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Dr. Parris Kidd Refutes a Recent Negative Editorial on the Benefits of Vitamins
There was a recent editorial in the Journal of Internal Medicine (Dec, 2013, this is a link to the editorial). The conclusion of this editorial is spelled out in the title of the article: Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements. Here is the conclusion of that editorial:
“β-carotene, vitamin E, and possibly high doses of vitamin A supplements are harmful. Other antioxidants, folic acid and B vitamins, and multivitamin and mineral supplements are ineffective for preventing mortality or morbidity due to major chronic diseases. Although available evidence does not rule out small benefits or harms or large benefits or harms in a small subgroup of the population, we believe that the case is closed— supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful. These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough.”
This editorial was widely reported through many news channels. It is a sensational headline and the conclusion seems so very definitive. Is it possible that those of us who have confidence in the value of nutrition are completely wrong? Are the thousands of nutritional studies wrong? Do the three studies referred to in the editorial show the balance of science relative to nutrition? How can we know?
It’s in that capacity, that I have invited Dr. Parris Kidd to discuss this editorial and break it down for us. What is the truth about multi-vitamins? In this interview, Dr. Kidd looks at each of the three studies referred to in the editorial. He also looks at other studies that reveal the depth of nutritional deficiencies that exist in the US. He refers to the studies that show how nutrients are critical for human health and what happens when we are chronically deficient in those nutrients, as many Americans are. In this interview Dr. Kidd provides an effective refutation to what is clearly a biased editorial.
About Dr. Parris Kidd
Dr. Parris Kidd hails from Jamaica, where he earned a B.Sc. Special Honors degree in zoology-marine biology magna cum laude at the University of the West Indies. From the University of California at Berkeley he earned a PhD in cell and developmental biology. He then became a faculty research investigator at the University of California’s San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF), and a lecturer at Berkeley and the University of the Pacific. In 1983 Dr. Kidd decided to enter nutritional biomedicine. His first project in this new field was the book Antioxidant Adaptation—Its Role in Free Radical Pathology. This 500-page text established Dr. Kidd as a leading scientist in the field of alternative medicine.
In 1994 Dr. Kidd refocused his career on brain nutrition. In 1994 he helped introduce the brain nutrient PhosphatidylSerine (PS) to North America, then in 1997 another foremost brain nutrient, GlyceroPhosphoCholine (GPC). In 2003 he helped introduce Krill Omega-3 Phospholipids. He is authoritative on the entire range of brain nutrients. Dr. Kidd is a Contributing Editor to the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Medicine Review and Science Advisor to Total Health magazine, and is internationally recognized as a biomedical educator, researcher, and product developer. Click on the tag link below to fine all interviews with Dr. Parris Kidd.
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Perfect timing for this informative interview.