Diplomate, Board Certification of Emergency Medicine
Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine Ma'ayenei Hayeshua
Hospital
Let's finish up with minerals. Chromium is a metal that is
extremely poisonous unless taken in its conjugated form, when
it becomes very safe. It is taken for controlling glucose
levels in diabetics, lowering cholesterol, and weight loss.
The evidence is not that great for the first two uses, and is
poor for the third. It can be found naturally in whole grain
products, brown rice, liver and cheese.
Selenium is used to prevent cancer and in reducing deaths
from cancer, as well as heart disease and rheumatic diseases.
Evidence for reducing death from cancer is fair -- all other
indications have no substantiation. Selenium in creams and
shampoo for eczema, seborrhea and psoriasis is effective.
There are many bad side effects to ingesting too much
selenium, including hair loss.
Vanadium fortunately is less well known. This metal is used
for diabetes, cholesterol and athletic performance, with very
little evidence of it working. Even taking a little over the
recommended daily dose can be toxic. It can be found in dill,
parsley, mushrooms, meat, fish, poultry and cereals
Zinc is one metal that has been well studied. Found in meats
and poultry, this element was reported in a famous article in
the Annals of Internal Medicine in 1993 to help beat
the common cold. No studies since then have found that it
works. Indeed, taking too much zinc can cause the opposite
effect: it can suppress the immune system, as well as cause
diarrhea, and interfere with the metabolism of other
important metals such as copper and iron. Zinc compounds are
effective against funguses such as athlete's foot and
dandruff.
This concludes our discussion of minerals and vitamins.
In my opinion, supplementation in normal people is
unnecessary unless they are vegetarians (vitamin B12) or live
in areas where the water is not fluoridated. We will now
speak of other alternative therapies although in less
detail.
Herbs are often used as therapies, and most are unproven.
Some are even dangerous. Some do have mild effects and are in
widespread use in Israel, such as valerian. Others have
proven use and are used by conventional medicine. These
include aspirin, and digitalis. I have found the evidence of
benefit of most herbs to be very weak and one must be careful
about toxic effects and interactions. Since there have been
no good studies on most of these, be careful and don't be
sold by claims of practitioners.
I will admit though, that studies about garlic have been
interesting and there may be something to it. Beware
especially of Chinese herbs. Some are dangerous (for example
Ji Huan) and since they are usually untraceable, treating a
person with an adverse reaction is nearly impossible. Write
me in care of the Yated.
A message from Glaxo, sponsor of this column. Even
small increases of blood sugar are sometimes dangerous for a
diabetic and the complications of this horrible disease are
disastrous. As of today, the most effective medicine is a new
class of drugs of which Avandia is the prototype. Use the
best when success is imperative.
