fresh Posted September 9, 2012 Posted September 9, 2012 i take vitamin pills very often(for years), in a belief it is good for my health. (but now i doubt it) recently friends told me taking grapeseed oil daily can improve our immune system and grapeseed oil contains natural anti-oxidents which make u look younger. i once heard experts said although anti-oxidents in grapeseed oil is good for health&skin and can improve our immune system, our body can NOT absorb it much. my Q is : 1.Can our body absorb anti-oxidents from grapeseed oil ? how much we can absorb ? above 50% ?? if it is, can it also improve our immune system and do good for our health & skin by taking it every day after/before meal ? 2. can we take vitamin pills often ? if no, why not ? thanks a lot.
Jens Posted September 16, 2012 Posted September 16, 2012 (edited) Some input to your thoughts: Some fat soluble vitamines are actually toxic in overdose. Vitamin C is the main antioxidant. It is water soluble. The body can get rid of overdoses quite easily. Given the usual nutrition in wealthy countries it is actually very difficult (nearly impossible) to suffer from lack of vitamines. Of course there are a lot of companies who like making money be selling cheap chemicals at high prices. (At least in Germany) buying Vitamin C as pure chemical substance is much (often a factor 10 to 100 -- giving you an idea about the economic margin) cheaper than in form of vitamin pills. Just think you are the responsible head of marketing of a non-competitive (simply because it is more expensive in production) nutrition product. Would it not be fine to have a story around antioxidants, which is not even a lie? (Who of your customers would ever have a look at the quantities, or can estimate, if this is relevant at all, or can really compare it with other products, which even might have more antioxidants, but from a slightly different substance?) Humans (actually all primates) are one of the few animals for which vitamin C (the main antioxidant) is actually a vitamin. Means humans have lost the ability to synthesize ascorbate (= vitamin C). Most likely because our ancestors were fruit eaters, so they really did not need this capability. There are scientists claiming that the high concentration of uric acid in the human blood are intentionally regulated at this level (just below creating deseases), because it also acts as an antioxidant (but not as powerfull as vitamin C). So adding the daily rate of vitamin C (or twice that amount) in addition to what you normally eat certainly does not pose an issue and might actually help (some scientist think so, I also think so, but I am not sure). Vitamin C is sold as ascorbic acid. Acids are not too good for your teeth. So it is to be taken with the meals and definitely not in every drink you take between the meals (same thing with as with sugar). Edited September 16, 2012 by Jens 1
Jens Posted September 17, 2012 Posted September 17, 2012 (edited) Ammendment: Giving the usual concentrations of vitamins in the pills, you do not need to worry about eating an overdose of a fat soluble vitamin (if you keep your consumption roughly at a usual level). From a biochemical point of view: Most vitamins are cofactors of enzymes. So having more of them as you need to construct those enzymes does not help. However, this is different for the antioxidants (Vitamin C). They are active by themselves. A higher contration increases the probability that an agressive oxygen radical is reacting with them instead of reacting with something important in the cell (and destroying it). Edited September 17, 2012 by Jens
fresh Posted September 17, 2012 Author Posted September 17, 2012 thanks for your reply. An expert said putting an apple(not peeled) in water for more than 15 minutes will lose xx% of its vitamin C , cuz it goes into water. (It is water soluble). Is that true ? or crap ? i often put apples in water with a little amount of salt in order to get rid of pesticide.
Jens Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 thanks for your reply. An expert said putting an apple(not peeled) in water for more than 15 minutes will lose xx% of its vitamin C , cuz it goes into water. (It is water soluble). Is that true ? or crap ? i often put apples in water with a little amount of salt in order to get rid of pesticide. Sugar is also water soluble. If the apple does not taste sweet any more after 15 min, than the statement of this "expert" is true But honestly: That's crap. You will only loose Vitamin C, if you put the apple in a mixer, add water, mix it thoroughly, filter the suspension you obtain, do not drink the liquid part and eat the non-soluble part.
fresh Posted September 19, 2012 Author Posted September 19, 2012 how about grapeseed oil ? how much antioxidant we can absorb ? does it have anti-aging effect as it claims ? anyone can clue me in ?
Jens Posted September 21, 2012 Posted September 21, 2012 Grape seed oil seems to have phenolic antioxidants: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814608006870 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9806762 However, I do not have access to full content of these articles, and they do not compare it with other oils and with other antioxidants. Absorption of the phenolic antioxidants seems to be possible, because it had a anti DNA damaging effect in rats which were fed with it (but vitamin C had the same effect). Another study found a clearly positive effect at 3.7 g/kg (which means 222 g grapeseed oil daily if your weight is 60 kg) at the same level as 100 mg Vitamin E / kg (6000 mg per 60 kg) This is a lot, especially, if you consider that 300 mg of Vitamin E is already considered as starting point of overdose of vitamin E (and 10 mg as daily rate). This free article shows some issues with grape seed oil and dangerous (cancer provoking) substances included, because of and depending on the drying process: http://lib3.dss.go.th/fulltext/Journal/J.AOCS/J.AOCS/2000/no.12/v.77n12p1289-1292.pdf So without having access to most of the articles in detail, It still looks like: Yes. There is a positive effect. Yes. It can be aborbed. However, it is nothing special. You have to eat a lot and there are other means. --> is still looking to me like a way how to re-use (and do some marketing for) a waste product of wine production. But maybe somebody who has access to all the full articles can give more input.
fresh Posted September 22, 2012 Author Posted September 22, 2012 This free article shows some issues with grape seed oil and dangerous (cancer provoking) substances included, because of and depending on the drying process: http://lib3.dss.go.t...2p1289-1292.pdf However, it is nothing special. You have to eat a lot and there are other means. thanks Jens. I only dare to take it every 3^4 days, in case the "dangerous substances included" .
Klaynos Posted September 22, 2012 Posted September 22, 2012 I'd strongly suggest a read of bad science, it discusses some of the metareviews on vitemin supplements but is easily readable by the non-scientist.
fresh Posted September 22, 2012 Author Posted September 22, 2012 I'd strongly suggest a read of bad science, it discusses some of the metareviews on vitemin supplements but is easily readable by the non-scientist. where to read bad science ? what is metareviews? any links/reference ? thanks.
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