VITAMIN WORKSHOP TOPICS

By default, until a website appears matching the data presented here, THIS WEBSITE will have to suffice as THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SOURCE of Scientifically VITAL Information for EFFECTIVE and SAFE VITAMIN CHOICES. Use as a fundamental stepping stone for further research. 

PREFACE: Do not panic at some of the detrimental actions of vitamins exposed in the following articles. The number of people impacted might be really small. A scientific study might say there is a 50% increase in cancer rates, but this is not 50% of test subjects, it is just a number 50% larger than the number of people who would naturally come down with cancer. Say if this number is 8 out of 1000, and the study showed a 50% increased cancer rate, THAT IS REALLY ONLY 4 PEOPLE MORE, or 12 instead of 8 out of a 1000. See how to comprehend research study results here. The information presented on this website is designed so people can make intelligent decisions to Optimize Vitamin Choices for Maximum Health Benefits. This means that any risks would be minimized or eliminated.  

What you will find here (many of these concepts are new and still in exploratory stages):

 1. The first realistic attempt to demystify controversial vitamin study results 

• How can seemingly similar studies of the same nutrient arrive at opposite conclusions
• Studies looking at just food sources of vitamins are mainly positive while studies with supplemented nutrients are all over the gambit from slightly negative to very positive. article
• Nutritional Researchers are violating their own scientific method principles in reporting vitamin study results, especially when reported by mass media news 
• There appears to be a few major flaws in connecting vitamin functions with body activities, like for beta carotene and vitamin E
• Using some simple logic and the available scientific vitamin research, novel concepts  discovered point to the development of a more rational vitamin criteria than the one that currently just uses RDI levels, but leaves out forms.      

  2. Why The Science of Nutrition needs Updating

• There are far too many incomplete vitamin premises to allow current false theories to stand uncontested any longer. (antioxidants)
• Recent scientific study results are both expanding nutritional knowledge and challenging  some long held and largely assumed past vitamin facts from the 1940's (vitamin D, calcium, selenium, and vitamin E family functions) 
• High dose vitamin or mineral supplement spiking can exhibit adverse effects for both fat and water soluble nutrients and normal body processes. ref ref
• Nutrient on nutrient absorption interference is a neglected concept in supplement formulas. article 
• Why is the vital balance of antioxidant loads almost completely absent from nutrition? article
• While pH levels of body fluids and tissues wisely only slightly vary, it is the undercurrent of actions or vital minerals used up that is necessary to maintain these pH levels where supplements can play a vital role. ref ref ref
• Vitamins may have beneficial effects, adverse effects, or be neutral depending upon the beginning body level, the size of dosage, and the form used.
• Many vitamins and minerals have adverse effects at BOTH too low or too high amounts ref
• Vitamin supplements can have both benefits and risks, often as dosages vary, body levels change (selenium), or at different stages of disease (cancers), either before, at start up, or during full-blown stage. (cancer cells produce an enzyme to deactivate vitamin D)

  3. Beneficial emerging Vitamin Concepts: 

• Vitamin C link to Cancer protection discovered here
• Vitamin K influences Bone growth and also offers protection from artery disease plus helps control blood sugar, new discovery less than 10 years ago. (notice dihydrophylloquinone form effects)> ref  ref ref article
• Vitamin D expanded roles in immunity, infection fighting, and cancer prevention, > here
• Understanding anti-oxidant load balance,  > here
• Vitamin supplement consumers have on average 5% longer telomeres, ref (Dr. Oz recently mentioned this) Equates to a longer life for cells.
• Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker
• Vitamins C & E reduce inflammatory effects on arteries after high fat meal ref
• CoQ10 improves cardiovascular parameters in heart disease
• OPC's from grape seed extract protect elastin and collagen fibers
• Adverse effects of excess sugar or saturated fat on glycation mitigated by vitamins C, E, and Carnosine
• BUT, vitamins C & E can also eliminate the benefits of exercise on insulin sensitivity (it's just how they function) ref
• Omega 3 fish oils on heart health markers (caution men with prostate cancer)

 4. Some NEW adverse vitamin concepts under consideration include:

•  High Vitamin A may increase bone fracture rates ref
•  Higher carotenoid complex, beta carotene family, could protect bones and limit fractures ref
•  Role played by Calcium in arterial calcification, on blood pressure, for cancer cell survival,    and relationship to cognitive dementia  
•  Failure of long term Dairy consumption and calcium without synergistic partners to limit bone fractures, even though it somewhat increases bone density ref ref ref ref
• Excessive vitamin D intake on increasing toxic element absorption, like lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc. ref 
• Higher dietary and synthetic Folic acid intake on cancer and dementia  ref (Conclusion from  reference:  High intake of folate may be associated with cognitive decline in older  persons. BUT, this reference shows the opposite? And one that shows no influence? This  latest ref settles it. Wrap up ref )
•  New Folic acid links during late pregnancy with asthma and allergies in children (still very new, needs more research)
•  Excess or deficiency of Vitamin B6 on nerve damage ref
•  Excess doses of Magnesium and Vitamin C on diarrhea article article
•  Iron on oxidative stress and reduced telomere length
•  Excessively large Zinc amounts on interference of copper article
•  Higher levels of Selenium on diabetes risk article
•  Chromium needs caution, some but not too much, especially certain forms  ref
•  Mega vitamin E as alpha tocopherol on hemorrhagic strokes ref
•  Higher Vitamin A & E intake on suppression of vitamin K absorption 
•  Mega niacin for cholesterol on increasing homocysteine levels 
•  Low vitamin K levels on artery calcification, varicose veins, and bone integrity
•  Chronic High Protein diet on long term kidney function.
•  Prostate gland cell growth rate may be controlled by the balance between Osteocalcin     forms (very recent discovery). ref article   
  

Popular Current Vitamin issues: 

1. Strontium for bones - The Good, the Bad and the ....Oh NO! article  article
2. Natural versus Synthetic Vitamins - Yes, there are some differences but rarely are you given the actual facts.   article  article
3. Food-form or Whole Food Vitamins - Do you know the real story? article article  
4. Vitamin D - Is it a vitamin or a steroid hormone? Or a lttle of both? article  article
5. To find your topic of interest: click on SEARCH website or what's NEW in Navigation column on right
6. GMO, What's really happening!

 VITAL FACT #1:  Mother nature over time designed miraculous mechanisms to build and maintain a healthy body. 

Concepts to help enhance meanings and recommendations on this website can be found in these articles: The Big Picture of health and Profound Health.                  

SHORT-CUT VERSION

 In a hurry? Don't care about knowing the support reasons. Go right to the Vitamin Criteria and finish at (This next section is not avaiable to general Public at the moment - Multiple Vitamin Picks under Finding your multiple vitamin )

THINK OF THIS WEBSITE AS A VITAMIN MANUAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, NOT THE LAST WORD, BUT WORTHY OF A GOOD STARTING POINT! At least until the FDA limits your access to vitamins and one of your best opportunities for optimal health.

AUTHOR OBSERVATIONS:  Having access to information channels not readily available to the public allows for greater insight into the scope of many vitamin industry issues. There are many novel and insightful vitamin concepts presented here, some for the first time.

*The FDA is suppose to be in charge of consumer health protection. But instead, the overall effect has been to ignore science and become a hand puppet for the pharmaceutical, medical, and food establishment special interests. Numerous examples will be presented throughout this website. The history of artificial sweeteners is perhaps one of the most obvious cases with GMO approval before first testing a close second.  

GOAL of WORKSHOP

The Goal for this Vitamin Workshop is simply to help you cut through the critical vitamin supplement issues to make healthier choices, IN SIMPLE EVERYDAY LANGUAGE. Because many other websites claim to offer best advice, this website by default is the 2nd best guide. No sore jaw here, just tongue pushing out cheek.

Prologue to Vitamin Workshop

Vitamin theories and facts today are as misleading as they were over 40 years ago. Some of the same myths still exist and even a few new ones have emerged. Plus, long term scientific research is now challenging some long established "theories" and should soon be updating vitamin facts and changing formulas. This is how the scientific method evolves and improves health. But unforntuately today there is a built-in resistance to change that is potentially jeopardizing your health.

Intelligent vitamin choices have the power to optimize health.  Unfortunately, unwise choices may compromise health. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? Where would you look to find this relatively new knowledge?

   ...insightful vitamin concepts...

This author asked these same questions over 12 years ago (2006) and failing to find any constructive unbiased answers, began the development of this website. Behind this website are over 10,000 hours of searching published medical journal articles to discover this material. There are some novel and insightful vitamin concepts presented here not found covered together in any other media. Current scientific vitamin research coupled with some good old-fashioned common sense forms the backbone for this new vitamin criteria. See if you agree after reading the interpretations of linked research studies forming the base of each article.  

Here is the official website (http://ods.od.nih.gov) of the U.S. Government from the Office of Dietary Supplements, a part of the National Institutes of Health. There are excellent nutrient databases and fact sheets, but missing are some of the more controversial new scientific discoveries that must still be under development and not yet offered for public discussion. See Below.  

All of these facts can be positively influnced by intelligent vitamin choices. UNDERSTANDING THESE FACTS SURROUNDING CONCEPTS WILL IMPROVE YOUR CHOICES BEFORE YOU TAKE ANY VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS.  These are just some of the vital vitamin aspects covered on this website with scientific study resources in support. Nutrients often have beneficial values as long as levels are in synergistic ratios with other nutrients. Yes, the body has adaptive mechanisms to deal with "unbalanced" ratios, often for long periods of time, but this takes energy and nutrients away from other vital functions.

AUTHOR INSIGHTS:  Health and Vitamins, similar to life in general, don't always fit into nice and neat black and white facts and theories. An important concept to remember regarding this website is that when reading science research reports, everything is a matter of degrees. And that much of vitamin research results concern quite small degrees and only impact a limited number of people with either benefits or adverse effects. The majority of test subjects often appear unaffected. But then appearances don't tell the whole story. A 50% reduction in cancers doesn't mean 50% of the people in the test group, but simply the difference between the number of cancers in the test subjects versus the number in controls. This could be as few as 3 out of a 1000 or as large as 50 out of a 1000. Although any decrease or increase in disease rates is significant since we are talking about people's lives.

UPDATING VITAMIN SCIENCE 

One more thing needs to be addressed. Health concepts developed in the last century had many flaws since the young science at the time didn't have command of enough vital influencing facts. Today modern medicine is still significantly influenced by many of these "original" flawed theories even though new research has raised many questions.  Some like the germ theory worked quite well in dealing with infectious diseases at the time, but fail in the modern world with degenerative diseases dominating. Yet mainstream medicine tenaciously hangs onto old unworkable theories, unable or unwilling to let go and admit such major shortcomings.

This website simply attempts to find truths, as close to the actual reality as possible given current research results. Until clarification exists for many still controversial vitamin issues, the Precautionary Principle for taking vitamin supplements should remain in play.

Most Vitamins have a window or range of dosages between which health is maintained while BOTH lower and higher levels can induce distress, leading to disease. The Precautionary Principle is a conservative approach to supplement amounts to remain within this window for health, slightly on the lower side since food should supply the major amount of vitamins.

The new Vitamin Criteria incorporates this Principle.

******

CAUTION: Do NOT open links in comments added after articles since this is an unsecured part of this website. Just read the comments. This author timely deletes most but some may still be present. 

Copyright and Disclaimer

Copyright: Permission is hereby granted to any non-profit, non-commercial educational endeavor to copy and distribute any or all materials for educational purposes as long as a referenced byline to this site is acknowledged. Commercial endeavors are prohibited from any use without written consent.  

Disclaimer: Educational Information presented here is not meant as medical advice to diagnose, or as treatment, or as a cure for any disease condition.  If you are not well, see a qualified medical professional for medical services. This is a health information clearinghouse website. Referenced scientific research that test vitamins in disease situations is presented for educational purposes for consumers to discuss with their medical team. Opinions and analysis expressed here are the property of the author(s).  Linked websites should not be construed as a recommendation of products or services. This includes governmental sites as well. Any allegiances owed are to the discovery of FACTS and TRUTH.

This website is the personal research vehicle for, and is authored by a private non-affiliated individual, Konrad Anderson, now retired after forty-eight years in the vitamin and health industry. This website was established as an educational service of Anderson Health Consulting, with the goal of supporting the intelligent, effective, and safe use of vitamin supplements. Use this website as a stepping stone to continue searching for vitamin facts.

PLEASE notify administrator by email on contact page if you discover any web reference links that have been corrupted by unfriendly bots or hackers, etc. They will be quickly changed. THANK YOU!  And, as always, your email address will be promptly deleted and not stored.

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Why Vitamin Workshop

GUIDE for how to Optimize Vitamin Choices for Maximum Health Benefits

As internet vitamin offerings have expanded, picking safe and effective vitamins has become more of challenge than at any time in the past. Also complicating this issue, vitamin companies have been upping available vitamin dosages to further confuse and bewilder customers. 

The VITAMIN SUPPLEMENT RESOURCE

 No advertisements, no selling products, no referral kickbacks 

• Supported by over 1000 Scientific Studies
• Gathered over 40 years from 20,000 hours of Pubmed research. 
• Pubmed is where Science talks.
• Reporting novel & unique vitamin truths you must know to safeguard your health.

 These studies reveal that properly used vitamin supplements exhibit profound health improving attributes. VITAMINS WORK! But, another side of the coin is also a potential. Supplements, simply due to their nature, may generate adverse effects if not consumed wisely and manufactured correctly. This is sometimes a direct result of the way body processes work and how vitamins can be hijacked to help diseased cells grow faster. In fact, today over 95% of current multiple vitamin supplements exhibit one or more vitamin flaws in form, in dosage, in harmony with other nutrients, or under certain body conditions. Sometimes these are just due to normal vitamin functions, such as how antioxidant vitamins might interfere with radicals generated by the immune system to destroy cold viruses. This allows colds to last longer. Or how vitamins that help cells divide and grow faster would be counterproductive for cancer control. SOME of THESE ISSUES HAVE NOW REACHED CRITICAL MASS. 

Check your awareness of new research findings with this fun and enlightening VITAMIN QUIZ

1ST MAJOR VITAMIN FLAW >go here and then here

EXAMPLES where supplemented VITAMINS and MINERALS have exhibited health influence. 

• Vitamins that protect cholesterol from oxidation (vitamins C&E, beta carotene, CoQ10) or lower cholesterol if it is high (tocotrienols, Omega 3 (plus lowers triglycerides)
• The vitamins that prevent and repair DNA damage (Vitamins B6, B12, Folate, C & E, SGS from broccoli, plus the minerals zinc & phosphorus)?
• Vitamins and phytonutrients that prime the immune system or neutralize toxic chemicals (NAC, vitamins A, D, B6, C, plus beta glucans and also the mineral zinc), 
• Vitamins that prevent and kill potential cancerous cells (IP6 and inositol), and zinc given out to children in clinics once a month in developing Countries to prevent bacterial infections and life threatening diarrhea, and zinc prevents some cancers
• The minerals that prime the alkaline system to safeguard pH control, preventing pathogenic bacterial growth and related numerous conditions? 

Concepts to help enhance meanings and recommendations on this website can be found in these articles: The Big Picture of health and Profound Health. This website operates on the Precautionary Principle if there is even a hint of potential adverse effects.

NOTICE: Some pages on this website go offline for periods of time to be re-worked. Return to check if back. Right now, the Vitamin Criteria section is (NOT) down. This one is the heart and soul of this website. Plus Brand Evaluations is on holdiay too.

See Scientific Status of Vitamins to find out why over 90% of multiple vitamins are now obsolete, or should be. And below is vital information you should know before you take any of the vitamin supplements listed: 

                Vitamin A                                Calcium

                Beta Carotene                         Iron 

                Vitamin D                                Selenium

               Vitamin E                                Strontium

                Vitamin B1                             Hyaluronic Acid 

                Vitamin B6                             Algae "Plant" Calcium

                Folic Acid                               Green Foods

                Antioxidants                          Chondroitin for Males

                D-Ribose                                Strontium Warning

                Biotin (new).                           Vitamin K2

CAUTION: Nutritional concepts and the use of vitamins remains to this day a somewhat controverial topic. This website attempts to use phisiology, vitamin research, and a touch of common sense to make some reasonable deductions. Do not assume what is presented here is an absolute truth, rather just stepping stones... 

A Look at some other topics covered on this Website:

TOPICS OF INTEREST 

• Antioxidant redox balance  article
• Probiotic overload  article
• Inflammatory cascades ref
• Mitochondrial dysfunction ref article  reference  ref
• Science Updates Vitamin Theories   article
• Excess folic acid on immunity, cancer, and dementia  article
• Calcium for or against cardiovascular health    article
• iron oxidation   article 
• Vitamin D dosage for blocking cancer initiation  article   
• Vitamins on Breast Cancer    article
• Vitamin K impacting calcification of arteries and bone building article
• Why does the hormone form of Vitamin D breakdown bone? article       

Here is another concept for supplements that is often overlooked. Vitamin supplements should not disrupt normal body metabolism and nutrient pathways in an adverse way. Plus, they should not overtax body elimination channels, especially liver, kidneys, and bladder. This appears to defeat the benefits of the nutrients in the first place. ref  OK, yes there are a few benefits from certain antioxidant nutrients with excess dosages. While the body ramps up their elimination, they would provide protection for the cells of the elimination organs. This is after they might have disrupted digestion, absorption, and assimilation channels.

INsight: Most vitamins and minerals exhibit an optimal range of amounts for benefits with both too low or too high presenting problems for maintaining body health.

Unfortunately, due to just how vitamins and minerals function and are processed by the body, the current usage forms and dosages of many vitamin supplements fail in one or more of these areas. The Public should know which vitamin and mineral forms and dosages potentially may have short-comings for subsets of the population plus which body parts and for what conditions. 

 ...95% of Multi-Vitamin Supplements contain errors...

As unbelievable as this sounds, this website will reveal why over 95% of Vitamin Supplements in the marketplace today contain nutrient forms and or dosages that new Scientific research has discovered should be changed. Only a few vitamin Companies are even aware of this new information and have changed nutrient forms and dosages. A few needed changes are actually not new and have existed in flawed forms for over 75 years. This website links to these study results so the vitamin consuming Public can learn how to optimize choices to maximize health benefits.