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Taking
vitamins to treat illness
Newswise — 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.
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