All Articles

Overlooked B-vitamin Might Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

Claus Hancke

September 27, 2004

In the search for substances that might prevent Alzheimer’s disease, the focus has mainly been on antioxidants like Vitamin E and Gingko biloba as well as the B-vitamins B12, B6, and folic acid. However, an American study now indicates that the quite unnoticed B-vitamin Niacin as being able to play a role too.

For 90 years, it has been clear that niacin is important to the nervous system and that severe niacin deficiency can cause dementia – as part of the deficiency disease pellagra. The wonder is that, until now, nobody has made a link between this kind of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

So far, the study has involved 6158 inhabitants of Chicago. They were all above 65 years of age and the plan was to register their diet and follow them every third year with psychological tests for dementia. They succeeded in doing so with 3718 of the trial subjects. Among these, 815 people who did not have Alzheimer’s disease at the beginning of the trial were randomly chosen. They were divided into five groups according to their intake of niacin.

131 people in the latter group were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease during the following four years. It turned out, however, that in the 20% who had the lowest intake of niacin (on average 12.5 mg. a day), the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease was more than three times as high compared to the ones with the highest intake (22.4 mg. a day or more). This was the result after statistical adjustments for known or suspected causes of the disease had been performed.

Both dietary niacin and niacin from vitamin tablets were included in the study. Good dietary sources of niacin are whole meal, liver, meat, fish, milk, legumes, – and coffee! Brewer’s yeast is also a good source of niacin, but, unfortunately, the same does not apply for beer! The average Englishman gets 2/3 of his niacin from meat, beverages, milk, and cheese, while only 1/8 comes from vegetables.

By: Vitality Council

References:
1. Morris MC, Evans DA, Bienias JL, Scherr PA, Tangney CC, Hebert LE, Bennett DA, Wilson RS, Aggarwal N. Dietary niacin and the risk of incident Alzheimer’s disease and of cognitive decline. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2004;75(8):1093-9.
2. National Food Agency of Denmark (Levnedsmiddelstyrelsen): Nutrient recommendations, 1992 (Naeringsstofanbefalinger, 1992).

jnnp.bmjjournals.com
www.fvst.dk
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Chemotherapy: Selenium Increases the Effect and Reduces Side Effects

Claus Hancke

September 20, 2004

There are still a few cancer specialists, who warn their patients against taking antioxidants while undergoing chemotherapy. They think that when antioxidants decrease the side effects of the treatment, they will also decrease the benefits of chemotherapy. However, pursuasive studies now show that this advice is neither correct nor beneficial.

Scientists at the famous and internationally acclaimed American Roswell Park Cancer Institute – the oldest independent cancer research centre in the world – are putting forward these new results.

Highly detailed studies on mice have shown that not only does selenium protect healthy tissue from the destructive effect of chemotherapy – it also quite dramatically enhances the effect of chemo therapy on tumours! For the first time, it has been established that it is possible to increase the effect of chemotherapy with a treatment that is actually harmless in itself.

The studies were carried out on so-called naked mice that had various human tumours surgically implanted and then were given various types of chemo theray. Some of the tumours were moderately sensitive to chemotherapy while the sensitivity of others was very small. However, when the mice were treated with large doses of selenium, they were able to tolerate up to four times as much chemotherapy as they normally would and thereby, not only the usual 20 – 30% of the mice could be cured, but in some cases up to 100% of the mice were cured!

Just as convincing was the effect on moderately sensitive tumours which are usually cured in about 50% of the cases. With selenium, the success rate went up to 100% and, to a very large extent, the mice were also free from side effects.

The preliminary results indicate that there might be several reasons for these results, but selenium in combination with chemotherapy seems to be able to force the cancer cells into committing suicide, so-called apoptosis.

Attention must be paid to the fact that this is an animal experiment. However, the results have been so exceptional and promising that the researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute are already setting up the first studies for testing the treatment on humans.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Shousong Cao, Farukh A. Durrani, and Youcef M. Rustum. Selective Modulation of the Therapeutic Efficacy of Anticancer Drugs by Selenium Containing Compounds against Human Tumor Xenografts. Clin Cancer Res. 2004;10(7):2561-9.

clincancerres.aacrjournals.org
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Vitamin E Prevents Colds

Claus Hancke

September 13, 2004

By taking a modest vitamin E supplement, the elderly can be spared every fifth cold they would normally get. This is the result of the best randomized trial in this field so far. It was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA.

The study was carried out by a university-based team of researchers in Boston belonging under the American Ministry of Agriculture. In charge of this group was Simin Meydani, a professor and specialist in nutrition and ageing. She has previously established that it is not belief but reality that Vitamin E stimulates the T cells of the immune system.

The study included 617 people in 33 nursing homes and they were all above 65 years old. Half of them were given a supplement of 200 I.U. of Vitamin E every day for a year. The other half were given placebo and during the study, it was calculated which group suffered the fewest respiratory infections.

It turned out that the ones who were given vitamin E had fewer infections than the others and particularly the number of colds were reduced by a statistical significance of 20%. There was no effect, however, on the frequency of pneumonia.

Meydani emphasized that even though only every fifth cold was prevented, the result is still important. Vitamin E is completely harmless and colds are the cause of 30% of all absence due to illness in the US.

Another perspective is the possibility that Vitamin E perhaps has a particular effect on viral infections like colds but not on diseases like pneumonia which are mostly caused by bacteria. Based on this, other researchers wanted to know if vitamin E can have an importance in the fight against AIDS, where it is exactly the T cells that are being targeted, but Meydani herself did not want to speak on this subject.

The results were originally displayed in May of this year at a closed scientific symposium on vitamin E arranged by the New York Academy of Science. Almost all of the world’s élite in vitamin E research participated.

Among other things, also the highly sensational findings were displayed that a combination of Vitamin C and Vitamin E supplements reduces the aggravation of Alzheimer’s disease by 50% and that the same combination prevents eclampsia in every other pregnant woman who are at risk of developing this serious disease.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Vitamin E and Respiratory Tract Infections in Elderly Nursing Home Residents A Randomized Controlled Trial Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD; Lynette S. Leka, BS; Basil C. Fine, MD; Gerard E. Dallal, PhD; Gerald T. Keusch, MD; Maria Fiatarone Singh, MD; Davidson H. Hamer, MD JAMA. 2004;292:828-836.

jama.ama-assn.org
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Dangerous to Stop Taking Fish Oil!

Claus Hancke

September 8, 2004

Recent media reports have been saying that, according to a Danish study, fish oil does not prevent cardial arrythmia. Many have gotten the impression that fish oil does not at all benefit the heart. This is very wrong! Considering the many who take fish oil for the health of their heart, it is of utmost importance that this mistake be corrected, as it may be dangerous to stop supplementing with fish oil!

By: Vitality Council

References:
1) Albert C. Fish oil – an appetising alternative to anti-arrhytmic drugs? Lancet 2004;363:1412-3.
2) Schrepf, R et al. Immediate effects of n-3 fatty acid infusion on the induction of sustained ventricular tachycardia. Lancet 2004;363:1441-2.

www.lancet.com
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Vitamin B12 helps against itching

Claus Hancke

September 6, 2004

Chronic itching can be effectively remedied with vitamin B12 – at least if the itching is due to childhood eczema, also called atopic eczema. The highly skin-soothing effect has been demonstrated by six German dermatologists in a quite simple experiment with 49 patients.

The itch-injured patients were each given two tubes of cream. One was a neutral moisturizer, while the other contained vitamin B12, otherwise available as tablets or as a solution for injection. In the following eight weeks, the patients lubricated the neutral cream on one side of the body and the B12 crem on the other side. After the eight weeks, both patients and doctors evaluated the result.

The effect was convincing. In approx. 60% of the cases the B12 vitamin cream, after both the doctor’s and the patient’s opinion, had resulted in a “good” or “very good” result. On the side of the body that had been treated with the moisturizer, the result was almost inevitably “moderate” or “bad”. Here too, doctors and patients agreed.

The B12 vitamin cream was exceptionally well tolerated and is quite harmless. The mode of action is thought to be that the vitamin in certain contexts is an effective antioxidant neutralizing NO (nitrogen oxide) in inflammated tissue.
It was known in advance that when you block the formation of NO in asthma medically, itching and rashes decreases. The new thing is that the same effect is achieved in this simple way by blocking NO when it is formed.

Itching is also a problem in many other skin diseases, just as many elderly suffer from chronic itching. If the vitamin works with other itchy conditions, it is unknown. An estimated 10% of elderly people in Britain suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency.

By: Vitality Council

 

Reference:
Stucker M, Pieck C, Stoerb C, Niedner R, Hartung J, Altmeyer P Topical vitamin B(12)-a new therapeutic approach in atopic dermatitis-evaluation of efficacy and tolerability in a randomized placebo-controlled multicentre clinical trial. Br J Dermatol. 2004;150(5):977-83.

www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent

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Pregnant Women Addicted to Alcohol Should Take Antioxidants

Claus Hancke

August 30, 2004

Every year, about a hundred children, who are severely damaged by their mother’s alcohol abuse, are born in Denmark. These children, born with the so called foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), suffer from mental retardation, decreased growth, heart failure, striking malformations of their face, arms, and legs, and also suffer cardiac malformations.

Researchers at a centre for alcohol studies at the University of North Carolina now believe that some of these malformations can be avoided if pregnant women with an incontrollable alcohol consumption receive an antioxidant supplement, e.g. vitamin E. The viewpoint is that if the mothers are not capable of holding back – and this, of course, is the exact problem of alcoholics, it would be better to try to reduce the damages rather than making impossible demands.

The information is based on studies with foetal mice who were exposed to alcohol. It turned out that the nervous cells of the foetuses which are easily damaged by alcohol is partly protected by the antioxidant SOD. This indicates that the damages are caused by the formation of so-called free radicals and the researchers at the centre have already established that vitamin E, which is also an antioxidant, reduces these damages.

In the actual study, the mice were born with significantly less malformed limbs when they were protected by SOD. Based on this, the conductor of the study, professor Kathleen K. Sulik claimed that it would be “wonderful” if pregnant women with alcohol problems could be persuaded into taking vitamin supplements.

The number of babies who are born with more discrete alcohol damages is not known. An estimated consumption of only one drink a day can increase the risk of abortion and result in growth retardation of several hundred grams while the baby is still in its mother’s womb.

By: Vitality Council

References:
1. Protection from ethanol-induced limb malformations by the superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetic, EUK-134. Chen SY, Dehart DB, Sulik KK. FASEB J. 2004.
2. Graviditet og alkohol [Pregnancy and alcohol]. Sundhedsstyrelsen 1999.

www.fasebj.org
www.sst.dk
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Vitamins Prevent Sport-related Attrition

Claus Hancke

August 23, 2004

Strenuous and exhausting physical exercise is not beneficial to your health, as it may result in damage to both the DNA (hereditary material) and the cell walls through the process of oxidation.

Vigorous and exhausting physical exercise is not beneficial to your health. The oxidation that takes place during this kind of exercise both damages the DNA (our hereditary material) and destroys the cells walls.

Actually, a general attrition takes place similar to the one our body is exposed to during an operation, a heart attack, or another kind of violent strain. The proofs of the damages can be found in blood samples and urine tests.

However, a new study has shown that a lot of the damages can be prevented in athletes if they take a supplement of the vitamins E and -C before demanding performances. Both of the vitamins are antioxidants, i.e. they prevent the unintentional oxidation of the cell walls and thereby the destruction of the cellular functions.

Many athletes take supplements but proof of the supplements actually working have now been established in a thorough study of American ultramarathon runners.

The study was carried out in a scientific sports institute under Oregon State University. Starting six weeks prior to the long 50 km. (31 miles) race, 11 out of the 22 participants each took 1 g. of vitamin C and 400 I.U. of vitamin E every day while the other 11 participants were given placebo. Both before and after the race a number of tests were performed on both groups.

It turned out that the vitamins completely prevented the fats in the cell walls from going rancid (oxidation) both during and after the race. In the men who had not taken vitamins, the consequences of the exertions were measurable for at least six days while they were non-existent in the ones who had been given vitamins. Interestingly, the women got off lighter in that their tests were only elevated for a couple of hours after the race even though they had not taken any supplements.

The spokesperson for the researchers is professor Maret Traber. With a background including several honorary tasks and more than 160 scientific articles, she is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the subject of Vitamin E.

Based on the study, she declared that if you suffer from chronic health problems, you may very well benefit from larger doses of the two vitamins than what is normally recommended. In this context, she mentions diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and cardiac diseases, but also overweight and smoking. They are all conditions involving increased rancidity of the fats in the cell walls.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Mastaloudis A., Morrow JA, Hopkins DW, Devaraj S, Traber M. Antioxidant supplementation prevents exercise-induced lipid peroxidation, but not inflammation, in ultramarathon runners. Free Radical Biology & Medicine 2004;36(10):1329-1341.

www.sciencedirect.com/science
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Cholesterol Medicine Halves the Amount of Coenzyme Q10 in the Blood

Claus Hancke

August 16, 2004

Heart specialists normally shrug off the suggested recommendation that patients treated with cholesterol lowering drugs must take Coenzyme Q10. While it is common knowledge that such medicine interferes with the body’s ability to create Coenzyme Q10, and that Q10 is essential for life, conventional medical thinking still holds that supplementation is superfluous because of the belief that medical treatment is effective and increases life span!

Now this conventional thinking is being challenged by new studies showing that one of the most commonly used cholesterol lowering medicines not only decreases but actually halves the amount of Coenzyme Q10 in the blood.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Rundek T, Naini A, Sacco R, Coates K, DiMauro S. Atorvastatin decreases the coenzyme Q10 level in the blood of patients at risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Arch Neurol. 2004;61(6):889-92.

archneur.ama-assn.org
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The First Table of the Antioxidant Content of Food

Claus Hancke

August 12, 2004

Because of the growing interest in antioxidants, two scientific institutions under the American Ministry of Agriculture have prepaired the first extensive table of antioxidants in the diet.

The growing interest in antioxidants has made two scientific institutions under the American Ministry of Agriculture compile the first comprehensive table of the antioxidant content of food.

The reason for this is the increasing belief in antioxidants protecting against atherosclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, old age blindness – and for that matter ageing in general. The latest news is that people who develop oesophageal and gastric cancer generally get significantly less dietary antioxidants than others.

The new table has required an enormous amount of laboratory work and comprises 100 foodstuffs from the vegetable kingdom which, as we know, are the main source of dietary antioxidants. Not only does it show which foodstuffs contain the most antioxidants, it also points out the one with the fewest antioxidants. The type of antioxidants (vitamin E or -C, phenols, carotenoids) is not specified – only the total effect.

Among berries and fruits, the most antioxidants can be found in cranberry, blackcurrants, raspberry, red apples, prunes, and plums. By contrast, bananas, kiwis, mangoes, watermelons, and pineapples are quite poor sources.

In the vegetable group, artichoke is number one, but also dried beans, onions, cabbage, peppers, spinach, and boiled potatoes are good sources of antioxidants, while salad (particularly Iceberg salad), green peas, and raw tomatoes contain significantly less antioxidants. At the bottom is cucumbers with a very low content of antioxidants.

90% of the antioxidants are water-soluble while the rest are fat-soluble and have other properties. It is difficult to get enough of these through the diet but they are present in nuts, oatmeal, avocadoes, broccoli, and artichokes.

Incredibly rich sources of fat-soluble vitamins are the spices cinnamon and (particularly) clove, followed by oregano and basil quite a way down the list. Even small amounts of these spices can have important effects. Chocolate also provides a decent supplement.

Compared to vegetables, berry, fruits, and nuts, cereals such as cornflakes and white bread contain only few antioxidants. People who live on a diet of bread and meat without many spices, who have a traditional breakfast, rarely get other kinds of fruits than bananas, and stick to Iceberg salad with cucumber and tomato will not get many dietary antioxidants!

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Xainli Wu, Gary R Beecher, Joanne Holden et al. Lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidant capacities of common foods in the United States. J Agric. Food Chem. 2004;52:4026-37.

pubs.acs.org/journals/jafcau
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Vitamin C Prevents Hard Mucus and Dry Mucus Membranes

Claus Hancke

August 9, 2004

American science points towards Vitamin C being beneficial for those suffering from heavy mucus in the respiratory tract, e.g. asthmatics and others suffering from chronic sinusitis and/or chronic bronchitis.

The doctors from the Research Department at the Childrens Hospital in Oakland have shown that vitamin C is necessary for the formation of the liquid layer on the surface of the mucous membranes necessary for the functioning of the membranes. However, the optimal concentrations of vitamin C are so high that they may only be reached by local treatment of the mucous membranes with vitamin C in a spray form.

By: Vitality Council

Reference:
Fischer H et al.: Vitamin C controls the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator chloride channel. Journal of the National Academy of Sciences 2004;101: 3691–3696.

www.jstor.org/journals/nas.html
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