Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Health & Fitness: Heart risk factors should be world concern

"Not all vitamins give you what you need"
By Abagail Leichman
Source: The Record, Bergen County, NJ

If you try to eat a balanced diet - and certainly if you don't - it's likely that you could use some extra vitamins. How much? And which ones?

Good questions.

'Even professionals can't keep up with that on a daily basis,' said Dr. John Hathcock of the Council for Responsible Nutrition in Washington, D.C.

Vitamins and minerals are natural compounds needed by the body to grow and function properly. The federal government's recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) show the minimum amounts the body needs daily in order to stave off disease.

But experts say we need more for optimum health, and recent studies indicate many adults aren't getting even the minimum amounts. While it's preferable and possible to get adequate nutrients from what you eat, many factors can reduce the vitamin potency in food as well as the amount the body absorbs.

'Nobody takes the trouble, including nutritionists, to weigh their broccoli and brussels sprouts and fish and add up the nutrient contents,' said Hathcock. 'So the rational thing to do is to round out your diet by taking a multivitamin/multimineral and add others depending on your risk factors.'

Think of a multivitamin as insurance, said Mary Sullivan, a nurse and co-founder of Olympian Labs, a supplement maker. 'Its extra nutrients can optimize the things you're already eating.''

Yet it can be overwhelming to shop for a multi. Any supermarket, pharmacy or health-food store has rows and rows on display.

"All multivitamins are not created equal," said Brad Frank, a physician and co-author of "Who Moved My Birthday? The Baby Boomer's Essential Guide to Anti-aging."

Because nutritional supplements are not subject to testing by the Food and Drug Administration, some brands may deliver less of a vitamin or mineral than promised, Frank said. Others may deliver them in dangerously high doses. [Bloggers commentary: vitamins from food sources won't be dangerous; inorganic sources can. Beware of the label "natural" as the rubber on your car's tires are natural too.]

"Consumers are left to make a tough decision on their own," acknowledges Carol Haggans, scientific and health communications consultant for the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements.

Haggans suggests asking your health-care provider to recommend a brand, or look for a seal of approval from an independent testing organization like USP (U.S. Pharmacopeia Standards) or CL (ConsumerLab).[Bloggers note: no offence intended to anyone, but if your health care provider is an expert in nutrition, then this is good - medical doctors have had very little if any nutritional training].

Sullivan, whose company recently launched the site WhatVitaminsAre RightForYou.com, recommends buying multivitamins at a pharmacy or health-food store, where pharmacists and clerks will be better able to answer specific questions. [Blogger's note: hogwash!]

Frank recommends reading independent analyses, such as one of these:

* "Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements," available at bookstores or macwilliam.net, ranks 500 brands against a "blended standard" profile of 39 vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. The top five: USANA Health Sciences' Essentials; Douglas Laboratories' Ultra Preventive; Vitamin Research Products' Extend Plus; and Source Naturals' Life Force Multiple and Elan Vital. You can view the top 25 at comparing-vita min-supplements.com/vitamin-brand- ratings.html.

* ConsumerLab's chemical analysis of 47 brands to see if the product matched what the label promised. Only 36 of the 47 contained at least 100 percent but not more than 150 percent of the amount of each vitamin or mineral listed on the bottle. Centrum, Nutrilite, Pharmanex LifePride, Puritan's Pride, Vitamin World, Nature Made and Rainbow Light products were among those that passed. A summary is available free at consumerlab.com.

* The Center for Science in the Public Interest report, available at cspinet.org/nah/4_00/multivsmul ti.html. The report singles out Centrum, Dr. Art Ulene, Eckerd, OneSource, RiteAid, Shaklee, Spring Valley, Summit, Twinlab, Walgreen's and YourLife as "Best Bites" and adds that it's safe to assume store brands like Wal-Mart or Kmart deliver top-quality multivitamins.

* *

Recommended dietary allowances are also being called dietary reference intakes. Here are the latest figures for many vitamins and minerals available from the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board:

1 gram = 1/4 teaspoon

1 milligram (mg) = 1 thousandth of a gram

1 microgram (mcg) = 1 millionth of a gram

For women 19-50

(not pregnant)

Vitamin A: 700 mcg

Vitamin C: 75 mg

Vitamin D: 5 mcg

Vitamin E: 15 mg

Vitamin K: 90 mcg

Niacin: 14 mg

Folate: 400 mcg

Calcium: 1 gram

Copper: 900 mcg

Iron: 18 mg

Magnesium: 310 mg

Phosphorus: 700 mg

Potassium: 4.7 grams

Selenium: 55 mcg

Zinc: 8 mg

For men 19-50

Vitamin A: 900 mcg

Vitamin C: 90 mg

Vitamin D: 5 mcg

Vitamin E: 15 mg

Vitamin K: 120 mcg

Niacin: 16 mg

Folate: 400 mcg

Calcium: 1 gram

Copper: 900 mcg

Iron: 8 mg

Magnesium: 400 mg

Phosphorus: 700 mg

Potassium: 4.7 grams

Selenium: 55 mcg

Zinc: 11 mg

Tolerable upper limits

for men and women

Vitamin A: 3 mg

Vitamin C: 2 grams

Vitamin D: 50 mcg

Vitamin E: 1 gram

Niacin: 35 mg

Riboflavin: 1.3 mg

Folate: 1 mg

Calcium: 2.5 grams

Copper: 10 mg

Iron: 45 mg

Selenium: 400 mcg

Zinc: 40 mg

* *

(C) 2005 The Record, Bergen County, NJ. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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