B-Vitamins

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B-Vitamins

 

http://www.doctoryourself.com/bvitamins.html

 

B-INFORMED ABOUT B-VITAMINS

The safety record of the B-complex vitamins is extraordinarily good.

Since their discovery, beginning with thiamin (B-1) in 1911, many

thousands of studies have verified an unequaled therapeutic value of

these essential substances. Side effects have been rare, and

toxicity is nearly nonexistent, even at the highest doses. Some

cautions are in order, of course, and here are some of the most

important.

 

Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) has been reported to cause temporary

neurological symptoms such as heaviness, tingling or numbness of the

limbs in persons taking very large doses. It is very important to

realize that such cases are not common, and when they do occur

usually result from huge doses of pyridoxine TAKEN ALONE. The B-

vitamins are a team, and work best as a team. Upsetting the balance

by taking a lot of just one is like devoting all your baseball

practice time to your pitcher. You might get a lot of strikeouts,

but if anybody hits one, you are in trouble. No one player has ever

won a World Series by himself, and no single B-vitamin can do the job

that the whole " team " can do.

 

B-6 by itself in doses of 2,000 to 6,000 milligrams daily (that's

one thousand to three thousand times the US RDA!) can produce side

effects and is therefore way too much to take. Very, very few

persons report symptoms on 1,000 mg daily, and only the rarest

reports go any lower. When taken with, or as part of, a complete B-

complex supplement, B-6 side effects other than a harmless deeper-

colored urine are virtually unknown.

 

Premenstrual tension symptoms often improve dramatically with only a

few hundred mg/day of extra B-6. There is no need to " push the

envelope " and take thousands of milligrams when hundreds will do. At

least 50 to 100 mg of supplemental B-6 daily is a virtual necessity

for women taking oral contraceptives. The " pill " causes some

abnormal physiological changes that create a deficiency of B-6, as

well as lower serum levels of thiamine (B-1), and riboflavin (B-2),

and niacin (B-3), and folic acid, and B-12, and vitamin C! (Wynn, V.

Lancet, March 8, 1975)

 

Laboratory animals receiving the human B-6 dose equivalent of just 75

mg daily do not get strokes, even when fed a lousy diet

(Atherosclerosis, vol. 22, 1975, pp 125-127) Since women on oral

contraceptives are three times more likely at any age to have a

stroke, there is an important lesson here. B-6 deficiency produces

hardening of the arteries (Rinehart and Greenberg, American Journal

of Pathology, vol. 25, 1949, pp 481-496.) Furthermore, B-6 is

necessary in order for your body to produce lecithin. Lecithin, a

lipid- transporting substance from soy, has been used clinically to

clear out fatty livers... and even clogged arteries. Another

connection.

 

Niacin (vitamin B-3) has been used in doses up to tens of thousands

of milligrams per day for over 40 years by psychiatrists. It is an

effective alternative treatment for severe depression, psychotic

behavior, and schizophrenia. Most physicians have ignored niacin's

usefulness until rather recently. Niacin has finally gained

popularity as one of the cheapest ways to lower serum cholesterol.

Changes in liver function tests have been reported in persons taking

one to five thousand milligrams daily of niacin BY ITSELF. Three

important points have generally gone unnoticed:

 

1. Niacin is much better tolerated when given with Vitamin C. Abram

Hoffer, M.D. pioneered high dose niacin therapy back in the 1950's.

He repeatedly published his observations that gram-sized doses of

vitamin C greatly improve a patient's niacin tolerance. Dr. Hoffer

recommended at least as much vitamin C per dose as niacin. With

three thousand milligrams of niacin per day, then, one would need a

MINIMUM of three thousand milligrams of vitamin C. The medical

profession's unfounded resistance to large doses of vitamin C is

embarrassingly well known. It is useless to blame niacin for side

effects caused by ignoring expert medical advice on how to use it

correctly along with vitamin C.

 

Vincent Zannoni at the University of Michigan Medical School has

shown that vitamin C protects the liver itself. Even doses as low as

500 milligrams daily helped prevent fatty buildup and cirrhosis.

5,000 mg of vitamin C per day appears to actually flush fats from the

liver. (Ritter, M. " Study Says Vitamin C Could Cut Liver Damage, "

Associated Press, October 11, 1986) F. R. Klenner, M.D. showed that

very large doses of vitamin C (between 500 to 900 mg per kilogram

body weight per day) can cure hepatitis in two to four days (Smith,

L. H., ed. Clinical Guide To The Use Of VitaminC, Life Science Press,

Tacoma Washington, 1988, pp 22-23).

 

2. Niacin is also one of the team of B-vitamins and needs any

massive intake to be at least partly balanced with the rest of the B-

complex, just like B-6 mentioned above. Would you pay for a tune up

for your car and change only one spark plug? If you have several

kids, would you feed only one? Would you pay for cable TV if there

were only one channel? Taking only one B-vitamin is neither logical

nor efficient. So avoid doing it unless there is a good reason.

 

3. Many, perhaps most, persons showing changes in their liver

function tests upon ingestion of large amounts of niacin have been

using alcohol. Accurate information about sizable alcohol

consumption is very difficult to get from a patient: the more they

use, the less they'll tell. Two thirds of all American adults drink

alcohol, averaging out to be about three drinks per day, seven days a

week, 52 weeks a year. If you do not drink that much, then somebody

out there is drinking MORE.

 

Alcohol does nothing if it doesn't hurt the liver. The French have

the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the world. They

also have the world's highest percentage of deaths from cirrhosis

of the liver. Working hard, the human liver can detoxify about one

drink every two hours. Know anyone who drinks at a faster rate than

that? Then marvel that they have a liver that functions at all.

Alcohol is a drug, and consumption and abuse is more widespread and

more serious than most persons imagine. Over two thirds of all

hospital admissions of the elderly are alcohol related. (New York

State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Oasas

Today, 1:1, Sept-Oct. 1992)

 

The liver undergoes profound changes in both its endoplasmic

reticula and its microsomal enzymes in order to detoxify alcohol.

The unbalanced introduction of very large doses of niacin to an

overloaded liver may well overtax an alcohol-strained system. This

is likely where some changes in liver function tests come from

(American Journal of Medicine, vol 86, April, 1989, page 431 and vol.

87, August 1989, page 248; American Journal of Cardiology, vol. 64,

October 1, 1989 page 728).

 

4. Any hepatotoxic effects of niacin are almost invariably

associated with the sustained release form (Journal of the American

Medical Association, March 2, 1994). Sustained release niacin

generally enables higher doses with less " flushing. " However, that

warm sensation called flushing indicates niacin saturation.

Sustained release delivery may therefore be hiding this sign that the

body has had enough niacin at a given time.

 

5. Simply reducing the dosage reduces side effects. (Naito,

H. " Reducing Cardiac Deaths with Hypolipidemic Drugs, " Postgraduate

Medicine, vol 82, no. 6, November 1987; Figge, H. L. et

al: " Nicotinic Acid: A Review of its Clinical Use in the Treatment of

Lipid Disorders, " Pharmacotherapy, Vol. 8, no. 5, 1988) Since the

regular " immediate release " form of niacin also is effective in

lowering total cholesterol and actually improves beneficial HDL

levels, why not just use the plain tablets? Take less, but more

often, and you approximate the idea of a sustained release tablet,

but with a lower dose. If there is a flush, reduce the dose. The

idea is to be comfortable. It is better to be able to use less of

the vitamin for a long time than to use a lot, have trouble, and

quit. American physicians often over prescribe anyway, and niacin is

no exception.

 

Niacin is not a magic cholesterol bullet, nor is cholesterol the only

factor in heart disease. Niacin is PART of the picture, part of the

B-vitamin team, and part of a total health program. Granted, niacin

is indeed important. This is shown by even our inadequate US RDA,

which recommends many times more niacin than any other B-vitamin.

However, persons truly seeking to lower their cholesterol need to eat

more fiber, more vegetables (especially carrots), more vitamins E and

C, and to exercise more. They also need to eat less sugar, less fat,

less meat, and reduce stress. There are ZERO harmful effects (and

countless side BENEFITS) in taking these steps.

 

People who do not want to change their diet and do not want to change

their lifestyle ask doctors for a pill instead. There is no such

thing as monotherapy for cardiovascular disease. If there was, we'd

all use it and be saving literally a million lives each year. Is it

really that big a surprise that niacin alone isn't enough to do the

job right?

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Alcohol:

 

Ray, O. and Ksir, C. Drugs, Society and Human Behavior, chapter 9.

Mosby, 1990 (I'm sure most of the great book titles are already

taken, so don't be fooled by this one. This is an excellent book:

clear, fact-filled and well written. Highly recommended.)

 

Williams, R. J. Nutrition and Alcoholism (1951) and Alcoholism: The

Nutritional Approach (1959) may be out of print but are worth the

search.

 

Therapeutic Uses of the B-Vitamins:

 

Bicknell and Prescott, The Vitamins in Medicine, 3rd ed., 1953 (This

out-of-print work stands as the definitive summary of most all

vitamin research up to the date of its publication. There are many

thousands of references here.)

 

Cheraskin, et al: Psychodietetics, Bantam Books, 1974 (A deservedly

popular book, loaded with references.)

 

Hoffer, A. and Walker, M. Orthomolecular Nutrition, Keats, 1978

( " Orthomolecular " essentially means " megavitamin. " Good introductory

work.)

 

Pauling, L. How To Live Longer and Feel Better, Freeman, 1986.

(Still the best single health book ever written. Here is a good

place to begin you investigation of vitamin therapeutics.)

 

Psychiatric Utility of Niacin:

 

Hawkins, D. and Pauling, L. Orthomolecular Psychiatry, Freeman, 1973

(Here, in one big volume, is more information than most doctors ever

want to admit exists on using niacin, especially in treating

depression and psychoses.)

 

Hoffer, Abram Niacin Therapy in Psychiatry, Charles Thomas, 1962

(This is what started it all; note the publishing date. Nobody knows

niacin like Dr. Hoffer.)

 

Hoffer, A. and Osmond, H. The Chemical Basis of Clinical

Psychiatry, Charles Thomas,Springfield, Ill. (Even more in depth

study of the biochemistry and uses of niacin.)

 

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God bless,

Kandy