LOS ANGELES: - Vitamin pills - wonder pills thought to play a crucial role in preventing some of the most intractable illnesses - have lost their lustre.
Thanks to vitamins the life expectancy worldwide has risen significantly.
Having fun exercising and eating lot of friuts and vegetables are wihtout a doubt the sure way to prevent many illness
7 reported "randomised controlled trials, the gold standard of medical research,"questioned the efficiency of vitamin and mineral supplements in reducing the risk of prostate, colorectal, lung, bladder or pancreatic cancer.
Yet 64 % of Americans are reported to have spent between US$5 billion in 1995 to US$10 billion in 2008 taking vitamin and mineral supplements. Something is terribly wrong somewhere. Either there exist 64% of Americans who are irrational and don't believe what the trials tell them or all the research activities up to date are flawed, failing to show the truth of the matter. Is the scientific and main stream medical community in denial?. When is the truth going to surface? While waiting for that to happen,I will place my bet on taking vitamins and minerals to remain in optimal health, in addition to a healthy life style and eating Singapore food which are almost 100% imported and which has insufficient nutrients to keep me healthy. Those who do not take vitamins and minerals will be my control.
It is impossible to ensure you get all the required vitamins in your diet.
One tablet daily of a multivitamin like "Centrum" is sufficient.
I mention "Centrum" because it includes every vitamin and mineral.
Also none of its components exceeds the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance).
It is not recommended or even harmful to take supplements in high doses.
For example, high doses of Vitamin C increases the risk of kidney stones.
High doses of Beta-carotene in smokers increases the risk of lung cancer.
I understand the Ministry of Health plans to screen products sold at Health Supplements shops.
However, products sold at Chinese medicine shops are not screened at all.
Many of the products soldat such outlets has in the past been found to contain toxic chemicals.
I urge the Health Ministry to screen all products sold at these Chinese Medicine shops.
High dose Vitamin C causing or increasing the risk of getting kidney stone is a myth.
There is no randonmised controlled clinical trial to show that it happens.
Nobody seems to know where and when this myth was started. Nevertheless it has been propagated long enough until it has become a fact.
Very sad.
If you take the synthetic beta carotene (which was used in the trial) to reduce the risk of lung cancer you will be disappointed. Synthetic beta carotene was ineffective in reducing the risk of getting lung cancer.
About 5-10 per cent of kidney stones are formed from uric acid.
Uric acid stones are formed in conditions which causes hyper-uricosuria (high levels of uric acid in the urine).
This occurs regardless of whether the person has hyper-uriceamia (high blood levels of uric acid).
When the urine is excessively acidic (low pH) uric acid precipitates and result in stone formation
An increase in acidiity of the urine is expected in people taking high doses of vitamin C.
The National Institute of Health (USA) gives the following advice to people at risk of getting uric acid stones:-
Drink sufficient quantities of water to prevent hyper-acidity of the urine.
AVOID LARGE DOSES OF VITAMIN C.
People who are known to have hyper-uricosuria are prescribed medication to make their urine more alkaline.
It has been established that if anyone takes high doses of Vitamin C his urine will turn acidic.
It has also been established that uric acid crystals forms if the urine has high levels of uric acid, and is of low pH (acidic)
Previously, people were advised to take high doses of Vitamin C to shorten the duration of "colds".
Some people also believe that high doses of Vitamin C reduces the risks of certain cancers.
Latest studies show that neither is true.
There is now no reason for anyone to take high doses of Vitamin C.
Please note that kidney stones is a serious condition which if left untreated (e.g. if asymptomatic), can lead to kidney failure.
You say 64 percent of Americans spent US$ 10 billion in 2008 on vitamins and mineral supplements.
You also questioned whether 64 percent of Americans are irrational and don't believe in healthy advice.
Are you not aware that more Americans are spending more money on MacDonald and Kentucky and other
fast foods which are loaded with cholesterol, saturated fats, trans fats.
If they can be irrational in their choice of food, it is not surprising if they are irrational in other aspects of their lives.
The sub-prime crisis and the Madoff pyramid scheme show that Americans can be very irrational.
The same goes for people all over the world.
Remember what Warren Buffet said about fear and greed.
December 23, 2008 Tuesday, 04:47 AM
