Beta Carotene

Q: On my doctor's advice I have been taking vitamin E and beta carotene to protect against a heart attack. Now I am not sure whether to continue, because a recent article in the New York Times described a study which showed that they provided no benefit against cancer or heart disease, and that they might be harmful.A: Many physicians have recommended supplements of one or more of the three anti-oxidants -- vitamins C and E and beta carotene -- because they believed them to be safe and to possibly delay or prevent coronary artery disease.

My love affair with vitamins and supplements is over: With a few exceptions -- stay tuned -- I'm tossing them out. Things started going south for this romance 13 years ago when a Finnish study of 29,000 male smokers showed a higher rate of lung cancer in men who took beta carotene and vitamin E. It also found that those who took beta carotene had an 8 percent higher risk of death from all causes. Two years later, an American study reported similar findings for beta carotene. I've never been a smoker, but a red flag is a red flag.

Beware of naughty nutrition percentages.Recently, I saw a brief note hailing the fact that red grapefruit has 40 percent more beta-carotene than white grapefruit, the implication being that red grapefruit is a great source of beta-carotene.Beta-carotene in food becomes vitamin A in your body. We have known for many years that adequate intake of vitamin A is essential for vision, growth, differentiation and proliferation of cells, and the integrity of the immune system.For these purposes, it doesn't matter whether you get your vitamin A already formed (as in liver, cod liver oil, whole and fortified milk, and eggs)

Tuned to the same emotional wavelength Relationships in which the couples start out being more similar in their emotional responses seem to have the best chance for success, new research shows. Just as people in close relationships become more alike in their habits over time, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of California at Berkeley found, people in satisfying partnerships also experience an "emotional convergence." In a study of 60 couples with an average age of 20, researchers assessed several positive and negative emotional responses in the partners on two occasions, six months apart.

Summer is the easiest time to improve your diet.It's too hot to cook, so this is a great time to cut back on fried foods.And with local produce spilling from roadside stands, it's the perfect time to cut down on meats, sweets and salty snacks, and fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables.A 1/4 -pound hamburger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo will cost you about 500 calories and contains 30 grams of greasy fat. If you split your burger with a buddy, you could eliminate half the fat, and have 2 1/2 cups of watermelon, five luscious local peaches or 3/4 of a cantaloupe for the other 250 calories.

Tuned to the same emotional wavelength Relationships in which the couples start out being more similar in their emotional responses seem to have the best chance for success, new research shows. Just as people in close relationships become more alike in their habits over time, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of California at Berkeley found, people in satisfying partnerships also experience an "emotional convergence." In a study of 60 couples with an average age of 20, researchers assessed several positive and negative emotional responses in the partners on two occasions, six months apart.

Tomatoes, especially when they're cooked with a little olive oil, may be good preventive medicine for the prostate.A study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that men who ate a combined total of 10 servings per week of tomatoes, tomato sauce and pizza had lower risks of prostate cancer than men who averaged only 1.5 servings per week.This particular study clarifies one prevention puzzle piece, critical because curing advanced-stage prostate cancer remains unlikely.

Last week's report that high doses of vitamin A prevent certain cancers came as no surprise to health-watchers.Essential for maintenance of normal skin, eyes and tissues that line the mouth, throat and internal organs, vitamin A was also recognized as a possible cancer preventative at least a decade ago: People who consumed a lot of it were found to be less likely to have cancer than were people with low intake.The first human experiment in which the suspected cancer-preventing power was demonstrated was at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last week.

Think dark-green, orange and deep-yellow when you choose your fruits and vegetables, and you'll go a long way toward getting a healthful dose of important antioxidant vitamins.Study after study confirms the disease-fighting role of the antioxidants: beta carotene (the parent of vitamin A), vitamin C and vitamin E. These powerhouse nutrients appear to neutralize molecules called oxygen-free radicals, prime suspects behind cancer, heart disease and aging.But many consumers may not know which foods to eat, or how much, to get enough antioxidants.

My love affair with vitamins and supplements is over: With a few exceptions -- stay tuned -- I'm tossing them out. Things started going south for this romance 13 years ago when a Finnish study of 29,000 male smokers showed a higher rate of lung cancer in men who took beta carotene and vitamin E. It also found that those who took beta carotene had an 8 percent higher risk of death from all causes. Two years later, an American study reported similar findings for beta carotene. I've never been a smoker, but a red flag is a red flag.

Researchers working in an impoverished region of Nepal may have found a simple, low-cost way to sharply reduce the risk of death among childbearing women -- weekly vitamin supplements.Capsules containing vitamin A and beta carotene were effective in reducing maternal death by 40 percent or more, according to scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who collaborated with Nepalese health agencies.Beta carotene, a chemical that the body turns into vitamin A, is normally supplied by vegetables such as carrots and beets.

Move over carrots and make room for tomatoes. They seem destined for center stage in the war against common cancers and perhaps other age-related diseases.Diets rich in tomatoes and tomato products have been strongly linked to a reduced risk of cancers of the prostate and digestive tract, including colon and rectal cancers, which are among the leading cancer killers of Americans.For example, in a six-year study of 48,000 male health professionals, Dr. Edward Giovannucci and colleagues at Harvard Medical School found that consuming tomatoes, tomato sauce or pizza more than twice a week, as opposed to never, was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer of 21 percent to 34 percent, depending on the food.

Olean, aka Olestra, the nonfat fat currently being test-marketed in several areas of the country, is causing a stir in Washington. Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw its recent approval and get Olean-fried products off the market.What's all the fuss about?Indigestible Olestra was accidentally discovered by Procter & Gamble (P&G) scientists in the 1960s while hunting for easily digestible fats for premature infants.

Vitamin C was back in the news recently. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that we all need more vitamin C than recommended in the past, and has suggested that the National Academy of Sciences increase the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) in its regularly scheduled, coming revision.But before you rush to the supplement store, get a handle on what that means.The current RDA is 60 milligrams a day for most people, and 100 mg/day for smokers. NIH concluded, based on a detailed study of seven men living in well-controlled hospital conditions for several months, that the RDA should be increased to 200 mg/day.

In a recent column, you pointed out that three different studies have shown lack of benefit from taking beta carotene. I have coronary heart disease and have been taking an anti-oxidant pill containing beta carotene, vitamin E and vitamin C. Is there any new information on whether either vitamins E or C prevents heart attacks?While no recent studies have examined the effects of vitamin C, a report in the March 23 issue of The Lancet describes results from the first clinical trial of vitamin E, which followed patients for about 17 months, taking either a placebo or large amounts of the vitamin.

For several years my wife and I have been taking beta-carotene pills in an effort to prevent heart disease.We wonder if we should stop taking them because of the recent newspaper articles reporting that beta-carotene pills increase the risk of cancer.Results are available from four large trials examining the health effects of supplementing the diet with beta-carotene. The only trial that showed a possible significant benefit of beta-carotene was a study of 30,000 adults in rural Linxian, China.

Increasingly, antioxidants have been in the press. They're beginning to make me question my belief that you can get all the vitamins you need from food.About 10 years worth of research indicates that "free radicals" may be responsible for some of the diseases of aging, and that antioxidants may inhibit their effects.Free radicals are reactive molecules produced in the body in response to ultraviolet light and pollutants such as cigarette smoke, auto exhaust and ozone which interfere with our ability to repair damaged cells.

Move over carrots and make room for tomatoes. They seem destined for center stage in the war against common cancers and perhaps other age-related diseases.Diets rich in tomatoes and tomato products have been strongly linked to a reduced risk of cancers of the prostate and digestive tract, including colon and rectal cancers, which are among the leading cancer killers of Americans.For example, in a six-year study of 48,000 male health professionals, Dr. Edward Giovannucci and colleagues at Harvard Medical School found that consuming tomatoes, tomato sauce or pizza more than twice a week, as opposed to never, was associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer of 21 percent to 34 percent, depending on the food.

Tomatoes, especially when they're cooked with a little olive oil, may be good preventive medicine for the prostate.A study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that men who ate a combined total of 10 servings per week of tomatoes, tomato sauce and pizza had lower risks of prostate cancer than men who averaged only 1.5 servings per week.This particular study clarifies one prevention puzzle piece, critical because curing advanced-stage prostate cancer remains unlikely.

I came late to the squash fan club. Although my childhood was spent in the Southwest, where some of these versatile vegetables originated, I don't remember eating more than pumpkin on a regular basis.My mother did her vegetable gardening in the canned goods aisle at the local grocery store, and pumpkin was a staple only because all our neighbors were Mexicans who didn't wait around for Thanksgiving to eat it. They baked it into sweet empanadas all year. They savored the seeds, roasted and salted, as pepitas.