A Brief Advice On Consumption Of Vitamins

The blogger’s note:

In response to the advice sought by his niece Magdalene Lim on 3/5/2021 about the best vitamin brands to consider these days for Vitamins C, D and Zinc, Dr. Lim Ju Boo provided a brief and rough explanation as follows:

The role of vitamins in human nutrition is an exceedingly complicated issue that has never been fully settled till today.

I really cannot answer how much or which vitamin is better than the other let alone which brand. 

I have been to Sydney to Blackmore factory where they manufactured their vitamins, and have seen their quality control sent to an independent laboratory nearby for assessment, and to me verifying that they are okay. 

But that does not mean other brands of vitamins, minerals and nutrients manufactured elsewhere are less in potency. 

For example, my company that manufactures a wide range of drugs for hospitals and private clinics here in Malaysia and overseas as well as vitamins, nutritional supplements plus herbal medicines, cosmetics and other health products are on par with those manufactured overseas. 

We too have quality control in place with sophisticated laboratory analysis using a wide range of spectrophotometric and microbial analysis and our products comply with standards imposed by the pharmaceutical control division of the Ministry of Health Malaysia and also overseas regulatory authorities where our drugs and nutritional products are sold, and I think they are just as good as Blackmore, if not even better. 

I am their Special Science and Medical Advisor since my retirement from medical research at IMR. 

Why do you need only vitamins C, D and zinc when we are supposed to have a wide range of other nutrients, both in macro and micro amounts daily. 

Isn't natural foods especially fruits and vegetables with a wide spectrum of all of them in their correct balanced ratios far better than a skewed up large amounts of only certain vitamins like C, D and micronutrients like zinc? 

Any excess of water soluble vitamins like the B and C groups cannot be retained very long in the body and all will be excreted out in the urine within 6 to 8 hours, while the fat soluble ones like vitamin A and D will accumulate in the liver, and excessive amounts may give rise to hypervitaminosis (vitamin poisoning) that may damage the liver. 

Why do you want to do that?

I suggest instead of taking vitamins over and above what we need which are all available in a good mixed diet because we human eat food not nutrients unless in deficiency conditions. 

We could go on and on and for years explaining the complexity of on the role of all these vitamins in human nutrition and we shall still land up at a cul-de-sac where we have no clear answers. 

It would take us weeks of continuous oral explanations non-stop 24 hours a days for months, and we still do not know which vitamin or vitamins are the best for optimum health. 

But if you insist I need to give you an answer, then use good nutrition from a variety of diets of lots of fruits, vegetables, cereal grain, legumes and perhaps probiotics as your best medicine with just one tablet of multivitamins and mineral mixture as your best protective nutrients. 

Hope it helps. 

 

Uncle JB