Allergies, Inflammation, And Folic Acid

[tex]

Hi All,

For the last 8 months, I've been taking megadoses of B-12, B-9, and B-6, in a supplement called Metanyx. This combination is designed to minimize or reverse peripheral neuropathy, (nerve damage), due to diabetes, and other causes, (in my case, the damage is most likely due to gluten).

B-9 is otherwise known as folic acid, or folate, and while the RDA is 400 mcg, the normal Upper Limit for men is listed as 1,000 mcg. The dosage of folate in Metanyx is claimed by the manufacturer to be equivalent to taking 19 folic acid tablets, of 1,000 mcg each. That means that I'm taking 47.5 times the RDA, and 19 times the listed daily upper limit, for men. Actually, I also take a multivitamin, that contains the RDA, so I'm really taking 48.5 times the RDA.

Mary Beth and I were discussing this in another thread, but I thought it was worth starting another thread devoted to the use of high-dose folate. A recent research project conducted at Johns Hopkins Children's hospital turned up an interesting observation: folate helps to regulate immune response to allergens, it can reduce hay fever and asthma symptoms, and it can regulate inflammation.

Now, I've noticed that my allergies have been so mild this spring, that I haven't needed to take any antihistamines, for the first time in years, and yet tree pollen is being reported as being at the highest level in at least 5 years, in this area. A few years ago, when tree pollen was higher than normal, (but not as high as this year), it practically ate me alive - I had to take an antihistamine, day after day. Hmmmmmm. Maybe we've been missing a good bet here.

http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Folic-A ... sthma.aspx

I can't help but wonder if it would have any effect on the inflammation caused by inflammatory bowel diseases. It is claimed to suppress IgE antibody levels, but no mention is made of IgA antibodies, so maybe it wouldn't help, in the gut. It has certainly had an impressive effect on my pollen allergies, however. I can't wait until fall, to see how well it handles ragweed pollen.

Tex

[grannyh]

You may be on to something:) Although I haven't upped my intake of folic acid, I have been more diligent in taking the mulitivitamins for "old people" that my husband buys. This year has been worse than usual for allergies, yet I have raked, mowed and blown the oak fuzzies into submission this spring with very few sinus problems! Have spent hours in the flower beds trying to clean up and restore them after the hard winter they say is caused by global warming (go figure). My husband takes a handful of vitamins every day... so I finally decided to take a few myself.. guess I should keep it up:)
grannyh

[tex]

You apparently have the same opinion of the "Great Global Money Grabbing Scheme" that I have always had. Ever since the year that "threat" was announced, our winters have been getting progressively colder, on the average. Talk about an "inconvenient truth".

Before my symptoms started, I didn't take any pills, not even any vitamins. Now, I take a handful every morning, Centrum, (multivitamin), glucosamine sulphate, flax seed oil, fish oil, lutein, (for my eyes - I have drusen), vitamin D3, Metanyx, (megadoses of B-12, B-9, and B-6), Armour, (natural thyroid hormone supplement), and now, Lisinopril, for blood pressure. I even took Azilect, (rasagaline), for 6 or 7 months, up until the end of January, to treat Parkinson's Disease, but fortunately, I got over that.

I sometimes wonder if some of my health problems might have been prevented, if I had been taking some of those vitamins decades earlier, (such as the D3, lutein, flax seed oil, fish oil, Metanyx, etc.). I had asthma when I was a kid, and traded it for hay fever when I reached my 20s, so my immune system has somewhat regularly had something bad going on.

Tex

[grannyh]

I am old enough to remember those frightening Scholastic Magazine articles in school about the coming ICE AGE... now they claim it is global warming... it makes sense not not destroy the earth but these extremes are only vehicles for government control and businesses to make money....
ok getting off my soap box... LOL
grannyh

[JLH]

What happened to magnesium? I was jealous that you can take it in pill form. How did you figure out the right amount? I really don't like the spray form at all.........

I guess I should get some lutein.

[tex]

Well, I figured out the dosage by adding up my estimated average daily intake, and deducting that from the RDA.

After my surgery, I stumbled across information showing that magnesium supplements are contraindicated with D3, (and a few other things), so I added nuts into my diet, and cut out the magnesium. It's also contraindicated for certain antibiotics, such as the quilolones, and tetracyclines, incidentally, FWIW.

Anyway, after I found that I could eat almonds and cashews, (so long as I don't overdo the cashews), I cut out the magnesium supplement. Peanuts don't seem to get along with my digestive system very well, though, (meaning, they clean me out).

Tex

[Stanz]

Hi Tex,

I'm a little concerned that you may be overdoing the folic acid, in spite of the positive results in your allergy symptoms. Clearly those of us who are GF do not have as much exposure to folic acid in what we eat and likely need to also supplement most of the B vitamins, but the level you are taking is concerning.

Folic Acid, B12 May Increase Cancer Risk
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/200911 ... ancer-risk

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35874922/ns ... nutrition/

We want you healthy.

Connie

[tex]

Hi Connie,

I definitely appreciate your concern, however, in the first reference, I agree with the guy who was quoted as saying:

"The real headline of this study should be that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer -- the study found that a total of 94% of the subjects who developed lung cancer were either current or former smokers," CRN Vice President for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Andrew Shao, PhD, says in a news release.

Did you read the second page of that report? The interviewees pretty much dispute the findings of the study.

In the second reference, the so-called "risk experts" blame the rise in colon cancer rates, on the increasing addition of folic acid to cereals, flours, etc., simply because the two events occurred over the approximate same time frame. During that same time frame, vitamin D intake was being crushed by the "sunscreen campaign", our diets were being flooded with increasing amounts of high fructose corn syrup, soy was being promoted as a "miracle food", and it was being increasingly added to practically everything we eat, we were told to stop eating animal fat, etc., and a jillion other trends in food and health "fads" were taking place. Why single out folic acid supplementation? And, of course, they sited the same Norwegian study described in the first article.

You have to remember that many/most doctors consider it their duty to try to convince us that vitamins are bad for us, (that's called job security. ).

If something increases the risk of developing cancer by several hundred percent, then it is probably worthy of consideration. A 21% increase in the risk of developing something as unpredictable as cancer, is nothing but the statistical equivalent of "white noise". Digitally, that's only 0.21 - an increase of slightly over one chance in 5. IOW, if 5 people out of a hundred, in the general population, (on the average), develop a certain type of cancer during their lifetime, then a 21% increase in risk, would means that 6 people would develop that type of cancer, instead of 5. A hundred percent increase would mean that 10 would develop the cancer, rather than 5. Even with a hundred percent increase, there would still be a 90% chance that any particular individual would not develop the cancer. The significance of an "increased" risk, depends on the starting point. If the odds are low to begin with, then statistically, even a hundred percent increase is nothing to get excited about.

Like you, a year ago, I would have been very concerned about taking more than the "Upper Limit" of any vitamin, (and I would still certainly hesitate to take more than the "Upper Limit" of certain vitamins), however, when I asked my doc what he thought about taking Metanyx, and he told me that he has been taking it for years, simply because it enhances cognitive abilities, memory, etc., that changed my mind, because my doc is a very conservative guy, and he's not one to chase fads, or change his health program, simple based on hearsay.

Believe it or not, the recommended dose is two tablets daily - I'm only taking one. The recommended dose would be 95 times the RDA.

Of course, I could be wrong about the safety of this stuff - the "risk experts" cited above, would probably point out that only five and a half months after starting to take it, I found myself colonless.

I seem to find myself playing guinea pig, every so often. I've always been an experimenter, ever since I was able to get out of that crib.

Tex

[Stanz]

Hi Tex,

Yes, I did read the second page of my first link, but since this was something I considered for myself when I was doing my original research on this, it did give me pause. I know our MD's, for the most part, seem to want nothing less than a drugged-up populace and I'm not happy knowing that most of our MD's don't have a clue, or even an interest, in knowing what causes disease or finding a cure. All I know is that IF I were an MD, I'd never want to stop learning my craft.

I seem to find myself playing guinea pig, every so often. I've always been an experimenter, ever since I was able to get out of that crib.

Fellow rebel here. We are all winging it, using available research that makes sense to us.

Connie

[grannyh]

I think most of the folks here have been their own guinea pigs. This is the only place I ever got any useful information when I was diagnosed with CC:)
grannyh

[artie]

Watch that magnesium supplement folks. My partner was so convinced that I was lacking in magnesium because he heard a program on CBC wherein the health food guru said that anxiety attacks are caused by a lack of magnesium that he insisted that I start taking a supplement.

My CC symptoms began to get worse a few days after starting to take the supplement but since I was also dealing with the impending death of my much younger brother from colon cancer and caring for my 80'ish mother suffering from a degree of dementia - I brushed it off to stress.

Continued brushing it off to stress as I spent almost 3 months caring for them, 24/7, listening to my partner's loneliness, dealing with my mother's increasing anger - she beat my brother's dog visciously with a stainless steel cane everytime I turned around - (Yup, I have him now), and then the details of the estate.

Whew, 6 months later, after most of that was done and gone, I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting better - but rather getting worse and worse - to the point that I couldn't function - spent all day and night on toilet - none of my little helps were working etc. etc. Partner kept threatening to ship out to hospital (long way by water access only).

Finally (sorry this is so long) saw an article on your website - just after I joined - linking to a study - that mentioned that magnesium should never, never be taken by people with GI illnesses. Side-effect ------ the big *D*.

Stopped taking Mg. Way better within 2 weeks and back to what is normal for me within a month.

The mega Vit B thing - my GP put me on to that - works big time for me to help beet the depression that sometimes hits with CC.

But remember as all of us say ----- we are each and everyone of us an individual with unique symptoms, problems, coping strageties and solutions.

Hugs
Artie

[grannyh]

Magnesium caused me big problems too. Have to be careful with vitamins ..sometimes they have too much magnesium in them.
grannyh

[tex]

Hi Artie,

Sorry you had that problem, especially for so long. Yes, taking a magnesium supplement can be very tricky, because magnesium is a laxative. If it's not done right, it's going to cause diarrhea - it doesn't really matter whether someone has a gastrointestinal disease or not, the result will be similar. One thing we should never do, is take megadoses of magnesium, (unless we're doing a cleanout in preparation for a colonoscopy).

The best way to get enough magnesium, is by eating the right foods. The fact is, though, a huge percentage of the general public in this country is magnesium deficient, according to screening tests. In fact, inadequate magnesium intake may be a major contributor to the epidemic of autoimmune diseases that is currently plaguing the world.

Low magnesium may also be at the root of the escalation of diseases such as Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's, because a low magnesium level allows heavy metals to accumulate in the body, including in the brain. I've seen some speculation that magnesium may turn out to be the next "vitamin D". Many doctors are aware of the current problem with widespread magnesium deficiency, but similar to their lack of concern over widespread vitamin D deficiency, they aren't at all concerned about magnesium, so they just ignore the problem. This is a very good article on magnesium:

http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html

Tex