vitamania our obsessive quest for nutritional perfection catherine price

In 1912, the Polish biochemist, Casimir Funk originally coined the term “vitamine”(from Latin vita, ‘life’, and amine, because vitamins were originally thought to contain an amino acid). The discovery of how vitamins work to keep us healthy was a major scientific achievement in fighting the diseases of yesteryear when it was difficult or impossible for most people to get a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. But are we really not getting the vitamins we should be eating right? Rozen. And when people are taking high-dose supplements, on top of vitamins added to foods, she adds, “you really have no idea how much you’re ingesting.The global dietary supplements market combined, that is to say, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs and other botanical ingredients, is expected to exceed $130 billion dollars in 2016with the vitamin segment on its own a major contributor to the steady revenue stream the past several decades. “If you have too much or too little, very often you disturb the processes in the cell,” says Prof. She and her colleagues have just published the latest in a string of studies looking at the impact of high doses – finding that 10 times the recommended daily intake of the vitamin, often the dose doctors recommend for pregnant women, causes liver damage in mice. Rima Rozen is a McGill University geneticist investigating the dangers of excessive amounts of folic acid. It was the early 20th century before researchers pinpointed the underlying trigger for such illnesses - which included now obscure diseases such as beriberi and pellagra - identifying 13 compounds crucial to regulating metabolic activity and other cellular processes, mostly obtained by humans from food - and a major problem if missing.Ĭoncerns are also surfacing around the safety of consuming too many supplements. It worked remarkably, though no one knew at the time about vitamin C. It wasn’t until a naval doctor in 1747 conducted possibly the world’s first clinical trial - putting groups of sailors on different “treatments” and seeing how they fared - that citrus fruit was confirmed as a preventive. Until the mid-1800s, the mysterious disease known as scurvy took a tremendous toll, killing more than two million seamen, beginning with symptoms that included sore gums and loose teeth. It’s a story that likely began on the ships that have crisscrossed the world’s oceans for centuries, keeping their crews at sea for weeks or months on end. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.

Vitamania our obsessive quest for nutritional perfection catherine price