Here’s what JAMA reports on the subject:

A recent Journal of the American Medical Association study found that vitamin E is not effective in preventing prostate cancer and in fact also raised the possibility that it’s tied to prostate cancer. That report is the latest ding to a dietary-supplement business that saw its industry revenues fall to $350 million in the U.S. last year from $650 million in 2004, according to Nutrition Business Journal estimates.

It may well be that the so-called “vitamin E” people are taking is not really Vitamin E and therefore is not functioning as Vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant.  But whole Vitamin E is a lot more than an antioxidant.  Read on. . . .

Let’s talk about Vitamin E . . . and Vitamin C while we’re at it.

 KNOW YOUR VITAMINS

—Patients are always telling me that they are taking “Vitamin C” and “Vitamin E,” and I’m always quick to correct them.  “No, you’re not taking Vitamin C nor Vitamin E because the so called ‘vitamin E’ you’re taking is NOT Vitamin E, and the so-called ‘vitamin C’ is NOT Vitamin C,” and here’s the reason why.” 

 The Food and Drug Administration has allowed “ascorbic acid” to be called Vitamin C and for “d alpha tocopherol” to be called Vitamin E.  As we can clearly see from the diagrams below, there is a lot more to Vitamin C than “ascorbic acid” and to Vitamin E than “d alpha  tocopherol.”  These fractions serve as part of the envelope surrounding the delicate essences and co-factors of the nutrient complexes – the very essential ingredients that make the vitamin complex work – protecting them from oxidation.  They are all that’s left after commercial food processors get through extracting them from foods with the use of heat and pressure that destroy the rest of the complexes. In the case of Vitamin E, only one of the four antioxidant tocopherols – alpha tocopherol – is left, and the “d” in front of it tell you it’s a synthetic product. 

They are called “Vitamin C” and “Vitamin E,” but they are no more the whole vitamin complex than an orange peal alone is the whole orange or an egg shell the whole egg.  

    The key word here is “Functional.”  Vitamin E functions as a whole component, as does Vitamin C.  If you take them apart  they don’t function.  An analogy would be to take a Swiss watch and smash it with a hammer.  You still have a watch, but it won’t function as a time piece.

     Those of you familiar with muscle testing will understand that when commercial vitamin E was given to a test subject, the arm test was weak.  But when a whole-food Vitamin E (Cataplex E  by Standard Process Labs.) was given to him, he tested strong.  That’s because Cataplex E functioned where the commercial vitamin E did not and could not because it isn’t Vitamin E.   

But that’s not the end of the story. It gets worse. Read on. 

    These fractioned components are incomplete and, therefore, seek to complete themselves as whole nutrients when turned loose inside your body, and they will rob from it what they need to complete themselves.

For example, ascorbic acid leaches out tyrosinase (cooper), a mineral that is vital to the health of arteries and veins, leaving your blood vascular system susceptible to aneurism and the hormone estrogen without an activating mechanism. Alpha tocopherol (or the synthetic “d alpha tocopherol”) leaches out selenium, another mineral vital to your blood vascular system, leaving your blood arteries unprotected against plaque formation.

    When you take these fractioned “vitamins” into your body, you are not giving it the vital essences of whole nutrients it needs. For example, the bioflavonoids and  the “P” factors that strengthen vessel walls and connective tissues throughout the body, not to mention the cooper you’re not getting and losing when it is leached out. 

Ascorbic acid has also been shown to scratch the inner lining of the blood vessels if taken in dosages of 500+ mg daily for more than eighteen weeks, contributing to atherosclerosis, plaque build up in the arteries.  With alpha tocopherol “Vitamin E” you do not get all the fatty acids essential to heart health nor the natural chelators for your arteries and anti-oxidants to prevent your oils from going rancid. 

Dr. John Courtney of Standard Process Labs explains it clearly.

The body is designed to utilize food in its whole form. If you eat incomplete foods, such as refined tocopherols, all the missing factors are borrowed from the tissue reserves in order to make the partial food usable. Sooner or later, depending on the patient’s past eating habits, there will be a deficiency of those nutrients, causing what’s referred to as a “reversal of symptoms.” This means there is a recurrence of the same symptoms, which were causing the problem in the first place, often to a more serious degree.

Bicknell and Prescott, in their book THE VITAMINS IN MEDICINE, talk about bone decalcification and other problems caused by the use of excessive alpha tocopherol.  So high potency vitamins are similar to drugs in their effect. They cause a masking of symptoms, which eventually creates additional problems. Dr. Lee [Royal Lee is the founder of SP] used to say that using high potency vitamins was like whipping a tired horse; he would be stimulated to run faster but sooner or later he collapses because you never fed him.

Sometimes doctors call us for help with patients with cramps. This could be cramps anywhere in the body-the legs, abdomen, heart, etc. They will say, “I’ve tried everything I could nutritionally, calcium, magnesium, etc., and the patient still has cramps.” Then we ask if the patient is taking high potency vitamin E. Many times they are, and the cramps developed after they started taking the high potency vitamin E. Then, of course, we suggest the doctor take the patient off the high potency vitamin E product. Our approach is to give the patient the specific food factors which he’s lacking, along with the associated factors, which make it work. 

It is clear that whole food nutrients alone will help you.  The others will only hurt your body.  Remember, if it isn’t a food it’s a toxin. If you want Vitamins C and E you have to eat whole foods that are grown organically. If you want them in organically whole food supplement form, drop me an email and I will gladly send some to you. 

Cataplex E (90T) $17, (360T) $58

Cataplex C (90T) $14, (360T) $47

Shipping and handling is $7 

Until my next post, take care of your house of being else it evict you.

To your health and healing,

Dr. Anthony Palombo