VITAMIN AND
MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS
Are vitamin and mineral supplements needed in the diet? Which ones are essential, and how much should we take? The answer to these questions is quite simple: If our creator would have wanted us to take Vitamin C, He would have created a tree that grew Vitamin C pills. Instead He created many different fruit trees, and the fruit contains the Vitamin C our bodies need. The American people have been convinced that vitamins are good for their health, and over 40% take supplemental vitamins every day.
Our actual need for vitamins and minerals has been greatly exaggerated. The actual amount of vitamins the human body needs for one year is very small . Every vitamin and mineral necessary to the body can be found in the food we eat. There is a long list of experts in the field of nutrition who are expressing grave concerns over the health threat posed from taking vitamins and mineral supplements.
Dr. Myron Winick, director of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, indicates that some vitamins, long considered not harmful, are producing medical problems including nerve damage, mild intestinal distress, and fatal liver damage. (Los Angeles Times 12/30/83). Recent reports on excessive use of Vitamin B6 warns that it can cause nerve damage. Symptoms include unsteady walking, numbness, or tingling in the hands and feet. Microscopic analysis shows deterioration of nerve fibers in direct proportion to the amount of B6 ingested. These and other neurological problems may require months to recover from, and can be permanent.
According to an article in the Health Reporter by Robert McCarter, PhD, man-made supplements are simply not what was intended for the human body. In the process of extracting and fractionating elements, they are rendered worthless. Once removed and isolated, vitamins lose their value. Technology exists that can create a grain of wheat in the laboratory. Every needed chemical component can be duplicated and made into a grain of wheat; but if it's put into the ground it will not grow. Why? Because it is not natural.
Man cannot improve upon the natural way our Creator has given us to get our vitamins and minerals. For example: there are several cautions against taking Vitamin C. There are side effects. Vitamin C has an anti-Vitamin D effect. That means that when you take extra Vitamin C, your body requires extra Vitamin D. Another side effect is that Vitamin C may also decrease availability of the B Vitamins, particularly B6 and B12. One orange has 70 milligrams of Vitamin C; it also contains .11 milligrams of thiamine, .05 milligrams of riboflavin, etc...The orange also has minerals: 52 milligrams of calcium, 18 milligrams of phosphorus, etc.... When you take a Vitamin C supplement you are only getting Vitamin C and none of the other vitamins and minerals in proportion that our Creator intended for you to have as a total package.
We know that the ratio of Vitamin C to Vitamin D is important; that the ratio of potassium to magnesium is important; and the ratio of calcium to magnesium is important. But what about those we do not know about? Since our knowledge is so limited in all the proper ratios, it is possible for us to cause a body imbalance by indiscriminately taking vitamin and mineral supplements. I recommend that we eat natural foods, which have all the vitamins and minerals we need in them, even the ones we haven't discovered yet; and that we not waste our money or health on supplements.
"NATURAL VERSUS SYNTHETIC VITAMINS
Paul Stitt, a biochemist, and food scientists for some of the largest corporations in the United States, reports that government regulations require that only three percent of a food supplement be natural ingredients before the food can be labeled "natural" He points out that because synthetic vitamins are so much less expensive, it is likely that many of the "natural" vitamins on the market are 97% synthetic. He says it would require 30 oranges to produce one 1000 mg. vitamin C tablet, and a bottle of all natural vitamin C tablets could cost about four hundred dollars(1) It should be noted, however that even if the bottle of Vitamin C were all from oranges and cost four hundred dollars, it would still not be natural Vitamin C, as it has been separated from the orange. Get your Vitamin C from the true source, the food itself.
MEGA VITAMINS/LEARNING DISORDERS
A group of 20 children with learning disabilities were given large doses of ascorbic acid, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate and pyrodoxine, along with a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet. After a six-month period, the children receiving the megavitamins demonstrated no significant improvement as compared to a group treated by diet alone.
MEGA VITAMIN THERAPY/VISION LOSS
Three adult males, given massive doses of nicotinic acid for treatment of high cholesterol, suffered from loss of central vision. Nicotinic acid may induce retention of fluid and swell ing in the eye leading to loss of vision. After the nicotinic acid was discontinued, some improvement in vision occurred.
CALCIUM/BONE STRENGTH
Large doses of calcium may decrease bone strength instead of strengthening them. Large calcium supplements alter the ratio, and may produce weakening, of the bones. High calcium levels also interfere with Vitamin K function, and may lead to internal bleeding.
Dr. Walter Mertz of the Human Nutrition Research Center of the United States Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland, observed that the absorption of iron and zinc is blocked by calcium supplements.
CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS/ARTHRITIS
Calcium supplements may induce symptoms of arthritis in sensitive patients. A 67 year old woman developed pain, swelling, and redness in her right thumb after she began taking calcium supplements. Symptoms cleared within about two weeks after the calcium supplement was discontinued. She was later started on Os-Cal as a calcium supplement, and within two weeks the symptoms recurred, and cleared only after the cessation of the calcium intake. Some people may be very sensitive to calcium supplements.
VITAMIN A/CANCER RISK
Because special studies have suggested that Vitamin A is protective against cancer, some people are recommending supplements. Suzanne T. Orr, Ph.D., of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, observes that Vitamin A may be easily obtained by dietary sources of provitamin A, found in many vegetables and fruits. ONE SERVING of carrot, cantaloupe, cabbage, celery, turnip greens, sweet potato, kale, mango or many other natural foods is sufficient to provide the RDA. ( Clinical Nutrition 4:138-142, 1985).
VITAMIN C/COMMON COLD
Vitamin C has not been proven to change the course of a common cold. Over-the-counter medications are of dubious value. If one ingredient is helpful the others in the combination may be in improper balance for effective results. ( European Jouranl of Pediatrics 144:4-8, 1985).
VITAMIN C/IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA
Taking large doses (1500 mg. daily) of vitamin C to prevent colds may lead to iron-deficiency anemia, apparently by blockage of the effects of copper, which is essential for iron transport in the blood. Male volunteers given vitamin C supplements developed iron-deficiency anemia despite an adequate iron intake. ( Science News 124:281, October 29, 1983).
There is a long list of experts in the field of nutrition who are expressing grave concerns over the health threat from taking vitamins.
Our actual need for vitamins has been greatly exaggerated. The actual amount of vitamins the human body needs for one year is very small . Every vitamin necessary for your body can be found in the food we eat. If we would eat a large variety of fresh food (cooking partially destroys vitamins), we will not become vitamin deficient. We had a guest named Betty in our 26-day lifestyle session. When she came she brought with her a medium sized box full of expensive organic supplements that she was ingesting every day. She thought she needed these supplements and could not understand why she was so nervous, felt weak, had a duodenal ulcer and gal bladder problems. She stopped taking her expensive supplements, and with proper nutrition, at the end of the 26 day session, she was not as nervous, had plenty of energy, her ulcer was completely healed, and she was not suffering gal bladder problems anymore. Betty learned, while attending our session, that the Creator intended for us to get our vitamins from whole natural foods, and not from a vitamin bottle, as these are unnatural and can cause many health problems.