Published November 7, 2007 in the North Island Weekender

I have had two questions from patients in the last few weeks that prompted me to write my responses publicly as well as share with you other common questions that I am asked.

I have recently heard that vitamin B is bad for me so I have stopped taking it. What do you think?
Dr. P: The media has neither the time nor the expertise to dissect a medical journal article so they rely on the press releases submitted by the journals. There seems to be a growing trend in the media to publish negative studies which confuse the public regarding natural solutions to health problems. Until there are true medical journalists in the media who are willing to actually study a study, the public will continue to be misled by these reports. Also why one piece of negative research can nullify years and years of positive research is also beyond me. There is no other drug or medicine on the market that reduces the risk of heart disease by 60% the same as B vitamins do! In March 2006 there was research published on B vitamins and heart attack risk that found that they did not help. The truth was that they chose only those people who had advanced vascular disease, diabetes or who had already suffered a heart attack for the study. In a more recent study of those with chronic kidney disease, B vitamins were found not to help reduce their cardiovascular risk. The general public hears that B vitamins are bad for them when in fact the bottom line message is that “if you are very sick with a chronic kidney disease taking B vitamins is not going to help your cardiovascular disease outcome”. As a doctor after reading the summary of this study my comment is that homocysteine levels in these very chronically ill patients were lowered from 24 on average to 18 on average and an optimal healthy level is 5-7.
In these cases B vitamins are not going to reverse an already existing chronic health condition. B vitamins and other therapies do lower homocysteine over time in other patients who do not have chronic kidney disease. An elevated homocysteine level is associated with an increase risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and schizophrenia.

I've heard that vitamin E can cause ovarian cancer. Is this true?
Dr. P: I could find nothing on this particular study. Vitamin E has been studied by the Shute brothers since the 1960’s. So why does one piece of research nullify years and years of positive research? Issues that I also consider regarding vitamin E are: is the source of vitamin E non GM (genetically modified)? Are the tocopherols in the vitamin E a mixed type, ie not just the alpha form. In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition November 2006, research indicated that vitamin E reduces prostate cancer by 35%, reduces ischemic stroke 37%, reduces hemorrhagic stroke by 35% and reduces mixed respiratory illnesses by 42%.

What do you think about microwaving food?
Dr. P: I was surprised to learn that there is not a lot of research on this subject. Studies are small or done in Russia and Eastern Europe see Journal of Natural Science 1998:1:42-43. See also www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm and Croft Woodruff article in the Alive Magazine www.alive.com Microwaves are foreign energy particles for the human body and the food is possibly denatured in ways that regular heat and fire do not cause. In one small study white blood cells and cholesterol were increased just a short time after consuming micro-waved foods. Dr. Hans-Urich Hertel, a Swiss food scientist, claims that microwaves generate unique radiolytic products in the food that are carcinogenic leading to free radical production that destroys healthy cells and contributes to abnormal cell growth. Conventional wisdom has contended that microwaves are non-ionizing. Dr. Hertel contradicts this notion. If you must use a microwave use it only to reheat food and don’t use plastic containers to heat the food in.