Taking Vitamins to Treat Illness

Monday, March 07, 2005

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Vitamins are taking on a new role in health care — to help manage or treat disease.

You may only think of your over-the-counter multivitamin as backup for not getting enough vitamins in your diet. But researchers are finding ways for vitamins to do more.

The March issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter explains how vitamins are used as prescribed drugs:

* B vitamins to manage cardiovascular health: When your body breaks down protein, a by-product is homocysteine (ho-mo-SIS-teen). High homocysteine in the blood is linked to heart disease and stroke. A number of factors are thought to influence increased homocysteine, including a lack of certain B vitamins.

* Niacin (vitamin B-3) to improve "good" cholesterol: Taken at prescribed levels, niacin can potentially boost high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol by 15 percent to 30 percent — or occasionally up to 50 percent.

* Riboflavin (vitamin B-2) to help prevent migraines: Very preliminary evidence has found that high doses of riboflavin might help prevent migraines for some people.

Taking vitamins as medicine should be done under a doctor's supervision. The recommended doses can be significantly higher than those in a multivitamin and may cause side effects.

Erik Kaldor — Jacksonville 904-953-2299
Lynn Closway — Scottsdale 480-301-4337

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