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Time tested Natural treatments for mans many and various ailments. INTRODUCTION Before embarking on a comprehensive and expensive course of vitamins and herbal "cure-alls".   Remember that you are joining millions of other hopefuls contributing to a $6 billion a year vitamin industry and a $700,000,000 unsupervised herbal sales network.  Ninety percent of which sales are based upon myth, "could be useful in treating" and unadulterated hype.  The fact that the FDA, quite rightly, prohibits any specific claims as to the value of a herb or combination of herbs doesn't stop the distributors from using hyperbole, semantics and outright exaggeration to imply that X vitamin combined with Y and Z herbs is an immediate quick fix for everything from pimples on the breath, to raging pharphalona of the blowhole.  Not only that, it will enhance your sex life to compare with that of an oversexed rabbit.  Arrant rubbish.  Keep in the forefront of your mind that the Dietary Supplement Industry is a money making organization and that the sales departments are on a par with used car salesmen, if not on a slightly lower level.  It is natural to look for a higher quality of life.  But, the money spent on spurious dietary supplements would be far better invested in a diet of five servings of fruit and vegetables every day and to get off the couch and on to some form of sensible exercise.  This not to say that all dietary supplements are a "rip off", far from it.  In a given set of circumstances, a vitamin supplement is essential to a healthy life, but only to the Recommended Daily Allowances, not in the Mega-doses usually offered by the "pill pushers".   Another problem is that there is absolutely no guarantee that the pill or capsule contains what ever the label claims, either in quality, quantity, or substance.  To reduce the subject 'ad absurdum', without any formal government, or even industry supervision, the purchaser has no way of knowing what, if anything, is sealed in the capsules.   It could be practically anything, from powdered autumn leaves, to desiccated dog droppings.  This is not the paranoid ravings of a disordered mind.  There is on record, a weight control supplement that actually contained viable tape worm eggs.  It most assuredly controlled weight, but at a rather high cost to the health of the user.   A further point arises, the contents are normally powdered, dried herbs.  Who knows how the herbs were dried, considering the quantities of the various herbs marketed, it is highly likely that they are heat dried.  A process guaranteed to drive off any volatile oils that may be essential to whatever effect is implied by the distributor.   As a practical experiment, at the local Supermarket, buy some fresh parsley, dill, or basil and compare the taste to the packaged dried version. The touch word is 'Caviate Emptor', let the buyer beware.  When the need for "Alternate Naturopathic Medicine" arises, it would be advisable to visit a trained, experienced and where available, licenced, herbalist.  One who can and will prepare fresh herbs for a tisane or a powdered food additive.  Most assuredly NOT to put ones faith in the vainglorious claims published in the beautifully produced and very expensive catalogues cluttering the mail boxes.  In retrospect, most of the purveyors of herbal remedies are little more than sophisticated, modernized versions of the snake oil salesmen peddling "Indian cure-alls", Elixiers and nasty tasting alcohol, throughout the Wild West.   Surely, the American public has become a little more intelligent over the ensuing hundred years, although this appears to be a debatable supposition. N.B:   It must be clearly understood that the herbs and vitamins described and listed in subsequent issues are not intended, nor do they claim, to replace diagnosis or the treatment recommended by the licenced medical establishment.  It should be viewed as a supportive measure, nothing more.  To paraphrase the legal profession... "He who diagnoses and treats himself can have a corpse for a patient." OVERVIEW From time immemorial, man has been plagued by assorted viruses, bacteria and just plain wear and tear.  The Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, medieval Europeans and to this day, the Chinese, all had herbalists and apothecaries.  With a very limited knowledge of the complicated workings of the human body, these 'wisemen' concocted liquors, potions, elixiers and, from surviving documents, downright nauseating draughts, from locally available and imported herbs, vegetable extracts, even the body parts and fluids of animals and amphibia, then given important sounding Latin names, some of these concoctions worked, but most didn't.   Not because the herbs were ineffective, but the original diagnosis of the 'ague', the 'vapours' and 'colic', were so divinely vague that even modern 'chemo-medicine' would be equally ineffective. As time passed and the centuries slid by, more and more knowledge of anatomy and physiology was gained, but the Apothecary was still the prime source of medication and herbs specific to the ailment diagnosed.  In the late 17th century a Materia Medica was published in which these treatments were documented and prescribed.  To this day, many commonly prescribed treatments were originally extracted from plants and animals.  As examples, Quinine, Digitalis, Aspirin, Penicillin, vaccines and dozens more are well known.  In the first decade of this century, while the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry became more entrenched, the herbalists and apothecaries drifted into disuse and then disrepute.   In the past decade, wiser heads have prevailed and the supportive value of vitamins and herbs has been recognised, even by the more open minded members of the medical profession. The list of vitamins, herbs and herbal extracts that follow are called supportive supplements.   By themselves, they can not and will not "cure" anything, from a hang nail to galloping cancer.  But they can and will, help an ailing body to heal itself.   Nor can they replace a balanced, sensible diet.  True, some can enhance the immune system, others will target specific problems and help the body repair itself.   A third group will assist in the task of helping tired, or worn organs operate at a higher level of efficiency.  It must clearly bourne in mind that none of these compounds can replace, or augment an unbalanced diet.  The key to a healthy and long life is to supply the body with the nutrients and minerals it requires, ALL of them.  A daunting task in this age of "fast food", packaged, precooked, ready to eat snacks and forced vegetables, harvested early and ripened in transit, then cooked to death, destroying most of the phyto-chemicals.  It is with intent to ameliorate this deplorable state of affairs that the following list of tried and tested vitamins, herbs and extracts, their proven effects, their source and suggested dosage has been compiled. VITAMINS Well over two and a half centuries ago the lack of vitamins (avtiaminosis, or hypovitaminosis, although not under these names) was endemic in the new colonies and the transportee prison camps, notably, Beri-beri as a result of a diet of polished rice, from which the vitamin B1 has been removed.  The protracted voyages of discovery, often months, even years long, were plagued by deaths from Scurvy, the lack of vitamin C, Pellagra, the shortage of vitamin B3, Niacin.  Scurvy was prevented in the Royal Navy by a weekly ration of lime juice.   Hence the nickname, "Limeys", applied to Englishmen. Slowly, over the years, it sank into the minds of the physicians that a varied diet, with certain specific elements was essential to a healthy life.  But it wasn't until the first decade of the 20th. century that Casimir Funk isolated one of these elements which he called a vitamine.  (now shortened to vitamin.) Vitamins have been shown to be essential to life but, like most things, they can, in excess, be lethal.  As with all that we put into our bodies, a basic knowledge and reasonable care should be exercised before the flamboyant advertisements are taken at face value.   It is with this recommendation mind, that the following information is offered. FACTS Most vitamins are destroyed by heat in excess of 180*f.  Therefore, steam vegetables rather than boiling, or after washing them thoroughly, eat them raw. Naturally occurring vitamins, either in situe, or as an extract are far more efficacious than the synthetic facsimile. All the megavitamin tablets in the world can not replace a well balanced diet and exercise.   They can but supplement the enzymes and nutrients found only in nature. During the latter half of the current century, considerable research has been undertaken by assorted organizations to determine the vitamin requirements of a healthy individual.   The results of these investigations and conjectures have been published by the Food and the Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, as the Recommended Dietary Allowances, (RDA).  It must be clearly bourne in mind that these quantities are no more than a mean derived from the needs of many hundreds of individuals from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.  Therefore, they should be used as a guide, not as a edict carved in stone.  As a result of the inherent risks involved, very little, if any, controlled research has been undertaken on the true value of herbal remedies.  Although a very large number of side effects and lethal results of abuse have been documented. DETAILS The following abbreviations are used to quantify the Recommended Dietary Allowances: g. - Grams, mg. - Milligrams, mcg. - Micrograms, I.U. - International Units. Vitamin A (Retinol, Axerophthol) In its pure state vitamin A is a fat soluble, pale yellow coloured alcohol.   Originally extracted from cod and shark liver, vitamin A is now generally synthesized.  The vitamin is also found in animal liver, but unless this liver is eaten practically raw, a very dangerous practice, the vitamin is virtually destroyed by cooking.  In normal circumstances the vitamer, Carotene, (provitamin A), a red coloured pigment found in beets, dark green vegetables, broccoli, spinach and especially carrots is converted into vitamin A in the intestine and then stored in the liver. Vitamin A has been shown to have a wide range of effects, both basic and therapeutic.   One of which being its ability to improve 'night vision'.  A facility of which the Royal Air Force took full advantage during the Second World War.  Night bomber crews were fed an intense diet of carrots.  Carrot juice for breakfast, boiled carrots for lunch and carrot cake as a snack.  Since these young men were at the peak of health, the effect of this diet was minimal.  Beyond convincing the enemy that the precision bombing raids were the result of visual acuity, not the crafty electronic gadgets fitted to the aircraft.  The only other effect was the tendency of bomber crews to have longer ears and to greet one another with, "Er, Wot's up Doc?" The ailments for which therapeutic effect has been claimed are legion.  Successful treatments have also been claimed by qualified medical practitioners.  These claims will be discussed at length and in detail in later editions. Vitamin B Complex During the early twenties, the hey-day of the 'Great Vitamin Hunt', a water soluble faction was isolated from naturally occurring foods, such as milk, yeast and liver, that proved to be essential to life.  Labeled Vitamin B, it was touted as a panacea of all ills.   In point of fact it didn't cure anything.  It wasn't even one unit, but at least fifteen individual substances.  Nevertheless, each one is vital to the well-being of the human body.  They are co-enzymes.  To understand how they work and why they are so essential, it is necessary to define an enzyme.  An enzyme is a specialized protein that acts as a catalyst that takes part in, in fact is essential to, each of the millions of chemical reactions that take place in the body, milli-second by milli-second.   Without the presence of one of the B vitamins the enzyme works very slowly, or not at all.  Thus, these co-enzyme B vitamins are absolutely vital to a healthy body.   Unfortunately, the B vitamins are not stored in the body and the usual diet of processed, pre-cooked, pre-packaged food is very low in B vitamin content.  What is worse, some of the B vitamins are destroyed by coffee, alcohol, sugar and some antibiotics.   For this reason, a regular regimen of B vitamin supplementation is advised. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Chloride) Is a co-enzyme which, when combined with manganese and specific proteins, forms the enzyme carboxylase.  Carboxylase is the enzyme essential to the fundamental processes of oxidation of carbohydrates, especially the refined sugars.  Recent, in depth studies, at a number of correctional institutions have shown that some 80-85% of violent criminal offenders suffer from hypoglycemia, induced by a deficiency of vitamin B1 and a poor diet too high in refined carbohydrates and alcohol and low in cereals etcetera.  Postulating that the more candy, soda pop, sweet meats and alcohol ingested, the more vitamin B1 should be taken.  As age progresses, the B1 intake should be increased from 0.5 mg. to 1.0 mg. per 1,000 calories. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin, Lactoflavin) This faction of the B vitamin complex is found in quite small quantities in the same foods as B1, but it is not stored in the human body, thus is somewhat difficult to obtain a sufficient daily supply without a reliable supplement.  Prime sources of riboflavin are milk, eggs, liver, tongue and brewers yeast.  Not foods eaten in quantity by adults.   A deficit of B2 is shown initially as visual problems, watery eyes, light sensitivity and eye fatigue, progressing to general debility and an all over physical misery.   The RDA is in the order of 1.6 mg. daily. Vitamin B3 ( Niacin, Niacinamide, Nicotininc Acid, Nicotinamde) This co-enzyme has far reaching effects on the human body, assisting enzymes in the metabolization of protein, fat and carbohydrates.  It is also involved in the circulation and reduction of bad cholesterol in the blood stream.  Essential to the function of the nervous system and the synthesis of sex hormones, niacin is truly a vitamin.  A niacin deficiency shows itself as a very nasty list of symptoms, from bad breath all the way to dementia and gastro-intestinal failure.  Found in lean meats, poultry, fish and peanuts, either as niacin or its precursor, tryptophan, a healthy body requires some 6.6 mg.  of vitamin B3 per 1,000 calories per day.