Numbing nerves helps spasms

PILL POPPERS versus nutrition watchers. The controversy over vitamins and supplements is back with a vengeance.

Britain’s appetite for vitamins and supplements, such as fish oils, has been falling for the past six years, thanks not least to people heeding advice from doctors and dietitians that anyone who eats a balanced diet doesn’t need expensive supplements.

Moreover, a growing body of research has highlighted that some supplements may actually worsen your health.

But vitamin and supplement sales are rising again, with the market growing 1.8 percent in the past year to more than £360 million (R7.3 billion), according to research last week in The Grocer, the retail industry journal.

Analysts said a combination of guilt over rushed meals, a desire for quick “pick-me-ups” to fuel hurried lifestyles, and the yearning for an “elixir of youth” had sparked the revival.

As a result, supermarket sales of health supplements have overtaken those for painkillers for the first time since 2005.

Moreover, the vitamin market may have a new ally. Experts from the universities of Oxford and Surrey warn that our diet is dangerously deficient in nutrients that may be causing brain deficiencies in children, as well as problems with immunity and fertility in adults – and even a raised risk of premature death from all causes.

So should we be watching our diets for the right food balance, or could over-the-counter pills offer a properly healthy alternative?

Supplements have taken a severe knock from headline-grabbing research over the past few years. For example, a study in 2011 of nearly 39 000 women aged around 60, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, found those who used supplements such as multivitamins and vitamin B6 (the latter for unproven heart benefits) had a greater risk of dying earlier.

Meanwhile, men who took moderate-dose vitamin E supplements (400 international units a day) had a 17 percent greater risk of developing cancer in the next seven to 12 years, according to a review of evidence presented to the American Association for Cancer Research last year.

And women who have high intake (more than 400 micrograms a day) of folic acid supplements increase their risk of breast cancer by 19 percent, suggested the review. Furthermore, smokers taking high doses of beta-carotene had an 18 percent greater risk of getting lung cancer over five to eight years.

There are several possible explanations. It may be that taking more vitamins than is necessary for healthy cells serves only to feed cancerous cells. And while antioxidant pills such as vitamin E are marketed to lower our levels of free radicals – substances linked to cell damage, ageing and cancer – it could be that reducing their levels causes more harm than good.

A major review of the evidence suggested our bodies need the stress caused by free radicals to stimulate them to fight infectious disease, reported The International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology – essentially, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”.

The pick-me-up promise made for vitamins can backfire, too. Research in the Journal of Physiology in 2014 shows, for example, that taking vitamin C and E supplements as an energy boost can interfere with the way muscles normally respond to exercise.

It’s not just that some supplements have been linked to harm, there are also question marks over the new “beauty” supplements. Vitamin manufacturers have increasingly tapped into the lucrative beauty market with claims that supplements can hold back signs of ageing.

But EU analysts say there is no accepted scientific basis for these claims. They should not even be legally allowed on UK packaging or advertising, argues Peter Berry-Ottaway, a food scientist and technical director of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a body funded by big UK supplement companies.

“Re s p o n - sible, reputable companies are sticking to the law, but others simply are not,” he says.

And supplements can also disrupt our bodies’ vital processes, says Aidan Goggins, a pharmacist and specialist in nutritional medicine. “Our bodies are evolved to use nutrients in a balanced and healthy way,” he says.

“When you take isolated nutrients in high doses, you can put the system dangerously out of balance. This is because the large dose of one nutrient will effectively block the body’s ability to use other nutrients. It’s like having a football team and only playing 11 strikers or 11 goalkeepers.” And yet these problems don’t mean that all supplements are over-hyped, useless or dangerous. The situation is far more nuanced.

For some people, supplements may bring definite preventative health benefits. Vitamin B12, in particular, may help some people stave off the memory problems linked to old age. The nutrient helps keep nerve and blood cells healthy, and helps make DNA.

And low levels throughout life can cause memory loss, according to Gordon Wilcock, an emeritus professor of geratology (the medical study of ageing) at Oxford University.

He explains that at around 70, the lining of some people’s stomachs becomes less capable of absorbing B12 from food, which can lead to chronic insufficiency of the vitamin – and the advent of memory loss.

This means current levels of B12 intake (around 1.5 micrograms), which even health authorities say are the lower limit of “normal”, may actually be too low in older people, says Wilcock.

One of the advantages of vitamin B12 supplements is that there is no evidence of a risk of overdosing, whatever your age. “Some doctors are giving it to patients, and indeed I have done in the past if they have low B12 and memory problems,” he says.

For most of us, there’s no need for B12 pills, he says: “It’s present in liver, meat and foods such as cereals fortified with it. If you eat a sensible diet, you should get enough.”

Having said that, older people with type 2 diabetes or heartburn could consider taking B12, according to Margaret Rayman, a professor of nutritional medicine at the University of Surrey, who has conducted studies in vitamin supplementation.

As she explains, if you’re over 50 and taking metformin (prescribed for type 2 diabetes) or proton-pump inhibitor drugs (used to alleviate symptoms of ulcers and heartburn), the drugs will cut the acidity levels in the stomach.

“This in turn reduces the levels of hydrochloric acid in the gut lining, which we need to absorb B12. If you’re taking these medicines and not eating foods fortified in B12, then you may well need a supplement.”

She adds that drinking milk can help because B12 is more easily absorbed in dairy products than meat.

Glucosamine sulfate is another supplement that may help ageing people. It is a natural chemical compound in your body which helps maintain healthy cartilage – the rubbery tissue that cushions joints.

Levels of it drop with age, leading to gradual breakdown of the joint.

Scientists have for years debated whether supplements of glucosamine sulfate help with mild osteoarthritis. In 2005 a respected research group, the Cochrane Library, concluded: “People with osteoarthritis who take glucosamine may reduce their pain, may improve their physical function, and will probably not have sideeffects.”

The UK’s National Health Service recommends children aged six months to five years have vitamin D drops. Vitamin D is needed for healthy bones.

It also recommends people over 65 and those who do not get much sun should consider supplementation.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause bone pain and muscle weakness. Low blood levels have also been associated with cognitive impairment in older adults and increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Although there is a risk of taking too much, we should all consider taking 10 micrograms a day for at least part of the year, according to Rayman. Because people in the UK live so far north on the planet, there is quite a lot of deficiency in them, she explains.

Experts agree that taking supplements is not as healthy as getting nutrients from food, which has other health-boosting substances such as fibre. – Daily Mail A DEVICE that freezes the nerves could help people with cerebral palsy, or those recovering from a stroke who suffer from upper-limb spasticity – where the arm muscles painfully spasm and contract.

The Cryo-Touch III Device, being trialled at the Kansas City Bone and Joint Clinic in the US, consists of a probe with small needles charged with electricity which drop below freezing when switched on. This numbs the nerves, stopping them sending pain signals to the brain.

Low temperatures have been found to alter tissue function, which would alleviate the pain of clenched muscles, say researchers. – Daily Mail