Q I'm confused about how to know how
much vitamins to take. When I take my vitamins and my urine turns bright
yellow, am I wasting them?
A Just because you are taking vitamins it doesn't mean you are taking the
right ones or in the right amounts. A female aerobics instructor in her
early 30's came to my office saying "I work out all the time yet I'm
so tired that I can hardly move. I've been to three doctors. They've measured
my blood levels of everything and told me there's nothing wrong. I even
had them measure the vitamin levels in my blood because I thought I might
have a deficiency. But they said they were OK. What should I do?"
Examining her, I found that she had cheilosis little cracks in the skin and mucous membranes at the corners of the mouth. She also had red and rough skin on the neck and chest. Without going any further, I could tell she had a deficiency of vitamins B2 and B3. She also had a history of bruising easily. For instance, she'd get a bruise even after gently bumping against something. That brought up the question of a vitamin C deficiency.
I sent for her records. Sure enough, the blood levels of the various vitamins and minerals were all normal. But even if the nutrients were present in her blood in good amounts, were they being used properly by the body's cells?
Standard blood tests for vitamin status only tell you how much is present in your blood and compare this quantity to "norms". That would he fine if your metabolism were the same as everyone else's. However, each person differs in his/her ability to absorb, metabolize and utilize vitamins and other essential nutrients, so serum levels reported as "normal" often mask actual intracellular deficiencies.
Fortunately there is a test that measures whether a patient's nutrients are being used by body cells. In her case, there were plenty of nutrients in her bloodstream, but they weren't being fully used by her body's cells. This helped redirect her therapy. Both she and I were delighted by her improvement.
Many factors can affect the uptake of nutrients:
Biochemical Individuality
Because each of us is metabolically unique, the nutrient requirements for
one person may be quite different for another.
Absorption
Although you may eat correctly, if you do not absorb vitamins and other
essential nutrients properly, you will have deficiencies.
Chronic Illness
Aging
Lifestyle
In other words, just putting food on the table doesn't guarantee that cells
can and will eat.
Fortunately, we can now actually "see"
how cells utilize vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids. Thanks
to an advanced new test, we can tell if cells are actually absorbing and
putting the nutrients to work
The test, which is called Essential Metabolics Analysis (EMA), does not
measure the levels of nutrients available for body cells to use. Instead,
EMA determines how well nutrients function within the cells.
EMA begins when a doctor takes a blood sample, just like any other blood
sample. The blood sample contains red blood cells, platelets, circulating
nutrients, white blood cells, etc. The blood is then sent to a laboratory
where technicians separate out certain white blood cells called lymphocytes.
Lymphocytes are special white blood cells. They're called lymphocytes because they "live" in the lymph tissue of the body including the bone marrow, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, pulmonary tract, tonsils, lymph nodes and in the thymus gland behind the breast bone.
The lymphocytes from the blood sample are
placed in a series of "dishes." Each dish contains a specially
formulated growth media (food for the lymphocytes), and the formula varies
from one dish to the next.
Then, the technicians wait and see which lymphocytes continue growing and
dividing, and which falter. They may find, for example, that the lymphocytes
in dishes one through seven continue growing, but those in eight through
ten falter. Comparing the growth media formulas may show that lymphocytes
in eight through ten don't utilize vitamin B3 and zinc well, even though
it is abundant.
Studies show the nutrient status of lymphocytes represents the nutrient status of other body tissues: averaged over the long run, knowing how the lymphocytes handle nutrients gives us a good picture of a person's overall nutrient status. Before, a doctor could only tell if people had enough B3 and zinc in their diets and blood.
Now he or she can tell whether lymphocytes are able to use the nutrients efficiently, and take appropriate action, such as increasing vitamin B3.
Properly applied this can make a profound impact on someone's health. There was a 42-year-old woman diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and neuropathy. The neuropathy caused numbness and pains in her hands, feet and face. Unfortunately, her doctors told her that it was pointless to investigate the cause of the neuropathy because there were so many possibilities. And even if the cause was found, they added, there was probably no cure.
Fortunately for this woman, she insisted an EMA be performed. The test found problems with her ability to utilize vitamin B12, calcium and asparagine. She began to take B12, calcium and asparagine supplements orally so that enough was "pushed" into her cells. Her pain was gone within two months. The pain returned when she ran out of asparagine, 6 months later, but promptly disappeared when she resumed her supplements.
EMA can test for the following nutriets:
Vitamins: B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacinamide), B6 (pyridoxine),
B12 (cobalamins), folate, pantothenate, biotin.
Minerals: calcium, magnesium, zinc.
Fatty Acids: oleic acid.
Metabolites: choline, inositol.
Amino Acids: asparagine, glutamate, serine.
Carbohydrate Metabolism: glucose/insulin metabolism, fructose intolerance.
Total Antioxidant Function: cysteine, glutathione.