Catharyn Elwood: Nutritionist
(Page 5 of 11)
March/April 1972
By Hal Smith
There are other deficiencies that supplements will help. Dr. Linus Pauling, you know, has recently pointed out our woeful need for vitamin C. I would argue with him slightly about the fact that he's content to get this vitamin from ascorbic acid when we know from many tests that foods with natural vitamin C are effective when ascorbic acid isn't . . . but I can't be dogmatic here either. Ascorbic acid does get results and I applaud every statement that Pauling makes.
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To give another specific example, everyone who knows anything about nutrition knows that the health of all the mucous membranes depends on vitamin A. Such people have a wonderful remedy for colds. When they feel one coming on, they take 100,000 units of vitamin A in addition to the massive doses of vitamin C that Linus Pauling recommends . . . and that clears them up in a day or two.
We should also realize that lack of the B-complex vitamins in our diet can be very serious. There isn't an area of the body that isn't affected by this deficiency. The B-complex is naturally found in wheat germ, the bran of grain and rice polishings . . . none of which makes up a noticeable portion of the average modern processed diet. The missing B vitamins — and a lot of protein too — may be supplied by a yeast supplement.
By the way, I had an awfully interesting experience recently that illustrates the importance of just one of the B-complex vitamins . . . B 6 , or niacin. A boy in my first class at Montgomery College had one of the worst complexions I've ever seen. When he asked if I could help him with his skin, I told him to take 3,000 milligrams of niacin and 3,000 of vitamin C every day. Later in the year, he came up to me with what can only be described as a new face and said, "I didn't tell you that I'd been depressed and thought about suicide before. Now I'm reborn! I'm going back to school and I'll never be able to thank you."
Niacin is also the courage vitamin and I tell everybody, "Don't go through a day when you feel discouraged. For heaven's sake, take some niacin." I don't usually recommend single vitamins like that, because if you take only one while others are lacking, their deficiencies will accumulate and get serious. Certainly, though, I recommend niacin for people who would otherwise have days when they're mentally disturbed, blue and despondent.
The point is, however, that all the vitamins are essential. If you eat only foods that are deficient day after day, the deficiencies pile up until — maybe — you'll have to take vitamin supplements all your life.
PLOWBOY: What about multiple vitamins then?
ELWOOD: Yes, they can be useful. If a person is generally run down, it's probably because he lacks several vitamins at once. I'm not opposed to an individual taking a general supplement, especially as he gets older, given the food that most of us eat nowadays. But unless the deficiencies constitute a condition that's so serious it can't be corrected, we shouldn't have to take such supplements indefinitely. The idea is to recognize our deficiencies, make them up and then gradually wean ourselves away from supplements by eating good, pure, naturally grown foods.
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