Beta Carotine: a dud supplement

--------------------------------------------Control menu1 ------------------ Your browser does'nt seem to accept Java. Either enable Java on your browser, or go to Nutritional Index

Right Click

SITEMAP |Mission Statement | Subscribe to FREE Updates

Alphabetical
SITEMAP
Here!

For more info on . . .
Contact Hank Boschen
phone: 303-579-2084
email: juiceguy1@comcast.net

NEWS FLASH
BETA CAROTENE

a DUD

Two large studies have found that ---- contrary to to the beliefs or hopes of the millions of Americans that take it, --- beta carotene is completely ineffective in preventing cancer or heart disease.
One of the studies found that the vigorously promoted vitamin SUPPLEMENT might even be harmful to some people. Look up "iatrogenic". (If your doctor professes ignorance of that word, get another doctor!)

Beta carotene is a substance in fruits and vegetables that is converted to vitamin A in the body. The American Cancer Institute recommends that rather than rely on synthetic supplements, people eat low-fat diets abundant in fruits and vegetables whose hundreds of substances combined might foster desired disease protection.

READ THAT AGAIN

One of the beta-carotene studies, the Physician's Health Study, involved 22,071 doctors who were randomly assigned to take 50 milligrams of beta carotene or a dummy pill every other day. The study ended Dec 31, 1995 after 12 years, with the conclusion that beta-carotene supplements do not protect against cancer or heart disease.

The other study, the Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial tested both beta carotene, in a dose of 30 milligrams a day, and vitamin A, in a daily dose of 25,000 international units. The 18,314 participants in this study -- all of whom smoked or had worked with asbestos -- took beta carotene, vitamin A, or a placebo.

The study was halted Jan. 10, 21 months ahead of schedule --- when investigators concluded not only that the vitamins were not helpful, but that they might be harmful: The rate of DEATH from lung cancer was 28% higher among the participants that had taken the SUPPLEMENTS than among those who had taken the placebo, and the rate of death from heart disease was 17% higher. Please note that both the Seattle Study and the Finnish study were funded by the National Cancer Institute, a declared enemy of vitamin supplementation! ..... (Why would he mention that?)

Although beta carotene, (and thus vitamin supplementation) has had some bad press lately,, companies selling synthetic beta carotene are cranking those supplements out as fast as they can. It seems that these new supplements may be inducing powerful carotene deficiencies that affect vision detrimentally. (Health Alert Vol. 13, No 3.) So by taking these supplements you can actually deplete your stores of carotenes (like xanthophylls) that fight macular degeneration.

How can this be? you say? Researchers have found over two hundred carotenes so far. Since the American way is: "More is better", then large amounts of Beta Carotene have got to be good for you. Well it turns out that these carotene work best together, and an excessive amount of any one carotene can actually reduce the levels of the other protective carotenes.

Just as vitamin C taken in large doses is detrimental to the body, so is any other so called supplement. Your body is not a machine that the mechanic knows from one end to the other, and has spare parts for. Every day you hear of new and more wondrous things that our research scientists are discovering about out body, and about the things we put into it. If these folks are so darn smart why are Americans the sickest people (statistically) on earth. (ok we may only be the second sickest; it's pretty tough to beat those mostly meat eating Aussies.)

One of our more insightful commentators noted recently that if you want to know why something is happening, then "Just follow the money". Despite the studies on beta carotene and some revealing data in Health Alert by Dr. Bruce West, Time Magazine notes that Hoffman-LaRoche is building a plant in Freeport, Texas that will produce 350 tons of synthetic beta carotene each year. That is enough to supply every man and woman in the USA with a six milligram capsule daily. Now you don't suppose that the investment that Hoffman-LaRoche has already made in this plant has or will affect the press on beta carotene? Following the lead of the OLESTRA people, they will likely "fortify" their beta carotene supplements with those other carotenes that have received any publicity and possibly some actual food extracts to appease the critics.

Jesus said "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but ..." I believe the drug companies have forgotten the second part of that statement, and they want us to depend on them for the rest of our lives.

Please know what you are doing when you put any synthetic (man made) chemical, drug or herb in your body.

To receive updates on this subject click here.

If you have not done so already please go to MISSION STATEMENT, and follow the numbers. It is a forward to this 500 subject nutritional website. When you finish that it will drop you into the INDEX. and you can check out "Fruits and vegetables, why eat them".

back to the top