Experts and Vitamins, Slash Your Death Risk by 33%, Your Skin and the Sun

THE GREATEST MEDICINE OF ALL… IS TEACHING PEOPLE HOW NOT TO NEED IT

Experts Who Promote Multivitamins Get it All Wrong

I recently came across a widely circulated article on the internet by a Philadelphia M.D. discussing what you "need" in a multivitamin. As you know, I always advise against synthetic one-a-day multivitamin supplements.

Here's why…

First, you can never get what you need nutritionally in a single multivitamin pill.

Second, if the author had bothered to read what she wrote and literally "done the math," she would know the dosages don't add up. You can't get everything she recommends in a single pill.

Finally, and perhaps saddest of all, is that half of the recommendations she gives are about half right. So how are you supposed to know the difference when even the expert doesn't get it?

It's worth reviewing some of these details again. Especially because I know people who are trying to do the right thing for their dietary supplementation read this kind of nonsense every day.

So — let's get to it…

Getting it wrong from A – Z

In the article, the expert said you should take vitamin A in the form of the pre-vitamin A called beta-carotene. Then she said, by contrast, to take actual vitamin A as palmitate or retinol.

Wrong and potentially dangerous.

You're better off getting your vitamin A from a balanced diet that includes leafy greens and yellow-orange fruits and vegetables with a natural mixture of carotenoids that provide vitamin A and other healthy constituents. Including dairy, eggs, meat, and fish into your diet will provide the rest.

The only B vitamin the expert mentioned is folic acid. She said you should take 400 micrograms.

But you need a complete B complex, in doses large enough to warrant a complete dietary supplement all on their own.

Next, the doctor recommended 60 mg of vitamin C per day, but then — a moment later — she said you actually need 250-500 mg per day. To be clear, the second number is right. But you should take 250 mg (or more) twice daily so your body can absorb it. Vitamin C has so many uses in your body that you could double or triple that dose and help your immune system even more. And C doesn't last very long in your body, so taking it 3-4 times a day is a great idea.

Then the doctor moved on to vitamin D. She recommended you take 50 mcg (2,000 IU) to 100 mcg (4,000 IU) per day of vitamin D3, which is moving in the right direction. But then it would take up way too much space in a single dietary supplement. Plus, most knowledgeable natural doctors always recommend taking 250 mcg (10,000 IU) per day in liquid form. It usually comes in small gel caps.

She then recommended 30 IU per day of vitamin E because it's hard to get vitamin E in your diet. I agree, even that paltry amount is hard to get in your diet alone. She also recommends 100 to 400 IU daily of alpha-tocopherol. Again, moving in the right direction, but once again, fitting doses that large into a single supplement — along with all the other nutrients in the appropriate quantities — is quite difficult, if not completely impossible.

I recommend 50 mg of vitamin E per day, as a formula that contains all eight forms of vitamin E, not just alpha-tocopherol. You can also incorporate more vitamin E-rich foods into your diet. Some of the best sources are nuts, seeds, spinach, and eggs. (Note that the vitamin E in eggs is found in the yolk. So be sure to eat the whole egg — not just the white.) 

The expert then veered off course and recommended taking a separate supplement with 200 to 300 mg per day of calcium.

Half wrong. And — ultimately — all wrong.

On the one hand, this expert knows you can't get that much calcium in a multi. But on the other hand, she doesn't understand that calcium supplements can be dangerous at any dose.

You should get your calcium from a balanced diet. If you have enough vitamins C and D, and magnesium (see below), you will not have a calcium problem. Your body has huge stores of calcium (if it's not poisoned by toxic bone density drugs like Fosamax and other bone density drugs). And if you do take a calcium supplement, it must be as calcium lactate; the natural version found in plants. And it must be combined with magnesium to be effective. Standard Process Labs is one of the few companies that sell calcium lactate. Everyone else sells the cheap ineffective forms like carbonate and citrate that cause more problems than they solve. A great calcium/magnesium supplement is Min-Tran by Standard Process. It also includes organic minerals. 

The author goes on to say your multi should provide 200 to 300 mg of magnesium per day.

Almost there. But I recommend 400 mg per day. And in any case, she is running out of room in that tiny little multivitamin pill.

The author said your multi should provide 100 to 200 micrograms of selenium per day. Which might be the only dose she mentioned that could actually fit in a single supplement.

So — here we have another expert who is half-right about vitamin and mineral dietary supplements. If she knew anything about the technical requirements of dietary supplement formulation, she'd know that they literally don't fit into one pill.

So — forget the useless and poorly formulated synthetic multivitamins. Decide what supplements are right for you and get the proper formulations. You won't find everything you need in any single multivitamin supplement.

My Comment:
If you need help deciding, just let me know and I can provide information on types and sources of high quality vitamins. And remember, ALWAYS use Whole Food vitamins! The regular synthetic type like One-a-Days and most off the shelf vitamins are a waste of money. If you don’t want to take the time to find individual vitamin supplements, (and I know most of you won't) then get a high quality whole-food multivitamin like the one that Costco carries at: Costco Organic Multivitamin  or go to Super Supplements and ask for a good whole-food multivitamin. They usually have at least one on sale. You can also buy one online at: https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/search?search=whole%20food%20multi . You will usually need to take more than one tablet per day just to get the amount of each nutrient you need. If you don't want to take 3 or 4, if that is what is recommended, then take 2 per day. You will still miles ahead and much healthier for it.

The Fisherman's Secret to Slashing Your Death Risk By 33 Percent

Of course, besides being tasty, seafood is a rich source of omega-3 essential fatty acids And, in my view, omega-3 levels in your blood — not cholesterol levels—are the optimal predictor of both heart and overall health.

In fact, in a recent study, researchers measured levels of two key omega-3s in 2,500 men and women. Turns out, men and women with the highest omega-3 levels had a 33 percent lower risk of dying from any cause over the seven-year study compared to those with the lowest levels.

More specifically, men and women with higher omega-3 levels had a lower risk of suffering both fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease events, including heart attack and stroke, over those seven years. This finding is especially meaningful when you consider one out of every three deaths in the U.S. relates to a cardiovascular event.

Based on the mounting evidence, I think you should strive to take in 3,000 to 4,000 mg of omega-3s per day.

Now, if you eat fatty fish or seafood at every meal — every day — there's really no need for you to take fish oil supplements. But it's quite unlikely your fish intake is that high.

I find most people do need to take a high-quality fish oil supplement daily.

And for the record, eating seafood does NOT cause high cholesterol

Of course, for decades, the government told us to avoid foods like seafood that contain cholesterol. But scientists have known since the early 1980s that the cholesterol in seafood does NOT translate to cholesterol in blood.

This disastrous dietary advice did not achieve its intended purpose to lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Plus, we now know that a majority of all men and women who suffer heart attacks have normal blood cholesterol levels.

When it comes to cholesterol, the government simply got it wrong for decades.

Now, I'm not saying the government never gets it right. Or that the government is always wrong and constantly covering up their errors.

What I will say is that government experts are "often wrong, but never in doubt."

So, the bigger problem here is that we can never really be sure when the government is actually right…wrong…or outright lying.

How Fun in the Sun Can Actually Keep Skin Cancer Away
Written by Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D.

Summer is finally upon us once again. And it's a perfect time to revisit a few huge medical myths about sun exposure, sunscreen, and skin cancer.

Perhaps the most striking study about the importance of sun exposure came from Sweden a few years ago…

For that study, researchers at the Karolinska Institute followed 30,000 women for over 20 years. They found that women who avoided sun exposure were twice as likely to succumb to all-cause mortality compared to women who got the most sun.

The researchers concluded that avoiding sunshine at all costs and slathering toxic sunscreens (which can kill helpful skin bacteria) does much more harm than good.

Of course, avoiding the sun and wearing sunscreen also blocks the body's natural ability to make vitamin D. And in places like Sweden and the United States, where vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic levels, avoiding the sun is a huge mistake. In fact, we now know the sunshine vitamin, as it's often called, actually protects against cancers — including skin cancer.

Remember, melanoma — the truly deadly form of skin cancer — accounts for just 9 percent of all cases of skin cancer diagnosed in the U.S. But research shows men and women with low blood levels of vitamin D, due to scant sun exposure, are four to five times more likely to develop thicker malignant melanoma tumors than men and women with higher levels.

Two experts really expanded our understanding of the pathophysiology of malignant melanoma.

The first expert, Dr. Wally Clark, is best known for devising the "Clark's level" system for classifying the seriousness of a malignant melanoma skin cancer based on its microscopic appearance.

Years ago, Dr. Clark came to Bethesda to meet with the medical mandarins at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Even back then, Dr. Clark questioned the medical dogma. And he told people privately that melanoma was NOT caused by spending time in the sun.

Dr. Bernard Ackerman was the other leading expert on melanoma at the time. He also knew too much about melanoma to blindly accept the prevailing medical "doctrine" against the sun.

In fact, in 2004, before he died, Dr. Ackerman published an article in The New York Times titled, "I beg to differ; A dermatologist who's not afraid to sit on the beach." He pointed out that a link between melanoma and sun exposure has never been proven.

Furthermore, there's no evidence that getting sunburned leads to skin cancer. And no study has ever shown that using sunscreen reduces the risk of getting skin cancer. (Yet manufacturers are allowed to make the claim, without any scientific evidence.)

Sunscreen — not sun exposure — is linked to melanoma

In another Swedish study published in 2000, researchers found that there was a link between sunscreen use and increased rates of melanoma. That finding doesn't seem surprising when you consider many sunscreens contain toxic chemicals that act as carcinogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

Research scientist Elizabeth Plourde, Ph.D. believes sunscreens contain loads of cancer-causing chemicals. And she's documented the parallel rise of skin cancers and the widespread use of sunscreens over the past 30 years.

Sadly, sunscreen also causes disastrous effects on the environment. The chemicals in sunscreens pollute our waters, including oceans, rivers, and drinking water. And they damage our coral reefs and other marine populations.

The evidence has been accumulating for decades, so, I think these recommendations bear repeating…

• Do NOT avoid the sun.
• DO avoid sunscreens.
• Strive to spend 15 minutes in the sun every day without sunscreen. Add 10-15 minutes more each day. Expose as much of your skin as possible. 
• Most people should still supplement with 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily — even in the summertime, as your body stores it away for a rainy day (literally and metaphorically).

Of course, the point of this sun exposure and supplementation is to raise your blood levels of vitamin D. Optimal levels of this essential nutrient protect against arthritis, dementia, diabetes, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, Sjogren's syndrome, rickets, and tuberculosis.

Some people have more difficultly increasing their vitamin D levels, no matter what they do.

So, at your next check-up, make sure to ask your doctor to test your vitamin D levels with a 25(OH)D test. Ideally, you want your levels to be between 50 nmol/L and 75 nmol/L. (That's nanomoles, which are tiny concentrations relative to other nutrients.)

You can now find vitamin D in a convenient liquid form together with the potent marine carotenoid, astaxanthin. That's a bonus for brain health, hearing, and vision.

So, have at it — and soak up the sun without fear. You'll enjoy the endless, lifesaving benefits of vitamin D not only this summer, but year-round.

Until next time, stay healthy and happy

JD Roma



The information on this blog is provided for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you have, a health problem you should consult your physician (preferably a Naturopath).