Following my post yesterday about the British television show "Doc Martin" and the use of placebos, I deliberately avoided revealing what the placebos actually were in order not to distract from the main points I wanted to raise. The "placebos" that Doc Martin and his predecessor gave the patient were vitamins.
Now, if you, like me, are a fan of another doc, "Doc" Abram Hoffer, you may object to calling vitamins, "placebos." Niacin in very high doses in combination with an equal amount of vitamin C and other B-vitamins, is very effective in reducing psychotic symptoms, anxiety, and increasings one's focus. Ever since I learned about niacin and started giving it to Chris to help his psychosis, I also put myself on three grams per day of niacin,vitamin C, and I added a B-complex and zinc. I got amazing results in just three days. My ability to focus increased about five-fold, my hair got thicker and my skin got smoother. I was less anxious.
People are unique in their nutritional needs. People under stress need much larger amounts of certain B vitamins than they get from eating an otherwise healthy, well-balanced diet. Smoking depletes vitamin C, alcohol depletes the B vitamins, and so on. Don't assume that vitamins are worthless just because someone calls it the placebo effect.
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In general multivitamins don't do much for you, recent studies show they cause increased morbidity. It is pretty hard not to get enough of the major vitamins in a first world country because all the grains are enriched. The only thing you really need is Vitamin D and Calcium. Niacin works for some people
ReplyDeleteOver a twenty-seven year period, vitamins have been connected with the deaths of a total of eleven people in the entire United States. Poison control statistics confirm that more Americans die each year from eating soap than from taking vitamins.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the bodies?
http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitsafety.html
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/751263
ReplyDeleteVitamins may not be the primary cause of death but they can increase risk of mortality through other means such as increasing stroke and heart attack risk. Not to mention the binders are notorious for causing kidney stones.
BPA does not kill you, however subtly it raises breast cancer risk and this kind of thing can only be spotted after years of research. BPA causes the cancer that kills you years later and the connection may not be made that it was in fact BPA.
I would be worried that some vitamin could interfere with drug metabolism by blocking a liver emzyne and possibly raise blood levels of some exotic plant or mineral supplement to dangerous levels. This would be a potential problem when taking large stacks of pills at once.
http://www.psrast.org/jftrypt.htm
ReplyDeleteThis is not exactly a vitamin but it is a very common supplement called tryptophan, a genetically engineered strain was used to boost production and a side product resulted because of poor purification. While the argument could be made that this was the GMO's fault it is very likely that may of the microbes used to produce other vitamins are GMOs as well and there is no legal requirement to label GMO produced from non GMO produced supplements. The testing and production standards are also not as stringent as for prescription or OTC drugs. I think it would take a lot of research to confirm the good business practices of any one supplier.