Jonathan Goodman ND
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 These vitamins can be toxic in large doses, and 1 teaspoon of cod liver oil (a typical adult daily dose) contains 2,500 international units (IU) of vitamin a and 400 IU of vitamin D. Although essential, these nutrients accumulate in our fatty tissue, and in the case of vitamin D especially, may be toxic in high quantities. Pregnant or lactating women should restrict their intake of vitamin a to 5,000 IU from all sources. For this reason, many health practitioners recommend salmon or other fish oils, which do not contain these high amounts of A and D, rather than cod liver oil. |
Dr. John Yiamouyiannis
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 And even though some essential nutrients such as vitamin a and copper are poisonous at higher levels, neither vitamin a nor copper has been used to kill rats, cockroaches, and silverfish. Fluoride is routinely used as a rodenticide and insecticide.
The Second Fable: Fluoride Reduces Tooth Decay
"If one wishes to be free from toothache, one should eat a whole mouse twice a month or wash the mouth out three times a year with the blood of a tortoise." Pliny, circa 50 A.D. was noted in Chapter 5, fluoride is responsible for mottling of the teeth, particularly in undernourished children. Dr. |
Marion Nestle
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 The metabolic steps through which plants make beta-carotene from precursor molecules, and animals convert beta-carotene to vitamin a. An enzyme carries out each step. Rice bran contains information for the complete set of enzymes to make beta-carotene, but some enzymes are inactive in the endosperm. To create Golden Rice, scientists obtain genes (DNA) for the missing enzymes from other plants and bacteria and insert them into the DNA of rice (see tables 12 and 16, pages 158 and 280). and nutrients in the grain when it begins to grow into a plant (see figure 13). |
Jean Carper
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 Foods rich in beta carotene—also known as vegetable vitamin a because it converts in the body to vitamin A—in addition to carrots are dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, collards, and kale, as well as dark orange vegetables such as sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Such foods are also high in potassium, another potent antidote against strokes.
Thumbs Up:
THE REMARKABLE CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT
Eat just one extra serving of a potassium-rich food every day; that too may reduce your risk of stroke by 40 percent. |
Steven G. Pratt, M.D. and Kathy Matthews
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 A cup of fresh spinach leaves can provide you with a substantial amount of your daily requirement of vitamin a (via beta-carotene) and 11 percent of the adult female requirement for vitamin C, and 9 percent of the RDA for males.
Leafy Greens and Your Blood Pressure
An easy way to boost your intake of antihypertensive nutrients is to eat leafy greens. They're high in potassium and low in sodium. They provide calcium, magnesium, folate, polyphenols, fiber, and at least a trace to measurable amounts of plant-derived omega-3 fatty acids. |
Gary Null
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| Beta-carotene is a precursor of vitamin a. The carotenoids are powerful antioxidants that are deeply involved in the aging process. Research indicates that beta-carotene alone and in combination with selenium enhances natural killer cell activity in the elderly.
Beta-carotene supplements of 30 mg a day or more for two months significantly enhanced immunity in elderly subjects. Low levels of beta-carotene are linked to the risk of cataract development. Beta-carotene is the best-known vitamin for the eyes, and it protects against macular degeneration as well as cataracts. |
| They found lower plasma concentrations of vitamin E and vitamin a in the Alzheimer's group than the normal healthy elderly controls. They concluded that these antioxidant vitamins had been consumed as a result of excessive production of free radicals in Alzheimer's patients.19
Desnuelle and a group of researchers from the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service in Nice, France, say that there is evidence that oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). |
| You will be getting lots of vitamin a and its precursor, beta-carotene, in your fresh vegetable juices and green drinks.
Folic Acid. A B vitamin that is abundant in green vegetables as well.
Vitamin B& A B complex vitamin, which is important for a strong immune system and nervous system. This B vitamin is necessary for RNA and DNA synthesis; making natural tryptophan in the body to elevate moods; making red blood cells; metabolizing fat and protein; and inhibiting tumor growth.39
Vitamin C. A water-soluble vitamin, which is also going to be high in your freshly made juices. |
Stephen Fried
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 He eventually started using vitamin a on the skin instead. It didn't work. So he experimented with its active metabolite, retinoic acid. Reti-noic acid did work, but not for the reason Kligman thought it would. He initially believed that vitamin a acid would eliminate pimples by slowing the normal process by which skin cells slough off. He later came to think that it instead normalizes that process and prevents cells from coming together to make a pimple in the first place.
Kligman realized his future wasn't in treating patients full time. |
Gary Null
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| On the other hand, when animals are injected with vitamin a, they produce tissue plasminogen activator, a substance that breaks down fibrinogen.
High doses of fish or olive oil have been shown to lower elevated fibrinogen levels. Excessive homocysteine blocks the natural breakdown of fibrinogen by inhibiting the production of tissue plasminogen activator, but folic acid, trimethylglycine (TMG), vitamin Bi2, and vitamin B6 can help by reducing elevated homocysteine levels.
Also, the ever-helpful vitamin C, in large doses, has been shown to break down excess fibrinogen. |
| He supplemented his diet with basic antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin a, and beta-carotene to trap free radicals, which we learned about in previous chapters, that attack the brain.
He also began exercising on a daily basis. He dealt with his emotional stress by working on anger, frustration, and resentment issues that he realized he was holding on to. He also cleaned his living environment because his entire concept of cleanliness and hygiene was transformed. |
Jean Carper
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| They discovered that stroke patients with above-average amounts of vitamin a, including beta carotene, were more apt to survive, to have less neurologic damage and to recover completely! Here's why: When your brain is deprived of oxygen, as in a stroke, cells begin to malfunction, leading to a series of events culminating in oxidative damage to nerve cells. But if you have lots of vitamin a in your blood, researchers speculate, it can interfere at many different stages of this cascade of events, lessening brain damage and chances of death. |
by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
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| Liver, beef 43,900
Liver, calves' 22,500
Chili peppers 21,600
Dandelion root 14,000
Chicken liver 12,100
Carrots 11,000
Apricots, dried 10,900
Collard greens 9,300
Kale 8,900
Sweet potatoes 8,800
Parsley 8,500
Spinach 8,100
Mustard greens 7,000
Mangoes 4,800
Hubbard squash 4,300
Cantaloupe 3,400
Apricots 2,700
Broccoli 2,500
Nonfat milk (fortified), 1 cup 500
Whole milk, 1 cup 227
Vitamin D
Since vitamin D can be produced in our bodies by the action of sunlight on the skin, many experts consider it to be more of a hormone than a vitamin. |
Richard Lucas
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 Scientists in Denmark reported on experiments in which boars were fed a diet low in vitamin a. On this diet the animals' sperm count dropped. Daily injections of vitamin a in dosages varying between 6,000 and 8,000 units gradually restored the sperm count to normal.
Another possible sex-rejuvenating property contained in fenugreek is trimethylamine. Scientific studies show that it acts as a sex hormone in frogs, causing them to prepare for mating. |
Laurie Deutsch Mozian, M.S., R.D.
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 Beta-carotene is converted into vitamin a by the liver and fulfills all of the biological tasks of vitamin a. In its role as an antioxidant, beta-carotene helps to stabilize unstable free-radical molecules. By offering itself as a sacrifice, it prevents free radicals from damaging cells. To some extent, beta-carotene is found in all green vegetables, but its yellow-orange pigment is masked by chlorophyll. It is found abundantly in sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, and butternut and acorn squash. Fruits that are rich sources of beta-carotene are cantaloupe, mango, papaya, and apricots. |
Jean Carper
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| More remarkable is new research showing how important it is to have lots of beta carotene and other vitamin a in your bloodstream should you ever suffer a stroke. The vitamin may prevent
Thumbs Up: your death or disability from the stroke, according to Belgian researchers at the University of Brussels, who analyzed the blood of 80 patients within 24 hours after they had suffered strokes. They discovered that stroke patients with above-average amounts of vitamin a, including beta carotene, were more apt to survive, to have less neurologic damage and to recover completely! |
Patricia Bragg and Paul C. Bragg
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 We also know that the skin needs vitamin a. But today man's body has become so degenerated, so filled with mucus, acid toxins, mineral and vitamin deficiencies that he can't spend a great amount of time in the sunshine. There are many people who develop all kinds of skin conditions from exposure to the sun and then falsely put the blame on sunshine. The sun pulls out the impurities below the skin - trying to purify you. Skin cancers spring from toxic cells. This is all the more reason to do your fasting/cleansing program!
Man has damaged his skin with the overuse of soap. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| Suggested Dosage: 5,000 international units of vitamin a daily. (Because vitamin a is fat-soluble and can build up in the tissues, do not take over 10,000 international units without consulting your physician.) Also, add 15,000 international units of beta-carotene to your supplement program.
Coenzyme Q10
Slow, sluggish, lethargic, dull—this is how you feel when you're tired and your energy level is low. This same state could describe what happens at the cellular level when your mitochondria, the powerhouses that fuel each of your cells, do not produce adequate energy. |
Marion Nestle
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| Monsanto's scientists, for example, are genetically engineering oilseeds to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin a. This vitamin is especially lacking in undernourished populations, and its addition to the diet produces an almost miraculous range of health improvements.14 Development of such products is time-consuming and expensive, and success is uncertain. Companies introduced genetically engineered papaya in Hawaii, for example, to replenish an entire industry ravaged by viral disease. |
| Taken together, the many nutritional, physiological, and cultural factors that affect vitamin a status suggest that the addition of a single nutrient to food will have limited effectiveness. Instead, a combination of supplementation, fortification, and dietary approaches is likely to be needed—approaches such as promoting the production and consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in beta-carotene, educating people about how to use such foods, and improving the quantity and variety of foods in the diet (so beta-carotene can be better absorbed). |
| The most highly publicized example of the gap between promises and reality is "Golden Rice," genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin a. Although this rice also is not yet in production, it has been the industry's primary advertising tool to promote the humanitarian benefits of food biotechnology (see figure 12). |
| The inserted genes must be transmitted to seeds; the rice must continue to make beta-carotene when taken out of the laboratory and grown in fields; people must accept, buy, and eat the rice; and the beta-carotene must be absorbed, split into vitamin a, and function in the human body. Table 12 lists these requirements in greater detail. These additional tasks also can
TABLE 1 2. |
John Croft
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 The deep sea shark liver oil referred to in this book has a vitamin a level less than 400 retinol equivalents per daily dose of 1000 mg, with vitamin D being barely detectable in this amount.
7
DERMATOLOGICAJ, DISEASES ermatological diseases are those that involve inflammation of the skin. There are many such diseases with different causes and different names. |
Marion Nestle
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| Long-term solutions to the problem of vitamin a deficiency in particular, and malnutrition in general, continue to depend on societal interventions such as education, housing, health care, employment, and income—all more difficult and complicated, but ultimately more likely to be effective, than genetic engineering. Can genetic engineering usefully contribute to such efforts? Possibly, but that question cannot yet be answered.32 In the meantime, the industry's public relations campaign continues. |
Healing Children's Attention & Behavior DisordersDr. Abram Hoffer, M.D., FRCP(C)
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| But even here the dangers of these vitamins, such as vitamin D-3 and vitamin a, have been grossly exaggerated.
The concept of an optimum dose and the popularization of the word megavitamin has been confusing to many. The prefix "mega" was first applied to vitamins by my friend Irwin Stone who first summarized the world literature on vitamin C in his ground-breaking book The Healing Factor: Vitamin C against Disease. I met Irwin in 1966 at the same meeting I first met Dr Pauling. He told me his life had been saved by taking large doses of vitamin C. |
John Robbins
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 Independent analyses found that very small areas of land were required to generate sufficient vitamin a, and that the greater variety of vegetables and fruits people ate, the better their intake of vitamin a and other vitamins.6 Health benefits to the poor from programs like this are enormous.
Advocates of genetic engineering imply that if we don't get over our queasiness about eating genetically modified food, kids in the Third World will go blind. But on March 4, 2001, both the New York Times Magazine and the St. |
Neal Barnard, M.D.
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 High doses of vitamin a can cause hair loss, among many other problems. Boric acid, which is commonly used as an urban insecticide and in manufacturing, can cause hair loss if ingested.36
Aside from getting our diet in order, what are the current treatments? The best-tested treatment is minoxidil (Rogaine). Used topically, it works in about 30 percent of users, both male and female. It usually takes several months to see results. If it is discontinued, baldness returns. Retin-A (tretinoin) works, too, both alone and in a mixture with minoxidil. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 If someone needs to become more acid, one could use ascorbic acid C and vitamin a in moderation to achieve this effect. Vitamin K is alkalinizing and helps to keep calcium, one of the main alkalinizing minerals, in its ionizable form in the blood serum. The ionizable form of calcium is the utilizable form in the blood. The intelligent use of supplements requires a thorough understanding of their effects on the acid-base balance of the organism. The point again is one of awareness. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 The best news is that since retinol is not as strong as the prescription vitamin a products, it is not nearly as irritating, although it may cause minor redness and some flaking in the sensitive skin of some people. Several retinol skin products are sold in pharmacies and natural food stores. Several of them include vitamin C, vitamin E, or other antioxidants.
Tea Tree Oil
There is nothing more unsighdy than chipped, peeling, or discolored nails caused by a fungal infection. Nail fungus is particularly persistent and difficult to treat. |
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