(clockwise from top left): Dr. Melina Jampolis, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Walter Willett, Dr. Christiane Northrup
This time CNN decided to ask the experts what they're taking because two new studies have come out over the past two weeks casting doubt on:
- Vitamin E and selenium for preventing prostate cancer. Click here to learn more.
- Vitamin D and calcium for preventing invasive breast cancer. Click here to learn more.
In October when the Vitamin E & selenium SELECT Study was discontinued, Tara Parker-Pope wrote a post in her New York Times Well Blog, called: Disappointing News on Vitamin E and Selenium. You can read it here. Here's my comment to her blog, which explains why you have to look at these studies with a skeptical eye:
2 thoughts come to mind regarding the results of this study.
1. Vitamin/mineral trials by their very nature isolate & reduce the benefits of health-giving anti-oxidant whole foods to single nutrients. This is a mistake.
I recently heard Dr. Christopher Gardner, the Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, explain that the recent failure of a trial to reduce heart attack risk by supplementing with folic acid (to reduce homocysteine) came as no surprise to him.
According to Gardner, you can’t extract one nutrient from a food & expect miracles. Eating beans, greens & citrus (high in folic acid), leading a healthy lifestyle, & exercising might have had more positive results. However, such a trial would have to run for 40 years, because that’s how long it takes to develop a chronic disease, like cancer, heart disease & diabetes. Not a practical trial.
2. Dr. Walter Willett, the prominent Harvard nutritionist & epidemiologist notes that it can take many years for nutritional benefits to show up. In the Physician’s Health Study, one of the longest running randomized studies, the cognitive/memory benefits of beta-carotene supplements did not show up after even 12 years.
It took 18 years of taking the supplements for the brain benefits to show up!
Diseases like cancer & heart disease are years in the making. It’s unlikely that benefits of single vitamins will show up after a few years, in men who may have already had years of less than healthful living, and perhaps have already started the disease process.
Perhaps the better evidence is looking at epidemiologic and large population studies like “The China Study”.
We’d all like to just take a few pills & stay healthy. I doubt that will ever happen.
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/
— The Healthy Librarian
#23 October 28, 2008 6:04 pm
For the complete article in CNN click here.
Dr. Andrew Weil: Age: 66; director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine; Drweil.com
What he takes:
1. A daily multivitamin/multimineral
2. Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as other conditions. Studies show many of us are vitamin D deficient. Weil says look on the label to make sure you're getting vitamin D3, not vitamin D2.
3. Magnesium. Lack of magnesium may lead to irritablity, muscle weakness, and irregular heartbeat.
4. Juvenon (or "Omega"), a compound believed to enhance cellular health and function. This supplement contains two nutrients, acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. The company that makes Juvenon says benefits include "more energy," a "sharper mind", and "more restful sleep."
5. Co-Q-10, a supplement that boosts coenzyme Q10, which is produced by the human body and is necessary for the basic functioning of cells. Animal studies have found that coenzyme Q10 helps the immune system work better and makes the body better able to resist certain infections and types of cancer.
Weil, author of 10 books including, "Eight Weeks to Optimum Health," says it is important to take studies, like the one in JAMA, with a grain of salt. "I believe vitamins E and C are important as part of our antioxidant defenses, even if we have not yet documented specific preventive effects," says Weil.
What not to take
Weil says men shouldn't take iron unless they've been diagnosed by a physician as having iron deficiency anemia. He also advises against men taking calcium supplements; he's concerned they could increase the risk of prostate cancer.
Dr. Christiane Northrup: Age: "50 something;" author, "The Secret Pleasures of Menopause;" Drnorthrup.com
What she takes:
1. Antioxidant supplement
2. Fish oil. Some studies have found fish oil, which contains omega 3 fatty acids, can help lower triglyceride levels, lower blood pressure, and help depression, among other uses.
3. Calcium, which can help prevent osteoporosis -- a problem in particular for older women
4. Magnesium
5. Coenzyme Q10
6. Vitamin D
Northrup, an authority on women's health and wellness and author of the new book "The Secret Pleasures of Menopause," says it is important to remember that vitamins are not drugs. They don't work the same way in the body.
"Vitamins are best taken in the correct proportions to each other," says Northrup. For example, she says if you are taking folic acid, which is a B vitamin, you'll do better when you also take the other Bs that make up the B complex. Says Northrup, "That's how nutrients occur naturally and how the body best utilizes them."
What not to take
Northrup says postmenopausal women almost never need iron, and taking too much might pose a risk for heart health.
Dr. Walter Willett: Age: 63; chairman, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
What he takes:
1. Multivitamin
2. Vitamin D
Willett thinks the jury is still out on vitamin E and C and heart health. "I don't think we have the final answer," says Willett, the chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. He points out that in the Women's Health Study, women receiving vitamin E experienced a statistically significant 24 percent reduction in total cardiovascular disease mortality.
What not to take
He agrees with Dr. Weil: men don't need extra calcium, and high intake might increase the risk of prostate cancer.
Dr. Melina Jampolis: Age: 38; Drmelina.com
What she takes:
1. Multivitamin
2. Calcium
3. Vitamin D
4. Omega 3
Jampolis, who practices in San Francisco, California, and specializes exclusively in nutrition for weight loss and disease prevention and treatment, says everyone should take a basic multivitamin. "I like to call it an insurance policy," she says.
What not to take
What not to take: "I'm not convinced that the 'beautiful skin' vitamins really help much -- it's much better to get the nutrients from your diet, drink water, and wear sunscreen," Jampolis says.
1. A Centrum Silver (no iron) multivitamin (I alternate this with the B-50)
2. A B-50 complex with C (I alternate this with the multi)--My doctor recommends this one!
3. Vitamin D (my favorite vitamin. Click here to learn why.)
4. Magnesium (200 mg in A.M. with calcium. 200 mg before sleep with calcium)
5. Juvenon (Read Juvenon's website here. & Read LA TImes Healthy Skeptic here. )
6. Curcumin (an anti-inflammatory which is a component of the spice turmeric)
7. Fish Oil, with added DHA
8. Citracal calcium
9. Grape seed extract--an anti-oxidant
***I'm very regular with my Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium & Fish Oil. I probably manage only 3 or 4 days a week with the rest of the vitamins. After all, I really do believe:
"What the Experts Recommend - Their Favorite Vitamins, Supplements, Foods & Health Tips" Click here
It has great advice from Joe Graedon of the People's Pharmacy.
Two comments:
1) Regarding "The Healthy Librarian--What I Take:"
How would your choices change if you were a boy? Inquiring male minds want to know!
2) Regarding the B-50 complex:
I break out in a rash whenever people speak of "balanced" dosages of B vitamins and then define balanced as the same quantity of everything. There is nothing in the literature that even remotely suggests we need the same NUMBER of milligrams/micrograms/whatever of each of this handful of nutrients.
Posted by: Colorado Bill | November 24, 2008 at 07:15 PM