Wonderfully Made

Vitamins and Supplements

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Timothy Howe and Sheryl McWilliams

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Series Code: WM

Program Code: WM000392


00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health
00:04 and is not intended to take the place of
00:06 personalized professional care.
00:07 The opinions and ideas expressed are those
00:10 of the speaker. Viewers are encouraged to
00:13 draw their own conclusions about the
00:14 information presented.
00:35 Hi and welcome to 'Wonderfully Made.'
00:37 My name is Sheryl McWilliams.
00:39 And our guest today is Dr. Timothy Howe.
00:41 Hi, Dr. Howe, and thank you for being here.
00:44 It's a pleasure to be with you.
00:45 This is a wonderful program on
00:48 Wonderfully Made. Certainly our creator
00:50 has made us wonderfully. Absolutely, today
00:54 we're gonna be talking about a topic that
00:55 I find very interesting. It seems that whenever
00:59 I'm in the supermarket or the store these days
01:01 I'm seeing ads for vitamins and supplements.
01:05 Folks even knocking on my door requesting
01:07 that I listen to their information about
01:10 their particular brand or vitamin.
01:12 I'm really confused on which ones
01:14 are the best ones to take and how do I know and,
01:17 and really what to do. So, I'm hoping
01:19 you can shed some light on this topic.
01:21 Vitamins and supplements are a very
01:24 interesting topic. We know from hundreds of
01:28 scientific studies that the more vitamins
01:31 and minerals you get in your food,
01:34 the richer your diet is in anti-oxidants,
01:37 the less heart disease you'll have,
01:40 the less cancer you have, the less infections
01:43 you'll have. And we are so interested
01:47 as people of course to have less cancer
01:50 and heart disease and less infections,
01:52 less chronic diseases. So, we assume that
01:56 if you need more and more is better than
01:59 let's open up a bottle and get them.
02:02 Because of that idea, scientists started
02:06 several big studies to answer the question,
02:09 will taking vitamins help us.
02:13 One of the best studies done was published
02:17 in 1994, in the New England Journal of
02:20 Medicine. It's referred today
02:22 to as the finish study. What they did is
02:26 they took a large group of men,
02:28 who were all smokers, from our studies in
02:33 populations looking at their diets,
02:35 we knew that taking vitamin A, Beta-carotene,
02:40 vitamin E, Alfa-Tocoferol would lower
02:45 the risk of cancer. If you get it in your diet
02:50 it lowers your risk, let's give you a
02:52 little more in a pill form and see
02:54 if it helps even more. So, they did that study
02:58 and they found something very interesting.
03:00 They found that in the men that
03:03 they supplemented vitamin A or a Beta-carotene
03:06 and vitamin E, their risk of cancer didn't go down,
03:12 it went up, it actually went up.
03:15 Now, that is a little frightening.
03:19 The last thing that I want to do,
03:21 is go out to the store and buy these wonderful
03:25 vitamins and find out that as a result of
03:28 taking them, I have a higher cancer risk.
03:31 Absolutely, we take them supposedly to decrease
03:35 our risk of disease and not to mention
03:37 they're extremely expensive
03:38 or at least the ones that I've seen.
03:40 People spend a lot of money on this stuff.
03:43 They certainly do spend a lot of money.
03:46 They couldn't believe that study you know,
03:48 they, they, they, they scratch their heads
03:51 and they said, how can this be.
03:52 We have hundreds of studies,
03:54 literally hundreds of studies showing that
03:56 if we get more Beta-carotene
03:58 and anti-oxidants and vitamins in our diet,
04:02 we'll have a lower risk. And yet when
04:04 we give them to people from a pill bottle,
04:07 the risk goes up. What's at play here?
04:10 Well, they had to repeat the study and so they did
04:14 another study, it's called the caret study,
04:16 not RROT, but CARET study, published in the
04:22 New England Journal Medicine in 1996.
04:24 In that study, they also supplemented vitamin A
04:28 and vitamin E. You know, they found early
04:31 on in this study that cancer rates went up
04:34 and heart disease rates went up.
04:36 In fact, it was such a mark change
04:39 that they stopped the study.
04:41 Because, people were dying from supplementing
04:45 these vitamins. Wow! They went back
04:48 and looked at the finished study
04:51 and did subgroup analysis and found something
04:55 very interesting. What they found is,
04:57 in the people that had the highest intake of
05:03 Beta-carotene in their diets,
05:05 they were the ones that have the lowest risk
05:08 of cancer at the end of the study.
05:12 So, you have sort of a conundrum here,
05:14 if you have a high amount of Beta-carotene
05:19 in your food, you have a low risk of cancer,
05:23 if you add vitamin A or Beta-carotene
05:27 in from a pill, you have a high risk.
05:31 Confusing, isn't it? Very confusing.
05:34 Yeah, interesting though, what they fail to
05:38 realize is, Beta-carotene is only one of over 600
05:46 different types of carotene.
05:48 And I can't tell you which one of those 600
05:53 might be important, but I can tell you
05:56 that if you take excess Beta-carotene,
06:00 you will interfere with the absorption of those
06:04 other carotenes or carotenoids,
06:06 carotene like compounds. Balance is what
06:11 we're after, it's very important to maintain
06:14 that careful balance of nutrients
06:17 found in our food. So, what I hear you saying
06:21 is that it's better to actually get our,
06:25 our nutrients, our vitamins from the food
06:28 that we eat as apposed to a pill.
06:30 Absolutely, you know, I, I, when I eat
06:34 my vegetables, and when I eat my fruits.
06:36 I, I'm, I'm kind of particular,
06:39 I don't like to eat old fruit you know,
06:43 that's a little bit bad or I don't like
06:46 wilted vegetables, I like them fresh.
06:49 You know, the last time you ate your vitamins,
06:52 did you open up the bottle and say,
06:55 I wonder if you're fresh, you know.
06:58 How long has it been since those
07:02 vitamins were fresh? I simply look at the
07:05 expiration date. Well, is that what you do with
07:09 fruit and vegetables? I think it's very important
07:12 to have your vitamins fresh plus,
07:14 the last time you looked at your vitamin pill,
07:18 your bottle you know if you look at it.
07:20 There's a whole long list vitamin A,
07:23 vitamin B, 1, 2, 3, 4, you know,
07:26 all of these things, but are you sure
07:30 you're getting them in the right balance?
07:31 And what about the ones that aren't mentioned
07:34 there? For instance, blueberries.
07:36 Now, blueberries are an interesting fruit.
07:39 They're one of the richest, the very richest
07:42 in anti-oxidants. Do you know that blueberries
07:47 have over 150 phytochemicals in them.
07:52 Wow! Now, does your vitamin pill have over a
07:57 150 phytochemicals? I doubt it,
08:01 and that's only one. But there are many
08:04 other fruits and vegetables, aren't they?
08:07 Another one that people have looked
08:10 at is vitamin E. You perhaps have some friends,
08:13 I'm sure you wouldn't take vitamin E,
08:15 but you maybe have some friends
08:17 that are taking vitamin E. We used to say,
08:19 you have-to-have vitamin E for your heart,
08:22 it will reduce your heart disease risk.
08:24 And indeed vitamin E does seem to thin the blood,
08:30 but it doesn't reduce your risk of
08:33 heart disease. In fact, it's not recommended
08:36 any longer that you take vitamin E to reduce
08:38 your risk of heart disease. Not only does
08:41 heart disease not go down very much,
08:43 but your risk of having a hemorrhagic stroke
08:48 goes up. So, you take your vitamin E to help
08:53 your heart. You don't help your heart
08:55 and on the other hand, you have a stroke.
08:58 What kind of a trade is that?
08:59 Doesn't sound like much of a bargain to me.
09:01 Not one that I want. Something that I've read
09:05 recently is that, it seems that and some of the,
09:08 the cases of vitamins that perhaps
09:11 what's listed on the bottle, is it
09:13 necessarily what's inside? Well, that maybe
09:17 the case because they're not controlled by the FTA,
09:21 they put on there and what they put on there
09:25 and there's not a lot of oversight. Furthermore
09:28 just because it has the vitamin on the,
09:30 on the, listed on the bottle doesn't mean that
09:33 it is well absorbed. When the vitamin is in the food
09:37 usually it's very well absorbed the way
09:41 it's presented to your body, but not necessarily
09:46 so in the pill. I have a saying that,
09:49 if humans have messed with it,
09:51 they probably messed it up and this seems
09:53 like a good example of that.
09:54 Yes, I think there's some truth in that.
09:56 Another question I have is related to the source
09:59 of these vitamins. Not long ago,
10:02 I was prescribed a prenatal vitamin
10:05 as a result of the pregnancy.
10:07 And I went to the pharmacy in order to;
10:09 to inquire about this and asked the source
10:12 of the vitamin, where did the vitamin come from?
10:14 Was it an animal source or vegetables source,
10:17 synthetic, where exactly did it come from?
10:20 The pharmacist didn't have a clue and was most
10:23 uninterested in, in learning,
10:25 he gave me a number, I called the number
10:27 and learned that many of the vitamins
10:30 in this particular brand came from animal sources
10:35 and a number of them came from pig from,
10:37 from swine that was a problem for me.
10:40 So, I went back to the pharmacist and said,
10:43 this is what I learned and, and can you help me
10:45 find the vitamin that does not contain at least
10:48 pig products and that was a concern for him
10:52 due to religious consideration.
10:54 So, he started and of that particular pharmacy,
10:56 which is in a very well-known pharmacy,
10:59 they did not have a vitamin,
11:02 a prenatal vitamin which did not contain
11:04 animal products and specifically
11:06 you know pig. I mean and, and that was primarily
11:09 related to vitamin D, but that was shocking to me.
11:12 Yes, many of the vitamins, their source
11:15 is not identified on the bottle. Vitamin B12 comes
11:20 from animals specifically. It is not
11:23 naturally occurring in plant food.
11:26 It has to be from an animal source.
11:29 Even the vitamin B12 in the soil
11:32 and this is one question that has to be answered
11:35 for vegans. Now, vegans they don't have anything,
11:39 they don't eat anything that had a mother
11:41 or has a face or came from an animal.
11:45 You know, it's just fresh fruits and vegetables
11:49 and grains and nuts. And the only place
11:52 that they get B12 is from the little bacteria
11:57 in the soil, on root vegetables
12:00 and on vegetables as the soil splashes up on them.
12:04 And that isn't a very rich source,
12:06 all other B12 comes from animal sources.
12:09 Unless, it's synthesized, made in the laboratory.
12:14 You can get synthetic B12, and then it doesn't
12:18 come from your animal source. Vitamin D,
12:21 another classic example, we get it from sunshine.
12:26 You're a vegan I know, so am I and we get vitamin D
12:30 from sunshine, but apart from that the only
12:33 sources of vitamin D are animal sources.
12:36 Now, if your pharmacist was a Muslim,
12:40 or if he was a Seventh-day Adventist
12:44 that would be important to him or Jewish to know
12:48 that most vitamins contained B12
12:51 from animal sources. And almost always
12:55 it's from pigs or swine that they get it.
12:59 Interesting, interesting. Is there ever a time
13:02 when a person should supplement
13:05 and use vitamins from pills?
13:07 That's a good question, and let's first of all go
13:11 back to B12. In the studies that
13:15 had been done, if today you had adequate B12
13:19 in your system. And I said,
13:21 alright no more B12, none, it will take about
13:26 20 to 30 years for you to become deficient in B12
13:30 if you didn't have a problem with
13:33 re-absorption of B12 from your gut,
13:37 backup to your liver and if, as long as
13:40 you were recycling it normally,
13:42 you would not become deficient.
13:43 What would cause you to not be able
13:45 to do that normally? If you had a deficiency of
13:49 intrinsic factor in your gut. And that would be
13:52 B12 deficiency or pernicious anemia
13:56 can cause that. Now, there are varying
13:58 diseases of pernicious anemia or failure
14:01 to absorb B12. You can have someone who just
14:05 has a slight problem with intrinsic factor
14:08 or absorption. People that have for instance,
14:12 had a partial Gastrectomy for because
14:16 they were obese and wanted to lose weight.
14:18 They maybe deficient or if there is a disease of
14:22 the terminal ileum, they may become
14:25 deficient in B12, if there's a question
14:28 and you are on a strict vegan diet,
14:31 get a B12 level tested. It's a very simple
14:34 laboratory test and if you are a little bit low
14:38 or tending toward that side even in the
14:40 normal range, it's a good idea to have a
14:43 synthetic supplement, but that's not
14:47 the majority of people. The majority of us
14:50 get plenty of B12. B12 is found in many of our
14:54 milk, milk substitutes. Of course,
14:57 it isn't milk itself, but most,
14:59 much of the soy milk and nut milks,
15:02 they have B12 added, so, that's not a problem.
15:06 Many of the dry cereals have B12 added too.
15:11 So, that's a very unlikely situation,
15:14 B12 deficiency. As long as you
15:17 don't have a medical problem, but if you are a
15:20 vegan have it tested, if you have a question.
15:23 And particularly, if you don't have a
15:25 regular source of B12. Apart from B12,
15:29 I don't know if any situation were taking
15:33 multi-vitamins and anti-oxidants
15:36 will help you except there are a few studies
15:40 in the elderly showing that they may do better,
15:44 may do better, if they have a multi-vitamin
15:47 supplement. Well, why is that? You know,
15:52 I do, we work with a lot of elderly people
15:55 and you will find that after their spouse dies,
15:59 it's really hard to fix good food.
16:02 And instead of having their fresh vegetables
16:07 and fresh fruit. They just have something
16:10 out of a box. Usually pour a little milk on it,
16:14 and they have dry cereal or something like that.
16:17 Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they don't,
16:20 they don't get a good diet. Well,
16:23 is it better for them to take it out of a
16:25 pill bottle or would it be better for them
16:28 to eat a wider variety of fresh fruits
16:31 and vegetables. Of course, it would be
16:35 better to get it from a good source.
16:38 If you just take it out of the bottle,
16:40 you're going to get Beta-carotene,
16:43 but how about those other 599 carotenes,
16:47 you may need them. And in fact, you do.
16:51 There are, are many who talk about the
16:55 depletion in terms of soil and,
16:57 and that they take supplements
16:59 because our soil is in such poor shape
17:01 in that without supplements because
17:04 of the, the situation, the soil,
17:05 they just wouldn't be healthy. I'm not sure
17:09 what to think about that? Well, they have a point
17:12 because if your soil is deficient in selenium
17:17 for instance. Then the food isn't going
17:19 to contain as much selenium,
17:22 if it's deficient in Boron, the food isn't
17:25 going to have quite as much Boron,
17:27 but that's not that common, number one.
17:32 And number two, it does not apply to vitamins
17:35 and the anti-oxidants because they don't come
17:38 from the soil. The plants manufacture them
17:41 with sunlight. Even if you have a hydroponic
17:44 tomato that's just grown in the greenhouse,
17:46 if it has that good deep rich red color
17:50 it's going to have plenty of those lycopenes,
17:54 that are so important in the prevention of
17:56 prostate cancer, if you have kale or collards
18:00 grown wherever, if the soil's deficient,
18:04 but they have that deep green color.
18:06 They're still going to have their vitamin A
18:09 and their vitamin C. They're still going to
18:11 have the folate, they're still going to have
18:13 everything you need maybe the minerals.
18:16 I say, if in doubt grow some your own,
18:21 grow your own. You know, it's not a bad idea
18:24 in the summer, try organic gardening.
18:28 I have a son, lets say, organic gardener
18:31 and he has a main organic farmer
18:34 and gardening and association, everything
18:37 he sells is certified organic,
18:39 and when I eat that, I think well I'm set
18:42 and we usually are. It doesn't hurt to grow
18:45 a few, or buy organic, is it necessary?
18:48 No, it isn't, absolutely necessary,
18:50 are there toxins in our food? Sure,
18:53 there are toxins in our food.
18:55 There's mercury in water everywhere
18:57 on this planet, it's not ideal, but it's important
19:01 for us to eat low on the food chain to avoid some
19:05 of those and that's fruits and vegetables,
19:08 nuts, and grains, you'll get all of your
19:11 anti-oxidants. If you want to make sure
19:14 you're getting the full spectrum, you want to go
19:18 for the colors. You want the deep reds,
19:22 you want the greens, those living greens,
19:26 you want the yellows, they're very important.
19:29 You want different types at different seasons,
19:33 and you'll get the full flavor and you'll get
19:38 all of the anti-oxidants and vitamins you need.
19:40 You don't have to think about, what did I,
19:43 what am I gonna do with my vitamin A,
19:45 if you're getting the deep green and yellow.
19:48 You don't need to think about vitamin E,
19:50 if you're getting seeds and nuts.
19:52 It's not a problem; you don't need to
19:56 think about. Well, am I, am I getting enough
19:57 vitamin C to stop my colds. You know,
20:01 the good thing about vitamin C is it;
20:03 you don't get it toxic very easily on it because
20:06 if you take it and don't need it,
20:08 it's excreted in the urine. Many of these are
20:12 you know, you might say that it's wonderful
20:14 all the vitamins we're taking in this country.
20:17 We have the most vitamin rich sewers in the world.
20:22 There are many parents who out of concern
20:26 for their children, give their children vitamins
20:29 and they usually wash it down
20:30 with a glass of juice. What should parents
20:33 think about as it relates to, to vitamin
20:36 supplementation? I don't think parents should
20:38 supplement vitamins. I think they should give
20:42 their children good food. Good food is the
20:45 best supplement there is, as far known
20:48 it is the best. You're, that's what
20:50 the studies show, if you get it in your food,
20:53 lower cancer risk, lower heart disease risk,
20:56 lower stroke risk, lower infection risk,
20:59 if you get it in the bottle you maybe
21:01 harming yourself. That's not only true
21:04 with the vitamins; it's also true with iron.
21:07 You know you hear a lot about anti-oxidants,
21:10 do you know that iron is the most potent
21:13 pro-oxidant in your body. Wow! Oh! You need iron,
21:17 you need it, but too much iron will cause problems.
21:24 It will increase cancer rates; it will increase
21:29 your problems with heart disease. In fact,
21:33 some people think and I think wisely so,
21:36 that one of the main reasons why women
21:38 don't have the rates of heart disease
21:40 that men do, is because they're menstruating
21:43 every month and they're keeping their iron
21:45 stores low. As soon as that stops,
21:48 women's rate of heart disease quickly catches
21:51 men, just from too much iron.
21:54 Now, iron deficiency isn't good either,
21:57 but if you're not iron deficient,
22:00 if your hemoglobin and hematocrit are normal,
22:03 please don't supplement iron.
22:05 You won't be helping yourself,
22:07 you'll be hurting yourself. There's a whole
22:09 disease category of iron overload.
22:13 Hemochromatosis, it's not that uncommon
22:16 and it's getting to be a, a problem.
22:19 Hemochromatosis, increase risk of heart disease,
22:23 increase risk of cancer, increase risk
22:26 of diabetes, increase risk of liver problems
22:29 all from iron overload, don't supplement iron,
22:33 if you are going to take a multi-vitamin
22:35 make sure it doesn't have iron.
22:38 Unless, you're iron deficient,
22:41 you have a low amount of hemoglobin
22:44 or a low hematocrit and that can be very
22:47 easily tested. So, we should instead of
22:52 thinking about which pill to take,
22:54 we should think about the colors of the rainbow.
22:56 That's right. You know, I often say,
22:59 if you're an artist, you like a palate
23:02 with many colors on it, when you're painting
23:05 your picture and think of the artist when you eat,
23:08 you want many colors to pass your palate,
23:11 if you do you'll get plenty of anti-oxidants.
23:15 Some people ask well what foods are best?
23:18 What foods are richest in anti-oxidants?
23:20 Well, in fresh fruit, fruits, the one that top
23:25 the list are the ones I like the most
23:26 in the fruits. It's blueberries
23:30 and strawberries. They top the list
23:32 for fresh fruits, if you go to dry,
23:34 raisins are very high and prunes are very high in
23:39 anti-oxidants. They're also high in vitamins
23:42 of course. In the vegetables it's kale
23:45 and then you go to broccoli, you pick up
23:48 tomatoes, you pick up peppers,
23:50 you pick up collard greens,
23:52 all the green leafy vegetables and the,
23:56 and the vegetables with rich colors
23:58 are where you get the anti-oxidants from.
24:01 And they're the ones that will reduce
24:03 your risk of chronic disease.
24:05 So, if we eat our food the way the good Lord
24:08 grew it then perhaps we'd be better off
24:11 than trying to get nutrition from a bottle.
24:13 You know, you'll never find health in a bottle,
24:17 you will never find it. You'll find health
24:20 in making wise choices. And making decisions
24:24 and following through with them.
24:26 Sometimes we get the idea that you know,
24:30 there's just something missing in your
24:32 and in my diet. You know, that is true,
24:34 there is something missing in your diet
24:37 and in mine, but I don't think
24:39 we can find it here. It left many years ago
24:42 and that, guess what? The tree of life.
24:46 I think somewhere in our collective consciousness,
24:49 if you will we know that there is a, a missing
24:53 part in our lives. The tree of life isn't here,
24:58 but we do have something that is available
25:02 and Jesus told us what that is?
25:04 He said, if you want life you must eat my flesh
25:09 and drink my blood, you must dwell in me
25:13 and I in you, if you want eternal life
25:17 and you know sometimes I think
25:18 this desire to find that elixir of life
25:22 really what we're doing is, we are looking
25:28 for life in the wrong place. And if we would
25:32 focus on Jesus and the life he gives.
25:35 And the food he's given us, read it
25:38 right there in Genesis, you'll find it.
25:40 And he gave them and it tells you just
25:44 what to eat right there in Genesis.
25:46 And if we follow that and look for life
25:49 in our Lord and savior, then we will have
25:54 not only abundant life here.
25:56 Remember what he said, I came to give them life
25:59 and to give it more abundantly.
26:03 We'll have life here and we'll have eternal life.
26:06 Instead of looking in a bottle and counting
26:09 our pills and spent you know, how much we spend
26:12 in this country on vitamins and
26:14 vitamin supplementation. That's a lot. Billions,
26:17 three or four billion dollars we spend,
26:20 and we are helping ourselves? No.
26:22 We're hurting ourselves. We are actually worsening
26:27 our health instead of improving it.
26:30 Please, don't supplement any Beta-carotene
26:34 or vitamin A, don't do it, don't
26:37 supplement vitamin E, don't do it,
26:40 it raises your risk of disease. Vitamin C
26:43 it's counted as wonderful. We excrete
26:45 a lot of it, but it, if you supplement
26:47 vitamin C there is some evidence that
26:49 you will increase your risk for heart disease.
26:51 Macular degeneration, everyone's taking
26:54 vitamins for this. Three fruits a day will reduce
26:58 your risk of macular degeneration markedly.
27:02 Go for the fruits, go for the vegetables
27:05 and most importantly Jesus is the
27:10 word of life; he is our tree of life here.
27:14 And if we focus on him rather than
27:17 on a bottle ah! Then we'll have life,
27:21 life not only now, but forever.
27:27 So, it seems that God grew our food perfectly.
27:30 I think he did. You know, it's unlikely that
27:35 he would design us and give a poor fuel.
27:38 And, if we follow his instruction manual.
27:41 I think our bodies will run quite well.
27:46 It's obvious that we are fearfully
27:48 and wonderfully made and our food
27:50 was made well too. So, if we follow
27:54 the instruction we've been given then perhaps
27:57 we can spent less money on supplements
27:58 and more attention on, on eating the rich foods
28:01 that Christ has so abundantly
28:03 blessed us with. Well, thank you Dr. Howe,
28:05 and thank you audience for joining us today.


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Revised 2014-12-17