The Starch Solution (24 page)

Vitamins are organic compounds that cannot be synthesized by the body. In order to remain healthy, we must take in these vitamins by eating food. Of the 13 known vitamins, there are only two that plants don’t make: D and B
₁₂
. Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin at all, but rather a hormone that the body produces when we expose our skin to sunlight. Vitamin B
₁₂
is more complicated. Neither plants nor animals synthesize it; rather, it is produced by bacteria. B
₁₂
is then stored in animal tissue, so one way we can get it is by eating meat.

In addition to vitamins, we get all of our minerals by eating plants. These minerals are in the soil, and the plants draw them up into their stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits through their root systems. By eating plants and spending a little time in the sun, we get all the vitamins and minerals we need with the exception of vitamin B
₁₂
. If you eat no animal products at all, or foods that have been sufficiently fortified with B
₁₂
, then that’s the one vitamin supplement you should seriously consider taking.

Please note: The word “supplement” encompasses many different kinds of products. The discussion in this chapter is focused on isolated, concentrated vitamins and minerals, rather than natural remedies such as St. John’s wort, ginkgo biloba, glucosamine, ginger, and the like.

If I put a fruit plate in front of you, you could easily pick out the banana, the orange, the apple, and the cluster of grapes. Every fruit and vegetable comes with a precise molecular architecture that makes it easy to identify. This architecture gives fruits and vegetables more than their
characteristic appearance; it also specifies the constellation of tens of thousands of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibers, vitamins, minerals, and other phytochemicals (plant chemicals) in each food. If one component of a fruit is especially healthy for us—say, the lycopene in a tomato—it is safe and beneficial because it comes packaged in nature with a bunch of other compounds that support its ability to promote health.

We take in nutrition from whole foods by breaking them apart with our teeth (and through preparing and cooking), then swallowing and digesting them. As we digest our food, its nutrients flow through our bloodstream to our 10 trillion cells. Components of this nutrient-rich blood pass through the cell membranes into the cell’s inner fluid, or cytoplasm. If too few or too many of any of the nutrients of the digested and assimilated food are present within the cell, then imbalances occur, resulting in less than optimal function at the cellular level, followed by disease. Scientists barely understand the orchestrations that take place between our foods and our bodies, but they do recognize that perfect harmony exists. If you add a little too much of this and not enough of that by manipulating the individual nutrients by taking vitamin pills, the cells’ metabolisms become very unbalanced. Eventually, these imbalances can lead to heart disease, cancers, and early death.

Two highly respected Cochrane Reviews concluded that “beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E given singly or combined with other antioxidant supplements significantly increase mortality (death).”
^1
,
2
There is no higher authority than a report from the Cochrane Collaboration. The harm from supplementing with isolated, concentrated nutrients like beta-carotene is in stark contrast to the benefit from eating beta-carotene-rich fruits and vegetables.

It was well established three decades ago that people who consume more beta-carotene in their diets are less likely to develop many kinds of cancer, including lung cancer.
^3
,
4
Following this observation, a hypothesis was developed that a single, plant-derived nutrient, beta-carotene, was the key to cancer prevention. Two well-designed trials published in 1994 and 1996 compared the effects of taking beta-carotene supplements to a placebo for people at high risk for developing lung cancer (smokers and those exposed to asbestos).
^5
,
6

• Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study group:
  29,133 male smokers were assigned to one of four regimens: alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) alone, beta-carotene alone, both alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene, or a placebo.
  ⁵
  Findings:
  There were both an 18 percent greater incidence of lung cancer and 8 percent more deaths in those from the two groups that took the beta-carotene.
  
 

• Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial:
  18,314 smokers, former smokers, and workers who had been exposed to asbestos were assigned to take either beta-carotene and retinol (vitamin A) or a placebo.
  ⁶
  Findings:
  There were increases of 17 percent for death, 46 percent for lung cancer, and 26 percent for cardiovascular disease in those who took the beta-carotene and retinol supplements.
  
 

• Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT):
  35,533 men were assigned to one of four groups: selenium, vitamin E, selenium plus vitamin E, or a placebo.
  ^{11
  ,
  12}
  Findings:
  There were both a 13 percent greater incidence of prostate cancer in the two groups taking vitamin E and no reduction in prostate cancer from any of the supplements.
  
 

• MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study:
  20,536 adults with coronary disease, other occlusive arterial disease, or diabetes were assigned to receive daily antioxidant vitamin supplementation from a combination of vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene or receive a placebo.
  ¹³
  Findings:
  Those who took the vitamin supplements did have higher levels of the vitamins in their blood, but they did not reduce the incidence of vascular disease, cancer, or death.
  
 

• Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study:
  1,862 male smokers who had had previous heart attacks were assigned to groups that were given dietary supplements of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, both, or a placebo.
  ¹⁴
  Findings:
  There were 75 percent more deaths from coronary artery disease in the groups taking beta-carotene and a slight increase in deaths in the group taking only alpha-tocopherol compared with those taking the placebo.
  
 

• Iowa Women’s Health Study:
  self-reported supplement use of 38,772 older women was reported between 1986 and 2008.
  ¹⁵
  Findings:
  The use of multivitamins, magnesium, zinc, and copper was associated with increased risk of total mortality when compared with corresponding nonuse.
  
 

• HOPE-TOO trial:
  9,541 patients were assigned to receive either vitamin E or a placebo.
  ¹⁶
  Findings:
  No difference was found between the two groups, either in cancer or cardiovascular deaths. Patients in the vitamin E group did, however, have a higher risk of heart failure.
  
 

• Folate After Coronary Intervention Trial:
  636 patients with stents (a metal tube inserted into an artery to prop it open) in their heart arteries were assigned to receive either a combination of folic acid, vitamin B
  ₆
  , and vitamin B
  ₁₂
  or a placebo.
  ¹⁷
  Findings:
  Those taking the combination experienced a greater degree of restenosis (closure of the artery) and more repeat heart surgeries.
  
 

• NORVIT trial:
  3,749 men and women who had experienced a heart attack in the past 7 days were assigned to one of four groups, receiving either folic acid, vitamin B
  ₁₂
  , and vitamin B
  ₆
  ; folic acid and vitamin B
  ₁₂
  ; vitamin B
  ₆
  only; or a placebo.
  ¹⁸
  Findings:
  In the two groups that took folic acid, the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cancer increased 20 to 30 percent, even though they showed a 27 percent decrease in homocysteine, an amino acid associated with blocked arteries, which should have predicted a lower rate of these diseases.
  
 

• Women’s Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study:
  5,442 women who had either a history of cardiovascular disease or three or more coronary risk factors were assigned to receive either a combination of folic acid, vitamin B
  ₆
  , and vitamin B
  ₁₂
  or a placebo.
  ¹⁹
  Findings:
  The risks of heart attack, stroke, heart surgery, and death were not reduced by taking the combination, although the disease indicator homocysteine decreased 19 percent.
  
 

• Antioxidants for atherosclerosis study:
  819 older adults with elevated concentrations of plasma total homocysteine were assigned daily supplementation of 800 micrograms of folic acid for three years.
  ²⁰
  Findings:
  Supplementation raised folate and lowered homocysteine concentrations in the blood but did not slow the progression of atherosclerosis or reduce arterial stiffening.
  
 

• SEARCH trial:
  12,064 survivors of heart attacks were assigned to take either 2 milligrams of folic acid and 1 milligram of B
  ₁₂
  or a placebo for an average of 6.7 years.
  ²¹
  Findings:
  Even though homocysteine levels were reduced 28 percent in the supplement group, there was no beneficial effect of reducing the incidence of heart attack, stroke, or heart surgery.
  
 

• Diabetic Intervention with Vitamins to Improve Nephropathy trial:
  238 participants with clinical diagnosis of kidney disease and either type 1 or type 2 diabetes were assigned to one of two groups. One group received a combination of folic acid, vitamin B
  ₆
  , and vitamin B
  ₁₂
  and the other received a placebo.
  ²²
  Findings:
  The group taking the supplement had worse kidney function and twice as many vascular events as those taking the placebo.
  
 

• Annual high-dose oral vitamin D and falls and fractures in older women trial:
  2,256 noninstitutionalized women age 70 years or older were assigned to receive either 500,000 IU of vitamin D or a placebo.
  ²³
  Findings:
  Those who took the vitamin D had more falls and fractures than those who did not.
  
 

• Randomized trial on vitamin E and infections:
  652 noninstitutionalized elderly subjects were assigned to one of four groups: multivitamins-minerals, 200 milligrams of vitamin E, both, or placebo.
  ²⁴
  Findings:
  Taking vitamin E didn’t alter the frequency of respiratory infections, but it did increase their severity.
  
 

Unexpectedly, during these two investigations more cancers were found in people taking the beta-carotene pills than those taking the placebo. However, these findings did not invalidate the original observation: People who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of cancer. Beta-carotene is found only in plants; thus it serves as a marker for the quantity of fruits and vegetables a person consumes. A diet high in plant foods protects against cancer. The same effect does not carry over to consuming a single nutrient, like beta-carotene. A pill is not a plant.
^7
–
10

The sales pitch goes like this: “You must take supplements because of the poor condition of soil these days. The crops you eat were grown in soil that has been drained of its nutrients from years of overfarming. Now the foods that grow in them are also deficient in vitamins and minerals. My brand of supplements will correct this problem for you by providing these missing nutrients.”