Antioxidants needed by exercising populations: Nutritionist
By Stephen Daniells, 14-May-2009
“The benefits provided by antioxidant supplementation on these parameters provide key drivers for their use by exercising populations,” said Dr Childs.
“Studies dating back to the 1980s have shown that antioxidants reduce muscle damage, while more recent investigations demonstrate that they can also improve both ventilatory and exercise performance. Such effects are of particular relevance to exercising populations.”
(Read article here) |
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Vitamin E may slow Alzheimer's disease
By Megan Rauscher Megan Rauscher – May 4, 2009
"While the daily dose of vitamin E ranged from 200 to 2000 units, the majority of patients were given high doses that ranged from 800 units daily to 1000 units twice daily."
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – An analysis of "real-world" clinical data indicates that vitamin E, and drugs that reduce generalized inflammation, may slow the decline of mental and physical abilities in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) over the long term.
"Our results are consistent for a potential benefit of vitamin E on slowing functional decline and a smaller possible benefit of anti-inflammatory medications on slowing cognitive decline in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease," Dr. Alireza Atri told Reuters Health. . .
. . . Taking an anti-inflammatory medication was associated with "very consistent but generally only small effects on slowing long-term decline in cognitive functioning," Atri told Reuters Health.
However, in patients who took both vitamin E and anti-inflammatory medications, there appeared to be an additive effect in terms of slowing overall decline.
(Read article here) |
Supplements: Time to change the nay-saying record?
27-Apr-2009 - Stephen Daniells
As yet another TV show concludes that supplements are unnecessary, is the ignorance of the mainstream media few putting the health of the many at risk? Isn’t it time to change the record?
Professor Regan’s Diet Clinic, a TV programme broadcast recently as part of BBC2’s acclaimed Horizon series, came to the conclusion that supplements are totally unnecessary for people eating a balanced diet.
Academics interviewed in the programme supported this view, and went so far as to point out the dangers of certain vitamins when taken in large doses.
Take-home message for the viewers: Stay away from supplements - you don’t need them and they may even be dangerous.
I, however, took a different message away: Why is there a continued lack of understanding of what supplements actually do? I don’t want to sound patronising, but the clue is in the name - they ‘supplement’ diets. They bridge nutritional gaps; they are not meal replacements, nor are they a cure all.
Professor Regan’s message may have been made with all the best intentions - a balanced diet is the ideal way of meeting nutritional needs, but the issue is not ‘how things should be’ but ‘how things actually are’.
How many people do eat a balanced diet? I would argue very few. Hence the need for supplements.
(Read article here)
IMPORTANT NOTE! Continue to read the READER COMMENTS to the article at the end of the article.
Here is an excerpt:
"Being a health writer with close to 20 years of experience from the Scandinavian "supplement scene", I have heard this rather uninspiring and, in my opinion, misleading message over and over again and find it difficult to understand why the media always seem to fall for it.
. . . We all know that a balanced diet is the best way to maintain good health but at the end of the day, how many of us actually manage to consume those foods that are needed in order to obtain the desired nutrient levels?"
Bjorn Madsen, journalist (Denmark)
PenMan Productions |
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December 10, 2008
Early Released JAMA Antioxidant Studies on Prostate Cancer have Similar Limitations, Says Association
Results of PHS II and SELECT clinical trials available online.
On December 9, 2008, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published two early release articles and an editorial on antioxidant supplementation. The first early release article titled “Vitamins E and C in the Prevention of Prostate and Total Cancer in Men: The Physicians' Health Study II (PHS II) Randomized Controlled Trial” reports on the effect of long-term supplementation of vitamins C and E on the risk of prostate or total cancer. Results of the “Physicians Health Study II” specific to cardiovascular disease were previously released by JAMA in November. In the November 10, 2008 issue of the Natural Products Association Supplement the association previously commented on the limitations of the Physicians Health Study II and its design.
In response to findings in the second early release study in JAMA called “Effect of Selenium and Vitamin E on Risk of Prostate Cancer and Other Cancers: The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT),” Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., the association’s vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, issued these comments:
"Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire method to prevent prostate cancer, and if we are going to look at nutritional intervention in a phase III drug model as was the case in the SELECT trial, then we need to have good data from phase I and II style trials. This would include single and multiple ascending dose studies that are necessary to understand how much of the intervention should be given to see efficacy and how well the intervention works at a prescribed dose. Neither was performed prior to this study. Additionally, and similar to the PHS II, we have no way of knowing the effect food is playing in the study; food intake isn't controlled. We get selenium and vitamin E from food and there are foods that may exhibit differences in absorption of the intervention by the body. So, there are a variety of possibilities that may be affecting actual intake of vitamin E and selenium."
The results of both the PHS II and the SELECT clinical trial are available online at http://www.jama.ama-assn.org/
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