One, two or three a day: experts disagree
T.
By Julie Bird
he human body needs vitamins to function proper-
No one will areue that fact, but there is violent His.
agreement on how to get those vitamins, the amounts of
each vitamin the body needs and the value of extra
vitamins.
Shaklee Corporation, a national health and beauty aid
supplier, offers several vitamin tablets called food supple
ments, along with a multiple vitamin supplement.
"Most people don't eat or don't have a chance to eat
properly," said Earl Bates, Shaklee coordinator. "And
often what they do eat has been manufactured, like in
stand potatoes. The tablets are not to replace food, but to
supplement it."
Some people take huge amounts of one vitamin. Others
take multiple vitamins. How does a person know how
much to take, if any?
"It's hard to tell what people need," Bates said. "Peo
ple usually experiment with different amounts to see what
makes them feel better."
That type of experimentation could be dangerous
according to Dr. Richard Hammer, doctor at the Univer
sity Health Center.
"I would think that it would be a little bit hazardous
to tell someone just to go buy the vitamins you think you
need," he said.
"ORDINARILY, people do not know what they're
doing," he said. "They're not objective. The easy way
is to latch onto an author's emphasis of a certain vitamin
to cure their problem."
Doctors, nutritionists and consumers can't seem to
agree on the benefits or disadvantages of taking vitamins,
especially in large doses.
Most doctors say a person with a well-balanced diet
should not need extra vitamins, not even a multiple
vitamin tablet.
But, Bates said, doctors often have had little training in
nutrition. When patients ask them for nutritional advice,
the doctors advice is to eat well.
"That would be fine if you knew for sure what you
were getting in your meals," Bates said. Foods bought in
the supermarket often are processed to the point that
they lose many of their original vitamins, he said.
Dr." Don Waltemath, an internal medicine specialist,
agrees that doctors lack training in nutrition.
"In years past, the medical world didn't think in terms
of Americans being undernourished, so we just read our
nutrition information to pass the test," Waltemath said.
"There has been renewed vigor at medical meetings in
the past two or three years, with more emphasis placed on
nutrition and recognizing that people don't always eat
right," he said.
VITAMINS A and D have been found to be dangerous
in excessive doses, he said, because the body can't easily
eliminate them.
Symptoms of Vitamin A overdose include nausea,
dizziness, muscular aches, dry, peeling skin, sore, red eyes,
and in some cases, an enlarged liver.
A Vitamin D overdose is more serious and can involve
vomiting, dehydration, kidney stones or kidney failure.
"Fortunately, D is not one of the ones the faddists are
pumping," Walemath said.
Most people won't get into trouble by taking vitamins,
he said, and people who limit their diets might be wise to
take a multiple vitamin.
Unfortunately, some people try to treat themselves
with vitamins rather than going to a doctor, Waltemath
said. This is most often true in cancer cases.
Laetrile, a drug thought by many to be a cancer cure,
also is known as Vitamin B-17.
"If a patient depends on the nutritional approach, lie
may avoid chemotherapy. He may wait too long, and we
will miss making headway," he said.
Current fad vitamins are C and E, the doctors said.
"It is not documented that Vitamin C will help pre
vent colds," Waltemath said. "Large doses could possibly
cause upset stomachs because of the ascorbic acid. 1
would say to stick with a glass of orange juice a day."
VITAMIN E could be dangerous to patients with high
blood pressure or rheumantic heart disease, according to
the book "Know Your Nutrition" by Linda Clark.
Maria Thompson, a sophomore secondary education
major from Mission, Kan., said she takes vitamins, includ
ing a multiple vitamin, Vitamin C, desiccate liver tablets,
ginseng and a B complex tablet, she said.
She said the Vitamin B she takes at noon to give her
energy later in the afternoon, and if she took it with the
multiple vitamin, which already contains Vitamin B, it
would be flushed from her system.
Thompson limits her intake of fried-foods and red
meats, so she takes the liver pills for protein, she said.
To tell you the truth, I haven't noticed any change in
myself," she said. "And I still get colds. I'll probably
always take the multiple vitamin, but I don't know about
the others."
Hammer said most people take, vitamins because they
are guilty of not eating proper foods.
"While students don't usually eat a traditional, well
balanced diet, most of them get some of each food
group," he said. "If you live in the dorm you almost have
to go out of your way not to get a well-balanced diet.
Most students who don t feel well are tired, bored and
depressed, rather than having a vitamin deficiency," he
said. "I think people are wasting their money if they are
eating a well-balanced diet and taking a multiple vitamin
'to be sure.'
If the drug companies depended on physicians to pre
scribe vitamins that were really needed, they'd go under,"
he said.
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