Nutrition Articles by Richard Kunin, MD

Until lately it was believed that the best, and perhaps the only, way to achieve a healthy old age is via genetics, ie. as a gift of nature. The search for the elixir of life or the fountain of youth, on the other hand, reflects a nurturing approach to longevity. The nature-nurture debate about human traits is ongoing but the current trend is increasingly in favor of nurture, as in nutrition. We have arrived at a consensus on diet and aging: intake of fresh fruits and vegetables can increase longevity and decrease disease.

Read more: How To Be Old & Healthy

Iron deficiency is the most widely recognized nutritional disorder in America, occurring in upwards of 20 million of us, especially women and growing children. Enrichment of flour with iron, 25 mg per pound, has failed to eradicate the problem and in the 1970's there was a serious move to double the amount of iron in flour. This was averted by the efforts of a very few physicians who realized that the less well known danger of iron overdose was equally great as the problem of anemia—or "tired blood."

Read more: Iron Deficiency: More Than Tired Blood

Just when it begins to look as if nutrition is making headway with the health establishment and the media, something comes up to set the clock back 10 or 15 years. The most recent skirmish appeared on page 1 of the New York Times on Sunday, October 26, 1997. The headline defines the article: “In Vitamin Mania, Millions Take a Gamble on Health.” No matter what follows, this article, by Jane Brody, is intended to drive the American people away from vitamin therapy. The words “mania” and “gamble” suggest that nutrient therapy is crazy, without scientific support. Many readers probably read no farther than the headline and instead go back to junk food and extra desserts in celebration of this liberation from the thousands of positive health messages in support of nutrition these past few years.

Read more: Is Nutrition a Gamble?

“Study Finds Peril in Taking High Vitamin C Supplement”. So read the 2-column headline of a report by Jane Brody in the New York Times (April 5, 1998). Millions of people are bound to follow such statements as: “500 mg a day could damage people’s genes.” and “Americans must get over their love affair with vitamin C.” I felt my own credibility challenged by such statements, packaged persuasively with research conclusions from the British Journal, Nature.

Read more: Is Vitamin C Dangerous?

Making false claims is the essence of medical quackery. Those who do it just for the money are considered charlatans. Until recently, nutrition health claims have been rated that low. Any physician, who claimed that nutrition could be a treatment for disease was automatically considered to be a quack. Do we have similar titles in other professions? In court we call it perjury; most everywhere else we just call it incompetence, but if it is done knowingly and for profit, we classify the perpetrator as a crook. Do we have a name for writers who make false claims? If you can prove it in court it is called libel, slander or swindle. Usually it is just being dumb. When it is obviously at someone’s expense, however, it is ignorance or error compounded by hostility and anger—arrogance. Journalistic arrogance is not nice, even when disguised as public service. I know. In my files I recently came across a dormant folder marked "New York Times." In it is a 1981 article by food writer, Jane Brody,¹ entitled "The dangers of nutritional misinformation."

Read more: Journalistic Quackery

Most people under the age of 40 have never heard of Linus Pauling in any connection other than as a promoter of the health benefits of vitamin C. In fact, those under the age of 50 may not know of Pauling’s accomplishments as a researcher, educator and administrator in the field of chemistry between 1920 and 1940, when he developed quantum mechanics and laid the groundwork for molecular biology—all before World War II. After the War he wrote his famous chemistry textbook, one that influenced a generation of college students and has remained in print almost 50 years, one of the longest running books in print today.

Read more: Linus Pauling's Medicine

Feast in November; be Jolly in December. That sets the holiday spirit, indeed. With all the misery in this imperfect world crowding in closer year by year—or so it seems—one feels especially blessed for every day in which civilization seems to work well enough to at least provide the basics that we sometimes take for granted.

Read more: Low Fat – High Fatigue