The Vitamin Cure. Monte Lai
or treating chronic diseases. For example, in the past 10 years, at least eight clinical studies have been published on the use of vitamin D for the prevention of osteoporosis. Although their topics and design might have been similar, these eight clinical studies produced different results and conclusions due to factors like patient selection, dosage, environment, and the like. Can vitamin D prevent osteoporosis? Of those eight clinical studies, which one should you believe?
Fortunately, a statistical method known as meta-analysis has been widely used to assess the efficacy of pharmaceutical agents in treating diseases. In the case of the abovementioned example, a meta-analysis would combine all the clinical data obtained from those eight clinical studies, excluding the data deemed to be biased, and analyze the remainder of the combined data to reach a statistical conclusion on whether vitamin D can or cannot prevent osteoporosis. Meta-analysis is currently the most reliable method for assessing the efficacy of vitamins or essential elements in preventing or treating chronic diseases. All the information on how vitamins and essential elements prevent and treat chronic diseases in this book is based solely on meta-analyses published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, not any single clinical study report.
This book contains five parts. Part 1 contains a brief history of the discovery of each of the 13 essential vitamins—namely, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B7, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Part 2 covers essential elements, including the five essential elements—calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and phosphorus—as well as the eight essential trace elements, which are iron, zinc, manganese, copper, molybdenum, iodine, chromium, and selenium. Both parts 1 and 2 also present meta-analytic evidence of the efficacy of each vitamin/essential element in the prevention and treatment of diseases, its recommended daily allowance, and best food sources of it. Part 3 provides important secrets for staying healthy. These include an explanation of how sugar makes you fat, why patients with autoimmune diseases should not eat meat, and how exercise benefits the brain. Part 4 provides meta-analytic evidence of which vitamins and essential elements should be taken to prevent and/or treat 75 chronic diseases and conditions, including lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, blood cancer, bladder cancer, glioma, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, cataracts, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, hepatitis C, fatty liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, sleep apnea, and others. Part 5 summarizes the clinically proven remedies for preventing and treating the 75 chronic diseases and conditions presented in part 4.
For the purpose of easy reference, all vitamins, essential elements, secrets for staying healthy, and diseases in this book have been assigned a specific chapter number: vitamins are numbered from 1 to 13, essential elements from 14 to 27, secrets for staying healthy from 28 to 36, and diseases from 37 to 111. For example, vitamin A is 1, calcium is 14, and Alzheimer’s disease is 37.
Author’s disclaimer: The book provides readers with relevant health information about vitamins and essential elements, but it does not intend to be a substitute for any medical advice given to readers by health-care professionals. Efficacies of vitamins and essential elements in preventing or treating diseases may vary greatly among individuals. Recommendations from the book should not replace any nutrient-balanced diets or prescribed medications.
Vitamins are essential nutrients that the body does not make; therefore, they have to be obtained from foods. Some vitamins are derived from animal-based foods, while others are from plant-based foods. Only by consuming nutrient-balanced foods can one obtain sufficient amounts of all 13 vitamins—vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B7, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K—to maintain good health. These 13 vitamins are distributed to various organs and tissues, and each one is involved in a multitude of essential physiological functions in the body. Vitamin literally means “being vital for life.”
Vitamin A is also known as the anti–dry eye vitamin. In 2000 BCE, physicians in ancient Egypt and Greece already knew that beef liver could cure night blindness. Of course, they had no way of knowing that this was because beef liver contains high amounts of vitamin A. In 1913, Lafayette Mendel and Thomas Osborne were able to isolate a “lipid-soluble” substance from chicken eggs and fish liver and called it vitamin A. In 1930, the chemical structure of vitamin A was identified as retinol.
Vitamin A enhances vision, allowing us to differentiate people from objects in our surroundings in dim light. In the eye, vitamin A binds to opsin, a photosensitive protein, to form rhodopsin. The photosensitivity of rhodopsin essentially establishes our eyesight and vision.
Vitamin A is also called the “anti-infective vitamin.” The body’s first-line defense against infections involves the skin, respiratory tract, digestive tract, and urinary tract. Vitamin A activates immune cells in these tissues.
Since our bodies cannot make vitamin A, it has to be obtained from foods. Preformed vitamin A and provitamin A are two kinds of vitamin A found in foods. Vitamin A from animal-based foods, such as beef liver, is preformed vitamin A, which the body uses promptly. Plants, such as carrots, contain carotenes. Carotenes are made up of provitamin A, which must be converted to vitamin A in the digestive tract before our bodies can utilize them.
What Are the Symptoms of Vitamin A Deficiency?
• Xerophthalmia. Xerophthalmia, or abnormal dryness of the conjunctive cornea of the eye, is the most common symptom in vitamin A–deficient children. Symptoms related to vitamin A deficiency in adults include night blindness and diminished adaptability of eyesight under dim light or at nighttime. In severe cases, patients might be afraid of driving or being outdoors alone at night because of their weakened vision.
• Eye disease and blindness. Severe vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness. Pregnant women deficient in vitamin A have an elevated risk of giving birth to babies with dry eye syndrome and even blindness. Globally, about half a million children suffer from blindness related to vitamin A deficiency; it is the most preventable cause of blindness in children. Hippocrates, the celebrated physician of Greek antiquity, told his patients who had eye diseases to eat cooked beef liver, which is rich in vitamin A.
• Infectious diseases. Infectious diseases can consume and deplete vitamin A stored in the liver, causing vitamin A deficiency. Measles infections depleting vitamin A can also lead to dry eye syndrome and xerophthalmia or even blindness in children.
• Thyroid malfunction. The thyroid gland produces thyroid hormones T3 and T4. T3 is the active form of the thyroid hormone, and vitamin A enhances the conversion of T4 to T3. Vitamin A deficiency can hinder this conversion and cause thyroid malfunction.
What Are the Causes of Vitamin A Deficiency?
• Lipid malabsorption. Lipids, or fats, facilitate the absorption of lipid-soluble vitamin A in the intestines, so lipid malabsorption can reduce the absorption of vitamin A, resulting in vitamin A deficiency. Lipid malabsorption is often caused by a blockage of pancreatic or gallbladder juice secretion, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, or inflammatory bowel disease.
Prevention and Treatment of Diseases
• Prevention. Meta-analysis confirms that vitamin A can prevent lung cancer (82), bladder cancer (44), stomach cancer (107), glioma (70), cervical cancer (50), asthma (38), and cataracts (49).
•