"Still the best bet against SARS is to keep yourself strong by boosting your immune system," Beth gives us a dose of friendly advice.
For women who are forever on a diet, Beth prescribes, "My doctor tells me that now is not the time to go on a diet. Losing weight may lower your body’s resistance to disease."
These days, Beth devours every ounce of nutrition information she can get her hands on. She zeroes in on vitamins. Years ago, we got hold of this book titled Vitamins for Your Health by Len Mervyn (we don’t remember now where we bought it, it was probably at National Book Store). Our eyes were riveted to the pages on infections and medicinal drugs.
According to the author, any sort of bacterial or viral infection can give rise to deficiencies of vitamins A and C. On the other hand, those suffering from malnutrition and hence vitamin deficiency, are more prone to infections. Particularly at risk are children. Infections can aggravate malnutrition by reducing the appetite, and the vicious cycle goes on.
The book fortifies our knowledge of vitamins – and tells us what we’ve always wanted to know about medicinal drugs but were too dazed to ask. For instance, did you know that over-the-counter medicinal drugs (available without prescription) may affect the nutritional status of the persons taking them?
We quote:
Some of these drugs increase the requirement for certain of the vitamins. For example, the synthetic estrogens and progestogens in the contraceptive pill may increase the woman’s need for vitamin B6. She must, therefore, take extra vitamin B6 to satisfy her requirements and often the quantity of the vitamin in her diet, even if this is highly nutritious, is not sufficient. It is essential for her, therefore, to take a vitamin B6 supplement, usually between 25 and 100 mg daily.
Drugs may also interfere with the absorption of some vitamins so that when the medicine is taken with food, the full nutritional benefit of that food is not obtained. Folic acid and vitamin B12, for example, are poorly absorbed in the presence of para-aminosalicylic acid (for treating tuberculosis), phenytoin (for epilepsy) and colchicine (for gout). The usual treatment is to take supplementary vitamins when taking the drugs.
The book warns that certain drugs may interfere with the usage and action of certain vitamins. The best case in point is the medicine liquid paraffin, which is used for treating constipation. You may not know it but the liquid paraffin dissolves the fat-soluble vitamins present in the diet or in supplements and prevents them from being absorbed. To solve this dilemma, do not take the fat-soluble vitamins and the liquid paraffin at the same time.
Aspirin is one of the most popular analgesics to date but not too commonly known is its effect on vitamin C. Read this absorbing/disturbing report:
When aspirin was taken by children, the urinary excretion of vitamin C increased. Two aspirin tablets (600 mg of the active drug acetylsalicylic acid) taken by healthy adults every six hours were found to result in a 100 percent increase in the 24-hour excretion of ascorbic acid.
Thus, it has been recommended that between 200 and 300 mg of vitamin C should be taken with every two aspirin tablets. Taking vitamin C with aspirin does not only replace the vitamin C lost but also makes the absorption of aspirin easier, resulting in faster pain relief.
Taking antibiotics, such as tetracyclines, has also been found to lower the level of vitamin C in the white blood cells and blood plasma. This leads to a decrease in the body’s ability to resist infection. Thus, patients who may be suffering from chronic bronchitis and are on a prolonged antibiotic treatment are at risk of both an impaired vitamin C status and a weakened natural defense mechanism. This should serve as fair warning to young people who use tetracycline antibiotics for a prolonged period of time to cure their acne. Those on a long-term antibiotic treatment should fortify themselves with vitamin C supplements at up to 500 mg daily.
Loading up on polyunsaturated vegetable oils can reduce the body’s vitamin E levels. Likewise, some proteins can upset the body’s vitamin balance. For instance, avidin, a protein unique to raw egg white, combines with and inactivates the B-vitamin biotin. But when the egg white is cooked, avidin is destroyed so you get the full potency of the B-vitamin biotin. Thus, avoid high intakes of raw egg white.
More absorbing revelations: Excessive intakes of one vitamin may induce deficiency of another. For instance, very high intakes of folic acid can cause a deficiency of vitamin B12. Such as what happens to vegetarians (vegans especially) when they combine high dietary levels of folic acid (present in vegetables) with much reduced intakes of vitamin B12 (present in fish, animal foods and dairy products).
High levels of carotene can induce a vitamin D deficiency when vitamin B intakes are on the borderline, says Mervyn.
Poor digestion, because of improper chewing of food, can also contribute to vitamin deficiency. The reason is that when you eat, the vitamins are liberated only as the food is digested. According to the book, "a defective digestive system will not allow the vitamins to be presented for absorption at the right spot in the intestinal tract and a slow, insidious deficiency will develop."
Moral of the story: Chew, chew, chew properly!
And according to experts, children need vitamins (for growth and normal metabolism) even much more than adults. Their vitamin intake must not only be adequate – it must be optimum.
It’s fun to brush up on our vitamin alphabet, isn’t it?