COMPREHENSIVE NUTRIENT REVIEW

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http://www.niausa.com/research/NutrientReview/CodexIntro.htm

 

 

COMPREHENSIVE NUTRIENT REVIEW

Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND,

Robert Dean, Christine Wheeler MA, James Yeargin

 

Note: The information on this website is presented for educational

purposes and is not a substitute for the advice of and treatment by a

qualified professional.

 

When it comes to nutritional supplements, the public is confused and

does not know what to believe. A current but longstanding controversy

over the effectiveness of nutritional supplements for purposes of

preventing and treating disease has involved two distinct factions. On

one side are those in mainstream medicine who view nutritional

supplements as non-therapeutic, but necessary for the prevention of

classically defined illnesses such as beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy.

This more traditionalist group believes that supplements should be

consumed only in small quantities such as those stated by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in their published Recommended

Daily Allowances (RDA). This same group tends to dismiss that

supplements taken at higher than RDA doses can have any measurable

impact upon human health. To date, this traditionalist group has been

the predominant force in directing national policy on the use of

nutritional supplements. Another smaller, yet growing group believes

that taking a variety of nutrients in doses substantially higher than

the RDA, does have an impact on human health in ways that are not only

preventative, but also therapeutic. This " alternative health " group

believes that supplements taken in larger than RDA quantities can both

prevent disease and treat it. This latter group has had little or no

influence on national policy or standards.

 

Meanwhile, the public has been increasing its consumption of vitamins

and nutritional supplements, believing that this is good for their

health. Such increased consumption has occurred despite the efforts of

pharmaceutical companies and orthodox medicine to advise the public

that taking increased doses of supplements above RDA levels has no

effect on either preventing or treating disease. However, as

nutritional supplements are derived from nature and cannot be

patented, the pharmaceutical industry has viewed them as a competitive

threat to their patented drugs. Motivated by significant financial

incentives, the pharmaceutical industry has sought to suppress the use

of supplements, which cannot be patented, and limit their potencies.

 

Much of their efforts have been focused on lobbying for legislation to

limit the public's right to take supplements at higher dosages, or in

sponsoring studies to show that supplements are not effective for

therapeutic purposes. Recently, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has

also threatened to limit the availability of supplements through

" harmonization " procedures that accept only the most rigid standards

set by those countries with the most restricted access to supplements.

Congress has also recently sought to schedule hearings to determine

whether the availability of supplements in certain dosages should be

further regulated in the United States.

 

The debate over supplements, including their efficacy at various

dosages and their ability to either prevent or treat disease, has

therefore become an important topic in public health today. In this

comprehensive review, we sought to assemble the most relevant

scientific evidence on the efficacy of nutritional supplementation,

and to resolve one of the most enduring and vexing issues in public

health policy, whether consumption of supplements at levels higher

than the RDA has either a preventative or therapeutic benefit on human

health.

 

METHODS

 

We performed a comprehensive review of scientific studies on the

efficacy of 50 selected nutrients in preventing, retarding, and

treating disease. These studies were culled from a much larger online

database of 484,000 studies contained in peer reviewed health,

nutritional, and scientific journals. Based on this research, we

conclude that there is a significant body of evidence demonstrating

that the 50 selected nutrients are effective at preventing, retarding

and even improving disease. The studies, as a whole, show that the

nutrients are effective at both preventative and higher therapeutic

dosage levels. Further, these studies demonstrate that the effective

therapeutic dosages are significantly higher than had been generally

argued by even alternative health groups.

 

We believe that this is the first time there has been a scholarly

effort to assemble and summarize such a massive number of peer

reviewed studies on such a wide assortment of nutritional supplements.

 

Previously arguments made by both traditionalist and alternative

health groups have relied on specific studies, or at most, a group of

studies on a single nutrient. Many of these studies were sponsored by

parties with a vested interest in the conclusion. Such data, we

suggest, was insufficient to make broad pronouncements on the efficacy

of supplements as a whole. Here, however, we have utilized a

significantly larger number of studies covering a much broader range

of nutrients. Accordingly, we can have much greater assurance that we

have reached correct conclusions about the efficacy of nutrients as a

whole, particularly at therapeutic dosages.

 

We hope that this collected studies of nutrients, and the summaries

presented, will bring new national attention to the existence of

nutrients and the important role that they can play in maintaining and

optimizing human health. We suggest that the nation's leading medical

authorities examine the results demonstrated by this comprehensive

review so that they can begin to adopt and implement nutritional

protocols at therapeutic dosages for purposes of preventing and

treating disease.

 

Click Here for the Codex Nutrient Chart

 

Click on each of the following nutrients for a summary of the research

on that nutrient.

 

* ACETYL-L-CARNITINE

* ALPHA LIPOIC ACID

* ALOE VERA

* APIGENIN

* ASTAXANTHIN

* BILBERRY

* BIOTIN

* BORON

* CALCIUM

* CALCIUM D-GLUCARATE

* CARNOSINE

* CDP CHOLINE

* CHOLINE

* CHROMIUM

* COENZYME Q-10

* COPPER

* ELLAGIC ACID

* FOLIC ACID

* GARLIC-ONION

* GLUTATHIONE

* GREEN TEA

* IRON

* L-CYSTEINE

* LUTEIN

* LYCOPENE

* MAGNESIUM

* MANGANESE

* MILK THISTLE

* N-ACETYLCYSTEINE (NAC)

* NARINGIN AND NARINGENIN

* PYCNOGENOL

* QUERCETIN

* SELENIUM

* SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE (SOD)

* TAURINE

* TMG TRIMETHYLGLYCINE

* VINPOCETINE

* VITAMIN A and BETA CAROTENE

* VITAMIN B1 THIAMINE

* VITAMIN B12: COBALAMINE

* VITAMIN B2, RIBOFLAVIN

* VITAMIN B3 NIACIN

* VITAMIN B5

* VITAMIN B6 PYRIDOXINE

* VITAMIN C

* VITAMIN D

* VITAMIN E

* VITAMIN K

* ZEAXANTHIN

* ZINC

 

© 2003 Gary Null & Associates, Inc. (GNA)

All rights reserved.

May not be used without the written consent of GNA.