| In humans, supplementation has been used in such conditions as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, epilepsy, and calcium oxalate stone formation.60'61 Pyridoxine daily requirements are 1.0 mg/kg for dogs and 4.0 mg/kg for cats. A B6 deficiency in cats may manifest itself with irreversible kidney failure and calcium oxalate crystals.
Natural sources of B6: Good sources include yeast, muscle meats, cereal grains, and vegetables.62
Biotin
Biotin is a B vitamin that functions in the manufacture and utilization of fats, carbohydrates, and certain amino acids. |
| In an open trial in humans, boron supplementation of 6-9 mgs daily produced effective relief in 90 percent of arthritis patients, including patients with osteoarthritis, juvenile arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.20
Natural sources of boron: legumes, fruits, and nuts. Calcium
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. In fact, it comprises as much as 2 percent of the body's total body weight. As much as 99 percent of the body's calcium is found in bones and teeth; the other 1 percent is imperative for many other essential bodily functions. |
| Enzymes
Even a raw food natural diet will benefit from supplementation of digestive enzymes.
Probiotics
The reintroduction of desirable microflora also called "friendly bacteria" will help balance microflora in the body.
Glutamine
The amino acid glutamine is the principal fuel for the small intestine enterocytes. It is the most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream and is considered to be a "conditionally essential" amino acid.7 Glutamine is a tri-peptide (glutamic acid, glycine, and cysteine). |
| Fortunately, zinc supplementation can rejuvenate the thymus gland.50
Zinc is essential for proper cell growth and replication. It is required for protein synthesis and, therefore, rapid wound healing. It is also essential for reproduction, vision, taste, and smell. A zinc deficiency results in impaired function of these senses.
The importance of zinc in normal skin function is well known. Zinc responsive dermatosis in dogs is well publicized.51 These dogs may have difficulty in absorbing zinc, perhaps through a genetic malfunction. |
The Editors of Prevention Magazine Health Books
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 Instead, most experts recommend between 250 and 1,000 milligrams as a safe daily intake. supplementation can help you boost your vitamin C levels, as can eating plenty of broccoli, spinach and citrus fruits.
Bet on Beta-Carotene
Anothet nutrient that swings into action following a bum is beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A in the body. |
Stanley W. Jacob, M.D., Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.
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 Claim: "A deficiency of MSM causes emphysema and supplementation of MSM can reverse it."
Comment: MSM helps patients breathe easier. They don't get out of breath as easily. They can walk farther. It doesn't cure emphysema but it helps.
Claim: "Women don't have the headaches, hot flashes, cramps, and nausea associated with the monthly cycle when they use MSM. "
Comment: The feedback is inconsistent, but some women have reported relief. This is probably due to MSM's ability to inhibit pain impulses and reduce inflammation.
Claim: "MSM eliminates varicose veins. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 Because of the versatility of its activity, plant digestive enzyme supplementation can take the stress off the entire digestive enzyme system. Some pancreatic animal enzyme tablets have an enteric coating which protects them from inac-tivation in the stomach. These enzymes require the pancreas to secrete enough enzymes to digest their enteric coating before they start to operate. Thus, they do not give the pancreas a chance to conserve its digestive enzyme power for use in other places in the body like the plant enzymes do. |
| Dr. W.W. Oelgoetz has shown that partially digested fats, protein, and carbohydrate molecules get into the blood system when the blood enzymes become too low. He observed that when he gives clients oral supplements of amylase, lipase, and proteases, the allergies which seem to be associated with these incompletely digested molecules subside. Thus, enzyme supplementation can be a support to the immune system.
5. Enzymes help the detoxification process because they free up more metabolic enzyme energy for this work.
6. Health-promoting use of proteolytic enzymes. |
Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon
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 D Calcium
Dilantin
Patients on Dilantin (phenytoin) may become deficient in folic acid or vitamin B6. supplementation is very tricky, however, and must be directed by a knowledgeable physician. Too much folic acid (more than 2 mg/day) or vitamin B6 can interfere with effectiveness so that the drug would fail to prevent seizures. At doses of 80 mg daily of vitamin B6, Dilantin is only 50 percent as effective as it is without the vitamin B6. Periodic blood tests for anemia are needed.
Dilantin interferes with vitamin D, and thus with calcium. |
Stanley W. Jacob, M.D., Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.
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| The prevailing attitude held that supplementation was unnecessary because a balanced diet was supposed to provide all the good nutrition our bodies needed. For decades, only a small minority of nutritionally oriented physicians advocated supplements as a potent, safe, and inexpensive way to help treat illness and create optimum health.
Current nutritional research has weakened the conventional viewpoint and supported the minority idea. For one thing, nutritionists acknowledge that huge numbers of people fail to eat anything resembling a balanced or nutritionally sound diet. |
| Research has demonstrated, for instance, that vitamin E supplementation combats arterial plaque formation and enhances immune function. Contemporary studies have backed the clinical observations of Canadian physicians Wilfrid and Evan Shute, first made more than fifty years ago, that vitamin E helped ailing hearts. While the medical community shunned the Shute brothers, it was their persistent reporting of positive, and often dramatic experiences with patients, that led to the popularity of vitamin E today. |
Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D.
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 Increasing beta-carotene intake may be the preferred form of vitamin A supplementation in HIV patients, as there is concern that retinoic acid, the active form of vitamin A, may actually increase HIV replication in humans. Low beta-carotene levels are common in people with HIV/AIDS (especially children), presumably as a result of fat malabsorption. Low beta-carotene levels are associated with greater impairment of immune function. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| I am not going to summarize the evidence to both views; I favor supplementation. Here are my reasons.
1. The Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins are felt by many experts to be too low. Dr. Pauling (a Nobel Prize winner in biochemisty, and more recently the most influential and persistent advocate of the use of
Vitamin C to prevent and minimize colds) believes we should call the RDA values the Minimum Daily Allowance (MDA) and then propose a Recommended Daily Intake for each vitamin presented as a range instead of just one figure (see Table 3).
2. |
Stanley W. Jacob, M.D., Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.
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| She experienced significant relief with supplementation alone.
Usually I find that IC patients don't have just bladder or urinary symptoms alone, but instead suffer multiple problems throughout the body, such as musculoskeletal disability, intestinal irregularities, depression, and overwhelming fatigue. I have concluded that IC is not an illness localized in the bladder but rather is part of a systemic disorder.
Barbara Norman often felt fatigued, depressed, and sick, as if she had a "flu." "It wasn't just an isolated pain that you could try to ignore and life goes on around it," she says. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| There are a number of multivitamin preparations available which are inexpensive and provide adequate supplementation for average circumstances.
"Reading What You Need"
The uncertainties of good nutrition are apparent. To some extent we must rely on our own judgment to decide what is good for us and what is bad, what we should eat today and what tomorrow. Although I am not aware of scientific evidence to support this contention, I believe we are capable of developing and sharpening a felt sense about food— an ability to read our needs. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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 Excellent results were also found by combining niacin with 25 mg zinc gluconate twice daily.
[Magnesium
People in large cities are exposed to potentially damaging loud noises on a daily basis. Studies have shown that noise exposure causes magnesium to be excreted from the body (Mocci et al. 2001). It is possible that supplementing with magnesium could reduce noise-induced ear damage and thus reduce the likelihood of new-onset tinnitus. Few studies document that magnesium relieves tinnitus symptoms, but many patients have experienced relief by using magnesium (Attias et al. 1994). |
Michael T. Murray, N.D., Joseph E. Pizzorno, N.D.
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| However, supplementation at a dosage of 1.8 grams of NAC failed to increase GSH levels in white blood cells of AIDS patients.11 Better options for raising GSH levels are vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, selenium, and lipoic acid.
Vitamin E Of all the antioxidants that show promise in slowing down the progression of HIV to AIDS, vitamin E has had the most consistent and greatest effects.71213 In one study, men with the highest levels of vitamin E in their blood showed a thirty-four-percent decrease in their risk of progression to AIDS compared with those with the lowest levels. |
| However, as with many of the other compounds described in this section, a relative deficiency can occur in certain situations, and lipoic acid supplementation exerts benefits beyond its role in normal metabolism. Lipoic acid is an effective antioxidant. It is unique in that it is effective against both water- and fat-soluble free radicals.28
Lipoic acid has antioxidant effects and is able to significantly inhibit the replication of HIV by reducing the activity of reverse transcriptase—the enzyme responsible for manufacturing the virus from the DNA of lymphocytes. |
| Vitamin C supplementation is rarely employed in hospitals, despite the fact that it may provide significant benefits; low vitamin C status is quite common in hospitalized patients. In a study analyzing the vitamin C status of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass, the plasma concentration of vitamin C was shown to plummet by seventy percent twenty-four hours after coronary artery bypass surgery; this level persisted in most patients for up to two weeks after surgery. |
| These results indicate that vitamin E supplementation, even at a relatively low dosage (100 IU), can reduce the progression of coronary artery disease when used in conjunction with cholesterol-lowering therapy (preferably natural).
These recent studies on vitamin E confirm what people in the health food industry and nutritionally minded physicians have known for more than fifty years: vitamin E is good for the cardiovascular system. |
Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.
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 Conversely, these symptoms dissipate or even disappear with B-6 supplementation. One study concluded that 100 milligrams (mg) daily of vitamin B-6 was sufficient for keeping serotonin at optimum levels.19 Doctors caution against taking more than 200 mg a day; vitamin B-6 can be toxic at such levels if taken for several months.20
We would have to eat a lot of food to get 100 mg of vitamin B-6, though. Even the foods highest in this vitamin contain less than 1 mg per serving. Foods high in vitamin B-6 include:
ž avocados (the highest, with . |
Robert W. Hill, Ph.D. and Eduardo Castro, M.D.
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 The need is for simple dietary improvements and supplementation of the fatty acids. Adequate intake of these fatty acids can make a significant difference.
This type of fatty-acid deficiency can be confirmed by a blood test, but that is usually not necessary because the deficiency itself is often clear from the clinical history. The following case was such an instance and was most instructive to us.
Tonya was an unruly, hyperactive six-year-old who was in danger of repeating first grade. She had few girlfriends and was seldom invited to birthday parties. |
Stanley W. Jacob, M.D., Ronald M. Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.
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| These are not minimal cases of pain and discomfort. MSM supplementation has provided significant improvement—less pain, less stiffness, greater mobility.
Some years ago I conducted a clinical experiment to compare the effect of MSM and NSAIDs. In the study, twelve female arthritic patients were randomly assigned to take a moderate dosage of 600 milligrams of Motrin three times daily. Motrin is a popular NSAID. Another twelve women were assigned to take 6 grams (6,000 milligrams) of MSM daily. |
Gary Null
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 Mineral supplementation is equally important in the therapy. Magnesium has been found to be deficient among heart patients, up to 50 percent lower than in other noncardiac patients studied recently at the University of California. To restore the mineral to acceptable levels, Dr. Whitaker uses injectable magnesium for angina patients. Diuretics, commonly prescribed to lower blood pressure in patients with cardiovascular disorders, deplete magnesium as well as potassium. While most physicians are careful to replace the potassium lost during diuretic treatment, few replace the magnesium. |
Robert W. Hill, Ph.D. and Eduardo Castro, M.D.
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| Dietary changes and nutrient supplementation may be adequate for some, especially children, while others may require an aggressive regimen of antifungal medications. The most important dietary measure for a person with yeast overgrowth is to avoid sugar and high-glycemic-index foods, as discussed in chapter 9. Sugar feeds the yeast and activates them.
Some nutritional interventions for reducing yeast include inoculating the bowel with beneficial bacteria. These should include Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bifidum species. |
Gary Null
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| Addictions and allergies are often related to magnesium deficiency and can be corrected by supplementation. There are also techniques that can actually eliminate food allergies through the use of acupuncture and acupressure. As we can see," Dr. Cass concludes, "there are many ways, other than psychotherapy and medication, to approach what at first seems like a psychological problem."
Dr. |
| This may partially explain the higher prevalence of eating disorders in women. supplementation with tryptophan with pyridoxine has been shown to improve both eating behavior and feelings about eating. In women whose bulimia worsens in winter, light therapy has proven helpful. In the treatment of bulimia, zinc has proven helpful through its action on thyroid hormone conversion.
Obesity has been associated with low thyroid function in a substantial number of cases. |
| Evening primrose oil has been shown to reduce appetite and contribute to weight loss in obese patients, as has ascorbic acid supplementation. Green tea has proven to be a much better weight-loss aid than amphetamines. nsomnia
Although we spend roughly a third of our lives sleeping, the essential nature of what sleep is still isn't fully understood. Insomnia is a very common symptom of many of the disorders discussed elsewhere in this book, ranging from depression to anxiety to schizophrenia and including various other mood disorders. |
Nicola Reavley
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 A1997 analysis of studies on the effects of potassium supplementation on blood pressure confirms that low intake of the mineral plays an important role in high blood pressure, and increasing intake is beneficial in treatment. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University looked at 33 randomized controlled trials with over 2069 participants in which potassium supplements were used. Positive effects were seen with a decrease in mean systolic pressure of 3.11 mm Hg and in diastolic pressure of 1.97 mm Hg. The effects were enhanced in those exposed to a high intake of sodium. |
| Oral supplementation with zinc and zinc sulfate gel may shorten healing time in cases of herpes virus infection.
Common cold
There have been several studies of the effect of zinc lozenges on treating the common cold. Some studies have shown benefit while other have not. The authors of a review of the trials, published in 1998 in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy concluded that treatment of the common cold with zinc gluconate lozenges, using adequate doses of elemental zinc, is likely to be effective in reducing duration and severity of cold symptoms. |
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