18:61-77, 1985] AIDS patients often

don't exhibit any diarrhea with extremely high-dose vitamin C therapy.

Diarrhea may occur among healthy individuals following high-dose

vitamin C therapy depending upon how much vitamin C is consumed at a

single point in time. Divided doses taken throughout the day minimizes

this problem.

 

Huckster or helper?

 

Dr. Rath, a renowned vitamin researcher who described a vitamin C cure

for heart disease and cancer in 1990 in collaboration with Nobel prize

winner Linus Pauling [Proc Natl Academy Sciences 87:9388-90, 1990], is

characterized as a " wealthy vitamin salesman " by the Treatment Action

Campaign in South Africa. Rath's vitamin company is providing free

vitamin therapy for AIDS victims in South Africa.

 

Anti-AIDS drug therapy failing

 

World health organizations appear to be solely backing AIDS drug

therapy at a time when a highly drug-resistant strain of HIV that

quickly progresses to AIDS has been reported in New York [AIDS Alert

20: 39-40, 2005], and drug resistance is a growing problem [Top HIV

Medicine 13: 51-57, 2003]. It's only a matter of time till all current

anti-AIDS drugs fail.

 

Of particular interest is selenium, a trace mineral included in Dr.

Rath's anti-AIDS vitamin regimen, which appears to slow progression of

the disease. Researchers report HIV infection has spread more rapidly

in Sub-Saharan Africa than in North America primarily because Africans

have low dietary intake of selenium compared to North Americans.

[Medical Hypotheses 60: 611-14, 2003] Selenium appears to be a key

nutrient in counteracting certain viruses and HIV infection progresses

more slowly to AIDS among selenium-sufficient individuals [Proceedings

Nutrition Society 61: 203-15, 2002].

 

The strong reaction by world health organizations against vitamin

supplements causes one to wonder if they are afraid vitamin therapy

will actually prove to be a viable alternative to AIDS drug therapy. ####

 

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