The Health Plus Letter
December 23, 2008 Vol. 6, No. 30
By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher
http://www.1healthyworld.com
Table Of Contents
New This Issue
Quote of the Day
Fast Fact
Flu Shots for the Elderly Are Ineffective
High Doses of Vitamins Fight Alzheimer's Disease: Why Don't Doctors Recommend Them Now?
The "Expensive Urine" Myth: What About Those "Wasted" Vitamins?
Vitamin C Slows Cancer Down: And, Doctors Say, Can Reverse It as Well
Recommendations
Medical Freedom
Contact Information
New This Issue
Happy Holidays! May they be filled with Joy and may the New Year bring you many Blessings.
This week I’m turning The Health Plus Letter over to The Orthomolecular News Service, reprinting four important articles they’ve released over the past couple of months. As you will see when you read them, they establish why nutritional supplements are one of the most effective and inexpensive ways you can improve and maintain your health. I strongly recommend that you subscribe to the ONS’s free online news service
As always, please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter by passing it along to your friends and inviting them to subscribe.
Quote Of The Day
“It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”
-- Ayn Rand
Fast Fact
Smiling is good for your health!
Unabashed Plug
Protect Yourself From Energy Pollution With the BioElectric ShieldTM. Energy pollution is all around us in the fo/rm of harmful electromagnetic frequencies and radiation (EMFs and EMR) emitted by power lines, cells phones, computers, and many other so-called modern conveniences. By wearing the BioElectric Shield pendant, you can protect yourself from the harmful effects of EMFs and EMR. To obtain a BioElectricShield, visit http://www.mcssl.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=408491. To learn more about how and why the BioElectric Shield works, see my article about it at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine/vol4no9.cfm.
Flu Shots For The Elderly Are Ineffective
(OMNS, October 23, 2008) Have the elderly people in your family missed their flu shot? If so, they may have made the right decision. The New York Times recently reported that "A growing number of immunologists and epidemiologists say the vaccine probably does not work very well for people over 70," and that previous studies may have shown "not any actual protection against the flu virus but a fundamental difference between the kinds of people who get vaccines and those who do not . . . simply because they went to the doctor more often." (1)
Influenza vaccination has been widely touted even though evidence of effectiveness is lacking. One large scientific review looked at 40 years' worth of influenza vaccine studies. It found that flu shots were ineffective for elderly persons living in the community, and flu shots were "non-significant against influenza" for elderly living in group homes. (2) The authors of another major review "found no correlation between vaccine coverage and influenza-like-illness attack rate." (3) Author Dr. Thomas Jefferson said, "The vaccine doesn't work very well at all. Vaccines are being used as an ideological weapon. What you see every year as the flu is caused by 200 or 300 different agents with a vaccine against two of them. That is simply nonsense." (4) Indeed, he commented, "What you see is that marketing rules the response to influenza, and scientific evidence comes fourth or fifth." (5)
Some still claim that flu vaccinations, even though they do not prevent the flu, may help prevent more serious complications such as pneumonia, so dreaded and so often deadly for the elderly. But the authors of the study discussed in the NY Times article specifically noted that "influenza vaccination was not associated with a reduced risk of community-acquired pneumonia." (6)
As with all immunizations, flu shots can have harmful side effects. Vaccines may contain, among other things, ingredients such as mercury and aluminum, which are widely regarded as toxic. The elderly are more likely to be injured by, or even die from, flu vaccine side effects. Such incidents may remain unreported by hospitals or physicians. One man, aged 76, had a flu shot and immediately had to be hospitalized for a week. When family members suggested to the hospital staff and physicians that it was probably a reaction to the shot, their views were disregarded. Two years later the man had another flu shot, and was promptly hospitalized a second time. Family members once again said it was a reaction to the flu shot. The hospital said it was a low-grade infection, probably a bladder infection. The man died.
There are indications that vaccination side effects are underreported. The US Food and Drug Administration's Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System receives around 11,000 serious adverse reaction reports each year, mostly from doctors. (7) FDA states that "VAERS tracks serious vaccine reactions, not common fevers and soreness from shots. Serious reactions include death, life-threatening illness, hospitalization, and disability resulting from a vaccine." (8) However, FDA admits that they probably receive reports for only about 10 percent of all adverse vaccine reactions. (9) The National Vaccine Information Center estimates the reporting percentage to be far lower, perhaps under 3 percent. (10)
The exact contents of each year's flu shot is an educated guess. Sometimes this guess is wrong, as it was for 2008, where the vaccine "doesn't match two of the three main types of flu bugs now in circulation. . . . The predominant type A flu virus this year is the H3N2 strain; 87% are the "Brisbane" strain. And 93% of this year's type B flu bugs are from the "Yamagata" lineage. The current flu vaccine's H3N2 component is the "Wisconsin" strain; the type B component is from the "Victoria" lineage." (11) Even when the guess is correct, flu viruses frequently mutate and become resistant all over again.
The flu vaccine, notes the NY Times, has not been double-blind, placebo-control tested. Faith in vaccination appears to be greater than the scientific evidence to justify vaccination. Senior citizens already take far more medications than any other segment of the population. The elderly have weaker immune systems. The risk of immunization adverse affects rises accordingly. Increased side effect danger, along with low effectiveness, is a bad combination.
Is there an available alternative? Yes, there may be: give the elderly more nutrients, rather than more needles. Older people often have inadequate diets. With ageing and illness, their bodies' need for vital nutrients goes up, yet frequently their intake actually goes down.
Nutritional supplements help fight the flu. Vitamins and minerals have been shown to significantly reduce incidence and duration of influenza. This was already known back when many of today's elderly were still middle-aged. 32 years ago, twice Nobel-Prize winner Linus Pauling reviewed the nutritional literature and determined that high doses of vitamin C reduce the frequency and shorten the severity of influenza. (12) Orthomolecular (nutritional) physicians have repeatedly confirmed this. Robert F. Cathcart, MD, successfully treated thousands of viral-illness patients with massive doses of vitamin C. (13) Vitamin D also increases resistance to influenza (14), as do the minerals selenium and zinc. (15)
With good nutrition bolstered with supplemental vitamin and mineral intake, the human body's natural defenses are strengthened and can rapidly adapt to resist new flu strains. Clinical evidence indicates that nutrition is more significant that vaccination. Malnutrition is far more dangerous than not getting vaccinated.
No, there is not a vaccination for every illness. It might be nice if there were, but no shot can make up for poor nutrition.
Over-reliance on vaccinating the elderly ignores their fundamental problems of poor diet and vitamin/mineral deficiencies. These are underlying reasons for a susceptible immune system. Supplemental nutrition is the "other" immune system booster. It is time to use it.
References:
(1) Goodman B. Doubts grow over flu vaccine in elderly. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/health/02flu.html September 2, 2008.
(2) Rivetti D, Jefferson T, Thomas R et al. Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;3:CD004876.
(3) Jefferson T, Rivetti D, Rivetti A et al. Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines in elderly people: a systematic review. Lancet. 2005 Oct 1;366(9492):1165-74.
(4) Gardner A. Flu vaccine only mildly effective in elderly. HealthDay Reporter, Sept 21, 2005.
(5) Rosenthal E. Flu vaccination and treatment fall far short. International Herald Tribune, September 22, 2005.
(6) Jackson ML, Nelson JC, Weiss NS, Neuzil KM, Barlow W, Jackson LA. Influenza vaccination and risk of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent elderly people: a population-based, nested case-control study. Lancet. 2008 Aug 2;372(9636):398-405.
(7) National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161, 703-487-4650, 703-487-4600.
(8) http://www.fda.gov/fdac/reprints/vaccine.html
(9) KM Severyn in the Dayton Daily News, May 28, 1993 cited at http://www.chiropracticresearch.org/NEWSVaccinations.htm
(10) "Investigative Report on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System." National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), 512 Maple Ave. W. #206, Vienna, VA 22180.
(11) DeNoon DJ. Most influenza strains do not match current vaccine. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/570050 February 11, 2008. Also: Joe Bresee, MD, chief, epidemiology and prevention branch, CDC Influenza Division, Atlanta. CDC news conference, Feb. 8, 2008.
(12) Pauling L. Vitamin C, the Common Cold, and the Flu. Freeman, 1976.
(13) Cathcart RF. Vitamin C, titrating to bowel tolerance, anascorbemia, and acute induced scurvy. Med Hypotheses. 1981 Nov;7(11):1359-76. http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
(14) Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Umhau JC, Holick MF, Grant WB, Madronich S, Garland CF, Giovannucci E. Epidemic influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect. 2006. Dec;134(6):1129-40.
(15) Girodon F, Galan P, Monget AL et al. Impact of trace elements and vitamin supplementation on immunity and infections in institutionalized elderly patients: a randomized controlled trial. MIN. VIT. AOX. geriatric network. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Apr 12;159(7):748-54.
For more information:
Video questioning influenza vaccine: http://www.thinktwice.com/flu_show.htm
A humorous look at flu vaccine: http://www.thinktwice.com/Flu_Farce.mov
For further reading:
Miller NZ. Vaccine Safety Manual for Concerned Families and Health Practitioners: Guide to Immunization Risks and Protection. New Atlantean Press, 2008. ISBN-10: 1881217353; ISBN-13: 978-1881217350. Also: Miller NZ. Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective. New Atlantean Press; Revised Updated Edition, 2008. ISBN-10: 1881217302; ISBN-13: 978-1881217305.
High Doses of Vitamins Fight Alzheimer's Disease: Why Don't Doctors Recommend Them Now?
(OMNS, December 9, 2008) The news media recently reported that "huge doses of an ordinary vitamin appeared to eliminate memory problems in mice with the rodent equivalent of Alzheimer's disease." They then quickly added that "scientists aren't ready to recommend that people try the vitamin on their own outside of normal doses." (1)
In other words, extra-large amounts of a vitamin are helpful, so don't you take them!
That does not even pass the straight-faced test. So what's the story?
Researchers at the University of California at Irvine gave the human dose equivalent of 2,000 to 3,000 mg of vitamin B3 to mice with Alzheimer's. (2) It worked. Kim Green, one of the researchers, is quoted as saying, "Cognitively, they were cured. They performed as if they'd never developed the disease."
Specifically, the study employed large amounts of nicotinamide, the vitamin B3 widely found in foods such as meat, poultry, fish, nuts and seeds. Nicotinamide is also the form of niacin found, in far greater quantity, in dietary supplements. It is more commonly known as niacinamide. It is inexpensive and its safety is long established. The most common side effect of niacinamide in very high doses is nausea. This can be eliminated by taking less, by using regular niacin instead, which may cause a warm flush, or choosing inositol hexaniacinate, which does not. They are all vitamin B3.
HealthDay Reporter mentioned how cheap the vitamin is; the study authors "bought a year's supply for $30" and noted that it "appears to be safe." Even so, one author said that "I wouldn't advocate people rush out and eat grams of this stuff each day." (1)
The BBC quoted Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the UK Alzheimer's Research Trust, who said, "Until the human research was completed, people should not start taking the supplement. . . people should be wary about changing their diet or taking supplements. In high doses vitamin B3 can be toxic." (3)
The Irish Times reiterated it: "People have been cautioned about rushing out to buy high dose vitamin B3 supplements in an attempt to prevent memory loss . . . The warnings came today one day on from the announcement . . .Vitamins in high doses can be toxic." (4)
Their choice of words is quaint but hardly accurate. There is no wild "rush;" half of the population already takes food supplements. And as for "toxic," niacin isn't. Canadian psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, M.D., asserts that it is actually remarkably safe. "There have been no deaths from niacin supplements," Dr. Hoffer says. "The LD 50 (the dosage that would kill half of those taking it) for dogs is 5,000-6,000 milligrams per kilogram body weight. That is equivalent to almost a pound of niacin per day for a human. No human takes 375,000 milligrams of niacin a day. They would be nauseous long before reaching a harmful dose." Dr. Hoffer conducted the first double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of niacin. He adds, "Niacin is not liver toxic. Niacin therapy increases liver function tests. But this elevation means that the liver is active. It does not indicate an underlying liver pathology."
The medical literature repeatedly confirms niacin's safety. Indeed, for over 50 years, nutritional (orthomolecular) physicians have used vitamin B3 in doses as high as tens of thousands of milligrams per day. Cardiologists frequently give patients thousands of milligrams of niacin daily to lower cholesterol. Niacin is preferred because its safety margin is so very large. The American Association of Poison Control Centers' Toxic Exposure Surveillance System annual reports indicates there is not even one death per year due to niacin in any of its forms. (5)
One the other hand, there are 140,000 deaths annually attributable to properly prescribed prescription drugs. (6) And this figure is just for one year, and just for the USA. Furthermore, when overdoses, incorrect prescription, and adverse drug interactions are figured in, total drug fatalities number over a quarter of a million dead. Each year.
The BBC's curious mention that we should even be "wary about changing our diets" is especially odd. More and more scientists think our much-in-need-of-improvement diets are what contribute more than anything to developing Alzheimer's. "There appears to be a statistically significant link between a low dietary intake of niacin and a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. A study of the niacin intake of 6158 Chicago residents 65 years of age or older established that the lower the daily intake of niacin, the greater the risk of becoming an Alzheimer's disease patient." The group with the highest daily intake of niacin had a 70 percent decrease in incidence of this disease compared to the lowest group. "The most compelling evidence to date is that early memory loss can be reversed by the ascorbate (vitamin C) minerals. Greater Alzheimer's disease risk also has been linked to low dietary intake of vitamin E and of fish." (7)
Nutrient deficiency of long standing may create a nutrient dependency. A nutrient dependency is an exaggerated need for the missing nutrient, a need not met by dietary intakes or even by low-dose supplementation. Robert P. Heaney, M.D., uses the term "long latency deficiency diseases" to describe illnesses that fit this description. He writes: "Inadequate intakes of many nutrients are now recognized as contributing to several of the major chronic diseases that affect the populations of the industrialized nations. Often taking many years to manifest themselves, these disease outcomes should be thought of as long-latency deficiency diseases. . . Because the intakes required to prevent many of the long-latency disorders are higher than those required to prevent the respective index diseases, recommendations based solely on preventing the index diseases are no longer biologically defensible." (8) Where pathology already exists, unusually large quantities of vitamins may be ne! eded to repair damaged tissue. Thirty-five years ago, in another paper, Hoffer wrote: "The borderline between vitamin deficiency and vitamin-dependency conditions is merely a quantitative one when one considers prevention and cure." (9)
As there is no recognized cure for Alzheimer's, prevention is vital. In their article, the Irish Times does admit that "Healthy mice fed the vitamins also outperformed mice on a normal diet" and quoted study co-author Frank LaFerla saying that "This suggests that not only is it good for Alzheimer's disease, but if normal people take it, some aspects of their memory might improve." (4) And study author Green added, "If we combine this with other things already out there, we'd probably see a large effect."
The US Alzheimer's Association's Dr. Ralph Nixon has said that previous research has suggested that vitamins such as vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin B12 may help people lower their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. At their website (although you have to search for it), the Alzheimer's Association says, "Vitamins may be helpful. There is some indication that vitamins, such as vitamin E, or vitamins E and C together, vitamin B12 and folate may be important in lowering your risk of developing Alzheimer's. . . One large federally funded study (10) showed that vitamin E slightly delayed loss of ability to carry out daily activities and placement in residential care."
But overall, at their website http://www.alz.org/index.asp the Alzheimer's Association has strikingly little to say about vitamins, and they hasten to tell people that "No one should use vitamin E to treat Alzheimer's disease except under the supervision of a physician." ( http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_10428.asp ) "They write as if these safe vitamins are dangerous drugs, not be used without a doctor's consent," comments Dr. Hoffer. "I have been using them for decades."
Niacin and nerves go together. Orthomolecular physicians have found niacin and other nutrients to be an effective treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, psychotic behavior, and schizophrenia. New research confirms that niacinamide (the same form of B3 used in the Alzheimer's research) "profoundly prevents the degeneration of demyelinated axons and improves the behavioral deficits" in animals with an illness very similar to multiple sclerosis. (11)
A measure of journalistic caution is understandable, especially with ever-new promises for pharmaceutical products. Drugs routinely used to treat Alzheimer's Disease have had a disappointing, even dismal success rate. So when nutrition may be the better answer, foot-dragging is inexplicable, even inexcusable. Nutrients are vastly safer than drugs. Unjustified, needlessly negative opinionating is out of place. Over 5 million Americans now have Alzheimer's disease, and the number is estimated to reach 14 million by 2050. Potentially, 9 million people would benefit later from niacin now.
"Man is a food-dependent creature," wrote University of Alabama professor of medicine Emanuel Cheraskin, M.D. "If you don't feed him, he will die. If you feed him improperly, part of him will die."
When that part is the brain, it is dangerous to delay the use of optimum nutrition.
References:
(1) Vitamin Holds Promise for Alzheimer's Disease. Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter, Nov 5, 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/05/AR2008110502796.html and also http://health.yahoo.com/news/healthday/vitaminholdspromiseforalzheimersdisease.html
(2) Green KN, Steffan JS, Martinez-Coria H, Sun X, Schreiber SS, Thompson LM, LaFerla FM. Nicotinamide restores cognition in Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice via a mechanism involving sirtuin inhibition and selective reduction of Thr231-phosphotau. J Neurosci. 2008 Nov 5;28(45):11500-10.
(3) BBC, 5 Nov 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7710365.stm
(4) Donnellan E. Caution urged over using vitamin B3 to treat Alzheimer's. Wed, Nov 05, 2008. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1105/breaking91.htm
(5) Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poisoning and Exposure Database (formerly known as the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System). AAPCC, 3201 New Mexico Avenue, Ste. 330, Washington, DC 20016. Download any report from1983-2006 at http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx free of charge. The "Vitamin" category is usually near the end of the report.
(6) Classen DC, Pestotnik SL, Evans RS, Lloyd JF, Burke JP. Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. Excess length of stay, extra costs, and attributable mortality. JAMA. 1997 Jan 22-29;277(4):301-6.
(7) 21. Hoffer A and Foster HD. Feel Better, Live Longer With Vitamin B-3: Nutrient Deficiency and Dependency. CCNM Press, 2007. ISBN-10: 1897025246; ISBN-13: 978-1897025246. Also: Foster HD. What Really Causes Alzheimer's Disease. Trafford, 2004. ISBN 1-4120-4921-0.
(8) Heaney RP: Long-latency deficiency disease: insights from calcium and vitamin D. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003; Nov; 78(5):912-9.
(9) Hoffer A. Mechanism of action of nicotinic acid and nicotinamide in the treatment of schizophrenia. In: Hawkins D and Pauling L: Orthomolecular Psychiatry: Treatment of Schizophrenia. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. 1973; p. 202-262.
(10) Sano M, Ernesto C, Thomas RG et al. A controlled trial of selegiline, alpha-tocopherol, or both as treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. N Engl J Med. 1997 Apr 24;336(17):1216-22
(11) Kaneko S, Wang J, Kaneko M, Yiu G, Hurrell JM, Chitnis T, Khoury SJ, He Z. Protecting axonal degeneration by increasing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide levels in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis models. J Neurosci. 2006 Sep 20;26(38):9794-804. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed See also: Vitamins fight multiple sclerosis. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 4, 2006.
For More Information:
A complete copy of Dr. Harold D. Foster's What Really Causes Alzheimer's Disease is available in PDF format, free of charge: http://www.hdfoster.com/Foster_Alzheimers.pdf
To access a free archive of peer-reviewed medical journal papers on the safety and efficacy of vitamin therapy: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/
Review of nutritional approaches to Alzheimer's Disease: http://www.doctoryourself.com/alzheimer.html
Additional Reading:
Klenner FR. Response of peripheral and central nerve pathology to mega-doses of the vitamin B-complex and other metabolites. Journal of Applied Nutrition, 1973. http://www.tldp.com/issue/11_00/klenner.htm
Morris MC, Evans DA, Bienias JL, Tangney CC, Bennett DA, Aggarwal N, Wilson RS, and Scherr PA. Dietary intake of antioxidant nutrients and the risk of incident Alzheimer's disease in a biracial community study. Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002. 287(24), 3230-3237.
Morris MC, Evans DA, Bienias PA, Scherr A, Tangney CC, Hebert LE, Bennett DA, Wilson RS, and Aggarwal N. Dietary Niacin and the Risk of Incident Alzheimer's Disease and of Cognitive Decline. J Neurology, Psychiatry 2004; 75: 1093-1099.
Bobkova NV. The impact of mineral ascorbates on memory loss. Paper presented at the III World Congress on Vitamin C, 2001, Committee for World Health, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Galeev A, Kazakova A, Zherebker E, Dana E, and Dana R. Mineral ascorbates improve memory and cognitive functions in older individuals with pre-Alzheimer's symptoms. Copy of paper given to authors by R. Dana and E. Dana, Committee for World Health, 20331 Lake Forest Drive, Suite C-15, Lake Forest, California 92630, USA.
Bobkova NV, Nesterova IV, Dana E, Nesterov VI, Aleksandrova IIu, Medvinskaia NI, and Samokhia AN (2003). Morpho-functional changes of neurons in temporal cortex in comparison with spatial memory in bulbectomized mice after treatment with minerals and ascorbates. Morfologiia, 123(3), 27-31. [In Russian]
Engelhart MJ, Geerlings MI, Ruitenberg A, van Swieten JC, Hofman A, and Witteman JC (2002). Dietary intake of antioxidants and risk of Alzheimer's disease: Food for thought. Journal of the American Medical Association, 287(24), 3223-3229.
Grant WB. Dietary links to Alzheimer's disease: 1999 update. Journal of Alzheimer's disease, 1999, 1(4,5), 197-201.
Barberger-Gateau P, Letenneur L, Deschamps V, Pérès K, Jean-François Dartigues JF, and Renaud S (2002). Fish, meat, and risk of dementia: Cohort study. British Medical Journal, 325, 932-933.
Vogiatzoglou A, Refsum H, Johnston C, Smith SM, Bradley KM, de Jager C, Budge MM, Smith AD. Vitamin B12 status and rate of brain volume loss in community-dwelling elderly. Neurology. 2008 Sep 9;71(11):826-32.
The "Expensive Urine" Myth: What About Those "Wasted" Vitamins?
(OMNS, November 10, 2008) Ever heard this one before? "Your body doesn't absorb extra vitamins. All you get from taking vitamin supplements is expensive urine." Sure you have. And you still will, at websites such as http://www.dietitian.com and http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67769 . Even the BBC has reported it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/109881.stm. Some people will tell you that any vitamin consumption higher than the lowly RDA is simply a "waste of money."
"Expensive urine." It is an old saw, and one terrific sound byte. Too bad it is also false.
Urine is what is left over after your kidneys purify your blood. If your urine contains, say, extra vitamin C, that vitamin C was in your blood. If the vitamin was in your blood, you absorbed it just fine. It is the absence of water-soluble vitamins in urine that indicates vitamin deficiency. If your body excretes vitamins in your urine, that is a sign that you are well-nourished and have nutrients to spare. That is good.
Here's another way to think of it: Standing at the base of the Hoover Dam looking up, you cannot tell how much water is behind it. However, by observing the overflow spillway, you can tell. If the spillway is dry and dusty, full of tumbleweeds and foxes are making their dens, there has been a drought for some time, and the water level in the dam must be low. If water is pouring down the spillway, the dam must be full. "Waste" indicates fullness, just as an overflowing cup is unmistakably a full cup. Urine spillage of vitamins indicates nutritional adequacy. A lack of water-soluble vitamins in the urine indicates inadequacy.
"Expensive urine," writes veteran nutritional reporter Jack Challem, is "a bizarre argument because a $50 restaurant meal and a bottle of fine wine also lead to expensive urine, but no one seems to be complaining about those things. Numerous studies have shown, however, that vitamin supplements do increase people's blood levels of those nutrients." (1)
Former faculty member at the University of Auckland Michael Colgan, PhD, measured how much vitamin C is actually used with increasing daily doses. He found that "Only a quarter of our subjects reached their vitamin C maximum at 1,500 mg a day. More than half required over 2,500 mg a day to reach a level where their bodies could use no more. Four subjects did not reach their maximum at 5,000 mg." Indeed, says one commentator, "Increasing vitamin C intake from 50 mg to 500 mg tends to double serum vitamin C levels. Increasing intake to 5,000 mg a day will double serum levels again." (2)
Time for a Second Opinion?
Thomas Levy, MD, JD, a board-certified cardiologist, says "There's a popular medical view that taking vitamin C just makes expensive urine. Some of it is lost in urine, but the more you consume, the more stays in your body." (3)
William Kaufman, MD, a physician with a PhD in nutritional biochemistry as well, wrote: "Those who believe that you can get all the nourishment including vitamins and minerals you need to sustain optimal health throughout life from food alone can be very smug. They have the equivalent of an orthodox religious belief: "food is everything." They don't have to concern themselves with the fact that the nutritional value of foods their patient eats may be greatly inferior to the listed nutritional values given in food tables. . . The two-liner 'We get all the vitamins we need in our diets. Taking supplements only gives you an expensive urine' completely overlooks the benefits vitamin supplements can produce in our bodies before being excreted in our urine." (4)
Expensive Breath
We all know that we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. We also breathe out oxygen, and quite a lot of it, too. Inhaled air is about 21% oxygen. We typically consume only about a quarter of that. So exhaled breath is approximately 15% oxygen. (5) Exhaled breath has enough oxygen for CPR to save lives. That also must mean that scuba divers have "expensive breath." For that matter, oxygen-tent patients from preemies to geriatric patients, and those receiving surgical anesthesia all receive far more oxygen than their bodies can actually use. We do not consider that a waste; we consider that a good idea. Abundance is not a bad thing.
Expensive “Drug Urine”
"When it comes to really expensive urine," says one editorial, "doctors fail to look at the cost of all those pharmaceuticals and chemotherapy drugs they're shoving down the throats of patients. Those drugs are excreted through the urine, too, and when you add up the cost of those, just the financial cost, not even counting the cost in devastating side effects, they far outweigh the cost of eating healthy foods and taking supporting supplements." (6)
Dr. Kaufmann adds: "During the early part of World War II, GI's treated with penicillin had to save all their urine so that the penicillin which had been excreted in their urine could be recovered and then used to treat other GI's with life threatening wound infections. If one only considered the penicillin that was excreted in the urine and not the benefits that the GI had in having his infection cured by penicillin, one could sneer that penicillin's only function was to give the GI expensive urine. If one considered only the function of penicillin in the GI's body, one would have to marvel at the miracle of its curing a potentially lethal infection." (4)
Good nutrition saves lives. The therapeutic use of vitamin supplements, to both treat and prevent serious diseases, has tens of thousands of scientific references to support it. (7) Can all of those researchers and physicians be dumber than the reporter you may have just have heard intone that "vitamins just give you expensive urine"?
So many of us modern-day people are deficit eaters, attempting to obtain our vitamins from a selection of nutritionally weak foods. Foods alone cannot meet our vitamin needs for optimum health. Vitamin supplements are the solution, not the problem. Good health is not about the vitamins you excrete; it's about the vitamins you retain.
References:
(1) http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/10_vitamin_truths.html
(2) http://annieappleseedproject.stores.yahoo.net/expensiveurine.html
(3) Levy T. Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases & Toxins: Curing the Incurable. This book is reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/levy.html
(4) Letter from William Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D. April 7,1992. Published as Kaufman W. [Saul AW, editor]. Nutrition illiteracy and nutritional inadequacy. J Orthomolecular Med, 2007. Vol 22, No 2, p 83-89.
(5) This can be measured. http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5069220.html
(6) http://www.naturalnews.com/021393.html
(7) Many full-text nutrition therapy papers are posted for free access at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom . 17 extensive bibliographies of nutrition research are posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com .
Vitamin C Slows Cancer Down: And, Doctors Say, Can Reverse It as Well
(OMNS, October 31, 2008) The BBC recently reported (1) that "Vitamin C 'slows cancer growth.' An injection of a high dose of vitamin C may be able to hold back the advance of cancers, US scientists claim. The vitamin may start a destructive chain reaction within the cancer cell." The injection "halved the size" of tumors, and was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study authors themselves said that daily, high-dose vitamin C treatment "significantly decreased growth rates" of ovarian, pancreatic, and malignant brain tumors in mice. Such high, cancer-stopping levels of vitamin C can be "readily achieved in humans given ascorbate intravenously." (2)
"Readily achieved"? Then this is important, absolutely vital news for millions fighting or fearing cancer.
So what do major cancer organizations have to say? Not much. That is disappointing, but hardly surprising. Both the American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK have downplayed or flatly ignored decades of physician reports and controlled clinical studies indicating that vitamin C stops cancer. What's worse, each of these supposedly comprehensive cancer research and education organizations continues to actively discourage people from using vitamin C against cancer.
Look for yourself and see. The American Cancer Society's vitamin C webpage (3) specifically states: "Although high does of vitamin C have been suggested as a cancer treatment, the available evidence from clinical trials has not shown any benefit." And Cancer Research UK states that "There is currently no evidence from clinical trials in humans that injecting or consuming vitamin C is an effective way to treat cancer." (1)
"No benefit," they say. "No evidence," they say.
Both organizations are wrong. Neither statement is true.
In 2008, Korean doctors reported that intravenous vitamin C "plays a crucial role in the suppression of proliferation of several types of cancer," notably melanoma. (4)
In 2006, Canadian doctors reported on the effectiveness of intravenous vitamin C in treating cancer. (5)
In 2004, doctors in America and Puerto Rico published clinical cases of vitamin C successes against cancer. (6)
In 1990, American doctors published their results successfully using vitamin C to treat kidney cancer (7). In 1995 and 1996, other cancers. (8) Using 30,000 mg of intravenous vitamin C twice per week, they found that "metastatic lesions in the lung and liver of a man with a primary renal cell carcinoma disappeared in a matter of weeks. . . We subsequently reported a case of resolution of bone metastases in a patient with primary breast cancer [1A] using infusions of 100 grams, once or twice per week." (9)
In 1982, Japanese doctors showed that vitamin C greatly prolonged the lives of terminal cancer patients. (10)
And as early as 1976, over two decades ago, physicians in Scotland showed that intravenous vitamin C improved quality and length of life in terminal cancer patients. (11)
Why are ACS and Cancer Research UK oblivious to the weight of evidence? All these previous clinical reports were published in peer-reviewed medical journals. One may bear in mind that both ACS and Cancer UK made their restrictive statements August 2008. Yes, 2008. In spite of increasingly compelling evidence for 22 years, both the American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK are dragging their feet. Foot-dragging costs lives. Hundreds of thousands of people have died from cancer that could have been helped with ascorbate therapy. But for decades, their three advocated cancer treatments have been "cut, zap, and drug": surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The use of high doses of vitamins has been thoroughly excluded.
Indeed, ACS still says: "If a supplement is taken, the best choice for most people is a balanced multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains no more than 100% of the 'Daily Value' of most nutrients." (3) That is harmful advice. Many well designed clinical studies show that large doses of vitamin C and other nutrients improve both quality and length of life for cancer patients. The key is the use of sufficiently high quantities, appropriately administered. More orange juice just won't do it.
Cancer Research UK even maintains (1) that vitamin C "can make cancer treatment less effective, reducing the benefits of radiotherapy and chemotherapy." That statement is untrue. (12,13) Oncologists routinely administer antioxidant drugs along with chemotherapy with no diminution of effect. (14)
ACS and Cancer Research UK say that there is "no evidence from clinical trials" that vitamin C is any good against cancer. They should start reading the medical literature. They are way behind the times. And they are wrong. Dead wrong.
References:
(1) BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7540822.stm Published: Aug 4, 2008.
(2) Chen Q, Espey MG, Sun AY, Pooput C, Kirk KL, Krishna MC, Khosh DB, Drisko J, Levine M. Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 4.
(3) http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Vitamin_C.asp (accessed Aug 12, 2008)
(4) Padayatty et al. Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2006. 174(7), March 28, p 937-942. http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/174/7/937
(5) Lee SK, Kang JS, Jung da J et al. Vitamin C suppresses proliferation of the human melanoma cell SK-MEL-2 through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and the modulation of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) production. J Cell Physiol. 2008 Jul;216(1):180-8.
(6) Riordan HD, Riordan NH, Jackson JA, Casciari, J.J., Hunninghake, R, Gonzalez MJ, Mora, E.M., Miranda-Massari, J.R., Rosario, N., Rivera, A.: Intravenous Vitamin C as a Chemotherapy Agent: a Report on Clinical Cases. Puerto Rico Health Sciences J, June 2004, 23(2): 115-118.
(7) Riordan HD, Jackson JA, 'Schultz M. Case study: high-dose intravenous vitamin C in the treatment of a patient with adenocarcinoma of the kidney. J Ortho Med 1990; 5: 5-7.
(8) Riordan N, Jackson JA, Riordan HD. Intravenous vitamin C in a terminal cancer patient. J Ortho Med 1996; 11: 80-82. Also: Riordan, N. H., et al. (1995) Intravenous ascorbate as a tumor cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent. Medical Hypotheses, 44(3). p 207-213, March.
(9) Riordan NH, Riordan HD, Hunninghake RE. Intravenous ascorbate as a chemotherapeutic and biologic response modifying agent. http://www.doctoryourself.com/riordan1.html and http://www.canceraction.org.gg/recnac.htm . Additional papers may be read at http://brightspot.org/cresearch/index.shtml .
(10) Murata A, Morishige F and Yamaguchi H. (1982) Prolongation of survival times of terminal cancer patients by administration of large doses of ascorbate. International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research Suppl., 23, 1982, p. 103-113. Also in Hanck, A., ed. (1982) Vitamin C: New Clinical Applications. Bern: Huber, 103-113).
(11) Cameron E and Pauling L. (1976) Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 73:3685-3689. Also: Cameron E and Pauling L. (1978) Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: Reevaluation of prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 75:4538-4542. And: Cameron E and Pauling L. (1981) Survival times of terminal lung cancer patients treated with ascorbate. J. Intern. Acad. Prev. Med. 6: 21-27.
(12) Hoffer A. High doses of antioxidants including vitamin C do not decrease the efficacy of chemotherapy. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. http://www.doctoryourself.com/chemo.html
(13) Chemotherapy Doesn't Work, So Blame Vitamin C. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 7, 2008. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n12.shtml
(14) Moss RW. Antioxidants against Cancer. Equinox Press Inc. Brooklyn NY, 2000. ISBN-10: 1881025284; ISBN-13: 978-1881025283. Also: Moss RW. Questioning Chemotherapy. Equinox Press, Brooklyn NY, 1995. ISBN-10: 188102525X; ISBN-13: 978-1881025252.
For more information:
Intravenous vitamin C protocols for cancer treatment are posted at:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/riordan1.html
http://www.canceraction.org.gg/recnac.htm
http://www.doctoryourself.com/cameron.html
Cameron E and Pauling L. Cancer and Vitamin C, revised edition. Philadelphia: Camino Books, 1993. ISBN-10: 094015921X; ISBN-13: 978-0940159211
Hoffer A and Pauling L. Vitamin C and Cancer: Discovery, Recovery, Controversy. Quarry Press, Kingston, ON, 1999. ISBN 1-55082-078-8 Reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_vitc_can.html
Riordan HD, Hunninghake, R.E., Riordan NH, Jackson, J.J., Meng, X.L., Taylor, P., Casciari, J.J., Gonzalez MJ, Miranda-Massari, J.R., Mora, E.M., Norberto, R, Rivera, A. Intravenous Ascorbic Acid: Protocol for its Application and Use. Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal, September 2003, 22:3.
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource. To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html
All of the above articles are copyright © 2008 by Orthomolecular News Service. All Rights reserved.
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Recommendations
Books
A Most Wanted man by John Le Carre. I consider Le Carre one of our finest living novelists. In this, his most recent novel, he crafts a cerebral thriller that brilliantly points out the unintended consequences of the “war on terror.”
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Dickens and Mark Twain are my two favorite novelists (with Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas very close behind). And this is one of my favorite Dickens’ tales. Well worth reading if you haven’t already, and re-reading if you have.
Medical Freedom
Please contact and support the following organizations dedicated to protecting our health freedoms.
Citizens for Health - http://www.citizens.org
Alliance for Natural Health – http://www.alliance-natural-health.org (The leading organization fighting to preserve health f/r/e/edom in England and the EU.)
Institute for Health Freedom – http://www.ForHealthF/r/e/edom.org
International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF) – http://www.iahf.com
And to learn how corrupt and extensive Big Pharma’s monopoly is, visit http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html the website for the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research. In particular, read their in-depth report The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket that you will find there.
That’s all for this week.
Health and Blessings!
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
Contact Information: Due to the inordinate amount of spam my email account receives, I no longer use it to receive emails. To contact me, please visit www.1healthyworld.com/contactus
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