Michael Castleman
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 Some supplements are natural, meaning that their vitamins and minerals have been extracted from plants—for example, vitamin C from rose hips. Others are synthetic laboratory creations.
Until the 1990s, mainstream medicine scoffed at supplements. Critics insisted that a balanced diet would supply all of the nutrients that a person could need. They charged that except for preventing vitamin-deficiency diseases (such as scurvy, rickets, and beriberi), supplements were medically worthless and a waste of money. |
James S. Gordon, M.D.
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 It turned out that among normal populations the need for specific nutrients—for example, vitamins, minerals, and the amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins—varies enormously. One "normal" thirty-year-old man might require two or ten times as much vitamin A as another or twenty times as much zinc for ordinary functioning. Williams postulated that these differences might be the result of genetic variation or previous life experience and illnesses. |
Gary Null, Ph.D.
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 All my life, I never took any vitamins and supplements other than what was in the natural foods. I had been eating. When starting the program, J was pretty well mentally readjusted. Three years ago, my own beliefs were validated as far as not conforming to what the society demands from you, just being a freer thinker with no restrictions. Physically, I work a lot of hours, so I didn't find the time to take care of myself as I should have. On weekends I enjoy outdoor activities. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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 We can do the same thing much less expensively by giving immune-boosting vitamins and nutrients to patients with allergies. Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, and selenium can help bring the immune system back into balance. In my office I sometimes use an asthma drip, an intravenous "cocktail" of nutrients that are particularly helpful. |
| This includes limiting the intake of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and sometimes drugs and also providing the necessary vitamins and nutrients that may be undersupplied in the diet.
To treat panic syndrome, I first get my patients to cut out coffee, tea, and cola drinks and start a stress reduction program. I do a glucose.tolerance test to check blood sugar levels and how they vary in response to eating. I sometimes measure blood levels of adrenaline. |
Bernie S. Siegel, M.D.
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 I continued to meditate and to swallow all my vitamins. Three months after the birth I rejoined my exercise group. Now I didn't have to walk; I could run. And I run so well I'm planning to enter some races. My exercise program consists of yoga, running, and biking. I do them every day. I have to. I believe they are helping me survive.
My figure is back, with clothes on anyway. I'm even beginning to think I don't look too grotesque with them off. My C-section scar didn't do much to help my self-image, but my husband is blind when he looks at my scars, and I am learning to see through his eyes. |
Rhonda D. Orin
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 WHAT IS NOT COVERED
• Drugs available without a prescription or for which there is a nonprescription equivalent available
• Drugs obtained at a non-Plan pharmacy except for out-of-area emergencies
• Medical supplies such as dressings and antiseptics
• vitamins and nutritional substances that can be purchased without a prescription
• Drugs for cosmetic purposes
• Drugs to enhance athletic performance
• Smoking-cessation drugs and medication, including nicotine patches
• Fertility drugs
Section VI: General Exclusions
The exclusions in this section apply to all benefits. |
James S. Gordon, M.D.
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| In this approach, self-hypnosis and yoga would be as much staples of prenatal care as periodic blood pressure checks and daily vitamins. The former has been shown to reduce pain and anxiety and to contribute to a sense of confidence and control in labor as well as pregnancy. Yoga facilitates muscular stength and flexibility and appears to encourage pelvic relaxation.
Early in pregnancy, every expectant mother would be assigned to a birth attendant, a sympathetic and experienced woman who would be available during pregnancy and continually present during labor and delivery. |
| I tell her that some foods, particularly soy products and the cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, seem to be anticarcinogenic; and that vitamins E and C and beta carotene and selenium—the antioxidants—have in some studies been shown to be useful in preventing or slowing the growth of cancer. I suggest she discontinue eating sugar, caffeine, and red meat, decrease her intake of fat, and begin to exercise for at least forty minutes a day. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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| In fact, all the antioxidants, including vitamins C, E, and A, along with mixed carotenoids, zinc, and selenium, can help reduce the inflammatory condition of asthma. Chief among nutrients important to people with asthma is magnesium. Intravenous infusions of magnesium can halt even some of the most severe exacerbations of emphysema under emergency room circumstances. Magnesium apparently acts as a natural bronchodilator, relaxing the smooth muscle that lines the tiny tubules that bring air to the lungs so that it doesn't go into spasm. |
James S. Gordon, M.D.
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| I may eliminate foods that for one reason or another seem to be deleterious; and I suggest vitamins, minerals, and other food supplements that make up for deficiencies or enhance functioning. There is convincing scientific evidence for most of these therapies, and hundreds or thousands of years of experience back up others. But beyond any of these specific prescriptions, I am aiming at something else: I want people to discover the great joy of eating and to reclaim the intuitive knowledge of what and when and how much is good for them to eat. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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| Lecithin, which contains choline and inositol (sometimes considered B vitamins), helps protect against fat buildup in the liver.
A diet that is generally low in animal protein and fat can also help rest the liver. That's because the byproduct of protein metabolism is ammonia, which must be detoxified by the liver. Protein can be obtained partially from vegetable sources, like beans and grains. Beans are also important because they contain sulfur substances that boost liver function, including methionine, an amino acid. |
James S. Gordon, M.D.
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| Students, now as then, are told that virtually everyone in this country receives an adequate supply of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Vitamin deficiencies—the scurvy that lack of vitamin C produced in eighteenth-century sailors, the bone-deforming rickets of children deficient in vitamin D —are said to be historical curiosities or remote Third World problems. There are no discussions of the therapeutic use of supplementation, except in the case of the skid-row alcoholic, or the genetically or surgically altered patient or pregnant mother. |
Annemarie Colbin
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 The Life Force in Foods
The mechanistic worldview describes food in terms of its chemical components—proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins. The systems view, based on science and on the holism of our everyday sensory experience, sees food in terms of its relationships—context, properties, effects, taste, aroma, origin, direction of growth, color, texture—as well as its chemical properties. One viewpoint does not negate the other; it is like looking on the world with two eyes, where one eye sees things slightly differently from the other. |
| These chemicals almost without exception perform their mission at the cost of destroying valuable vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, stripping food products of their natural life-giving qualities.22
Dr. Chauncey Lake, past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, warned in 1963 "that general use of new chemicals in large quantities has created a new hazard— subclinical poisoning—so insidious that physicians cannot connect the poison with the ailment."23
Dr. |
| Nutrients in Proportion
We have all been bombarded with countless articles, books, and lectures on the subject of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. These elements, which are given form by the morphogenetic field of the system to which they belong, have been the focus of nutritional study for the greater part of this century. Yet although information on recommended quantities of nutrients abounds, I have seen very few comments on something I consider much more important: the proportion in which these nutrients occur in food. |
Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.
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 While some of these vitamins are added to Olestra-laden products to offset a deficiency, other fat-soluble compounds, such as the carotenes (including beta carotene, lycopene, and lutein), are not. Consequently, people who regularly eat Olestra-cooked foods have up to a 50 percent drop in blood levels of these health-enhancing nutrients. The carotenes help fight cancer, but most Americans already consume too few of them: Aggravating poor intake by eating even an 8-ounce pack of Olestra-laden potato chips could tip the scale from a marginal to a serious deficiency. |
| Optimal levels of all vitamins and minerals cannot be guaranteed when calorie intake is this low, so choose a moderate-dose multiple vitamin and mineral supplement when following any low-calorie diet. |
| The taste preference allowed our ancient ancestors to easily identify and gather sweet-tasting foods such as fruits, which are rich in vitamins, minerals, and calories. These foods were limited in quantity and to the time of year they were available. However, our cave-dweller bodies now live in affluent societies where easy and unlimired access ro highly processed and concentrated sugar has resulted in each American eating his/her weight in sugar each year. Our genetically programmed taste buds have collided with this glut of sugar always within reach. |
James S. Gordon, M.D.
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| The use of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and other nonprescription supplements may be even more of a problem for biomedicine and its practitioners. This is not surprising. Each year the evidence for their effectiveness is accumulating, and popular acceptance and use is skyrocketing. These substances, packaged as pills and capsules and advertised as therapies for specific conditions, look like and are used in ways that are similar to the medicines they claim to supplement or replace. They are, in short, therapeutic and economic rivals. |
Bob LeBow, M.D., M.P.H.
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 In a case involving vitamins, several pharmaceutical companies paid a fine of over $700 million.
• Paying off the "pharmaceutical benefit managers" who are supposed to save money for health care organizations by selecting cheaper drugs. They gave them bonuses for promoting drugs that were not always the most economical. 30
• The systematic "bribing" of the medical profession and our legislators through an array of questionable but legal activities, from gifts and free lunches to campaign contributions. |
Gayle Reichler, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
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 See the lists of fruits and vegetables in the Foods Rich in Antioxidants and Other vitamins chart on page 79.) o Avoid foods and minerals that inhibit the absorption of calcium, including excess protein, salt, iron, beet greens, and spinach. Beet greens and spinach are high in calcium, but are also high in substances called oxalates, which inhibit calcium absorption. Substitute soy-based food products (soybean milk, tofu, and soybeans) for some of the protein in your diet. And limit salt intake to 2,300 mg (1 teaspoon) or less per day. |
Neal Barnard, M.D.
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 Transfer the mixture to a small microwavable container and heat in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until hot throughout, per Vz cup: 98 calories, 1 g protein, 23 g carbohydrate, 0 g fat, 6 mg sodium
Always Great Brown Rice
Makes 3 cups
Brown rice supplies more vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber than does white rice, and this cooking method ensures perfect rice and actually reduces the cooking time. Short-grain brown rice tends to be a bit chewy; long-grain brown rice is slightly more tender and fluffy. If brown rice is new to you, I recommend starting with the long-grain variety. |
| If your diet is low in B vitamins, the amount of estrogen in your blood may rise.8 Vitamin B6 has also been shown to help with depression, irritability, and other symptoms in some research studies.9,10 ruuus 1 iia i riuni r .a i in
The usual B6 dose is 50-150 mg per day. Avoid higher doses, as they can actually cause nerve problems.
To treat premenstrual headaches, some people have used a combination of vitamin B6 (50-150 mg) and magnesium (200 mg) daily. This combination is most effective when used daily, but can also be used for just five days per month. |
| Researchers using B6, along with other B vitamins, in patients with acute back pain found that it cut the relapse rate in half over the following six months.22 Large-scale clinical trials have not yet been conducted.
A safe dose of B6 is 50-150 mg per day. Daily doses of 200 mg or higher should be avoided, however, as they are associated with nerve damage.
The amino acid tryptophan may also help. It works by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a natural brain chemical that is important in pain control, sleep, and moods. |
| Vegetables are also rich in vitamins that are associated with anticancer defenses, as we will see in more detail below.
• To insure complete nutrition, it is important to have a source of vitamin B12, which could include any common multivitamin, fortified soymilk or cereals, or a vitamin B12 supplement of 5 meg or more per day.
• If you would like more information on the macrobiotic diet program Dr. Sattilaro used, write to or call The Kushi Institute (see page 335).
BREAST CANCER
When I was a medical student, among the first patients I cared for were women with breast cancer. |
| I encourage you to explore the benefits of herbs, extracts, and vitamins that can treat painful conditions. Some have been in use for a long time and have been tested in good research studies, as we will see. Do this under your doctor's care, so that a nutritional approach can be integrated with other medical measures as needed, and so that you have a solid diagnosis.
WHY DIDN'T MY DOCTOR TELL ME?
In presenting the information in this book, I have given particular emphasis to dietary approaches that have been tested in reputable research studies. |
Gary Null, Ph.D.
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| Yet, when it comes to doing something good for our bodies, such as eating healthy, nourishing foods, exercising, even taking vitamins and supplements, we limit ourselves. Remember this warning when you read what I recommend for this anti-aging protocol, when you hear yourself say, "What do you mean I have to take . . ."
We are ultraliberal in creating disease and radically conservative in the areas of preventing and treating it. To live longer and healthier, these conditions must switched.
Nevertheless, if you only follow the diet from your teens, you would double your life span. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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| Do i get repeated carotenoids, vitamins colds or flu attacks?
C and E, zinc, and
Do they linger for selenium? weeks and weeks or
Do i drink more than require antibiotics to one or two alcoholic deal with secondary beverages a day, if a infections? man, nr more than
When i get the flu, do two or three a week, if i run a real fever and a woman? have strong symptoms
Do I smoke? that run their course,
Do i have some or do i run only a loweffective means of grade fever with dealing with normal lingering symptoms? or extraordinary stress
Have i had any in my life? |
Carol Krucoff and Mitchell Krucoff, M.D.
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 If you want "insurance," she advises a daily antioxidant multiple containing 100 percent of the daily values for vitamins and minerals.
Many supplements are expensive forms of nutrients readily available from food, say Kleiner and Clark, who offer these recipes for homemade "muscle builders":
Kleiner's muscle-building formula: 8 ounces nonfat milk, 1 packet Carnation Instant Breakfast, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon peanut butter. Blend until smooth. One serving contains 438 calories, 70 grams carbohydrate, 17 grams protein, 10 grams fat.
Clark's protein shake: ! |
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