B-Informed About B-Vitamins

[Guest guest]

I personally believe that " flushing " doesn't usually

represent saturation of the body with niacin. It usually means

saturation in the blood at a single point in time

before being absorbed further into the cells etc. The

blood may be saturated at that point but it may not be

enough to actually rectify the defeciency of the body

that might be needed at that time.

 

To explain, the body is designed to take in smaller

amounts of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, etc but

almost in a continuous basis. Most supplements are

designed to take in a bunch all at once but the body

can only process a certain amount in a given period of time.

If a person takes in too much vitamin C, some other vitamins or

some minerals all at once he can get diahhrea or in

the case of niacin " flushing " . F.

 

 

I break a lot of nutritional supplements up or use

smaller dosages but more often and it seems to work

much better. F.

 

 

 

http://www.doctoryourself.com/bvitamins.html

 

 

B-INFORMED ABOUT B-VITAMINS

 

The safety record of the B-complex vitamins is

extraordinarily good. Since their discovery,

beginning with thiamin (B-1) in 1911, many thousands

of studies have verified an unequaled therapeutic

value of these essential substances. Side effects

have been rare, and toxicity is nearly nonexistent,

even at the highest doses. Some cautions are in

order, of course, and here are some of the most

important.

 

Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) has been reported to cause

temporary neurological symptoms such as heaviness,

tingling or numbness of the limbs in persons taking

very large doses. It is very important to realize

that such cases are not common, and when they do occur

usually result from huge doses of pyridoxine TAKEN

ALONE. The B-vitamins are a team, and work best as a

team. Upsetting the balance by taking a lot of just

one is like devoting all your baseball practice time

to your pitcher. You might get a lot of strikeouts,

but if anybody hits one, you are in trouble. No one

player has ever won a World Series by himself, and no

single B-vitamin can do the job that the whole " team "

can do.

 

B-6 by itself in doses of 2,000 to 6,000 milligrams

daily (that's one thousand to three thousand times

the US RDA!) can produce side effects and is therefore

way too much to take. Very, very few persons report

symptoms on 1,000 mg daily, and only the rarest

reports go any lower. When taken with, or as part of,

a complete B-complex supplement, B-6 side effects

other than a harmless deeper-colored urine are

virtually unknown.

 

Premenstrual tension symptoms often improve

dramatically with only a few hundred mg/day of extra

B-6. There is no need to " push the envelope " and take

thousands of milligrams when hundreds will do. At

least 50 to 100 mg of supplemental B-6 daily is a

virtual necessity for women taking oral

contraceptives. The " pill " causes some abnormal

physiological changes that create a deficiency of B-6,

as well as lower serum levels of thiamine (B-1), and

riboflavin (B-2), and niacin (B-3), and folic acid,

and B-12, and vitamin C! (Wynn, V. Lancet, March 8,

1975)

 

Laboratory animals receiving the human B-6 dose

equivalent of just 75 mg daily do not get strokes,

even when fed a lousy diet (Atherosclerosis, vol. 22,

1975, pp 125-127) Since women on oral contraceptives

are three times more likely at any age to have a

stroke, there is an important lesson here. B-6

deficiency produces hardening of the arteries

(Rinehart and Greenberg, American Journal of

Pathology, vol. 25, 1949, pp 481-496.) Furthermore,

B-6 is necessary in order for your body to produce

lecithin. Lecithin, a lipid- transporting substance

from soy, has been used clinically to clear out fatty

livers... and even clogged arteries. Another

connection.

 

Niacin (vitamin B-3) has been used in doses up to tens

of thousands of milligrams per day for over 40 years

by psychiatrists. It is an effective alternative

treatment for severe depression, psychotic behavior,

and schizophrenia. Most physicians have ignored

niacin's usefulness until rather recently. Niacin has

finally gained popularity as one of the cheapest ways

to lower serum cholesterol. Changes in liver function

tests have been reported in persons taking one to five

thousand milligrams daily of niacin BY ITSELF. Three

important points have generally gone unnoticed:

 

1. Niacin is much better tolerated when given with

Vitamin C. Abram Hoffer, M.D. pioneered high dose

niacin therapy back in the 1950's. He repeatedly

published his observations that gram-sized doses of

vitamin C greatly improve a patient's niacin

tolerance. Dr. Hoffer recommended at least as much

vitamin C per dose as niacin. With three thousand

milligrams of niacin per day, then, one would need a

MINIMUM of three thousand milligrams of vitamin C.

The medical profession's unfounded resistance to large

doses of vitamin C is embarrassingly well known. It

is useless to blame niacin for side effects caused by

ignoring expert medical advice on how to use it

correctly along with vitamin C.

 

Vincent Zannoni at the University of Michigan

Medical School has shown that vitamin C protects the

liver itself. Even doses as low as 500 milligrams

daily helped prevent fatty buildup and cirrhosis.

5,000 mg of vitamin C per day appears to actually

flush fats from the liver. (Ritter, M. " Study Says

Vitamin C Could Cut Liver Damage, " Associated Press,

October 11, 1986) F. R. Klenner, M.D. showed that

very large doses of vitamin C (between 500 to 900 mg

per kilogram body weight per day) can cure hepatitis

in two to four days (Smith, L. H., ed. Clinical Guide

To The Use Of VitaminC, Life Science Press, Tacoma

Washington, 1988, pp 22-23).

 

2. Niacin is also one of the team of B-vitamins and

needs any massive intake to be at least partly

balanced with the rest of the B-complex, just like B-6

mentioned above. Would you pay for a tune up for your

car and change only one spark plug? If you have

several kids, would you feed only one? Would you pay

for cable TV if there were only one channel? Taking

only one B-vitamin is neither logical nor efficient.

So avoid doing it unless there is a good reason.

 

3. Many, perhaps most, persons showing changes in

their liver function tests upon ingestion of large

amounts of niacin have been using alcohol. Accurate

information about sizable alcohol consumption is very

difficult to get from a patient: the more they use,

the less they'll tell. Two thirds of all American

adults drink alcohol, averaging out to be about three

drinks per day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.

If you do not drink that much, then somebody out there

is drinking MORE.

 

Alcohol does nothing if it doesn't hurt the liver.

The French have the highest per capita consumption

of alcohol in the world. They also have the world's

highest percentage of deaths from cirrhosis of the

liver. Working hard, the human liver can detoxify

about one drink every two hours. Know anyone who

drinks at a faster rate than that? Then marvel that

they have a liver that functions at all. Alcohol is a

drug, and consumption and abuse is more widespread

and more serious than most persons imagine. Over

two thirds of all hospital admissions of the elderly

are alcohol related. (New York State Office of

Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Oasas Today,

1:1, Sept-Oct. 1992)

 

The liver undergoes profound changes in both its

endoplasmic reticula and its microsomal enzymes in

order to detoxify alcohol. The unbalanced

introduction of very large doses of niacin to an

overloaded liver may well overtax an

alcohol-strained system. This is likely where some

changes in liver function tests come from (American

Journal of Medicine, vol 86, April, 1989, page 431 and

vol. 87, August 1989, page 248; American Journal of

Cardiology, vol. 64, October 1, 1989 page 728).

 

4. Any hepatotoxic effects of niacin are almost

invariably associated with the sustained release

form (Journal of the American Medical Association,

March 2, 1994). Sustained release niacin generally

enables higher doses with less " flushing. " However,

that warm sensation called flushing indicates niacin

saturation. Sustained release delivery may therefore

be hiding this sign that the body has had enough

niacin at a given time.

 

5. Simply reducing the dosage reduces side effects.

(Naito, H. " Reducing Cardiac Deaths with

Hypolipidemic Drugs, " Postgraduate Medicine, vol 82,

no. 6, November 1987; Figge, H. L. et al: " Nicotinic

Acid: A Review of its Clinical Use in the Treatment of

Lipid Disorders, " Pharmacotherapy, Vol. 8, no. 5,

1988) Since the regular " immediate release " form of

niacin also is effective in lowering total cholesterol

and actually improves beneficial HDL levels, why not

just use the plain tablets? Take less, but more

often, and you approximate the idea of a sustained

release tablet, but with a lower dose. If there is a

flush, reduce the dose. The idea is to be

comfortable. It is better to be able to use less of

the vitamin for a long time than to use a lot, have

trouble, and quit. American physicians often over

prescribe anyway, and niacin is no exception.

 

Niacin is not a magic cholesterol bullet, nor is

cholesterol the only factor in heart disease. Niacin

is PART of the picture, part of the B-vitamin team,

and part of a total health program. Granted, niacin

is indeed important. This is shown by even our

inadequate US RDA, which recommends many times more

niacin than any other B-vitamin. However, persons

truly seeking to lower their cholesterol need to eat

more fiber, more vegetables (especially carrots), more

vitamins E and C, and to exercise more. They also

need to eat less sugar, less fat, less meat, and

reduce stress. There are ZERO harmful effects (and

countless side BENEFITS) in taking these steps.

 

People who do not want to change their diet and do not

want to change their lifestyle ask doctors for a pill

instead. There is no such thing as monotherapy for

cardiovascular disease. If there was, we'd all use it

and be saving literally a million lives each year. Is

it really that big a surprise that niacin alone isn't

enough to do the job right?

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Alcohol:

 

Ray, O. and Ksir, C. Drugs, Society and Human

Behavior, chapter 9. Mosby, 1990 (I'm sure most of

the great book titles are already taken, so don't be

fooled by this one. This is an excellent book: clear,

fact-filled and well written. Highly recommended.)

 

Williams, R. J. Nutrition and Alcoholism (1951) and

Alcoholism: The Nutritional Approach (1959) may be out

of print but are worth the search.

 

Therapeutic Uses of the B-Vitamins:

 

Bicknell and Prescott, The Vitamins in Medicine, 3rd

ed., 1953 (This out-of-print work stands as the

definitive summary of most all vitamin research up to

the date of its publication. There are many thousands

of references here.)

 

Cheraskin, et al: Psychodietetics, Bantam Books, 1974

(A deservedly popular book, loaded with references.)

 

Hoffer, A. and Walker, M. Orthomolecular Nutrition,

Keats, 1978 ( " Orthomolecular " essentially means

" megavitamin. " Good introductory work.)

 

Pauling, L. How To Live Longer and Feel Better,

Freeman, 1986. (Still the best single health book ever

written. Here is a good place to begin you

investigation of vitamin therapeutics.)

 

Psychiatric Utility of Niacin:

 

Hawkins, D. and Pauling, L. Orthomolecular Psychiatry,

Freeman, 1973 (Here, in one big volume, is more

information than most doctors ever want to admit

exists on using niacin, especially in treating

depression and psychoses.)

 

Hoffer, Abram Niacin Therapy in Psychiatry, Charles

Thomas, 1962 (This is what started it all; note the

publishing date. Nobody knows niacin like Dr.

Hoffer.)

 

Hoffer, A. and Osmond, H. The Chemical Basis of

Clinical Psychiatry, Charles Thomas,Springfield, Ill.

(Even more in depth study of the biochemistry and

uses of niacin.)

 

Remember to try your library's Interlibrary Loan

service to obtain out-of-print works.

 

Copyright C 1999 and prior years Andrew W. Saul.

From the book PAPERBACK CLINIC, available from Andrew

Saul, PhD, Number 8 Van Buren Street, Holley, New

York 14470 USA.