Re: vitamin A toxicity & synthetic supplements

[Guest guest]

Dear Suze, I have a great article called " Vitamin Supplements are NOT

Food Supplements " which describes the difference between whole food

and fractionated symthetic supplements. If you want I can send it to

you off line if you send me an email. Here's some excerpts from it:

" Synthetic vitamin A, given to pregnant women in medium high doses of

10,000 - 20,000 i.u. per day, increased the risk of birth defects by

240% at the lower dose to 400% at the upper dosage. These defects

were teratogenic (interferes with normal prenatal development) in

nature including: cleft lip, cleft palate, heart malformations, and

nervous system damage such as hydrocephalus. This study, done on

22,748 women over a period of four years, did state that there was no

birth defect risk noted from foods containing vitamin A or its

precursors carotene and beta-carotene. This study done by Boston

University School of Medicine and was published in the New England

Journal of Medicine, November 23, 1995.

Researchers at Dartmouth Medical College did a four-year study to

determine if anti-oxidants, administered as a supplement, could

prevent the recurrence of adenomata of the colon after successful

removal of the lesion from 864 patients. After four years of giving

25 mg. of beta-carotene, 1,000 mg. of ascorbic acid, and 400 mg. of

alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), all of a synthetic form, there were no

positive effects noted and the researchers concluded that, " current

data does not support the use of antioxidant vitamin supplements for

purposes of cancer prevention. " This study was cited in the July 22,

1994 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A 10-year Finnish study on 29,133 male smokers (ages 50 - 69) was

done to determine if vitamin E and beta-carotene would reduce the

incidence of lung cancer and other cancers. The daily dose of beta-

carotene administered was 20 mg, which raised the blood levels of the

same more than 10-fold. The daily dosage of alpha-tocopherol given

was 50 mg. elevating the blood values of the vitamin E by

approximately one-third. Both the beta-carotene and alpha-tocopherol

were of a synthetic form. To the astonishment of the researchers,

not only was there no protection noted from supplementation, but

there was noted harmful effects which included: 18% higher incidence

of lung cancer, more heart attacks, more strokes, and an 8% increase

in the overall death rate. This study was reported in the New

England Journal of Medicine (Volume 330, Number 13), April 14, 1994.

Synthetic multi-vitamins given to elderly Americans (average age 63)

as a supplement for the purpose of improving muscle weakness and

physical frailty, demonstrated no benefits to the participants. This

was reported in the New England Journal of medicine, June 23, 1994.

In a study cited by E. Levin in American Journal of Digestive

Diseases, Volume 12, January 1945, in an article entitled, " Vitamin E

vs. Wheat Germ Oil " , vitamin E-deficient laboratory animals that were

fed tocopherols died before the control vitamin E-deficient group

that did not receive any vitamin supplementation at all.

Agnes Fay , Ph.D., food research scientist at the university of

California, reported in Science, 93, pages 261-262, 1941, that

animals on a synthetic vitamin enriched diet died long before the

animals on an unprocessed diet became disabled. She further stated

that the enrichment of processed foods with synthetic vitamins

may " precipitate conditions worse that the original deficiency. "

Cited in Scandinavian Veterinary, Volume 30, 1940, pages, 1121-1143,

was a study in which two groups of silver foxes were fed a synthetic

diet allowing researchers to qualify all components of the diet.

This study revolved around the B vitamins. The first group were

supplemented with synthetic versions of all of the know B vitamins.

The result was that this group did not follow normal growth curves

(were below normal), their fur deteriorated and they eventually died

an early, untimely death. This contrasted with the second group,

which were fed food sources of the vitamin B complex. Their health

flourished and a normal life span was recorded.

Dr. Barnett Sure's pig study was cited in the Journal of Natural

Agriculture, August 1939, in which he demonstrated the effect of

synthetic vitamin B vs. natural vitamin B on pigs. One group was fed

twice the MDR (modern RDA) of the synthetic and the second group

equal amount of the natural version. He found that 100% of the first

generation of the synthetically supplemented group was sterile.

An excellent book to gain more insight and references on the subject

of natural vs. synthetic supplementation, is:

The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants, by Judith A. DeCava,

M.S., L.N.C.

Humble Chiropractic & Kinesiology

320 Main Street, Suite D

Humble, TX 77338

From: Bee

> last year our local WAPF chapter ran a booth at the Common Ground

Fair,

> which is a big agricultural fair put on by the maine organic

farmers and

> gardeners association. 50,000 people attend. in any event, the day

i was

> running the booth, one of the people who stopped to talk was a

nutritionist

> who was very upset with the foundation's emphasis on animal fats,

which she

> said could cause vitamin A toxicity. she said it was " dangerous " or

> something to that effect, and she wrote down all the names of the

books were

> displaying and/or selling, for what purpose i don't know. i debated

the vit.

> a toxicity subject with her for a little bit, but i didn't know a

heck of a

> lot about the subject then, and still feel like i don't have a good

handle

> on it. i told her the WAPF didn't make a recommendation for a

specific

> quantitiy of any nutrient that i was aware of, but rather made

general

> recommendations for things like animal fats and other foods

characteristic

> of healthy traditional diets. so how she could determine that that

would

> cause vit. a toxicity, i don't know.

>

> nonetheless she was adament that the emphasis on animal fats, and

perhaps

> cod liver oil could be harmful in regards to vit. a. i have no

doubt that

> stuffing oneself with animal fats is not problematic in terms of

vitamin a,

> but i'm not so clear on the CLO issue, nor am i very familiar with

studies

> that have been done on vit. a toxicity. i keep hearing that only

*synthetic*

> vit. a is toxic, but not *natural* vitamin a. does anyone know what

the

> basis of that is? it sounds logical, but is it based on actual

data?

>

> i will be running the wapf booth at the same fair in two days and

would like

> to get a little more informed about the vit. a issue in case this

> nutritionist comes back to debate it with me. if anyone has any

studies that

> measured toxicity of synthetic and natural forms, that would be

helpful. i

> do have one reference about a study that fed 300,000 iu vit. a to

283 people

> for up to 2 years and found no symptoms associatied with

hypervitaminosis A.

> no mention of which form it was. however, my understanding is that

it's an

> individual thing, with some tolerating much higher amounts than

others.

>

> Suze Fisher

> Lapdog Design, Inc.

> Web Design & Development

> http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

> Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

> http://www.westonaprice.org

>

> ----------------------------

> " The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol

cause

> heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times. " -

-

> Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at

Vanderbilt

> University, Tennessee; heart disease researcher.

>

> The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

> <http://www.thincs.org>

> ----------------------------

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>>>Dear Suze, I have a great article called " Vitamin Supplements are NOT

Food Supplements " which describes the difference between whole food

and fractionated symthetic supplements. If you want I can send it to

you off line if you send me an email. Here's some excerpts from it:

---->thanks for posting that excerpt bee. i'd appreciate a copy of the

article, thanks very much!

s.fisher22@...

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

http://www.westonaprice.org

----------------------------

“The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause

heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times.” --

Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt

University, Tennessee; heart disease researcher.

The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

<http://www.thincs.org>

----------------------------