Wednesday, 30th October 2009
Vitamin Dangers - Response from NZ Society of Naturopaths
NZ Society of Naturopaths Media release -
Jaine Kirtley - PR NZSN

The NZSN of Naturopaths strongly opposes the suggestion by TV 3 that Vitamins are more dangerous than passive cigarette smoke. We are not aware of studies that support this claim.If we had been contacted for comment we would have been happy to do so.

Scientific research is always evolving. Recommendations Naturopaths made thirty years ago for example, to increase fruit and vegetable intake to help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease and other disease states were not at that time backed by scientific studies but on sound naturopathic principles. Nowadays scientific studies unquestionably support the link between higher vegetable and fruit intake and a decrease in the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Scientific studies currently are producing conflicting results regarding the use of vitamins and mineral supplementation. The NZ Society of Naturopaths sees this as part of the scientific process and not an end point. Professor Wiseman from the World Cancer Research Fund commented about the latest report on Cancer Prevention

http://www.wcrf-uk.org/audience/media/press_release.php?recid=77

In other words there is no conclusive evidence for the harm of vitamins. The NZ Society of Naturopaths believes that reports that vitamins are harmful are biased.

Naturopaths who are qualified and registered with the NZ Society of Naturopaths prescribe vitamins and minerals always according to the individual’s need rather than to populations as a whole. Each individual’s needs are considered holistically rather than on a disease basis. Naturopaths will select carefully the type and quality of supplement appropriate in much the same way that the type and quality of food is selected for each individual.

The NZ Society of Naturopaths has noted that the quality of the supplements used in scientific studies is rarely described. Dietary supplements of inferior quality if used in scientific studies could arguably contain fillers and binders that may be detrimental to health; this could affect the results in that it may not be the vitamin but other substances that affect health.

As registered and qualified Naturopaths we have been trained to be aware of the dangers of overdosing on dietary supplements, and prescribe to avoid such dangers. We are aware that in NZ Medsafe and the NZ Food Standards Authority as regulatory bodies ensures that contents and labelling of supplements ensures the public is guided regarding safe doses.

The news item and television program may be detrimental to health by causing unnecessary alarm from the public. Many may indeed stop taking vitamins. This would undo much of the good work by the government in promoting vitamins intake to certain groups. For example if the B vitamin called folic acid is not taken prior to conception and during pregnancy, the risk of spina bifida increases. Incidentally Naturopaths recommended folic acid prior to conception and during pregnancy many years before the scientific studies backed the use of it to prevent birth defects.


Jaine Kirtley
Public Relations
New Zealand Society Of Naturopaths

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 Thursday, 30th July 2009
Comparisons of Nutrient Content and Health Effects of Organic foods to conv
UK Food Standards Agency Studies
Media Release - Jaine Kirtley PR -- NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY OF NATUROPATHS

The New Zealand Society of Naturopaths disputes the conclusions of the recent studies commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency into the Comparisons of Nutrient Content and Health Effects of Organic foods to conventionally produced foods. The conclusions of Food Standards Agency studies are that there are no differences between organically produced foods and conventionally produced foods in terms of beneficial nutrients and health.

The NZ Society of Naturopaths believes the FSA findings are likely to be incorrect.

The NZSN points out that the heath findings were based on only 11 studies, which the FSA authors acknowledge had a very small number of participants. The authors of the studies admitted that “conclusions relate to the evidence base currently available, which contains limitations in the design and in the comparability of studies” .

Neither FSA commissioned studies considered the levels of or effects on health of contaminants such as herbicide, pesticide and fungicide residues. The Naturopathic view is  that the presence of such contaminants can have a detrimental effect on health.

 

The study admitted that some nutrients were found to be higher in organic produce such as magnesium, zinc and flavonoids. But the study stated that these had not been proven shown to have a positive effect on health and were unlikely to be low in a normal diet. However,  many studies link low levels of these nutrients to poor health including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
 
Some studies in the FSA research were not included including an important large study in Europe “QualityLowInputFood (QLIF)” which involved over 100 scientific papers.  The QLIF study found levels of a range of nutritionally desirable compounds were shown to be higher in organic crops and levels of nutritionally undesirable compounds were shown to be lower in organic crops.
 

The FSA commissioned studies  failed to highlight their findings that organic food contained higher quantities of many nutrients, for example

- Protein 12.7%
- Beta-carotene 53.6%
- Flavonoids 38.4%
- Copper 8.3%
- Magnesium 7.1%
- Phosphorous 6%
- Potassium 2.5%
- Sodium 8.7%
- Sulphur 10.5%
- Zinc 11.3%
- Phenolic compounds 13.2%

-Fatty acids, such as CLA and omega 3 were between 10 - 60% higher in organic milk and dairy products,

-Vitamin C were up to 90% higher in leafy vegetables and fruits.

-Polyunsaturated fatty acids in organic meat and dairy products (between 2.1% - 27.8% higher)

Links:

http://www.naturopath.org.nz/about.html
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2009/jul/organic
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/organicreviewappendices.pdf
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/organicreviewreport.pdf
http://www.qlif.org

 

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 Friday, 8 May 2009
Society of Naturopaths Comment on Health Targets
Media release from the New Zealand Society of Naturopaths
Press Release: New Zealand Society of Naturopaths

Re. Fewer more focussed targets Health Minister Tony Ryall today announced a slimmed down set of Health Targets.

The new set of targets are : Shorter stays in emergency departments, Improved access to elective surgery, shorter waits for cancer treatment, Increased immunisation, Better help for smokers to quit, Better diabetes and cardiovascular services.

However the New Zealand Society of Naturopaths is very disappointed that the targets for improving nutrition , and increasing physical activity and reducing obesity have been dropped.

Naturopaths believe that nutrition and physical activity are important foundations for health, and are important in both prevention of and treatment of all illness.

The NZSN believes that to decrease diabetes and cardiovascular disease it is imperative to focus on better nutrition and greater physical activity.

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