vitamin

Heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in developed countries, and atherosclerosis is the major underlying cause of heart disease. As pointed out in the Spring/Summer 2002 issue of The Linus Pauling Institute Newsletter, prospective trials with antioxidants, principally vitamin E, have not consistently lessened clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease. However, this does not necessarily rule out the possibility that an antioxidant activity of CoQ could ameliorate atherosclerosis and related cardiovascular disease. For example, an overall lack of benefit of supplemental vitamin E could be explained partly on the basis that the concentration of vitamin E does not become limited during disease progression. Also, some studies have found that supplementation with vitamin E alone can increase the oxidizability of LDL, a process commonly thought to contribute to atherogenesis. Ubiquinol effectively prevents this pro-oxidant activity of vitamin E, and enrichment with ubiquinol strongly inhib

Consider taking extra E. Studies suggest that 50 IU a day may cut the risk of prostate cancer, 100 IU a day may lower the risk of heart disease, and 200 to 400 IU a day may boost the immune systems of older people or help curb muscle damage that occurs when they exercise. You can?t get those levels from food. The evidence isn?t strong enough to say that vitamin E works, but it?s a good bet.

DHA is found in very high concentrations in the cell membranes of the retina, which conserves and recycles DHA even when omega-3 fatty acid intake is low.

Vitamin K is a coenzyme for a microsomal enzyme that catalyzes the posttranslational conversion of specific glutamyl residues to gamma-carboxyglutamyl (Gla) residues in a small number of proteins. Several of the Gla-proteins are essential for blood clotting and its regulation (coagulation factors II, VII, IX, and X; proteins C, S and Z). Others have a role in the regulation of tissue mineralization (osteocalcin, matrix Gla protein) and cell proliferation (gas6). Recently, additional Gla proteins have been identified whose function is not well defined to date. Phylloquinone (2-Me-3-polyisoprenyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) from plants and a series of bacterial menaquinones (2-Me-3-polyisoprenyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) are natural forms of the vitamin.

Although vitamins were not discovered until the early part of the 20th. century, the effects of deficiencies were recognized much earlier in diseases such as scurvy and rickets. In 1753, Dr. James Lind published his Treatise on Scurvy, which is generally recognized as the first controlled clinical trial in medical nutritional research. Dr. Lind's study demonstrated that scurvy could be controlled by adding lemons to the diet of British sailors whose rations contained no fresh fruits or vegetables. In effect, the trial demonstrated that Vitamin C could prevent scurvy, although this vitamin was not actually identified until 1928..