Once the Associated Press (AP) sends a story over the wires, it appears virtually everywhere-in newspapers, on radio and TV. And the facts and interpretation of the AP reporter are taken as gospel. So was the case on January 22, with the release of a Swedish study suggesting that too much vitamin A (over 5,000 IU daily,) raised risk of hip fractures.

It was alarming and one American physician was quoted as warning: don't take vitamin A supplements. He is a researcher on infectious diseases and HIV, but has no special credentials as an authority on bones, osteoporosis or vitamin A.

Yet, his advice overshadowed that of leading researchers on bone health and vitamins, who disagreed with the study.

"I don't see much cause for alarm," says Robert Heaney, M.D., at Creighton University School of Medicine and an internationally acknowledged expert on bones and osteoporosis. He says the Swedish study contradicts other exellent studies, and is not strong enough to warrant changing U.S. guidelines that declare retinol vitamin A safe in supplement doses up to 10,000 IU daily. (Jean Carper's Stop Aging Now! formula contains half that much-or 5,000 IU retinol vitamin A.)

"What I'm really worried about is scaring people with these headlines into NOT taking their multi-supplements that may help protect bones," Dr. Heaney added.

Other Studies Find No Danger
Although a couple other studies have suggested excessive vitamin A might weaken bones, other research showing no hazard is more compelling, says Dr. Heaney. For example:

• A very large study in Iceland at University Hospital in Reykjavik, published in 2001 found absolutely no connection between vitamin A and osteoporosis in women over 70.
• A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in December 2001, compared blood samples of retinol vitamin A with bone mineral density (a measure of bone strength) and found no association in nearly 5800 American men and women.
• A 1990 study at the University of Michigan, comparing blood levels of vitamin A and radial bone mass, found no association in people consuming more than 6600 IU of vitamin A from supplements alone, plus more vitamin A from food.
• Prominent bone researchers at Tufts University did not find that high levels of vitamin A in the blood even corresponded with high intake of vitamin A in food and supplements in a 1992 study of 284 women.

Additionally, no study has found any hint of bone-harm from beta carotene, a plant vitamin A in carrots, orange fruits and green leafy vegetables. But, substituting all beta carotene for vitamin A in multi supplements is not a solution. Most people convert very little beta carotene to vitamin A activity, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture tests.

Bottom Line: Currently, the expert scientific consensus is that retinol vitamin A in doses under 10,000 IU daily is not harmful. Dr. Heaney says that a daily 5,000 IU of retinol vitamin A, as contained in many supplements, including the Stop Aging Now! formula, has no known dangers.

If the scientific consensus changes, based on new evidence, the Stop Aging Now! Formula will be immediately revised to fit any new government and scientific guildelines.

After research found that taking selenium (usually 200 mcg daily) dramatically reduced cancer rates, notably of the prostate, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized two new health claims for selenium on supplement labels: “Selenium may reduce the risk of certain cancers.” and “Selenium may produce anticarcinogenic effects in the body,” followed by a usual disclaimer that “the evidence is limited and not conclusive.”

Harvard has one of the most prestigious departments of nutrition, headed by Walter Willett, M.D., and he and colleagues grind out research at an astonishing rate. Here are just a few of their recent studies showing how diet affects your health. The information is derived from three major long-running studies: The Nurses' Health Study, Physicians' Health Study and The Health Professionals' follow up study.

Nuts Against Diabetes
Eating a tablespoon of peanut butter or a handful of nuts at least five times a week may keep diabetes away. In a long term study of 83,818 women nurses, (The Nurses' Health Study) those who ate nuts regularly had a 20 percent lower risk of getting diabetes than women who rarely or never ate nuts. Nuts are high in monounsaturated oil that helps make insulin more sensitive. Nuts are also packed with antioxidants, plant protein and fiber. Be sure to eat nuts as a replacement for-not addition to-refined grains and red meats, researchers advised.

Women, Get Your B Vitamins
Women with high blood levels of folic acid, a B vitamin, are 27 percent less apt to develop breast cancer, according to another analysis of Harvard nurses. Among premenopausal women who consume one alcoholic beverage a day, the risk of breast cancer dropped 85 per cent in those with the highest blood folic acid compared with those with the lowest folic acid. High blood levels of vitamin B6 also reduced breast cancer chances by one-third in all women.

Cheerios for a Longer Life
Eating Cheerios and oatmeal instead of rice krispies may help you live longer. Men who ate whole-grain cereals cut their risk of premature death, especially from heart disease by about 20 percent. Eating refined-grain cereals had no impact. Previous studies show whole grain cereals also lower risk of diabetes and heart disease in women.
Examples of whole grain cereals: Wheaties, shredded wheat, Cheerios, regular oatmeal, Toasty-O's. All-bran also is good. For others, check cereal box labels for "whole grain" or "rich in whole grain."

A Recipe for Colon Cancer
More apt to promote colon cancer: eating lots of red and processed meats, sweets and desserts, french fries and refined grains, such as white bread. Women who ate this "Western diet" were about 50 percent more apt to have colon cancer than women eating a "prudent" diet of more fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, poultry and whole grains.

Eggs! May Fend Off Breast Cancer:
Eggs are back in favor. In fact, eating eggs when you are a teenager, along with vegetable oils and whole grains may help prevent breast cancer, according to the Nurses' Health Study. Eating about three eggs a week as an adolescent cut breast cancer risk by 18 percent. So did eating whole grains and vegetable oils, such as olive oil. Eating butter raised risk by 6 percent.
Eggs, said researchers, may protect because they are high in essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

Eating Fat Doesn't Make You Fat
Over the last 20 years Americans cut their intake of fatty foods, but still got obese in unprecedented numbers. How much fat you eat has little to do with weight gain, according to an analysis of studies. Indeed, eating from 18 percent to 40 percent of calories in fat "appears to have little if any effect on body fatness," was the conclusion. Cutting fatty foods can cause short-term weight loss; after that, the body compensates and the weight returns, say researchers.

For Bones, It's Vitamin D, Not Calcium:
Contrary to popular opinion, eating a high calcium diet is not apt to save postmenopausal women from a hip fracture, say researchers. In this study of nurses, neither milk nor calcium were associated with fewer broken hips. However, high amounts of vitamin D from food and supplements reduced risk of hip fracture by 37 percent. Foods high in vitamin D: eel, red and pink salmon, herring and sardines, mackerel, tuna. Also being in the sun helps your body produce vitamin D. (Jean Carper's supplement contains 600 IU vitamin D.)

Stop Prostate Cancer: Eat Fish
Eating fish more than three times a week may help prevent onset and spread of prostate cancer. Most important, men with prostate cancer who ate that much fish cut their risk of progression and metastasis of the cancer by 44 percent-compared with men who ate fish less than twice a month. The cancer-inhibiting factor in fish may be the omega-3 oils, although other factors in fish may also be responsible, said the researchers.

IF YOU CUT CARBS, HERE'S A BOOK YOU CAN'T BE WITHOUT:
"THE NEW GLUCOSE REVOLUTION" BY JENNIE BRAND-MILLER, PH.D

Lots of people are cutting out carbs to lose weight, as in the Atkins and Sugar Busters diets, as well as other high protein and low carbohydrate diets. The rationale: carbs are high in "sugar" that raises your blood glucose (sugar) and insulin, makes you hungry, manufacturers fat and generally puts on the pounds with a vengeance. Every diet offers its own list of low and high carb foods.

Atkins leaves carrots off his list of ok veggies. An exercise trainer recently told a client to avoid oatmeal-because it's high in sugar. And peanuts are forbidden on many diets as fattening. Bread and pasta are often verboten.

Did you ever wonder where the diet gurus get their information? Where's the scientific study that says carrots are full of sugar or that pasta is fattening?

There's only one major scientific group in the world that analyzes the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar. It is headed by Jennie Brand-Miller, Ph.D. at the University of Sydney in Australia and Thomas Wolever, M.D. at the University of Toronto, Canada.

These researchers feed carbohydrate foods to subjects and meticulously measure how much blood sugar goes up. And guess what they find? That the popular low- carb diets are based mostly on myths, not science. Carrots don't push up blood sugar. In fact, they are one of the safest lowest so-called glycemic foods. Bread? White bread does drive up blood sugar-unless it's sourdough, then it doesn't. White rice spikes blood sugar-unless it's Uncle Ben's converted white rice, then it's low-glycemic. (Nobody knows why; it's a mystery having to do with the processing, says Dr. Brand-Miller.)

Oatmeal and peanuts, by the way, are least apt to raise insulin or blood sugar levels.

It's smart to cut down on carbs that really do spike blood sugar and encourage diabetes and weight gain. But it's also smart to know which ones do and don't.

If you're serious about targeting bad carbs, you can find the only extensive legitimate list of carb foods and how they affect your blood sugar and insulin in the book The New Glucose Revolution by Brand-Miller and Wolever, clearly the only good book on the subject. It hit the New York Times trade paperback best seller list and is in bookstores and on the internet at Amazon.com. It is also recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil.

Vitamin E Keeps Arteries Open
An indicator of trouble in your carotid (neck) arteries is something called intima-media thickness (IMT)-a measurement of a build up of plaque on artery walls. A worsening of the thickness is a sign of progressive atherosclerosis and predicts a blockage. In a test of Finnish men, taking 136 IU of vitamin E and 250 mg of slow-release vitamin C twice a day for six years slowed down the thickening by 37 percent-thus dramatically reducing the progression of atherosclerosis.

Vitamin C Prevents Ovarian Cancer
Taking vitamin C reduced risk of the most common form of ovarian cancer by 60 percent. Taking vitamin E reduced risk 67 percent. Taking the two antioxidants together was most powerful, decreasing risk by 71 percent, according to a University of North Carolina study. Vitamin E and C in food did not deter the cancer. Daily protective dose (from food and pills) was more than 363 mg of vitamin C and more than 75 mg of vitamin E daily.

Zinc Fends Off Rheumatoid Arthritis
In a new study at the Mayo Clinic, older women who took various supplements were less apt to develop rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, taking vitamin C or vitamin E cut risk by 30 percent. Taking zinc slashed risk over 60 percent. Eating lots of fruits and cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and broccoli) also lowered risk of RA about 35 percent.

Lycopene Shrinks Prostate Cancers
Studies show that eating tomatoes, rich in the antioxidant lycopene, helps prevent prostate cancer. Now Wayne State University investigators find that lycopene supplements given to patients for only three weeks prior to surgery reduced tumor size in 80 percent of men. More remarkable, the tumor did not spread beyond the prostate gland in 73 percent of men on lycopene; it did spread in 82 percent not getting lycopene.

Vitamin E Ups Bladder Cancer Survival
You're less apt to die of bladder cancer if you take vitamin E long term, says a new study by the American Cancer Society. Taking vitamin E supplements regularly (more than 15 times a month) for more than ten years reduced the risk of death from bladder cancer by forty percent. Taking the vitamin for a shorter time did not affect bladder cancer mortality.

Vitamin C Drops Blood Pressure
Taking 500 mg of vitamin C daily reduced blood pressure in type 2 diabetics, in a new Irish study. After only a month, systolic pressure (the upper number) dropped ten points-down from 142 to 132 and diastolic pressure fell about five points. Further, the vitamin C reduced the stiffness of arteries and the aorta, making them more flexible and able to dilate and contract properly.
Other studies find that taking 1000 mg vitamin C lowers blood pressure in non-diabetics also.