Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Prevent Chronic Illness: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Niacin, and Thiamine

The scientific debate is over. The environment we live in strongly influences our health. The vaste majority concieved by parents in good health thrive when provided from the moment of conception with clean air, clean water, plentiful sunshine, and foods enriched in vitamins A, B, and C. Vitamins A, B, and C were given these bland names because they were discovered by processing of foods. Vitamins or "factors" A, B, and C were small components of food of unknown chemical structure proven to be vital for good health.

We live today in the midst of epidemic chronic illness. Dirty air, polluted food and water, insufficient sunshine, and inadequate vitamin intake remain the principal root causes. Health insurance does not provide individuals with incentives to breath clean air, eat and drink unpolluted food and water, get into the sun, and take extra vitamins A, B, and C. Medical institutions actively deprive patients and residents of sunshine and vitamin supplements. These same institutions are typically located in zones with poorer air quality. Mainstream medicine conducts elaborate, slow, and expensive tests on people. Testing genes is becoming a favorite activity because blaming genes is turning out to be an excellent method for marketing medical services. The test results are used to prescribe expensive pills and/or surgeries or other medical procedures.

Most people believe that exercise is necessary for optimal health. Most people intuitively believe that the optimal amount of exercise causes minor discomforts. Like vitamins, exercise has side effects. I don't believe that most people feel the same way about vitamins. The available scientific data strongly supports the notion that getting the most from vitamins requires managing minor discomforts. Vitamins are not like drugs. Drugs tend to cause harmful side effects that can cause pain and reduce life expectancy even when taken at minimal doses. We have learned from long, hard experience with drugs that side effects are dangerous. Vitamins A, B, and C, however, are not drugs. They promote health and longevity. Minor discomforts caused by side effects from vitamins A, B, and C are beneficial. They are your body's way of telling you that you are getting plenty without causing you any greater harm than discomfort.

The way to reform today's healthcare system is to reduce the demand for it. Don't let anyone fool you. Just because the air looks clean doesn't mean it is clean. Just because the food looks unpolluted, doesn't mean that it is unpolluted. Hydrocarbons, microscopic soot particles, and ozone are in the air. Heavy metals (e.g. mercury in fish, lead everywhere from generations of lead batteries and lead paint) are in food and water. We need to continue vigorous efforts to improve air quality and reduce exposure to heavy metals. We need to get out into the noontime sunshine, and we need to take supplements of vitamins A, B, and C.


At 10:07 PM, Blogger Discount Dental Plans said...

Ok, so if vitamins A, B and C are safe, why does D cause so many problems. And who is to say that A,B and C also wont cause problems?
Doesn't A go with Vitamin D?
I became deathly ill taking blood pressure meds and I won't take another one.
I take celery, magnesium and regular fish oil and garlic for my blood pressure.
I am now on a natural healing quest.

At 7:16 PM, Blogger Steve said...

Discount Dental,

Thanks for your comment. The simple answer to your question is that too much of almost anything causes problems. I'm as passionate about vitamin side effects as I am about vitamin benefits. The best example is my column on vitamin D side effects. Read it here:


Vitamin D only causes problems when taken as a supplement. When gotten the natural way from sun exposure, it is extraordinarily safe. The data suggests that supplement doses of 1000 IU can cause problems while the same person would manage 10,000 IU/day from sunshine without problems. Go figure. Doctors dose vitamin D based on the health effects of sunshine assuming that sunshine and supplements are equally safe. They are not.

I wrote a column on niacin side effects that I highly recommend you read before you take extra niacin. Here's the link:


Vitamin C is easy to use so I didn't bother yet with a column. The side effects are fast and obvious in the digestive tract. You'll know when you're taking more than you want.

Vitamin A, like vitamin D, needs to be handled carefully. I plan to write a column similar to the one I wrote for vitamin D.

I hope your quest for natural healing is succesful and I hope you consider vitamins A, B, C, and sunshine (for vitamin D) to be natural healing forces. I certainly do.


At 2:21 AM, Anonymous lorna vanderhaeghe said...

It's still important for us to take these vitamins to make sure of our health. Vitamin D won't cause any problems if it's not taken too much or too little.


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