January 2008 Researcher/clinician Tim Birdsall, ND has a study on vitamins and supplements to reduce cancer pain and fatigue, as reported at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, cosponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and three other leading cancer care organizations. See below. LIFE EXTENSION WEEKLY UPDATE EXCLUSIVE New England Journal of Medicine recommends vitamin supplements An article appearing in the December 20, 2001 issue of the respected New England Journal of Medicine has come out in favor of vitamin supplements. The journal is widely read among physicians, and often presents a conservative approach. The article, entitled, "What vitamins should I be taking doctor?" acknowledges that medical teaching has traditionally instructed that nutritional needs are easily met by diet. Yet it proceeds to admit that many supplements have been demonstrated in studies to show preventive benefits against many conditions. The well-publicized example of folic acid supplementation's association with a lowered incidence of neural tube defects is explained, as is the association between higher intake of the vitamin and a lowered risk of coronary disease, colon cancer and breast cancer. The authors, Walter C Willett MD and Meir J Stampfer, MD, state that more than the current recommendation of 400 micrograms per day of folic acid may be needed to reduce the risk of cancer, and that the average American intake is about 200 micrograms per day. Although food fortification of the vitamin has added approximately 100 micrograms per day to the average diet, this still is less than 400 micrograms. They note that users of multivitamins have lower homocysteine levels than nonusers. Elsewhere, the authors remark that "reasonable evidence suggests that many Americans would benefit from supplemental vitamin D to reach the RDA of 400 IU, and double this amount may be desirable for some persons," and that 2000 IU per day is believed to be safe. Although the authors feel that the evidence is inconclusive in regard to vitamin E and a few other other vitamins, they nevertheless go on to state that vitamin E intake of up to at least 1000 IU is considered to be safe, and that supplementation of the vitamin is reasonable for most middle-aged Americans at risk of heart disease. They view the probability that vitamin E will be proved to be effective as high and state that the likelihood of benefit from the vitamin outweighs the very low possibility of harm. They conclude that "a daily multivitamin that does not exceed the RDA of its component vitamins makes sense for most adults", and that substantial data suggest that higher amounts of folic acid and vitamins B6, B12 and D will benefit many people. They emphasize particularly the importance of a multivitamin supplement for women who are at risk of pregnancy, for people who consume alcohol, for older individuals, for vegans, and for those whose diets do not include enough vegetables and fruit. Although this is a far more conservative approach than that of the Life Extension Foundation, it is a start in the right direction and will doubtless influence a large number of physicians to recommend nutritional supplements to their patients. www.lef.org JAMA, 6/02 "Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements." Nutritional Supplements Reduce Risks of Tuberculosis Recurrence Reported at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, cosponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology & 3 other leading cancer care organizations, January 2008 Am J Preventive Med, 1/0 Drink Containing Antioxidants & Lactobacillus Allowing for Variations in Multivitamin Supplement Composition Medicinal Food News, Issue 1, 2003 Multiple Dietary Antioxidants Enhance Efficacy of Treatment Antioxidant Supplementation & Chemotherapeutic Efficacy J Mol Med, 10/03 J Nutr, 5/04 Archives of Internal Medicine, 11/04 J Am Coll Nutr, 4/03 CA Cancer J Cllin, 9/05 Pts Undergoing Chemo/RTX - Antioxidants?? Ralph Moss, PhD Randomized Trial of Antioxidants & Radiation Therapy February 28, 2007, JAMA Editor-in-chief for Alternative Med Review Comments JAMA Synthetic/Isolated Forms, Masive Culling: JAMA study critique J Natl Cancer Inst, June 2008 LETTERS about supplemental antioxidant use during treatment J Am College Surgeons 2008; 207: S40-S41. October, 2008 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.