VITAMANIA

Section 3

Despite their chemical differences, all vitamins play crucial roles in our metabolism, a term that
refers to the series of chemical reactions that occur in our cells. Though we are rarely aware of these
metabolic chemical reactions, our lives depend on them. Walking down the street requires them. Reading
a books requires them. So does forming scar tissue, developing a baby, or creating any type of new cell.

Chemical reactions build and breakdown muscle, regulate body temperature, filter toxins, excrete
wastes, support out immune systems, and affect or indeed cause our moods. They generate the energy
we need in order to breathe and use the oxygen that we breathe to pull energy from our food. They allow
us to feel and see and taste and touch and hear.

Our metabolisms arent just a facet of our lives, they are our lives. Without these metabolic
chemical reactions, we would be as inert as inanimate as stone. The problem with these reactions,
however, is that theyre way too slow.

Scientists still dont fully understand all the nuances of what vitamins do in our bodies, how they
do it, or what the long-term effects of moderate deficiencies might be. That, in turn, makes it extremely
difficult to create precise nutritional recommendations.

In the words of a 2003 report from the Non-Governmental Food and Nutrition Board at the
National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, scientific data have not identified an optimum level
in any nutrient for any life stage or gender group, and todays nutritional recommendations are not
presented as such. Instead, the same report explains that a continuum of benefits may be ascribed to
various levels of intake of the same nutrient.

The vitamin information on food labels is often based on composites. Meaning that, even if you
knew your bodys precise vitamin requirements, you wouldnt be able to calculate exactly what
percentage of those requirements were represented by the food on your plate.

Section 4

In the aforementioned study from the Journal of Nutrition, Foods Fortificants and Supplements:
Where Do Americans Get Their Nutrients? the authors concluded that without enrichment, and or
fortification and supplementation, many Americans did not achieve the recommended micro-nutrient
intake level set forth in the official dietary recommendations.

Section 5

Today, vitamin has transcended its scientific roots and grown more seductive than Fung himself
could ever have imagined. Our bodies may depend on 13 essential dietary chemicals, but its vitamins that
were obsessed with.

Section 9

Let us not forget after all that its powers had been widely documented in ancient texts. It had an
extensive history of traditional use in Tibet and Mongolia. It had been investigated in various modern
studies. Like those of many supplements, the whole label evoked an aura of ancient Eastern wisdom just
waiting to be rediscovered.

Despite my inherent skepticism, I couldnt help wondering: why does this stuff actually work?
Merely posing the question to myself made me feel hopeful, a pleasant emotion that, at least in reference
to my skill, I hadnt experienced in a long time.

It occurred to me that hope is the driving force behind nearly all of the supplements that line
supermarket and pharmacy shelves. Viewed this way, the vitamin shops 18,000 products begin to make
a lot more sense. In a world where the so-called medical experts are often unable to help, we turn to
supplements for comfort.

Section 10

Thankfully, most supplements are usually not harmful, at least not in a short-term. As Todd
Cooperman, the President of a supplement testing company called ConsumerLab.com put it to me, In a
vast majority of cases, people are just throwing their money out the window or hurting themselves over
a long period of time. But as the last part of his comment suggests, there are still reasons for concern
over whats in some of these products, especially given that in the most recent data available from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50% of American adults reported using some sort
of dietary supplement.

For example, prescription pre-natal vitamins which are standard multivitamins with some extra
folic acid and iron come with a patient prescription information sheet thats mandatory for all drugs. It
includes a long list of possible side effects and interactions, including how the tablets could potentially
reduce the absorption of other drugs, like common antibiotics and thyroid medications, or mask the signs
of a Vitamin B12 deficiency.

In 2013, Canadian researchers using DNA testing found that of the 44 products they tested, a full
third did not contain any amount of the substances listed at their labels.

So called herbal preparations have also been found to contain substances that do not come from
plants or are not listed on the label. And that the supplement manufacturer itself may not know its raw
ingredients.

Research mentioned above found that some echinacea supplements that contained a weed linked
to rashes, nausea, and flatulence. A bottle of St. Johns wort which contained no St. Johns wort that
showed the DNA signature of an Egyptian plant known for being a strong laxative and gingko biloba
supplements that contained unlabeled nut, thereby putting allergic consumers lives at risk.

Perhaps the most shocking of all, there are many supplements that have been spiked illegally with
prescription drugs. I first became aware of this issue when I heard James Neal Kababick, the Founder and
Director of Flora Research Laboratories described how he once opened up a capsule of a supposed
Chinese sexual enhancement herb to test it for possible adulterants only to see a piece of Viagra tablet
tumble out. That one was pretty easy, he told me. Unfortunately, this type of adulteration is common.

Section 12
 Whole Foods often appear to contain other substances that are necessary for their supposedly
beneficial phytochemicals to be absorbed and used.

A 2011 study on broccoli found that giving subjects fresh broccoli florets led them to absorb and
metabolize seven times more the anti-cancer compounds known as glucose simulates present in broccoli
and other cruciferous vegetables. Then when glucose simulates were given in straight capsule form,
presumably because the whole broccoli contained other compounds that helped their bodies put the anti-
cancer chemicals to use.

According to the 2010 report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the dietary
guidelines for Americans only about five percent of American adults under age 50 are meeting the
recommendations for dark green vegetables. And only about 25% of us meet the recommendations for
fruits, even when you include juice, which is essentially liquid sugar.

Born in 1928 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, Ames is convinced that
Americans diets, which he believes are moderately low in many micronutrients are having catastrophic
health effects on our long term health.

We may still feel fine in the short term, but in Amess view, these moderate deficiencies, when
they persist over time, could cause damage that could contribute to many of our age-related problems
and diseases. From cancer and heart health, to osteoporosis, immune dysfunction and dementia.

Consider this analogy given by Jose Cordova, PhD, Director of Nutritional and Genomics
Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on ageing at Dallas University,
whos been working on the subject of personalized nutrition for more than 25 years. Its like someone
rings your doorbell and you have one of those peoples to look through. Well, whos coming? First of all,
the guy might hide so you dont see anything. Or, you could see that particular guy, but not the 20 others
who were standing on either side of them. Youre looking at whats directly in front of you, but youre
missing everything else thats happening outside of your field of vision.

If your genes can determine how your body responds to food, then what influence might your
food have on your genes? Like so much about nutrition, this is an open question, but what we know so
far is pretty crazy.

To borrow an analogy from British scientist Nessa Carey, author of the excellent book The
Epigenetics Revolution, you can think of this in terms of a Hollywood movie. If DNA is a script, its the
genetics or the direction that determines how it will be produced.

While this aspect of nutritional genomics the idea that our diets could have transgenerational
epigenetics effect is still controversial. A highly publicized 2003 paper from researchers at Duke University
demonstrated the potential vividly.

Section 13

We know that our bodies need vitamins, and that without them, we would die. We know that the
more heavily processed and refined the food is, the fewer is its original vitamins and other potentially
important chemicals are likely to remain, and the more it will need to be enriched and fortified to make
up for whats been lost.
 With these facts in mind, deciding what to eat from a micronutrient perspective becomes easy.
Choose foods that are high in vitamins that nature, not humans, put there. Chances are that theyre
nutritious in other ways as well.