I have been advised to include older articles and stories here to disseminate the 

information to more of our country.  So I shall begin today with health concerns.  

Nutraceuticals... What are they and why are they important???

To define nutraceutical is to say that they are components of foods & edible plants that have health benefits. We know about calcium and vitamins A, C, D and E in the US today. The first Nutraceutical was Vitamin C. It took over 400 years to ID the part or chemical in oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit that was stopping sailors from dying of scurvy during the 1500’s… It was during the early 1930’s that vitamin C was identified, isolated & purified and later synthesized. 1

Do you recall reading in school books about the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria... Columbus’ ships for his New World expedition? Many do not remember that he returned to Europe with only one ship. Columbus had lost 2/3 of his crew. Those sailors had died at sea because of scurvy.2

Not long afterward, sailors were drinking “grog”- - a mixture of rum and lime juice.3 One can sample the concoction today during a Caribbean vacation. Now we know that Vitamin C helps with scurvy as well as asthma and other ailments.

During the mid-1970’s, studies were done that showed that those suffering from asthma had the lowest levels of vitamins A, C & E in their lungs.4  There is recent Vitamin C study, sponsored by the NIH. The abstract can be found on www.pubmed.gov. This new study stated that 1 gram of vitamin C…given twice daily to those with stomach cancer… caused a regression of symptoms (5.3 chance)…even more than an indicated antibiotic (4.8 chance).5 This is more evidence of the importance of fruits and vegetables in one’s diet. One, two or three servings of these foods are no longer sufficient. One needs 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily in a varied diet.   

A newer anti-oxidant is grape seed extract.  It is listed in nutraceutical compendia as being 20 times stronger than vitamin C. It may be the reason for the French Paradox!

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