EN - Synthetic Alpha Tocopherol Shown to Increase Prostate Cancer Risk

[HysteryDiagnosis]

Take from this what you will.

http://gafnews.net/content/en-synthetic-alpha-tocopherol-shown-increase-prostate-cancer-risk

EN - Synthetic Alpha Tocopherol Shown to Increase Prostate Cancer Risk

Longtime members of the Life Extension Foundation® have heard our warnings against synthetic alpha tocopherol many times.

In 1997, we announced that taking only the alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E displaces critically important gamma tocopherol in the body.

By displacing gamma tocopherol, we feared that high doses of alpha tocopherol could increase cancer risks.

In fact, three years after Life Extension's first warning, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health released the results of a huge study (10,456 men). The findings showed that men with the highest gamma tocopherol blood levels had a fivefold reduction in prostate cancer risk. This same study showed that selenium and alpha tocopherol also reduced prostate cancer risk but only when gamma tocopherol levels were high.1

[HopeHoops]

1. Geeze. I think I'd balk just at the name!

Then again, I do take some pretty weird-named drugs because I have to, but that one's somehow "special".

[Cirque du So-What]

2. It's more commonly known as vitamin E

I too have read advice against synthetic tocopherols.

[HopeHoops]

4. Okay - I better check mine. It didn't occur to me that they might be synthetic.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. If they're the garden-variety vitamins

they're probably synthetic. Natural tocopherols are usually labeled as such, pitching them toward people who want their vitamins from natural sources.

[HopeHoops]

9. Well I did make the mistake of getting a batch of D3 "geltabs" recently.

I called them "the booger pills" - yuck.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. It goes beyond vitamin E but there are those who will tell you that

the following is quackery.

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-practice-news-columns/complementary-medicine/natural-vs-synthetic-vitamins.aspx
Members of the water-soluble vitamin B class have a reputation of being safe in any amount. Nutritionists have long-advocated vitamin B9, or folate, for cancer prevention. However, a concern erupted in the 1940s that is now receiving more attention: Too much supplementation with folic acid (the synthetic form of folate) appears to promote tumorigenesis. This springs from its role as a key cofactor in nucleotide synthesis.

Large amounts of folic acid facilitate cellular proliferation, causing growth in neoplastic foci. This finding has provoked calls in the human food-processing industry for curtailing mandatory folic acid fortification.7,8 The lower amounts of folate ordinarily found in food are still viewed as cancer-preventive.

Many nonhuman species manufacture vitamin C (ascorbic acid). While they rely less on dietary sources, research testing their true capacity shows it falls far short of previous assumptions.9

Aging hepatocytes lose some ability to synthesize and recycle vitamin C, producing a conditionally essential status for vitamin C in geriatric dogs and cats.10 Health status may further influence vitamin C requirements. A 2009 study in the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition showed that healthy dogs supplemented with vitamin C produced no improvement in antioxidative capacity or serum IgA and IgG concentrations.11 In contrast, dogs with untreated lymphoma exhibited significant alterations in their antioxidant levels compared to healthy control dogs.12

[MineralMan]

3. Unrecommended for a pseudo-science conspiracy theory site

as a source, and for the tie-in to LEF. This is not a scientific report. It is an advocacy group article. The same site has sections on extraterrestrials and other bizarre stuff. It is not a reliable source, and should not be treated as one.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Of all the people who PM'd me for info on the probiotics I found....

NOT ONE was referred to LEF. I just thought you should know that.


http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-practice-news-columns/complementary-medicine/natural-vs-synthetic-vitamins.aspx

Vitamin E refers to eight chemically different compounds obtained from plants: four tocopherols and four trienols. Synthetic vitamin E consists of eight stereoisomeric forms of a-tocopherol, with only one equal to the naturally occurring stereoisomeric form.19 Generally, the health-supporting and cancer-preventive superiority of either natural or synthetic vitamin E remains unclear;20 studies exploring species-specific differences have further muddied the waters, with some indicating better results with the synthetic and others with the natural form.21,22 Attention is turning to the formerly neglected half of the natural vitamin E family, the tocotrienols.23 Tocotrienols confer neuroprotective benefits and possibly more antioxidant properties than a-tocopherol. Tocotrienols distribute more widely throughout the fatty layers of cell membranes and tocotrienol, not tocopherol, suppressed growth of human breast cancer cells.24

Clearly, questions remain about when and how much vitamin supplementations small animals require, and whether or not pet food diets can meet their needs. However, veterinarians can convey to clients facts based on the information that is available, fulfilling their role of protecting animal health and welfare, rather than abdicating this effort to self-proclaimed animal nutritionists and lecturers paid to promote products. <HOME>

Narda Robinson, DVM, DO, Dipl. ABMA, FAAMA, oversees complementary veterinary education at Colorado State University.

This article first appeared in the October 2009 issue of Veterinary Practice News.

[MineralMan]

6. What does that have to do with the unreliable nature of your

source for this? Between the source where you found this and LEF, you've managed to bring in two unreliable sources, followed by information from a veterinary journal. What can this have to do with actual, usable information?

Your information could be correct, but the sourcing is so questionable that it makes your information questionable. Try finding real sources that have some credibility, and I'll not point out the unreliable sourcing of these posts. As for your discussion of private messages, that's not meaningful to me, since none of those were addressed to me.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Nor should they be. I'm sorry that facts upset you so... perhaps you

could meditate or something, calm down. Everyone knows that USP vitamins become toxic way before food form, amino acid chelates and others do. It's not rocket science... plus they don't confer the same if any protective effects that naturally occurring substances do. I read it on the internets.

[MineralMan]

11. "Everyone knows," eh?

I'm not looking for psychological advice from you. You needn't offer any.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. I worry for you just the same. nt

[MineralMan]

13. Do you, now? Isn't that nice...

You needn't worry for me, you know...I'll do my own worrying when it's warranted.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Someone needs to worry about your misconceptions regarding

what is and what isn't regarding the science behind supplements, their use, patents, uniqueness and effectiveness.