While our legislative authorities are at great pains to protect us from the "potential" negative effects of supplementation of vital nutrients in high doses, there is a chance that they may have it all wrong.
The documented negative effects are those of approved and properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs, which have become a major cause of death in western-medicine dominated areas.
Instead, more and more evidence is emerging for the absolutely vital nature of vitamins, and in much higher doses than those generally recommended, effective for the prevention of various diseases. Just yesterday I came across a connection of vitamin C deficiency to cot death or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and here today a study which strongly suggests that the combination of vitamin C and E (in good high doses) will lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease:
Vitamin E, C Supplements May Prevent Alzheimer's
Mon January 19, 2004 05:09 PM ET
(Paper originally published in Archives of Neurology, news story by Reuters)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study involving more than 4700 participants strongly suggests that the combination of vitamin C and E lowers the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
As the lead investigator Dr. Peter P. Zandi told Reuters Health, properly conducted prevention trials are needed to confirm the results.
However, "because vitamins E and C are relatively non-toxic and are believed to have wide-ranging health benefits, they may offer a very attractive strategy for preventing Alzheimer's disease."
The findings come from the Cache County Study, which looked at the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in terms of genetic and environmental risk factors. As part of the study, people aged 65 and older were assessed for dementia between 1995 and 1997 and again between 1998 and 2000.
The participants were categorized as "vitamin E users" if they took an individual vitamin E tablet or a multivitamin containing more than 400 international units of vitamin E every day. They were classified as "vitamin C users" if they took at least 500 milligrams per day of vitamin C as a stand-alone tablet or in a multivitamin. If they took multivitamins containing lower doses of these two vitamins, they were categorized as "multivitamin users."
Zandi, at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues identified 200 cases of Alzheimer's disease between 1995 and 1997 and 104 new cases during follow-up of 4740 participants.
According to the team's analysis, reported in The Archives of Neurology, use of vitamin E and C supplements in combination lowered the odds of having Alzheimer's disease at the start of the study by about 78 percent, and the odds of developing the disease by about 64 percent during the follow-up period.
There was also a trend toward reduced Alzheimer's risk among people who took vitamin E and multivitamins containing vitamin C.
In contrast, there was "no evidence of a protective effect with the use of vitamin E or C supplements alone, with multivitamins alone, or with vitamin B-complex supplements."
Currently, the recommended daily allowance for vitamin E is 22 IU (15 mg) and for vitamin C, 75 to 90 mg, the team points out. Although multivitamin preparations typically contain approximately these levels, individual supplements commonly contain doses up to 1000 IU of vitamin E and 500 to 1000 mg or more of vitamin C.
"Our findings suggest that vitamins E and C may offer protection against AD when taken together in the higher doses available from individual supplements," the researchers conclude.
Zandi also pointed out that there may be a biological reason why the two vitamins together produce a benefit, related to the different duration of their antioxidant effects.
"Vitamin E is a lipid-soluble vitamin that sticks around in fat tissues of the body for a relatively long time," he explained. "In contrast, vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin and is rapidly excreted from the body. Vitamin C may act to 'recharge' the antioxidant capacities of vitamin E so that the vitamin E can sustain its job of soaking up free radicals and relieving oxidative stress in the body."
SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, January 2004.
See also
Vitamins 'cut Alzheimer's effect'
And here a pertinent comment from Jon Rappoport
THOSE DAMN VITAMINS
JANUARY 21, 2004. The BBC reports on a new study probing the effects of vitamins on Alzheimer’s. Yes it is just a prelim study. Yes, other factors could be involved. And yes, since there is no established single root cause for Alzheimer’s, no one can define its parameters or say it is a single discrete condition.
BUT…I assure you, if researchers at, say, the US National Institutes of Health had found a DRUG with the effects of the vitamins, people there would be dancing in the aisles, breaking out the bubbly. There would be talk of med-science prizes.
AND there would be lots of heavy hitters in the Alzheimer’s field who would want that drug banned and destroyed, because the MONEY, the real money, is in treating Alzheimer’s, not preventing it.
Here is an excerpt from the BBC piece:
Lead researcher Dr Peter Zandi said: "These results are extremely exciting.
"Our study suggests that the regular use of vitamin E in nutritional supplement doses, especially in combination with vitamin C, may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."
Dr Zandi's team examined data on 4,740 people aged 65 years or older. Of these 304 showed signs of Alzheimer's disease.
Approximately 17% of the study participants reported taking vitamin E or C supplements.
Another 20% used multivitamins, but without a high dosage of vitamin E or C.
Combination crucial
The researchers found that taking a combination of vitamin E and C seemed to have a protective effect.
People taking both vitamins were 78% less likely to show signs of Alzheimer's than those not taking the combination.
End of excerpt.
78% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s? That finding is fantastic. Now watch and see whether they really follow up with a large double-blind study, and if so, what results they say they obtain.
JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com
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