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Vitamins,
were once touted as miracle cures, beauty boosts, and
sex aids by many. Since the trumpeted megadoses of
vitamin C by Nobel Prize laureates Linus Pauling, taking vitamin
has become dietary supplements for many Americans to
help prevent various ailments.. From
time to time, different vitamins have made national
headline, such as the recent story of taking Vitamin C
would reduce “free radical” in the body, thus prevent the
occurrence of cancer.
To
increase the awareness of these dietary supplement and
to keep up with the recent research and interests on
vitamins, various information about vitamins are listed below:
Scientific
Aspects of Vitamin:
A
vitamin is an organic compound needed in small
quantities for operation of normal bodily metabolism and
that can not be manufacture by the cells in the body.
Many of them function as coenzymes, serving as catalyst
to speed up chemical reactions. Severe vitamin
deficiencies can have appalling consequences,
that may occur in regions where malnutrition is
chronic. Studies have shown that blindness among
children who were victims of the famines in Ethiopia in
the mid-1980s were due to severe vitamin A deficiency.
At the
present time, the WHO (World Health Organization) is
mounting a massive campaign to supply high doses of
supplementary vitamin A to children in poverty-stricken
regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Currently there is no clear evidence that the ingestion
of amounts of any particular vitamin in excess of the
amount available in a well balanced diet has enormous
benefits to healthy persons. But large consumption of
fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, and K, which
can accumulate in body tissues, can be toxic. It is well
known to Eskimos and Arctic explorers that the
consumption of polar bear’s liver can be fatal, since
the liver of polar bear contains more than 3,000 times
the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A.
This can be further evident that sled dogs and
Arctic birds refuse to eat the liver of polar bears.
Vitamin C
A
century or more before, English sailors ate limes to
prevent an anemia-causing condition called scurvy. Lime
has a high concentration of Vitamin C, which aid the
formation of collagen and the absorption of iron into
the body. Preventing scurvy wasn't the only merit of
vitamin C. From various scientific articles that has
shown that Vitamin C may help people to fight cancer,
heart disease, cataracts, and arthritis.
Vitamin
C (ascorbic acid) is a water-soluble vitamin. Like other
water soluble vitamins, vitamin C leaches into cooking
water. Major dietary sources of vitamin C include citrus
fruits, berries, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, green
peppers and other green and yellow vegetables. Like most
water-soluble vitamins, excess intake of vitamin C is
excreted and not stored in the body.
More info about
Vitamin C:
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Who should not
take Vitamin C?
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What other drugs
that will influence or interact with Vitamin C?
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What happened if I overdose with Vitamin C?
The
most controversial question surrounding vitmin C is its
use in megadoses to prevent and cure common cold. Ever
since the use of vitamin C was first popularized by
Linus Pauling in 1970. Some double-blind studies have
suggested that while vitamin C supplementation does not
appear to be useful in preventing the common cold, it
may moderate its symptons. The mechanism by which
vitamin C improves the symptoms of the common cold is
not known. It has been suggested that vitamin C is
required for normal white blood cells thus fight common
cold better.
Even
though megadoses of vitamin C are not too harmful, but
some potential side effects of high vitamin C intake
should be considered, such as formation of oxalate
kidney stones in predisposed individuals.
Vitamin C deficiency
Symptoms of mild vitamin C deficiency include easy
bruising, formation of petechiae (small, pinpoint
hemorrhages in skin), and decreased immunocompetence.
Vitamin C is needed in periods of stress. In severe
stress or trauma there is a rapid drop in serum vitamin
C levels and redistribute to adrenals and the area of
the wound.
[Vitamin A] [Vitamin B Complex] [Vitamin E]
[Vitamin K] [More Info]
Dr. Judith Ackerman Copyright 2000 | 
