Posted on 09/08/2014 6:59:46 PM PDT by LibWhacker
If you are taking vitamins, there is a good chance that they were imported from China.
An aging population and growing focus on health in the United States has fueled the growth of a $28 billion vitamin and nutritional supplement market, and it is expected to continue to grow at about 3 percent a year.
Over half of American adults are popping vitamins and supplements. They may not be aware they are eating products made in China, or made using raw materials from China.
China has captured over 90 percent of the Vitamin C market in the United States, according to the Seattle Times. Think about how many labels advertise added Vitamin C. Vitamin C goes into many food and drink products—almost all processed food for humans as well as pets contains Vitamin C.
The consumer has no way of knowing the added vitamin C comes from China, because there is no rule requiring labeling the country of origin for ingredients.
This may raise quite a few eyebrows as Chinese food safety scandals make headlines every day.
Here are five facts any consumer of vitamins should know.
1. Only 2 percent of all imported vitamins and other supplements are inspected. Why? Vitamins and supplements are classified as “food” by law and therefore not subject to the tough regulatory scrutiny of prescription drugs.
2. China’s top vitamin and supplement production areas are among the most polluted in the country (and thus in the world).
Vitamins and nutritional supplements usually use agricultural products as key raw materials. The top vitamin exporting province, Zhejiang, has an alarming level of soil pollution from heavy metal. As matter of fact, one-sixth of China’s farmlands are heavily polluted.
For example, rice planted in several key agricultural provinces was reported to contain excessive Cadmium, a metal commonly found in batteries, coloring, and the industrial waste from making plastic. It may cause serious kidney disease.
Irrigation water is a nightmare: Half of the country’s major water bodies are polluted, as are 86 percent of city water bodies. Pollution is largely caused by the country’s numerous factories, which rarely have equipment for treating pollution. Seventy to 80 percent of the country’s industrial waste is directly emitted into rivers.
3. Even those labeled as “organic” are not safe, since USDA organic standards place no limit on levels of heavy metal contamination for certified organic foods.
4. Approximately 6,300 Americans nationwide complained about adverse reactions to dietary supplements between 2008 and 2012, according to FDA statistics. But the actual number may be more than eight times higher, some experts say, because most people don’t believe health products can make them sick. While not all such problems would be caused by pollution in China, that pollution may have played a role.
5. Worst of all, China-made vitamins are everywhere, and even those who do not consume vitamins and supplements can hardly escape. Many vitamins end up as ingredients in items like soft drinks, food, animal feed, and even cosmetics.
Polluted irrigation water is putting it mildly. Toxic is the word. Seriously.
I do read my own posts. Perhaps if you’d bothered to read all the links.
Conclusions are a mixed bag. Which doesn’t mean they don’t work. Or that they work.
But there are pages and pages of studies on different vitamins. Some of them with pretty decent positive results. D3 for example. K2 is another one being used to reverse aortic stenosis.
I’ll say this. I am pushing 50 and have megadosed vitamin C since I was seven. I have no crows feet or little wrinkles around my mouth. I have never had any cosmetic procedures either. No kidney stones either for that matter. I didn’t get stretch marks when I was pregnant either. Even with the pregnancy that was so ‘large’ I couldn’t adjust the steering wheel enough at the end to even drive my car.
And I worked R&D and have seen shenanigans. Big shenanigans.
By the way. You DO realize most of our pharmaceuticals ALSO come from China.
Also our vaccines and/or their components.
It’s not just the ‘vitamins’ that are dirty.
I'll give you some highlights:
The raw material for the recalled heparin batches was processed in China from pig's intestines by the American pharmaceutical firm Scientific Protein Laboratories.[3][4][5] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was quoted as stating that at least 81 deaths were believed to be linked to a raw heparin ingredient imported from the People's Republic of China, and that they had also received 785 reports of serious injuries associated with the drug’s use.[6] According to the New York Times, "problems with heparin reported to the agency include difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating and rapidly falling blood pressure that in some cases led to life-threatening shock."[4]
Upon investigation of these adverse events by the FDA, academic institutions, and the involved pharmaceutical companies, the contaminant was identified as an "over-sulphated" derivative of chondroitin sulfate, a closely related substance obtained from mammal or fish cartilage and often used as a treatment for arthritis.[3][7] Since over-sulphated chondroitin is not a naturally occurring molecule, costs a fraction of true heparin starting material, and mimics the in-vitro properties of heparin, the counterfeit was almost certainly intentional as opposed to an accidental lapse in manufacturing.[8] The raw heparin batches were found to have been cut from 2-60% with the counterfeit substance, and motivation for the adulteration was attributed to a combination of cost effectiveness and a shortage of suitable pigs in China.
When the FDA conducted an inspection of Baxter's Chinese Heparin supplier, it found serious deficiencies at the facility which the FDA detailed in a warning letter.[9][10]
The FDA has stated that it does not have the funds nor bear the responsibility to inspect on a regular basis overseas manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients such as heparin.
In November 2008, the FDA seized eleven lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc., a manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio.[11]
>>I do read my own posts. Perhaps if you’d bothered to read all the links.
Conclusions are a mixed bag. Which doesn’t mean they don’t work. Or that they work.<<
So, you have definitive studies that say these may or may not work.
Which was my original point.
>>known as the coloring agent FD&C Red No. 2, or, more commonly, as Red Dye No. 2, was banned by FDA in 1976 due to its suspected carcinogenicity.”<<
I remember that! That was the year when all the Christmas candy canes were green (since I think the ban hit too quickly for alternatives).
I guess we have drifted the thread so far that I have no idea what your point is.
My point is: there are no definitive published scientific studies that support supplements as doing anything at all.
That point continues to be unmolested.
I have some weired blood disorder. In the past two years I have become chronically anemic coupled with low iron. Why??? We have not found out why. I had every test imaginable. No cobclusion.
I take Integra, a iron supplement that includes vitamin c and d.
It helps me keep my iron hemoglobins proper. I’m 44, was heathy, ate proper. Don’t know why this happened, but I’ll probably be on this the rest of my life.
I am so thankful for this vitamin.
Do you by any chance know of vitamin brands that are not made in China, and known to be of high quality?
>>I’ll stick to my research snd regimen.<<
Good for you.
There is no scientific basis but if you think they work for you I won’t gainsay.
If you ate a perfect diet; you probably wouldn’t benefit from a multi vitamin. Not many people eat a perfect diet.
Most people have gaps in their nutrient intake. Docs don’t know everything. In fact the truth is; they treat illness better than promoting wellness.
>>Docs don’t know everything. In fact the truth is; they treat illness better than promoting wellness.<<
Again, looking for a definitive scientific study that says ANY supplement does anything.
“Again, looking for a definitive scientific study that says ANY supplement does anything.”
Your body needs “x” amount of a certain vitamin or mineral. Your are getting less than “X” from your diet.
Why would not someone take a supplement and fill in that gap?
Vitamins are cheap; docs don’t get paid for you taking them. Docs know how to cut us up and treat abnormal diseases. I have never had a doctor speak to me during a physical about how to stay healthy. They just speak about acute diseases and how to avoid and treat them. Such as diabetes and heart disease.
Since I started taking 3,000mg of vitamin C everyday about a year and a half ago my fingernails are much stronger, my hematocrit level in my blood went from 32 to 33 percent to a more normal 46-49 percent (I know this from regularly giving blood).
And I have NOT been sick one day with a cold or the flu when I usually get it about once or twice a year.
Yeppers. Vitamins don’t do a damn thing.
Where do I get the China-made vitamins laced with melamine? Is melamine a supplement?
You people really need to read your links:
“Experts may not agree about the effects of daily multivitamins. But, in bridging nutrient gaps, it’s reasonable to assume that multivitamins not only support general health, but may help head off chronic conditions or other health risks.”
IOW, it is guesswork.
>>And I have NOT been sick one day with a cold or the flu when I usually get it about once or twice a year.
Yeppers. Vitamins don’t do a damn thing.<<
Anecdotes<>proof.
Which supplement are you speaking of?
There are many studies that link d3 with benefit. Particularly cancer studies.
There are also studies linking supplementation with melatonin ditto ditto.
etc.
How often do you actually read pubmed for any studies on this?
I read it every single day. You?
Try this one:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25179086
" Oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenic traits of MS. Melatonin possesses antioxidative properties and regulates circadian rhythms. Several studies have reported that the quality of life is worse in patients with MS than in healthy controls, with a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances, depression and fatigue. The aim of study was to evaluate 5 mg daily melatonin supplementation over 90 days on serum malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and its' influence on impact of the quality of life of MS patients. A case-control prospective study was performed on 102 MS patients and 20 controls matched for age and sex. The EDSS, MRI examinations and Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29) questionnaire was completed. Marked increase in serum MDA concentration in all MS patients groups was observed and after melatonin treatment decreased significantly in interferons-beta and glatiramer acetate-treated groups, but not in mitoxantrone-treated group. A significant increase in SOD activity compared to controls only in glatiramer acetate-treated group was observed. After 3 months melatonin supplementation the SOD activity increased compared to initial values in interferons beta-treated groups. A significant increase in both MSIS-29-PHYS and MSIS-29-PSYCH items mean scores only in the MX group as compared to other groups was observed. There were no significant differences in mean MSIS-29-PHYS was observed before and after melatonin therapy. Melatonin supplementation caused a decrease in mean MSIS-29-PSYCH scores compared to initial values in interferons beta-treated groups. Finding from our study suggest that melatonin can act as an antioxidant and improves reduced quality in MS patients. "
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24628045
"The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of oral melatonin supplementation on oocyte and embryo quality in patients in an assisted reproductive technologies program. All patients were treated for at least 2 weeks with melatonin (3 mg/day). To evaluate the cumulative effect of melatonin supplementation, we compared cycle outcomes between the first (no supplementation) and second cycles (melatonin supplementation) of patients who completed two treatment cycles. There were no significant differences in maturation rates (p = 0.50), blastocyst rates (p = 0.75), and the rate of good quality blastocysts (p = 0.59) between the first and second cycles. The fertilization rate of ICSI was higher in the second cycle than that in the first cycle (69.3 versus 77.5%). Being limited to patients with a low fertilization rate in the first cycle (<60%), the fertilization rate dramatically increased after melatonin treatment (35.1 versus 68.2%). The rate of good quality embryos also increased (48.0 versus 65.6%). An important finding in our study was that oral melatonin supplementation can have a beneficial effect on the improvement of fertilization and embryo quality and this may have occurred due to a reduction in oxidative damage."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24193954
"OBJECTIVE:
To define the therapeutic role of vitamin D in children with moderate to severe bronchial asthma as an adjunct to standard treatment.
METHODS:
Hundred asthmatic children of either sex, attending the respiratory and asthma clinic were enroled in the study. Diagnosis was made on the basis of history and clinical examination. Randomization was done using sealed opaque envelop method. In addition to the treatment as per GINA guidelines, one group received oral vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) 60,000 IU per month for 6 mo and the other group received placebo powder in the form of glucose sachet with a double blinded design. Monthly follow up of every patient was done and during every visit change in severity, level of control, Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), steroid dosage, number of exacerbations and number of emergency visits were assessed.
RESULTS:
Monthly doses of 60,000 IU vitamin D significantly reduced the number of exacerbations as compared to placebo (p = 0.011). PEFR significantly increased in the treatment group (p = 0.000). Monthly doses of vitamin D significantly reduced the requirement of steroids (p = 0.013) and emergency visits (p = 0.015). Control of asthma was achieved earlier in patients who received monthly vitamin D. Vitamin D significantly reduced the level of severity of asthma patients over 6 mo of treatment (p = 0.016).
CONCLUSIONS:
Vitamin D has a definite role in the management of moderate to severe persistent bronchial asthma as an adjunct to standard treatment.
Lots of these there.
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