The Vitamin Book

ISBN: 9780671251994

定价: 75.00

内容简介

Introduction
The history of vitamins reads like a mystery story with a
scientific bent. Once??? no one even knew vitamins were
there. People ate food for centuries without caring about
what was in it. Eventually??? curious scientists began to
investigate why the deprivation of certain \"unknowns\"
made people sick. Today??? after years of studies and
experiments??? the keys to good health seem to have been
found. And one of those keys is vitamins.
Now that it is known that vitamins exist and are
important??? everyone wants to know all about them. Articles
about vitamins and vitamin supplements appear regularly
in popular magazines??? and scores of books about vitamins
are gobbled up by the reading public every year.
Such curiosity would have been satisfied long ago if all
the stories told were consistent and accurate. But each
new publication seems to promote new ideas and make
new claims for one particular vitamin or another--claims
that find an eager audience and offer hope of cures that???
many times??? cannot be substantiated.
After a time and many claims later??? it s hard to tell who
said what about a particular vitamin and whether what was
said was based on fact or on fantasy. Certainly??? if all the
claims were true??? our national health would be optimum???
but it isn t. A look at what has been said about vitamin E
will cast light on the confusion.
In the last decade or so??? vitamin E has been recom-
mended by one source or another for the cure or
prevention of heart disease??? acne??? liver spots??? muscular
dystrophy??? sterility??? sexual impotency and some fifty more
maladies. Yet??? none of these claims is true. And if you re
buying and using a vitamin E supplement to cure or
prevent any of these conditions??? you re wasting your
money and perhaps endangering your life.
Where did these claims about vitamins come from? Who
started them? And why have they continued to be believed
by a large portion of the public?
There s no doubt that vitamins are essential for good
health. Each vitamin has a function to perform in the