Alzheimer's Disease - Your Multivitamin May Be to Blame

Alzheimer's Disease - Your Multivitamin May Be to Blame
by Michael Teplitsky

The "vitamins" in these products are not real. They do not come from food. Instead,
they are made in a factory from coal tar, petroleum, or genetically modified corn
syrup. A dictionary defines a vitamin as "any of various organic substances that are
essential in minute quantities for human nutrition and development as coenzymes
that regulate metabolic processes." The key word here is "organic" which means
alive or coming from live source, like plants (fruits and vegetables) or animal source
(meat, fish, etc.)

We cannot make vitamins (or minerals), so we have to get them from food. And this
is a very important point - only food contains vitamins. The vitamins in food are very
different from those in a vitamin supplement - they are real, not synthetic. A real
vitamin is a combination of dozens, sometimes hundreds of components that are all
present in small amounts.

A vitamin is like a watch, which contains dozens of different parts plus 2 hands. The
hands show time, but not by themselves. They are able to do it because they work
together with all the other parts. A vitamin, like a watch, has many ingredients, which
can only be found in real food.

For example, most people think that vitamin C is ascorbic acid. But that is wrong.
Actually, ascorbic acid is only a small part of vitamin C. There are many other parts,
such as ascorbigen, an enzyme called tyrosinase, copper, many other trace minerals,
bioflavonoids of which there are literally hundreds, J factor, and many other
components. When you eat an apple or an orange or strawberries, you get all of
these substances. If you take an ascorbic acid supplement, you only get ascorbic
acid and nothing else. It is very easy to make ascorbic acid in a laboratory. But it is
impossible to make real vitamin C.

There are a few companies that make nutritional supplements from food. If you look
at their ingredients, you will find things like carrots, wheat germ, nutritional yeast,
peas, etc., which are real foods. If you look at the ingredients of most popular
multivitamin products (a typical list of ingredients is at the bottom of this article), you
will notice that they contain synthetic ascorbic acid. Similarly, all the other "vitamins"
are not real, but synthetic. And when it comes to minerals, it is even worse.

The first ingredient in most products is Calcium Carbonate. It is also known by
another name - limestone. That's right, it is made from a rock, which was powdered
and added to this "multivitamin." Do you think you are going to benefit from eating
rocks? Not very likely. Your body needs organic (alive) calcium from plants or animal
sources, not dead rocks. Magnesium oxide is another example of a rock. It is dirt
cheap, which is why pharmaceutical companies use it. But don't count on it making
you healthy.

That is why these supplements useless. They cannot and will not make you healthier.
But can they be harmful? The answer is a definite YES! If you study the list of
ingredients, you will find: BHT (linked to cancer), Crospovidone (linked to lung arterial
damage), FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminum Lake (a dye), Gelatin, Hypromellose,
Polyethylene Glycol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Sucrose, Talc, and Sodium Aluminosilicate
(Aluminum). Are these vitamins? No. Are you going to become healthier from taking
BHT or FD&C Yellow No. 6? Of course not, these things just pollute your body. But
there is one ingredient that is outright dangerous - aluminum.

Aluminum is a toxic metal that has no role in normal human physiology. It is like lead,
mercury, and arsenic, all which are toxic for humans. It accumulates in various
tissues and organs, including muscles, heart, spleen, liver, bone and especially the
brain. Aluminum suppresses the production of red cells, which can produce anemia. It
also interferes with normal bone metabolism, producing weak bones. It can lead to
growth retardation and bone deformity in children. Aluminum increases the
production of free radicals, which are harmful substances that increase the risk of
inflammation, accelerated ageing, and even cancer. But the worst effect of aluminum
is on your brain. It has a direct neurotoxic effect. This means that it directly damages
brains cells, which leads to decreased memory, reduced ability to concentrate and
even impaired intellect. Other symptoms may include nervousness, emotional
instability and headache.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that aluminum in your brain increases
the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The higher the aluminum exposure, the greater the
risk. Studies show that Alzheimer's patients have higher levels in their brains.

So if you want to save your brain, stay away from all aluminum sources. Other
potential sources are buffered aspirins, antacids, medications for diarrhea and
hemorrhoids, some toothpastes, antiperspirants, aluminum pots, aluminum foil,
aluminum cans, cake and pancake mixes, self-rising flours, processed cheese foods
(processed American cheese), and many other products, so check the label before
using or eating.

Ingredients (from a bestselling multivitamin's website accessed July 9, 2009):

Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium
Oxide, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Ferrous Fumarate,
Pregelatinized Corn Starch, dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E). Contains 3),
Chromium Picolinate, Citric Acid, Corn Starch, Crospovidone, Cupric Sulfate,
Cyanocobalamin (Vit. B12), FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminum Lake, Folic Acid, Gelatin,
Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Hypromellose, Manganese Sulfate, Medium-Chain
Triglycerides, Modified Food Starch, Niacinamide, Nickelous Sulfate, Phytonadione
(Vit. K), Polyethylene Glycol, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Potassium Iodide, Pyridoxine
Hydrochloride (Vit. B6), Riboflavin (Vit. B2), Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Ascorbate,
Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Metavanadate, Sodium Molybdate,
Sodium Selenate, Sorbic Acid, Stannous Chloride, Sucrose, Talc, Thiamine
Mononitrate (Vit. B1), Titanium Dioxide, Tocopherols, Tribasic Calcium Phosphate,
Vitamin A Acetate (Vit. A), Zinc Oxide. May also contain

About The Author

Michael Teplitsky, MD has been practicing alternative and holistic medicine for over 20
years. He has treated thousands of patients using nutrition, herbs, homeopathy, and
nutritional supplements. He is the author of Nutrition and Your Health, a book that
explains complex and confusing nutritional concepts in an easy to understand layman
language.

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Many people take multivitamins that
are widely advertised and are well
known. Many of my patients believe
that these products are good and will
make them healthy. But they are
wrong. At best, they are completely
useless. At worst, they may even be
harmful.

To begin with, most popular
multivitamins are made by drug
companies that are mostly interested
in making money, not in providing
you with the best nutrition. After all,
they want you to eventually become
the user of their other products.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The content on
this website is for educational purposes only. Please consult with your physician before using natural
remedies and before making any drastic changes to your diet or exercise program.