It's Absurd, Millions Are Dying From This Century Old 'Quackery
Myth'
Documentary Sheds Light on the
Benefits of Vitamins
February 20, 2016
The filmmakers for That Vitamin Movie have allowed for a full stream
of their movie through 2/26/16. Show your support and
CLICK
HERE to purchase a copy of the film at a special Mercola price.
Story at-a-glance
−
-
Thousands of chemical reactions take place in your
body at any given second, and many of these cannot
occur without the presence of certain vitamins
-
While there are instances where large doses of
vitamins are helpful, as a general rule I recommend
getting the bulk of your nutrition from eating REAL
food
-
Some of the vitamins and nutrients reviewed within
their healing context in this film included vitamins
C, and D, niacin (B3), iodine, and omega-3 fat
By Dr. Mercola
"That Vitamin Movie," created by award-winning producer and
director Michael Beattie,1
features a long list of vitamin experts and health professionals
in the complementary medicine field — including yours truly —
discussing the healing potential of vitamins.
Beattie was inspired to make this film after Trevor, a close
friend of three decades, told him he'd turned his life around;
finally getting a handle on the depression that had plagued him.
Removing sugar from his diet was the first step. Taking niacin
(vitamin B3), was the second.
This tip was something Trevor had gleaned from watching the
film, "Food
Matters," in which Andrew Saul, Ph.D. talks about the
usefulness of niacin in the treatment of depression.
His curiosity peaked, Beattie then heard about cases of
people being brought back from the brink of death with the use
of
high-dose vitamin C, and how many chronic diseases appear to
be outgrowths of various nutrient deficiencies.
But if vitamins are so effective for treating disease, including
mental disorders like depression, why aren't doctors prescribing
them instead of drugs? Together with Trevor, Beattie set out to
investigate the truth of the matter.
How and Why Natural Medicine Was Replaced by Toxic Drugs
As I mention in this film, the shift from using natural
remedies to using toxic drugs did not occur by chance. It was
carefully orchestrated from the start, and the drug industry
still, to this day, dismisses inexpensive, safe, and effective
remedies in order to protect their own business.
As detailed in my article, "How
the Oil Industry Conquered Medicine, Finance and Agriculture,"
the transformation of the practice of medicine went into full
force in 1901, with the establishment of the Rockefeller
Institute for Medical Research.
Up until that point, naturopathic-based herbal medicine had
been the norm, and Rockefeller — an oil king pin — set out to
shift the medical industry toward using oil-derived
pharmaceuticals instead.
The institute was headed up by Simon Flexner, whose brother,
Abraham, was contracted by the Carnegie Foundation to author a
report on the current state of medical education. His report
(The Flexner Report)2
resulted in a radical overhaul of the medical education system.
Any remedy that could not be patented was vigorously
dismissed as quackery, and the sole focus of medicine shifted to
the use of synthetic drugs and surgery, which quickly resulted
in a massive "medical economy."
Modern Medicine Is a Profit-Driven Business, Divorced From
Healing
In short, medicine became an exceptionally profitable
business, and has only gotten more so over the past 100
years as people forgot or neglected what their grandparents or
great grandparents knew about the prevention and treatment of
disease, which was founded on the premise that food is
medicine.
The average American, aged 19 to 64, now takes close to 13
prescription drugs.3
Not even children are spared from excessive drugging, and
seniors are taking a downright frightening number of
medications.
The average annual prescription rate for children up to the
age of 18 is now over 4 prescriptions per capita, and the
average senior over the age of 65 is on 28 drugs!
As noted by Saul, thousands of chemical reactions take place in
your body at any given second, and many of these cannot occur
without the presence of certain vitamins. Vitamins C and D and
magnesium are just three examples of nutrients without which
your biochemistry suffers.
Real Food Is Your Primary Source of Vitamins and Nutrients
While the film highlights the potential benefits of using
unnaturally high doses of vitamin supplements, as a general rule
I recommend getting the bulk of your nutrition from eating REAL
food.
I firmly believe that if people would pay careful attention
to their food choices and lifestyle (such as getting sensible
sun exposure to optimize their vitamin D), nutritional
deficiencies would be largely avoided in the first place.
However, there are exceptions to every rule, and in some
cases, taking specific nutrients may be therapeutically
necessary, which can be far less toxic and less expensive than
drug treatments. One example would be the treatment of acute and
serious infections.
Other rarer examples are presented by Dr. Atsuo Yanagisawa,
who has treated girls suffering side effect from the HPV vaccine
with upwards of 12 to 25 grams of vitamin C (first bi-weekly,
and then weekly), and uses high-dose intravenous vitamin C to
counteract the effects of radiation in exposed workers at the
Fukushima plant.
So when it comes to taking large doses of supplements, there
needs to be a solid justification for it. It's not something you
should embark on at your own behest. Many could potentially do
more harm than good by taking mega-doses of specific nutrients,
as this upsets the balance with other nutrients.
Vitamins D, K2, magnesium and calcium are but one example of
nutrients that work synergistically and need to be kept in
balance.
Potassium and sodium are another example.
Unbalanced ratios of nutrients tend to be a side effect of
eating a processed food diet, and can be worsened by mega dosing
on individual vitamins.
Even When Eating Real Food, Some Nutrient Insufficiencies May
Persist
All of that said, even if you eat organic whole food, you may
still get insufficient amounts of certain nutrients, for the
fact that
most of our soils are frequently depleted of micronutrients.
As a result of industrial agricultural practices, foods simply
are not as nutrient-dense as they used to be.
For example, in order to receive the same amount of iron you
used to get from one apple in 1950, by 1998 you had to eat 26
apples. So a case can certainly be made for the usefulness of
vitamin supplementation — within reason.
In my view, there are certain supplements that most people
will benefit from taking. Vitamin D3 (unless you're able to get
sufficient amounts of sun exposure year-round) is at the top of
that list. Animal-based omega-3 fat, such as the fat found in
krill oil, is another nutrient that most people simply don't get
enough of.
If you still have not shifted away from processed foods,
vitamin C may be worth considering, as processed foods will not
provide you much of this vitamin.
If you're not eating traditionally fermented foods, you'd also
be wise to take a high-quality probiotic supplement, and at the
very least consider increasing your consumption of fresh
vegetables, as the
fiber provides important nourishment for beneficial bacteria
in your gut that help calibrate your immune system.
Treating Disease With Nutrition in Medical Practice
The film includes a number of physicians who use diet and
natural remedies in their medical practice — with great success.
For example, Dr. Garry Vickar is a psychiatrist who incorporates
nutrition in his practice.
Dr. David Brownstein, an expert on
iodine, notes that virtually all of his patients tend to be
low in this important nutrient; this is particularly true for
those with cancer. He also talks about how he successfully
treated an elderly dementia patient with B12 and CQ10
supplementation.
Drs. Michael Gonzalez and Jorge Miranda both treat cancer
nutritionally. The conventional cancer treatment model typically
calls for radiation and/or chemotherapy — both of which
destroy your immune system, the job of which is to protect
your health, while simultaneously failing to treat the root
cause of the cancer.
Considering these facts, and the abysmal success statistics
of these interventions, it's quite clear that conventional
cancer treatment is based on a profit scheme; not that which has
the best and safest effect.
As noted by Dr. Alan Gaby, health problems are not always
restricted to nutritional deficiencies. Many people have hidden
food intolerances, and once you identify them and remove those
foods from your diet, disease symptoms will often improve or
resolve.
That said, he too is a strong supporter of nutritional
supplements. In his estimation, were people to follow
nutritional recommendations, health care costs in the U.S. could
be reduced by about 50 percent within a few years. And therein
lies the crux of the problem, because the drug industry
certainly does NOT want that to happen!
Your Body Is Designed to Self-Heal
Most natural health professionals in this field believe that
your body was designed to stay healthy, given the chance.
Your body will always work in the direction of health,
not in the direction of disease. When it's diseased, and/or
struggling to recover from an illness, it means your body is not
receiving everything it needs to get the job done right. Your
diet is absolutely essential in this regard, and to lay the
foundation for good health, you need to:
- Eat REAL FOOD, ideally organic and locally grown
- Cut down on refined sugars, processed fructose, grains
and flours, as they promote insulin and leptin resistance,
which underlies virtually all disease
In essence, if you want to be healthy, you, your spouse, or
someone you employ, must take the time to cook from scratch.
There's just no way around it. If you rely on industrial
processes to prepare your food, you are going to die
prematurely. And while alive, you're undoubtedly going to
struggle with disease.
What Makes Vitamin C so Effective?
The film focuses a great deal of attention on the benefits of
vitamin C. What is it about this vitamin that makes it so
special?
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which means your body
doesn't store it. Unlike most other mammals, humans do not have
the ability to make vitamin C, which means you need to consume
it via your diet.
Vitamin C has many functions in your body, including acting
as an essential cofactor in enzymatic reactions. In this way, it
plays a role in the production of collagen, carnitine (which
helps your body turn shuttle fat into the mitochondria for
fuel), and catecholamines (hormones made by your adrenal
glands), for starters.
Vitamin C is also used by your body for wound healing,
repairing, and maintaining the health of your bones and teeth,
and plays a role in helping your body absorb iron. However, it's
vitamin C's role as an antioxidant that it is most well known
for.
As an antioxidant, vitamin C is known to block some of the
damage caused by DNA-damaging free radicals. Over time, free
radical damage may accelerate aging and contribute to the
development of heart disease and other health conditions. It's
through this antioxidant effect that it's thought vitamin C may
play a role in protecting
heart health.
It also has potent anti-cancer properties. As explained in
the film, the molecular structure of vitamin C is similar to
sugar, which cancer cells need to thrive. Cancer cells have
glucose receptors, and if there's no glucose present, they will
pull in vitamin C instead. In the presence of oxygen, hydrogen
peroxide is produced, which kills the cancer cell from the
inside.
Vitamin C even plays a role in brain health, as it is
necessary to make certain neurotransmitters, including
serotonin. Vitamin C may also be useful for:4
Boosting immune system function |
Improving vision in people with uveitis
(inflammation of the middle part of the eye) |
Allergy-related conditions, such as eczema, asthma
and hay fever |
Treating sunburn |
Alleviating dry mouth |
Healing burns and wounds |
Decreasing blood sugar in diabetics |
Fighting viral illnesses, such as mononucleosis |
Maintaining healthy gums |
Preventing and shortening the duration of the common
cold and flu |
Osteoarthritis |
Age-related macular degeneration |
Why Even Young People May Want to Consider a Multivitamin
Supplement
While many studies focus on the benefits of supplementation
in older populations, younger generations stand to benefit as
well, especially children and women of child-bearing age.
Studies also suggest that men's health at time of conception may
be critical to delivering a healthy child.
When selecting a high-quality dietary supplement, be sure it
is as close as possible to its natural (whole food) form and
follows industry standards for quality assurance including ISO
9001, ISO 17025, and Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP)
certifications.
Remember, if you are interested in optimizing your health,
your BEST solution is to avoid all processed foods and eat a
wide variety of REAL FOODS. You can use my
free nutrition plan and work your way up to the
advanced stage. Once you have addressed your diet and are
looking for further improvement, odds are you might benefit from
certain supplements, such as vitamin D3,
animal-based omega-3 supplement, and a probiotic for
example.
There are many others you could consider depending on your
specific circumstances, including a high-quality multivitamin,
additional
antioxidant support and others.
© Copyright 1997-2016 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/02/20/vitamins-healing-potential.aspx
|