When NOT to Take Vitamins

If you exercise strenuously and then go home and take some vitamins, those supplements may undo some of the benefits of your workout.

Taking vitamins after exercise may undo some of the beneficial effects of the workout, research suggests.

Some advocate taking antioxidants like vitamin C and E to help protect the body from harmful chemical by-products it creates in breaking into a sweat.

But German scientists now believe these "free radicals" may actually be good for us and even buffer against diabetes, PNAS reports.

And mopping them up with antioxidants may do more harm than good. Read more

Vitamin Deficiency Asthma "Link"

Asthma seems more common than ever before, and vitamin deficiency could be partly to blame.

A low intake of vitamins A and C could raise the risk of asthma, a team which reviewed 40 studies carried out over the past 30 years has said.

A Nottingham University-led team found people with a low intake of vitamin C had a 12% increased risk of asthma, the Thorax journal reported.

For vitamin A the raised risk was less clear cut, the team said, but there was still a significant association. Read more

Men Who Take Vitamin C Less Likely to Develop Gout

Men who take vitamin C supplements are less likely to develop gout, according to new research.

... Researchers at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, found that men with higher intakes of vitamin C were less likely to develop the condition than men with lower levels. Read more

The Vitamin C/Apple Pectin Cure for High Cholesterol

The drug pushers are at it again. Bill Sardi at LewRockwell.com shows how the medical establishment continues to tout statin drugs to treat high cholesterol when a cheap, natural cure is readily available.

Yet another time conventional medicine has admitted statin drugs are nearly worthless, but couch their remarks in language that blames patients for the problem. A new study claims if statin drug users would faithfully comply with the doctors’ orders and take statin drugs on a regular basis the relative risk for a heart attack would almost be cut in half (–47%). [Archives Internal Medicine 2009; 169(3):260–268]

The results of the study were declared "astonishing" by one cardiologist. The study results may be used to call for every American over age 50 to receive statin drugs, even if they are healthy and exhibit few risk factors for a heart attack.

Statin drugs are much more expensive and have far more side effects than a natural supplement that is even more effective.

Vitamin C, widely known as an antioxidant, actually serves to induce oxidation of cholesterol and its conversion to bile, which facilitates its exit from the blood circulation. Provision of high-dose supplemental vitamin C to guinea pigs decreases cholesterol concentration in the blood plasma. [Annals New York Academy Science 1975 Sep 30; 258:410–21; International Journal Vitamin Nutrition Research Supplement 1982; 23:137–52] Read more

Get Your Antioxidants from the Grocer

For your consideration: according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association some supplements are worthless at fighting disease. Of course, other recent studies indicate that vitamins C and D in particular have great benefits.

I've noticed that studies which show that dietary supplements are worthless or dangerous tend to come out right before a big push to restrict the public's access to them. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies don't much like the idea of self-care and health freedom. In their view, that's lost profit they could be pocketing. Nevertheless, the point that you should eat a healthful diet and not strictly rely on supplements for your nutrition is valid.

Top Five Secret Reasons You May Need More Vitamin C

Everyone knows that vitamin C can help to reduce symptoms of a cold if taken in sufficient quantity when sniffles first appear, but you may not know is that researchers have found evidence strongly suggesting vitamin C can be used to head off some serious diseases and disorders and may even help you lose weight.

... Here's the latest on the relatively secret but very real ways vitamin C can improve your health:

1. Burn more fat and keep pounds away.

Researchers in the Department of Nutrition at Arizona State University found that research subjects who had low blood concentrations of C burned a whopping 25 percent less fat than those who had plenty of the vitamin in their body. Read more

Study Finds How Vitamin C May Stop Cancer

Linus Pauling is considered one of the most influential chemists of the 20th century and ranks among the most important scientists in history. However, Pauling's work on vitamin C in his later years generated controversy and was originally regarded by some adversaries in the field of medicine as outright quackery. Slowly, though, his claims are being vindicated.

Nearly 30 years after Nobel laureate Linus Pauling famously and controversially suggested that vitamin C supplements can prevent cancer, scientist have searched for the exact mechanism. Now a team of Johns Hopkins scientists may have found out how it happens. Read more