Every second, more processes than can be counted are carried out in the bodies of all living things. So complex and detailed are these processes that at every stage, the intervention of “super-regulators” is essential to control the whole system that maintain order and accelerate events. These super-regulating chemicals in the human body are enzymes.
Every living cell contains thousands of enzymes, each of which performs its own tasks, such as assisting with the copying of DNA, breaking down foodstuffs and producing energy from them, and constructing chains of compounds from simple molecules.
Enzymes are produced by mitochondria inside each cell. Large parts of enzymes consist of proteins, the rest of are vitamins and vitamin-like substances. Were it not for these enzymes, none of our functions, from the simplest to the most complex, could take place, or else would occur so slowly as to stop altogether. In either case, the result would be the same—death. We could not speak, eat, digest, see or even breathe– in short, we could not live.
Enzymes’ most important tasks are to initiate, halt and accelerate various chemical reactions in the body. As the cells perform their functions, the chemicals inside them must react accordingly. Higher temperatures are needed to initiate most chemical reactions. Yet such high temperature could pose a danger to living cells, causing them injury or death. The solution to this dilemma lies in enzymes.
An obvious miracle of creation, enzymes manage to initiate or accelerate chemical reactions even in the absence of high temperature, yet as catalysts, they do not enter into—or are themselves changed—by these reactions. Take one example from your daily life of how enzymes accelerate the processes taking place within your body: Thanks to an enzyme involved in the removal of carbon dioxide from the blood as you inhale, you do not suffocate. An enzyme known as anhydrase accelerates the process of cleansing carbon dioxide by a factor of 10 million times! At this speed, the anhydrase can transform 36 million molecules every minute.
The Body’s Rapid and Economical Production Vehicles
Enzymes permit vital reactions to take place as quickly as possible, and also to exploit the body’s energy in the most efficient way. If you compare the human body to a factory, with the many enzymes working within its cells as various means of production, no source of energy would be able to run with that factory. Because the level of electricity needed to power trillions of machines, of 2,000 different types, all working perfectly at such high speeds would be enormous. In a laboratory environment, therefore, an exceedingly high level of heat and energy are needed in order to carry out even a simple reaction in the cell.
However, the cell’s working enzymes carry out their tasks silently and faultlessly in the relatively low heat from the body and with the energy they obtain from nutrients. Just one of these characteristics is sufficient to show how enzymes have been specially designed to make every reaction occurring place in the body perfect yet completely efficient.
Even as you read these lines, a large number of enzymes are controlling reactions taking place throughout your body and providing the nourishment and energy your cells need to stay healthy and functioning. Even though a person has no knowledge of everything that is happening inside his body, enzymes are not only aware of it, but also intervene in all processes in a most vital and accurate manner. Moreover, every enzyme accelerates specific chemical reactions in the body. No enzyme does the tasks of another, nor makes a mistake in performing its own, because each enzyme is specially formulated for performing its own task.
For example, while a large number of enzymes can be effective in fluids with a neutral pH, those enzymes charged with digesting foodstuffs in the stomach can work effectively only under a highly acidic environment. Again, saliva contains the enzyme amylase, which breaks starch down into maltose and accompanies food along the esophagus, but it is neutralized when it reaches the acidic environment in the stomach. But once it arrives there, in any case, its work is done. 1
Enzymes’ Lock-and-Key Compatibility
The molecular shapes of enzymes are completely in conformity with whatever substance they are designed to act upon. Each enzyme—and the substance it will affect by combining with it—fit together precisely in a three-dimensional complex geometry. The way enzymes detect the substance they match, then head towards and combine with it is exceedingly deliberate behavior. Moreover, enzymes resemble conscious hunters, in that they lie in wait, making a shelter for themselves to hide in, where they remain ready to join with their appropriate substance. Each one is in the right place that matches its design and characteristics. They avoid environments in which they might be harmed or become ineffective.
The way they assume the responsibility of initiating or accelerating reactions is a matter worth reflecting on. Unless some agent is present to prevent them, various enzymes will constantly initiate and accelerate all of the various chemical reactions in the body. This could eventually lead to over-production of particular proteins or certain damaging imbalances within the cell. And so, it is the cell itself that regulates the enzymes’ activity. When the cell decides an enzyme to halt in its actions, it distracts it with an extraordinary act of conscious planning. To do so, it sends to the enzyme a substance similar to the one it normally combines with, and the enzyme attaches to this substitute instead. Therefore, this “imitative” substance keeps the enzyme occupied and for a while, forestalls it from unwanted activity.
In order to snare the enzyme, however, this imitation substance must also compete with its genuine counterpart. This inhibition of the enzyme is therefore known as a competitive inhibitor. By means of this method, enzyme activities are thus halted until such time as whatever substance is produced as a result of the reaction triggered by the enzyme falls below a specific level.
This information is not to be read once and then forgotten. First of all, it will be useful to realize that proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins composed of unconscious atoms are making the calculations, taking the decisions and implementing the plans just described, and not trained human beings with consciousness and a sense of responsibility. The cell determines the amount of substance produced, as if were doing a control of inventory. And when it decides that production needs to be halted for a while, it implements an exceedingly sophisticated procedure in order to do so.
How the cell produces the imitation substance to occupy the enzyme and releases it at just the proper time is highly planned behavior.
Because if these imitation substances always existed in the cell at all times, they would then also halt production by distracting enzymes when they’re most urgently required. But the cells’ timing is always perfectly accurate. Such an organized, intelligent form of behavior that is performed in sequence, one after the other, by molecules too small to be seen with the naked eye, is just one of the countless signs of the superior nature of God’s creation. Obviously, these apparently conscious substances behave under our Lord’s command.
Scientists Reject Evolutionist Claims of Chance
As more and more details emerge about the structure of enzymes, proteins and other similar structures, the invalidity of the theory of evolution becomes even more apparent. These structures in the micro-world lead scientists, willingly or otherwise, to accept the fact that there is a flawless design in life.
One such scientist is the microbiologist Malcolm Dixon:
Every minute the enzyme system does what chemists working a full shift cannot. Could anyone believe that naturally occurring enzymes became aware of themselves and hundreds of their counterparts as the result of chance? Enzymes and enzyme systems are touchstones of the same genetic mechanism. The more advanced research is carried out, the more detailed a design emerges. 2
Enzymes’ structure is too complex to have emerged by chance—a fact that is expressed in the famous biochemist Michael Pitman’s probability calculations:
As we know, there are some 1080 atoms in the universe and 1017 seconds have gone by since the Big Bang. Two thousand basic enzymes are essential if life is to survive. The chances of a single enzyme coming into being by chance are greater than 1020. The chances of them all emerging as the result of chance is 10 40000. Even if we think of the whole universe as an organic soup it is still impossible for such a minute probability to come about. 3
As these scientists have said, it is impossible for even a single enzyme to form spontaneously by chance. Yet 50 “pre-enzymes” work together to produce a single enzyme. Yet another enzyme requires nine different other enzymes before it can synthesize a single amino acid. This raises a very difficult question for any reasonable scientist: How did the first enzyme come into existence in the absence of the others? This is a question for which evolutionists can never provide an answer.
In addition to the problems posed by enzymes’ chemical production, they have another extraordinary feature: Once enzymes form, they can easily dissipate again or become passive unless just the right conditions are maintained. In other words, they cease to function until and unless they are needed.
In short, to enable any single enzyme to function, all the other requisite enzymes, cells, systems and structures have to be already in place, in full working order.
References:
(1) Harun Yahya, The Miracle of Protein, Istanbul, Vural Publishing, March 2001.
(2) Michael Pitman, Adam and Evolution, London, River Publishing, 1984, p.144.
(3) Pitman, Ibid., p. 148.
If you have problems gaining weight or if you’re looking for a way to gain weight faster, keep reading. In fact it is very simple and logical to do so. All the processes I’m about to explain have been very well documented. This is not a diet or a supplement, it is something you already posses the power over right now – your brain.
I’m going to discuss:
1. The two branches of your nervous system, their functions and how you can determine which one is dominant in you.
2. How creating an imbalance prevents you from getting the results you want.
3. How you can regain balance to produce the results you desire.
A quick description of the Automatic Nervous System(ANS):
The model of ANS used in clinics originated from Francis M. Pottenger, M.D, 1919. The ANS is the master controller of your metabolism; it controls almost all metabolic processes. The ANS is divided into two divisions on the basis of anatomic and physiological grounds. Nerves from both divisions connect the brain (Hypothalamus) to the organs and glands of the body.
The ANS is like an information transport system with the brain as its switchboard operator. The two divisions, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous system work together to regulate all the activities in the body. To name a few: heart beat, fight or flight, blood pressure, digestion, elimination, repair and rebuilding and much more. In this article, we are interested in the repair and rebuilding activities.
The difference between Parasympathetic and Sympathetic influence is different from person to person. People are more or less influenced by one of these. I encourage you to search the web for a more in depth description of these influences to see where you fit.
Parasympathetic (rest and digest branch): Digestion, Elimination (detoxification), repairing, rebuilding, anabolic processes. People with Parasympathetic dominance tend to be wider build, procrastinate and have excessive appetite and lethargy.
Sympathetic (survival branch): fight or flight response, motivation, stress, catabolic processes. People with Sympathetic dominance tend to be tall, thin, highly motivated, have a low appetite, and excellent concentration.
The key is to be highly motivated and have excellent concentration while training (sympathetic dominant) and then be relaxed and calm in the restitution period (parasympathetic dominant).
Since the parasympathetic branch is the one that builds and repairs our body, along with controlling our anabolic processes, we want that branch to be most active when wanting to gain weight.
Now what you probably don’t know, is that most people in our stressed and modern world are in a constant condition called Autonomic Disregulation where our sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are opposite of what they should be. They are literally jacked out of direction, disturbing every metabolic process including our ability to be anabolic. This is where your mind comes in the picture.
You are, in fact, in charge of whether you want to be disregulated, or if you want to be regulated. Regulated is where your body works at 100% efficiency giving you high health and energy.
When you are stressed, your sympathetic nervous system gets activated and responds with a release of catabolic hormones which makes you alert. Cortisol is one of the many, but is the primary stress hormone. You don’t want to be sympathetic when gaining muscle.
When you elevate your levels of cortisol, your DHEA ratio to cortisol is disrupted. DHEA-S or DHEA-Sulfite is an anabolic hormone. It is a tissue repair hormone and is very closely related to growth hormone, testosterone and all the other anabolic hormones. So when your cortisol goes up, your DHEA goes down, damaging your health.
High levels of cortisol in the body have been related to highly rapid death of brain cells, and rapid ageing. As cortisol levels go up, it affects the memory and ability to learn .In other words, it disrupts the neurocognitivity which enables the neurons to communicate with one another. Look at the patterns of people who consume caffeinated drinks, sports drinks and coffee, etc.
Caffeine creates a sympathetic catabolic response in your nervous system, where glycogen (sugar) is released from your liver, along with cortisol (which makes you feel fresh and alert). Cortisol is a catabolic anti-inflammatory hormone that breaks down muscle tissue and feeds it to the body. Since the high release of glycogen in your body also triggers a release of insulin, your blood sugar crashes, and it crashes with you. It also affects the quality of your sleep and mood because it interferes with anabolic repair cycles.
If you’re waking up in the morning after 7 hours of sleep still tired (not feeling fresh) you are probably not entering deep sleep, because cortisol also disrupts your ability to enter the restorative phases of sleep – REM (Rapid eye movement) Cortisol disrupts your ability to repair your nervous system, and it disrupts your ability for the immune system to do its job. One of the most important changes you can make is to not consume any caffeinated substances after 3pm, because depending on the rate on which your liver is able to detoxify caffeine, it may disrupt your hormonal levels. This will interfere with your ability to sleep and therefore, interrupt your anabolic repair cycles such as DHEA-S. Most physical repair happens between 10pm – 2am – don’t workout and go to bed at 1am. Most psychogenic repair (nervous system repair) happens between 2am – 6am.
Another thing to consider is to avoid full spectrum lighting in the hours before sleep. Light stimulates the pineal gland which stimulates the RAS (Reticular Activation System) which “turns you on” again. As cortisol levels drops during the day, melatonin increases. Melatonin is the hormone that puts you to sleep and makes you tired. So when you come home with full spectrum lighting in your house, it jacks up your cortisol levels again, interfering with your sleep and repair cycles.
Consider what happens when you come home late at night and have coffee with your full spectrum lighting. Guess what… your body’s hormonal cycle is totally confused, ramped and ragged, you sleep poorly and you are not repairing. Next morning you feel awfully tired and like many people do, you drink another cup of coffee! Be smart. If you’re reading this it means you are smarter than most people. So live up to it. We need to be parasympathetic while we sleep. Bear in mind, that just because you are not a fan of caffeine, it does not mean that you’re safe. A high level of stress elevates cortisol just as effective as caffeine.
This discussion gets more technical so take a look at the picture here while reading:
Your anabolic hormones are mainly produced from Pregnenolone. When your stress levels are high, your sleep is poor, your exercise habits are wrong and you consume the wrong metabolic stimulators (stuff that stimulate a sympathetic response), your body overproduces cortisol and cortisone. Since both your anabolic hormones and your stress hormones are produced from Pregnenolone, which production do you think the body takes away Pregnenolone from in order to compensate for the overproduction of catabolic hormones? It steals the Pregnenolone which should have been used to create testosterone, Androstenediol, Aldosterone among other anabolic hormones. This syndrome called “Pregnenolone steal” or “Cortisol Escape” will steal 60% of your Pregnenolone to compensate for the overproduction of cortisol (or stress in your life), which will mean 60% less anabolic hormones in your body. That’s a tough fact.
If you want to gain weight and gain muscle, you must be more parasympathetic than sympathetic. It is really that simple. So take some time of for yourself, relax, get to bed before 10pm, stay away from metabolic stimulators (such as caffeine), avoid full spectrum light before bed hours and give it all you’ve got when training.
Copyright 2008, Masszymes Inc. All rights reserved.
There is so much information about what is healthy and nutritious these days that it is very difficult to sort out the hype from the truth. Following a healthy diet can be accomplished by making some simple adjustments to your current diet.
If you think it is just too much trouble to make some simple changes to improve your family’s diet, think again. Most people do not realize the incredible impact that a healthy diet has on our bodies, making the difference between poor health and good health.
Along with regular physical activity, a healthy diet is the most important factor that determines your weight. If you are overweight or obese, it leads to many diseases or conditions, like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers, increase significantly.
Healthy Tips For Healthy Diet:
*LEAN PROTEINS – Choose lean meats, poultry, and fish. Bake, broil, or grill it. Do not fry! Beans, nuts and seeds also provide protein.
*LOW-FAT MILK PRODUCTS – Eat low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheese or low-fat milk every day. Dairy products can lower your risk of diabetes and help build strong bones, reducing your risk of osteoporosis.
There are a variety of foods that should not be present in your diet except in very small amounts. These foods, such as sugars, alcohol, and some fats, contribute to diseases and poor health.
*SUGARS – Avoid foods containing sugar. You know what they are! Always check food labels to see how much sugar is present as some foods contain sugar that may surprise you. If you want to live a happy and healthy life-visit, eat a healthy and nutritious meal. Click here healthy diet foods for more valuable information.
Most bodies love to store fat, it’s good security for when you run out of food. This is unlikely, but your body doesn’t know that. Unfortunately, the body loves storing fat so much that it will burn anything else available (muscle tissue, stored carbohydrate, etc.) before digging into the fat reserves. Unless you trick it. Visit health yahoo directory, it is also a good source of information.
The first thing your body will burn is stored carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. The next is muscle tissue, only then does it grudgingly dip into the fat stores. This is why most diets don’t work, especially “starvation” diets. When you suddenly cut off the food supply, a survival mechanism kicks in causing the body to store every little bit of fat that it can!
This results in weight loss, but not much fat loss, and as soon as you DO eat something, it immediately gets stored as fat to replace any that was used. This is NOT what you want, so you have to fool the body into thinking it doesn’t need fat. Here is a list of effective ways to do this, and you won’t even have to starve yourself! It’s never easy though.
Tips:
1) Limit, but don’t cut out high fat foods: Dietary fat can be stored if taken in excess, however, some fat intake must be maintained to prevent the body from storing every bit of fat it does get.
2) Limit high sugar and high glycemic index foods (including fruit): Simple sugars (and many “complex”carbohydrates) get easily converted into fat, and can also be the cause of high cholesterol. Glucose, fructose, and sucrose are all simple sugars and maltodextrin (common in many “weight gainer supplements) has a very high glycemic index putting it in the same category as simple sugars.
I’m not saying not to eat fruit, as they contain many beneficial vitamins, just don’t overdo it. Keep it to 2 or 3 pieces a day.
3)Eat more frequently: Yes, you read that right! Eat 5 or 6 smaller meals a day (or 3 main meals and 2 -3 healthy snacks (protein shakes work well)). There are several reasons for this, they are:
*With smaller servings, your stomach will shrink and you will get full faster.
*Digesting burns a surprising amount of calories, eat more often and burn more calories!
*When you eat a large meal, the body takes what it needs, and saves the excess as, guess what? FAT. Smaller meals prevent this even if you eat the same amount overall. Check out more information on healthy dose of food
Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and the evidence supporting vitamin E’s efficacy in preventing and reversing heart disease is overwhelming.
Two landmark studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed a total of 125,000 men and women health care professionals for a total of 839,000 person study-years. It was found that those who supplement with at least 100 IU of vitamin E daily reduced their risk of heart disease by 59 to 66%. The studies were adjusted for life-style differences (smoking, physical activity, dietary fiber intake, aspirin use) in order to determine the heart effect of vitamin E supplementation alone. Because a diet high in foods containing vitamin E as compared to the average diet further showed only a slight heart-protective effect, the authors emphasized the necessity of vitamin E supplementation.
Researchers at Cambridge University [3] in England reported that patients who had been diagnosed with coronary arteriosclerosis could lower their risk of having a heart attack by 77% by supplementing with 400 IU to 800 IU per day of the natural (d-alpha tocopherol) form of vitamin E.
Pioneer vitamin E researchers and clinicians Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute treated some 30,000 patients over several decades and found that people in average health received maximum benefit from 800 IU of the d-alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E. Vitamin E has been proven effective in the prevention and treatment of many heart conditions. “The complete or nearly complete prevention of angina attacks is the usual and expected result of treatment with alpha tocopherol” according to Wilfrid Shute, M. D., a cardiologist. Shute prescribed up to 1,600 IU of vitamin E daily and successfully treated patients for acute coronary thrombosis, acute rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, diabetes mellitus, acute and chronic nephritis, and even burns, and plastic surgery .
How it works
The reason one nutrient can cure so many different illnesses is because a deficiency of one nutrient can cause many different illnesses.
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant in the body’s lipid (fat) phase. It can prevent LDL lipid peroxidation caused by free radical reactions. Its ability to protect cell membranes from oxidation is of crucial importance in preventing and reversing many degenerative diseases.
In addition, vitamin E inhibits blood clotting (platelet aggregation and adhesion) and prevents plaque enlargement and rupture.
Finally, it has anti-inflammatory properties, which may also prove to be very important in the prevention of heart disease.
Among other things, vitamin E supplementation:
* reduces the oxygen requirement of tissues. [4]
* gradually melts fresh clots, and prevents embolism.
* improves collateral circulation.
* prevents scar contraction as wounds heal.
* decreases the insulin requirement in about one-fourth of diabetics.
* stimulates muscle power.
* preserves capillary walls.
* reduces C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation
With the start of a new year, millions of Americans will be making pledges to either lose weight, or live a healthier lifestyle. One key to living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to overcome the terrible effects of oxidative stress on the body.
Unfortunately, most people have never even heard of oxidative stress, therefore, they do not know the effects it can have on the body, nor how to combat it.
Dr. Myron Wentz, (an internationally recognized microbiologist, immunologist, and pioneer in the development of human cell culture technology and infectious disease diagnoses) said in one of his recent lectures that the populace is “living too short, and dying too long”. In other words, many people around the world are dying from chronic degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, MS, and the list goes on and on. These diseases seem to be developing in my patients at younger ages. Medications that the doctors give the patients can work – but at a tremendous cost to the body. Even though we place them on medications, we do not seem to change the course of their disease. What good does it do to live to a ripe old age of 93 if you haven’t been able to recognize your family or spouse for the last 10 years because of Alzheimer’s dementia, as was the case of former President Ronald Reagan? Look at Mohamed Ali or Michael J. Fox. Have we been able to effectively help them with their Parkinson’s disease?
Many people are no longer as concerned about the length of time they live, but instead what quality they will have in those years. Because of our stressful lifestyles and poor lifestyle habits, we are suffering earlier from these degenerative diseases. Michael J. Fox developed Parkinson’s disease at 32 years of age. Nearly 45% of our children who develop diabetes have the adult onset or type 2 diabetes. We are certainly living too short and dying too long. oxidative stress, COMBATABLE oxidative stress is a huge factor in this decline in American health.
oxidative stress in the body is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen and your body’s ability to detoxify the incoming “pollution” or easily repair the damage. When this process gets more stress than it can handle, your body begins to produce toxic substances to help combat the incoming oxidation, which end up being things like free radicals which literally begin breaking down your cells and making them function poorly.
Imagine, if you will, a car engine. When your car is brand new, the engine runs great, you get good gas mileage. But say you don’t change the oil, or buy the right kind of gas, sludge builds up, your car starts emitting smoke, the engine stutters and hesitates and sludge builds up. This is what happens to your body when your body is overwhelmed by oxidative stress.
The good news is that you can REPAIR the damage done to your body by oxidative stress. You can repair this damage by focusing on nutrition – giving your body the nutrition it needs to combat this stress. Adding foods high in anti-oxidants, such as blueberries, strawberries, broccoli, green peppers, green leafy veggies, and so on will certainly help. You can also take nutritional supplements if your diet leaves much to be desired. If you are looking into supplementation, though, be sure to chose a high quality nutritional supplements (like USANA’s Mega Anti-Oxidant) that is a pharmaceutical grade (not food grade, Centrum, Spring Valley and other popular supplements). Pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplementss will ensure that you are getting the same ingredients every time, and exactly what is in the bottle.
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Vitamin B6 is one of eight water-soluble B vitamins. It was discovered in the 1930s during nutrition studies on rats. Vitamin B6 is exists in three major chemical forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine. Vitamin B6 performs as a coenzyme to carry out metabolic processes that affect the body’s use of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Vitamin B6 also is involved in metabolism of protein and carbohydrates, the production of insulin, red and white blood cells.
Vitamin B6 is an especially important vitamin for maintaining healthy nerve and muscle cells. It is also take part in the production of DNA and RNA, the body’s genetic material. Vitamin B6 is necessary for proper absorption of vitamin B12 and for the production of red blood cells and cells of the immune system. It also helps to convert tryptophan to niacin, and may be found in nuts, meat, fish, eggs, wheat germs, milk, and whole grain foods.
Vitamin B6 can be found in, avocados, bananas, carrots, fortified cereals, green bean, hazelnuts (filberts), lentils, potatoes, salmon, shrimp, soybeans, spinach, sunflower seeds.
The daily Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin B6 is various depend on age. For men and women between 19-50 years old can take 1.3 mg. Women over 50 years old need 1.5 mg, while men need 1.7 mg. An additional between 0.1-0.7 mg is needed during the pregnancy and lactation period. High amounts (100–200 mg per day or even more) may be recommended for certain conditions.
Deficiency of vitamin B6 is rare, since most foods eaten contain this vitamin. Signs of a Vitamin B6 deficiency include peeling skin (dermatitis), cracked and sore lips, inflamed tongue and mouth, neuropathy, depression, anxiety, loss of libido, insomnia, water retention, inability to process glucose, itchy, body weight loss/gain, weakness, mental confusion, irritability, nervousness, inability to sleep, hyperactivity, anemia, skin lesions, and kidney stones. It is important to have a physician evaluate these symptoms so that appropriate medical care can be given.
Vitamin B6 is usually safe, at intakes up to 200 mg per day in adults. However, sustained periods of large doses may cause irreversible nerve damage. The excess of vitamin B6 may also lead to kidney stone formation. Although vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin and is excreted in the urine, very high doses of vitamin B6 over long periods of time may result in painful neurological symptoms known as sensory neuropathy. Symptoms of a pyridoxine overdose may include poor coordination, staggering, numbness, decreased sensation to touch, temperature, and vibration, and tiredness for up to six months.
Vitamin A, also known as retinol, offers a whole heap of benefits in vision, reproduction, bone development, division of cells and cell differentiation. It also plays significant role in the production of white blood cells. In effect, it strengthens the immune system of the body and aids in fighting against various harmful germs and viruses. Vitamin A offers a healthy subtle sheath in the retina, respiratory tract, urinal tract and intestinal tract areas. Vitamin A deficiencies may cause breaking this sheath – this, in turn, makes it easy for germs to enter into the health system.
Types
Typically, vitamin A can be subdivided into two categories depending on their sources of availability. These two categories are preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoid. Preformed vitamin A can mostly be found from animals such as liver, whole milk and fortified food products. This type is easily absorbed in the form of retinol. Retinol can be converted into retinal and retinoic acid within the body.
Provitamin A carotenoid can be found in colorful fruits and vegetables. Few common forms of this type of vitamin A are beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Among all of these forms, beta-carotene can be effectively prepared into retinol.
Sources of Vitamin A
Animals and animal products are considered as the wise selection for vitamin A sources. It is mainly because of the fact that it is well absorbed and utilized efficiently with the body system. However, plants can also be considered as vitamin A sources, but they can not be well absorbed within the body and may not function effectively as well. Liver, fortified skim milk, cheese, and egg are great vitamin A sources.
Carrot offers generous amount of vitamin A. Whether you take it raw or boiled or as a juice, it offers you plenty amount of vitamin A. Apart from that, you can depend on kale, vegetable soup, apricots with skin, apricot nectar, oatmeal, peas, orange juice, peaches, and pepper.
Deficiencies of Vitamin A
Vitamin A deficiencies largely depend on regions. The deficiency is quite prominent in developing countries like India; however, it is rarely seen in USA. In the developing regions, a significant number of children become blind every year due to vitamin A deficiencies. On the other hand, vitamin A deficiencies are mostly related to the strict dietary restrictions and excessive alcohol consumption.
Night blindness is one of the most significant conditions occurring as a result of vitamin A deficiencies. Dated back to ancient period, Egyptian civilization also confirmed the usefulness of liver in treating night blindness. Liver is a great source of vitamin A contents. Vitamin A deficiencies contribute to night blindness by turning the cornea very dry and damaging the cornea and retina.
Vitamin A deficiencies may also contribute in weaker immune system. In developing countries, immunization program is thus restricted. The mortality rate is very high due to complications of infectious diseases like measles. Pneumonia is also believed to be caused due to vitamin A deficiency.
Current Controversies
Few scientific studies argue that there is a strong relation between beta-carotene and lower risk of cancer. A higher intake of colorful fruits and vegetables may lower the possibilities of lung cancer. However, it is strongly controversial in nature. It is mainly because of the fact that many studies also advocate against the correlation. They conducted research for investigating the significance of beta-carotene supplements in preventing various types of cancer, but could not find any effective result supporting the relevance.
Recent studies are going for finding out the potential adverse effect associated with excess intake of vitamin A supplements. Several researchers have found out that there is a strong correlation between excess intake of vitamin A and weaker bone structure. Hypervitaminosis A is a critical condition referred to the excess storage of vitamin A in the body. Birth defects, abnormalities in liver, declined bone mineral density and CNS disorders are the common adverse effects associated with the excess intake of vitamin A.
Many experts are concerned that people are taking so many vitamins that are not needed.
Your body certainly seeks certain types of vitamins at predefined limits to help it produce energy, and fight diseases. We know that when someone suffers from a vitamin deficiency, this would cause many symptoms to occur, and perhaps serious diseases. But ever wondered what would happen if you take so many vitamins?
Let us clear this out, while vitamins deficiency may cause many diseases, taking too many vitamins does not seem like a reliable solution.
Do you know that if you take so many vitamin, of certain type, it would still cause some diseases?
Balancing is the key to having perfect health. Your body needs certain limit of every vitamin, so you should give your body that limit, no more; no less.
The mistake which is so common, people are taking vitamins without doctor or expert suggestion. You should not be taking vitamins unless you have vitamins deficiency, and your doctor suggested so. Otherwise, consistent supplements of certain vitamin might lead to undesirable diseases.
Let us take vitamin A as an exanple, excessive intake of vitamin A usually above 10,000 IU per day for adults – can lead to hair loss, confusion, liver damage and bone loss.
If you do not know your vitamin levels, you need to be diagnosed for that and the experts will tell you exactly, how many vitamins do you need.
