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Author:
Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Several years ago a major drug company claimed that its vitamin pills helped to relieve stress from the "complications of everyday life" and gave their products names such as "StressTabs." The New York Attorney General forced them to stop their deceptive advertising, but many people still remember and believe this claim.

There is no evidence that stress increases your needs for vitamins or that taking vitamins will help you handle stress. When you eat vitamins in pills or in your food, they go into your bloodstream and then into cells. They function by combining with other chemicals in cells called apoenzymes, to form complete enzymes that cause reactions to proceed in your body.

All chemical reactions in your body require enzymes to make them go, and that is why vitamins are essential. For example, all of the B vitamins form enzymes that convert food to energy. But since enzymes only start chemical reactions and are not used up by them, they can be used over and over again and only minuscule amounts are needed from your diet.

Why do so many people think that vitamins prevent stress? In the 1930's, Hans Selye of McGill University in Montreal reported that the adrenal glands contain the highest concentration in the body of vitamin C. The adrenal glands make cortisol from vitamin C. When a person is under stress, the adrenal glands make tremendous amounts of cortisol and the concentration of vitamin C in them drops.

However, scientists have known for more than forty years that the levels of vitamin C in the adrenal glands are still high enough to continue to produce cortisol and that giving extra vitamin C will not increase production of cortisol. Many entrepreneurs give you false information when they tell you that taking their vitamins will help you cope with stress. They are misquoting one research project on one vitamin, and that research does not show that taking extra vitamins has any effect on stress.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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| Article Keywords: Nutrient Basics

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Nutrient Basics... The Benefits Of Taking A Vitamin Supplement Vitamin supplements seem to the new hot item discussed on the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, sometimes even on the evening news. There's a good reason for the growing popularity of vitamins, minerals and supplements and that's the simple fact that our bodies need quality nutrition in order to function properly. There are a large number of essential vitamins and minerals that our body needs to routinely make it through the day and with our daily food intake not adding up into a balanced diet the need for a vitamin supplement has never been greater. Vitamin supplements are responsible for making sure they fill the gaps created by our improper diets in order to prevent a deficiency from taking place with the essential vitamins and minerals we need. Although there are plenty of ways to research vitamin supplements online the best advice can be gained from the advice given by a trained health professional or even better a dietary technician. Expert advice can be very important to your health because although vitamin supplements do help our bodies they can also harm you (in some cases they can be toxic) if taken in large dosages. Additionally a dietary specialist can determine the types of minerals and nutrients you need by analyzing your diet and then accurately prescribe a vitamin supplement to meet your deficiencies in the correct dosages. The benefit of seeking expert advice and dietary opinions is magnified if you fall into a specific category of health or follow a specific diet such as a vegetarian. The reality is no matter how good a vegetarian diet is for your health and weight it leaves your body deficient in a number of essential vitamins that are normally only found in meat type products. For that very reason a good vitamin supplement is needed...