Vitamin witch-hunt leaves patients in the lurch
Imagine a remedy that could extend the lives of Alzheimer's patients—many of whom face limited treatment options. Now picture a group of doctors bent on keeping this remedy from patients and their families.
Makes you mad, right? Me, too.
But this is exactly what's happening to vitamin E. This much-maligned supplement is constantly vilified in the mainstream press. The ringleaders are the same old members of the medical establishment who love to beat a worn-out war drum, insisting that this vitamin is the next thing to rat poison. If you've ever taken vitamin E, like many of my patients, you know what nonsense this is.
Unfortunately, these docs are now kicking it up a notch, begging for "urgent political action." The USDA nixed that idea, seeing it as an overly dramatic attempt to establish Big Brother-inspired monitoring that the scientific evidence doesn't come close to justifying.
If these docs had their way, Alzheimer's patients would be cut off from the one natural—and effective—treatment alternative that could improve and extend their lives. A 15-year study found that when these patients were given vitamin E along with cholinesterase inhibitors (which protect against the breakdown of acetylcholine), patients extended their life span by 26 percent.
But even more important, it appears to be the vitamin E that was the key to this treatment equation. Patients who received only the cholinesterase inhibitor and no vitamin E regimen experienced no life-span extension.
There will always be the naysayers who want to toss the supplement industry into a dank, underground prison and throw away the key. Inexpensive, natural treatments simply go against the grain—and profit margins—of expensive, Big Pharma concoctions.
These vested interests cherry-pick which studies to look at in order to manufacture a platform from which to choke off your access to inexpensive, effective natural treatments. In this particular case, they only included those studies where someone died.
Talk about skewing the numbers! So, I'll tell you what I tell all my patients—when you hear stories denigrating the time-tested benefits of vitamins, take a moment to consider the source.
And because the attacks on vitamin E (and supplements in general) are continuous and it's such a complex topic, it deserves a full treatment from me. Look for more on this in an upcoming issue of my newsletter, Health Revelations. To subscribe, go to www.healthrevelations.com.
