Vitamins and Minerals
Nutritional surveys consistently show that most people eating the Standard American Diet are deficient in many vitamins and minerals. Some of the common deficiencies have major consequences. Folic acid deficiency, for example, greatly increases the risk of birth defects and adult male heart attacks. Magnesium deficiency causes a wide range of noticeable problems, and is very common, as is Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency (associated with low stomach acid) causes severe neurological injury which is often irreversible. Many experts suggest every American should be taking a good quality multivitamin with minerals.
That being said, other studies suggest that the overwhelming majority of over the counter vitamins and minerals either do not contain what they claim to contain, or contain it in a biologically inactive form or combined with potentially-toxic materials. Consequently, we have identified a number of vitamin companies whose products are free of such concerns, and are able to help our patients (not out-patients) obtain them.
Vitamins and minerals are even more important for persons with environmental illness, who, by definition are sick because their detox systems have been overwhelmed. Many vitamins and minerals are cofactors for the various detox enzymes, and get depleted when the detox system has a lot of work to do. Replacement is necessary in order to get the detox system back on its feet, and also to improve energy production because that process uses many of the same co-factors.
Individuals with genetic abnormalities sometimes need unusually high doses of specific vitamins or minerals. There are tests we can do, either of the genes specifically, or of the metabolic byproducts of metabolism, which give us insight into where these abnormalities might be, how severe they might be, and what it will take to get them running properly. We run these tests when individuals don’t respond as well as expected to routine doses of vitamins and minerals, because some people require unusually high doses of one or more cofactors to overcome their genetic defect in enzyme function.
Selected References
1. Ames BN et al. High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased Km): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002; 75:616-58.
2. Rylander R et al. Mineral water intake reduces blood pressure among subjects with low urinary maghnesium and calcium levels. BMC Public Health 2004; 4:56.
3. Kaput J, et al. Nutritional genomics: the next frontier in the post genomic era. Physiol Genomics. 2004; 16:166-77.
4. van-Herpen-Broekmans WM, et al. Serum carotenoids and vitamins in relation to markers of endothelial function and inflammation. Eur J Epidemiol. 2004; 19(10):915-21.
5. Duggan C, et al. Protective nutrients and functional foods for the gastrointestinal tract. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002; 75(5):789-808.
6. Ames BN. The metabolic tune-up: metabolic harmony and disease prevention. J Nutr. 2003; 133:1544S-48S.
7. Piyathilake CJ, et al. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphism increases the risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Anticancer Res. 2000; 20(3A): 1751-7
8. Yin G, et al. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T and A1298C polymorphisms and colorectal cancer: The Fukuoka Colorectal Cancer Study. Cancer Sci. 2004; 95(11):908-13.
9. Willett WC. Balancing lifestyle and genomics research for disease prevention. Science. 2002;296(5568):695-8.
10. London SJ, et al. Isothiocyanates, glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 polymorphisms, and lung cancer risk: a prospective study of men in Shanghai, China. Lancet,. 2000;356(9231):724-9.
11. Kelly, G. Insulin resistance: lifestyle and nutritional intervetnions. Altern Med Rev. 2000; 5(2): 109-32.
12. Church TS, et al. Reduction of C-reactive protein levels through use of a multivitamin. Am J Med. 2003; 115(9): 702-7.
13. van Herpen-Broekmans WM, et al. Serum carotenoids and vitamins in relation to markers of endothelial function and inflammation. Eur J Epidemiol. 2004; 19(10):915-21
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