Take, take, take your vitamins?

A study released last month says the antioxidant vitamins taken by tens of millions of people around the world won't lead to a longer life.

In addition, a review of a large number of separate studies found no long-life benefits from vitamins A, E and C and beta carotene and selenium.

One part of the patient assessment at Hoag Hospital Women's Wellness Center includes a review and recommendations of vitamins and supplements.

"Every so often an article comes out saying vitamins can kill you," says Dr. Jolanta Lukawski, medical director of the wellness center, who also maintains a private practice in Aliso Viejo, Calif.

"They say to take an aspirin a day, but they don't tell you the kind or the dosage. The same applies to these supplement studies. A lot don't discuss dosages and brands, and not all brands adhere to the same rigor.

"There are brands that say what vitamins are in their tablets and the exact milligrams of vitamins."

Q: You participated in an integrated medical fellowship with Dr. Andrew Weil in Arizona. He is a great proponent of supplements.

A: Yes. The saying "let food be your medicine and medicine your food' is so true. But I don't know anybody in the United States who gets adequate servings of fruits and vegetables every day. If they did they would be way ahead of the game.

Q: What's adequate?

A: At minimum five servings a day, seven to nine would be better. And that must include variety like berries, colorful vegetables, squash, peppers, cauliflower. A lot of time, salad doesn't count.

Q: What do you think of multiple vitamins and antioxidant supplements?

A: Some of the ingredients in multiple vitamins are not necessary. Some are fillers. There are "proprietary blends' in some antioxidants, for example, that raise questions about that supplement. Do you need green tea extract, for example?

Plus some of the things in multiple vitamins could interact with other medications. Like ginkgo is an herb and a blood thinner. If you are already on a blood thinner, that could cause problems.

Q: Do you believe in vitamins?

A: I'm a big fan of vitamins but not a super pill. It's not out there. Most people feel better when they take vitamins. I take nine or 10 a day.

Q: You said it's better to "eat your vitamins.' What about juicing?

A: You need to use a lot of fruit to get juice so you ingest more sugar. Plus you are not getting the skin and pulp.

Q: How do I know what vitamins to take?

A: This is where you really need to talk to your doctor. The doctor needs to evaluate what you eat, what your blood work shows, what medications you are on. Then your physician can make recommendations for what you need for your age and health conditions.

Q: Checking for vitamins in the system is something you do at Hoag Hospital's Women's Wellness Center. That's not routine.

A: No, it is not common. Physicians practicing traditional medicine usually don't check unless there's a suspicion of vitamin deficiency. Now we are learning we should check more for B12, for example, and vitamin D. Both are important to help offset the risk of osteoporosis, for example.

Q: What supplements should the average woman 50+ be taking?

A: The average woman should at least take calcium with D and magnesium, although the dosage varies by age and pre- or post-menopausal needs. Then there is the B complex for energy and for stress. We do not recommend vitamin A as it has proven to increase incidences of lung cancer. C is recommended to support the immune system, 500 milligrams. Anything after that should be tailored by your doctor.

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(Contact the writer, (949) 679-6913 or jghaascox.net)

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(c) 2007, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

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AP-NY-03-23-07 0603EDT

Exploring the heritage of traditional Vietnamese medicine in town

Located in a small and quiet street behind Ky Hoa Park II is the first traditional medicine museum in HCMC. The museum building has six floors and 18 exhibition rooms, with a total area of 600 square meters. Built in 1995 in a modern style, the building was used as an office for eight years. The interior and exterior decoration of the building was then refurbished into a specialized museum, depicting the cultural heritage of traditional Vietnamese medicines.

About fifty artisans and skilled handicraftsmen worked for three years to transform the building into a replica of an ancient medical house in the north around the Red River valley and an institute of the royal physicians, where royal physicians took care of the health of royalty in former imperial cities in Hue.

The materials used to renovate were carefully selected so as to recreate the ancient style of the museum. Bricks, wood and tiles were bought from old houses at two or three times the price of new ones. The builders also brought wood frames of houses built at the end of 19 century in the delta of the north to install in the museum. Among the frames, one is from a family who have worked as traditional physicians for four generations in Kieu Ky Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi. There are also pictures and patterns skillfully carved in the girders and the gates of the museum, demonstrating for visitors the talents of Vietnamese artisans.

Visitors will also see unique features of the museum on each floor of the building. On the fourth and fifth floors artisans used a special wood carving technology while on the third floor is the incrusting technology, which is given this name because the floor is of incrusted pearl. The other floors were also designed with specific features such as the traditional wood house, and the red-lacquered and gold-trimmed house. Despite having a limited area, the museum also has exhibits of the customs and cultural features of the old times, such as samples of Vietnamese and Chinese traditional medical houses, Cham tower, the institute of the royal physicians and the gate of the Medical Temple designed in the style of Thang Long Medical Temple, a historical relic built in 1774 in Hanoi.

Besides the architecture and decoration, visitors are also attracted to the precious antique objects and items displayed in the museum. There is a large picture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, depicting Vietnamese life in the three regions and traditional Vietnamese medicine activities of the old days. Also on display are books by well-known Vietnamese physicians, a collection of drawings of 2,000 herbal trees in Vietnam and a wood-carving honoring the names of 100 famous physicians who have contributed to the development of Vietnamese traditional medicine from 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The museum has also reserved almost 3,000 other objects, among them are medicine paraphernalia including knives, pestles, mortars, medicine pots, scales, medicine cabinets, planks carving prescriptions and more.

The museum serves both as a scientific foundation and a cultural center, depicting the cultural life and the creativity of ancient Vietnam in traditional medicine.

The Traditional Vietnamese Medicine Museum is at 41 Hoang Du Khuong Street, District 10, HCMC. It is open daily from 8:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m.

Traditional medicine expected to play important role in rural China

Chinese political advisors attending their annual full session in Beijing said that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) should play an important role in health care in rural areas.

"Chinese have relied on TCM for thousands of years while Western medicine was introduced into the country several hundred years ago. TCM should and can play a bigger role in rural areas," said Zhu Qingsheng, former vice minister of health and now a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body.

Zhu's remarks won consent of a number of CPPCC members both from the medical sector and other circles. "I believe TCM is a good tool in building a system of primary health care services for both urban and rural residents," said CPPCC member Ha Xiaoxian, who is also an expert from the Harbin Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center.

TCM was widely used in the rural health system after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and helped double the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978. However, it is losing out to Western medicine in the popularity stakes in China, according to an online survey last year.

A nationwide debate erupted over the survival of TCM last year after an online proposal by Zhang Gongyao, a professor with Central South University, urged China's health authorities to remove TCM practices from national health service. It attracted both support and outrage from thousands of netizens.

Supporters of the proposal labeled TCM as "unscientific and untrustworthy" and opponents lambasted supporters for ignoring history and the true values of TCM.

China's Ministry of Health has made its opposition to the proposal, saying "TCM is an inseparable and important component of China's health sector" and "Chinese medicine has been acknowledged in a growing number of foreign countries."

In the government work report delivered on March 5 at the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government would strongly support the development of traditional Chinese medicine and the folk medicine of ethnic minorities and give full play to their important role in preventing and treating illnesses.

However, China is in dire need of experienced TCM doctors as there are only 270,000 practitioners in the country and only 30, 000 of them practice TCM only, most of whom are above 50 years of age, according to CPPCC member Si Fuchun, an expert from Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The political advisors from the health sector have submitted suggestions, calling on the government to improve the training of TCM practitioners, alter certification procedure to enable more practitioners to get licenses, and subsidize those who work in rural areas and communities.

Source: Xinhua

Medicine names can make you sick

Are there any uglier words in the industrial world than the names of prescription drugs?

Imagine telling someone your doctor ordered you to take two Zilgiflux after every meal? Or a spoonful of Psylpukalor at bedtime?

So it may have been bad for business but at least a short reprieve for the English language when Merck & Co. last week announced a halt to development of a new insomnia drug, abominably called gaboxodol.

Who thinks up such atrocities?

The well-deserved death of that particular coinage was no joke for Merck's partner in Europe, the Danish firm H. Lundbeck. Poor Lundbeck's shares took their worst one-day drubbing in four years.

Bloomberg News said the firm had been hoping gaboxodol would ease its dependence on a really big sales item, Lexapro. Not to be confused with Carbitrol, Rozerem, Placidyl or Prozac. What a crew. Traditional brand names at least sounded made up by people: Wheaties, Cadillac, Coca-Cola, Palmolive. The new crop suggests a computer trying to imitate human speech. Just unrelated syllables.

Lexapro is an anti-depressant, although you wouldn't know it by the word. Gaboxodol would have peacefully administered a knockout blow if you toss and turn at night. But laboratory test data didn't show persuasive enough results to continue the investment, said Merck.

All drug makers are under pressure to keep coming up with new medicines, and original names for them, as pills and powders go "off patent." When that doomsday occurs, generic drug makers rush in to produce the profitable potions cheaper.

Insomnia is an especially restless market. Spurned by the arms of Morpheus, millions of us evidently reach for a little bottle of something by the bedside.

In this country alone, consumers spent $3 billion last year on two somnolence inducers, Lunesta and Ambien. Both happen to have nicer sounding names than average (thanks to focus group testing no doubt). Lunesta is promoted in TV commercials. They feature the lightest of cartooned butterflies wafting in through the curtains. Ambien goes off patent protection in a month.

U.S. doctors who in the past might have advised a glass of warm milk at 10 o'clock, or a good book till the eyelids droop, wrote 57 million insomnia prescriptions in 2006. There are 300 million Americans all told, so a fair percentage of us must be using.

Pharmacies did miss a blip last March when news reports coupled a brand name pill not only to traffic arrests -- understandable enough when drowsy -- but binge-eating, too?

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., added to the lore of his family's accident proneness. He crashed a car into a security barrier in Washington, told police he'd taken one pill for sleeplessness, another for nausea.

Don't mix, the Food and Drug Administration urged physicians to warn patients; sleeping pills don't go with drinking. Or driving.

They never said that about warm milk or a good book. No warning labels needed.

Retired business editor Jack Markowitz writes Sundays and Thursdays. E-mail him at jmarkowitz@tribweb.com.