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- 1
- 00:00:00,973 --> 00:00:03,723
- (peaceful music)
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- 00:00:10,695 --> 00:00:14,455
- (children shouting)
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- 00:00:14,455 --> 00:00:18,386
- At 12, Cian Moore loved playing football
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- 00:00:18,386 --> 00:00:20,947
- until his eyes started to hurt
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- 00:00:20,947 --> 00:00:25,447
- He had trouble focusing, reading, even kicking a ball.
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- 00:00:26,666 --> 00:00:29,456
- He withdrew from people
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- Cian was going blind.
- 8
- 00:00:31,803 --> 00:00:36,308
- I was terrified because I don't want to go blind.
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- 00:00:36,308 --> 00:00:38,720
- For three years, his mother took him
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- to many doctors, trying to find out why.
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- 00:00:42,446 --> 00:00:46,084
- Those three years were the worst of being told
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- "There's nothing we can do," so it's like okay, he's blind,
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- 00:00:50,793 --> 00:00:52,043
- he'll be blind.
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- 00:00:55,690 --> 00:00:58,322
- What no doctor thought to prescribe through all of those
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- 00:00:58,322 --> 00:01:02,725
- consultations was these, just two capsules a year
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- 00:01:02,725 --> 00:01:04,887
- can save a child's sight.
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- 00:01:04,887 --> 00:01:06,983
- It can even save their life.
- 18
- 00:01:06,983 --> 00:01:10,025
- In fact, this remedy has already saved over five million
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- lives, but this isn't a medicine, it isn't a drug.
- 20
- 00:01:15,249 --> 00:01:16,749
- This is vitamin A.
- 21
- 00:01:19,862 --> 00:01:23,589
- But why was Cian so low in this vitamin?
- 22
- 00:01:23,589 --> 00:01:26,028
- Well, since he was six year olds, he lived on bland
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- 00:01:26,028 --> 00:01:29,973
- foods such as chicken and chips, he wouldn't touch any
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- fresh fruit or vegetables.
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- 00:01:32,706 --> 00:01:36,808
- He'd starve, he wouldn't care or if you would make him
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- 00:01:36,808 --> 00:01:38,308
- he would vomit it.
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- Hundreds of thousands of malnourished children
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- 00:01:42,557 --> 00:01:46,635
- are on the brink of going blind because they lack vitamin A.
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- 00:01:46,635 --> 00:01:50,106
- Most are in developing countries, and caught early,
- 30
- 00:01:50,106 --> 00:01:52,439
- their sight can be restored.
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- 00:01:53,921 --> 00:01:57,381
- For Cian, high dose vitamin A supplements saved the sight
- 32
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- in his right eye, but he's permanently blind in the other.
- 33
- 00:02:03,246 --> 00:02:07,032
- Vitamin A literally has the power to make the blind see,
- 34
- 00:02:07,032 --> 00:02:08,503
- yet here's the rub.
- 35
- 00:02:08,503 --> 00:02:11,565
- Taking extra vitamin A will not offer any benefit if you
- 36
- 00:02:11,565 --> 00:02:15,871
- already have enough, and too much is toxic.
- 37
- 00:02:15,871 --> 00:02:17,204
- It can kill you.
- 38
- 00:02:21,952 --> 00:02:25,941
- In 1913, Antarctic explorers Douglas Mawson and Xavier
- 39
- 00:02:25,941 --> 00:02:29,695
- Mertz were fighting for their lives.
- 40
- 00:02:29,695 --> 00:02:33,814
- With most of their food gone, they faced a stark choice.
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- Eat their dogs or die.
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- 00:02:43,303 --> 00:02:48,013
- After reluctantly eating their dogs, the men fell ill,
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- burning with fever.
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- 00:02:50,935 --> 00:02:53,856
- Within days, Mertz was dead.
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- 00:02:53,856 --> 00:02:57,773
- Mawson, against the odds, made it back to camp.
- 46
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- Ho!
- 47
- 00:03:02,380 --> 00:03:05,313
- (dogs whining)
- 48
- 00:03:05,313 --> 00:03:07,704
- So what was the mystery illness that
- 49
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- killed Mertz and nearly cost Mawson his life?
- 50
- 00:03:11,605 --> 00:03:13,907
- Well, when they ate their dogs, they weren't just eating
- 51
- 00:03:13,907 --> 00:03:18,907
- canine flesh and fat, they also ate the dog's livers which
- 52
- 00:03:19,115 --> 00:03:21,865
- contain high levels of vitamin A.
- 53
- 00:03:25,366 --> 00:03:28,040
- So basically, they overdosed.
- 54
- 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,873
- Mertz went mad, his condition known as hypervitaminosis A.
- 55
- 00:03:34,765 --> 00:03:39,765
- Hypervitaminosis A is rare, but deadly, and today, we know
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- it can be caused by overuse of high dose vitamin A
- 57
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- supplements, the same kind of supplements that can save
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- a child's sight.
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- This power and complexity lies at the heart of the great
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- vitamin story.
- 61
- 00:04:01,101 --> 00:04:03,851
- (dramatic music)
- 62
- 00:04:08,015 --> 00:04:11,684
- I'm embarking on an epic, world spanning investigation
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- of vitamin science in history.
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- That is one big fish.
- 65
- 00:04:18,734 --> 00:04:21,680
- I want to know how we discovered them.
- 66
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- You sure this is safe?
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- What they actually are.
- 68
- 00:04:27,620 --> 00:04:30,484
- The 13 vitamins can be divided into two teams.
- 69
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- How we learnt to build them.
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- Tonight, Walgreens and Target have pulled
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- the products nationwide.
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- And how safe they are.
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- All vitamins, all nutrients,
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- they are toxic in high amounts.
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- We gotta start taking these seriously as we should with
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- every chemical we put into our bodies.
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- You shouldn't assume it's safe and you shouldn't assume
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- it's beneficial.
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- Currently we don't know about the long term ethics
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- of diet supplements.
- 81
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- I'm a scientist.
- 82
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- I'm also a father and I want to know how do I do the best
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- for my son, and one day, might he be taking vitamin pills
- 84
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- to Mars?
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- (engine blasting off)
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- Across the word, some experts claim that taking vitamins
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- can be life savers, whereas others argue that it's just
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- a waste of time or even dangerous, so how are we supposed
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- to know whether the take them or not?
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- (dramatic music)
- 91
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- Everyone is intimidated by a shark. Become
- akumenang.com
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- (train bell ringing)
- 93
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- Over a billion of us take at least one vitamin or supplement
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- hoping to keep as healthy as possible
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- for as long as possible,
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- but most of us know nothing about them.
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- This ordinary meal contains almost every single essential
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- vitamin and nutrient we need.
- 99
- 00:06:05,894 --> 00:06:08,728
- There are vitamins A, B, and K in the lettuce, lots of
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- vitamin Bs in the chicken, vitamin C in the tomato, K in
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- the cucumber, vitamin D in the egg yolk?
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- There are even vitamins in your coffee and that's before
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- you add the milk.
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- In fact, this meal contains every single one of these but
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- what are these exactly and what are they doing to
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- our bodies, and how much do we actually need?
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- Around 100 years ago, we didn't even know that vitamins
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- existed.
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- We knew we needed protein, carbohydrate, fat, and minerals
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- and some suspected there were other vital substances
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- in food but they had no name.
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- And then in 1911, a Polish chemist began some important
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- experiments with some unfortunate pigeons and he changed
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- the course of history.
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- His name was Dr. Casimir Funk.
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- ♪ It must have been some flash of inspiration ♪
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- ♪ Rendered scientifically precise ♪
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- ♪ Conclusions that he drew from observation ♪
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- ♪ Feeding pigeons different types of rice ♪
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- ♪ He said some get sick ♪
- 121
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- ♪ Some get well ♪
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- ♪ It ain't no germ or virus, not as far as I can tell ♪
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- ♪ There's something else inside that feed ♪
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- ♪ It isn't something bad they get ♪
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- ♪ It's something good they need ♪
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- ♪ Thank you Dr. Funk ♪
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- ♪ For helping us understand ♪
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- At the turn of the 20th century, millions of people were
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- suffering from diseases rarely seen today, things like
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- beri beri, pellagra, rickets, and scurvy.
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- 00:08:08,071 --> 00:08:09,548
- Now, the thinking at the time was that it was the
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- presence of something bad that made us sick, germs and
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- toxins were all the range.
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- ♪ It all comes down to the (mumbles) aminos ♪
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- ♪ Casimir Funk is ♪
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- When Funk fed his pigeons white rice, starch, or sugar,
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- they became ill.
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- But fed brown rice, they recovered.
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- So Funk wanted to identify the substance in the brown rice
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- that cured them.
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- 00:08:34,893 --> 00:08:37,095
- Now, Funk didn't know where this mystery substance actually
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- was but he invented a word to describe it, from the Latin
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- vita, meaning life, and amine, containing nitrogen.
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- Later, the E was dropped in English, so the word
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- became vitamin.
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- 00:08:48,234 --> 00:08:52,308
- Dr. Funk invented a catchy word that captured a fresh idea.
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- There was a new family of nutrients, the absence of which
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- caused disease.
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- Soon it became evident that they were not all amines,
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- but the name stuck and the word vitamin
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- 00:09:01,169 --> 00:09:04,752
- became famous, taking on a life of its own.
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- ♪ Thank you Dr. Funk ♪
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- Over the next few decades, all 13 vitamins were identified.
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- Soon, they were synthesized and turned into pills.
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- Little did Dr. Funk realize, his vitamins would spawn
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- 100 billion dollar a year industry.
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- Vitamania had begun.
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- ♪ Thank you Dr. Funk ♪
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- ♪ Casimir Funk, Casimir Funk ♪
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- (lively music)
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- I've come here to one of the largest nutritional trade
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- shows on Earth.
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- They're expecting tens of thousands of people, all buying
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- 00:10:02,106 --> 00:10:05,070
- and selling the latest and greatest in vitamins and dietary
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- supplements.
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- 00:10:07,115 --> 00:10:09,615
- I want to see what's on offer.
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- 00:10:14,284 --> 00:10:16,879
- After about four days, you really feel all the brain
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- 00:10:16,879 --> 00:10:20,466
- health benefits, so cognitive support, memory support,
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- 00:10:20,466 --> 00:10:22,260
- amazing sleep.
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- 00:10:22,260 --> 00:10:25,404
- Historically, silver's known to be antiviral, antifungal,
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- 00:10:25,404 --> 00:10:28,268
- antibacterial to build your immune system by potentiating
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- 00:10:28,268 --> 00:10:29,553
- your white blood cell count.
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- 00:10:29,553 --> 00:10:32,836
- They're organic botanical source vitamins and instead of
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- putting them in isolated sugar syrups, we put them
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- in more food.
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- 00:10:41,433 --> 00:10:44,352
- Vitamins have managed to develop this halo around them
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- where everything the word vitamin touches seems like it
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- should be both miraculous and safe.
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- 00:10:51,678 --> 00:10:53,721
- Science journalist Catherine Price spent
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- five years investigating vitamins.
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- 00:10:57,170 --> 00:10:59,912
- We tend to think of vitamins and supplements as this kind
- 182
- 00:10:59,912 --> 00:11:02,221
- of home grown industry of people gathering herbs in their
- 183
- 00:11:02,221 --> 00:11:04,194
- backyards and boiling oranges
- 184
- 00:11:04,194 --> 00:11:05,978
- for vitamin C and it's actually
- 185
- 00:11:05,978 --> 00:11:08,145
- a 40 billion dollar a year industry
- 186
- 00:11:08,145 --> 00:11:10,570
- in the US and 100 billion dollars
- 187
- 00:11:10,570 --> 00:11:13,751
- around the world and it's growing rapidly.
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- 00:11:13,751 --> 00:11:15,864
- Who is taking vitamins?
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- 00:11:15,864 --> 00:11:17,636
- More than half of Americans are taking some kind of
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- 00:11:17,636 --> 00:11:22,329
- supplement and ironically, that half is often the healthier
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- half of the American population.
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- 00:11:25,171 --> 00:11:27,350
- You have to have a certain amount of awareness and interest
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- in health to go out and buy these products.
- 194
- 00:11:30,904 --> 00:11:34,179
- It has omega-369 and it's the only sauce of omega-7
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- 00:11:34,179 --> 00:11:36,095
- in the plant sauce world.
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- 00:11:36,095 --> 00:11:39,400
- All of our multi-vitamins have a base of omega-3
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- 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:43,281
- fish oil, multi-vitamin as well as vitamins E12 and D3.
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- 00:11:43,281 --> 00:11:46,674
- C, D, E, all your B vitamins.
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- 00:11:46,674 --> 00:11:49,651
- Folic acid, you name it, it's in there.
- 200
- 00:11:49,651 --> 00:11:53,192
- Most vitamins are self prescribed.
- 201
- 00:11:53,192 --> 00:11:56,150
- They're not recommended by a doctor.
- 202
- 00:11:56,150 --> 00:11:57,824
- So we should know that the biggest category for
- 203
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- vitamins is multi-vitamins.
- 204
- 00:12:00,331 --> 00:12:03,379
- Most of us, not all of us, have been taught from a young age
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- they're something that you take just in case.
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- 00:12:05,754 --> 00:12:07,914
- Just in case you don't get enough fruits and vegetables
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- from your diet, just take the multi-vitamin.
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- 00:12:10,912 --> 00:12:12,790
- And I think when you talk about vitamins, a big part of the
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- 00:12:12,790 --> 00:12:14,746
- psychology is hope.
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- What you're looking at right here is a powdered magnesium
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- citrate formula.
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- 00:12:18,711 --> 00:12:21,669
- We have an adrenal fatigue formula that has a very heavy
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- 00:12:21,669 --> 00:12:23,335
- B-complex.
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- 00:12:23,335 --> 00:12:25,773
- These are biological response modifiers.
- 215
- 00:12:25,773 --> 00:12:28,121
- Are there like vitamins in here?
- 216
- 00:12:28,121 --> 00:12:29,783
- Yeah, there's--
- 217
- 00:12:29,783 --> 00:12:30,841
- Some?
- 218
- 00:12:30,841 --> 00:12:34,710
- Then, Catherine told me something I found staggering.
- 219
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- How are vitamins regulated?
- 220
- 00:12:36,755 --> 00:12:38,711
- Vitamins are not regulated the way that you would think
- 221
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- they would be.
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- 00:12:40,468 --> 00:12:43,514
- Technically, the FDA is in control of them, but all of
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- these products around us, all of the 85 thousand dietary
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- supplement products on the shelves,
- 225
- 00:12:49,356 --> 00:12:52,446
- none of them are required to be tested for safety
- 226
- 00:12:52,446 --> 00:12:55,235
- or for efficacy before they're sold.
- 227
- 00:12:55,235 --> 00:12:56,585
- So not at all.
- 228
- 00:12:56,585 --> 00:13:00,371
- The FDA cannot require any of these companies to test them
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- 00:13:00,371 --> 00:13:02,658
- to make sure they do what they say or that they're not
- 230
- 00:13:02,658 --> 00:13:04,794
- going to hurt you.
- 231
- 00:13:04,794 --> 00:13:07,073
- And it's not just the US.
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- 00:13:07,073 --> 00:13:10,437
- In Australia and Europa as well, they're not required to be
- 233
- 00:13:10,437 --> 00:13:12,937
- tested for safety before sale.
- 234
- 00:13:13,909 --> 00:13:16,591
- But what about kid's vitamins?
- 235
- 00:13:16,591 --> 00:13:18,542
- Children's vitamins are regulated the same way adult
- 236
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- vitamins are, which is to say they're not required to be
- 237
- 00:13:20,471 --> 00:13:23,815
- tested for safety or for efficacy before they're sold.
- 238
- 00:13:23,815 --> 00:13:26,323
- So what you're giving your child doesn't have
- 239
- 00:13:26,323 --> 00:13:27,406
- to be tested?
- 240
- 00:13:28,785 --> 00:13:29,702
- So nothing?
- 241
- 00:13:30,572 --> 00:13:31,405
- No.
- 242
- 00:13:35,985 --> 00:13:39,189
- Never in history have we had the ability to manipulate
- 243
- 00:13:39,189 --> 00:13:42,573
- our nutrition in such extraordinary ways, but how do we know
- 244
- 00:13:42,573 --> 00:13:45,752
- if what we're doing is a good idea or not?
- 245
- 00:13:45,752 --> 00:13:49,091
- I'm a scientist, my background is in physics, and so I have
- 246
- 00:13:49,091 --> 00:13:51,723
- a bias towards evidence and I'm skeptical of some of the
- 247
- 00:13:51,723 --> 00:13:54,464
- marketing claims made here, but I'm trying to keep an open
- 248
- 00:13:54,464 --> 00:13:57,985
- mind, after all, there have been at least 10 Nobel prizes
- 249
- 00:13:57,985 --> 00:14:01,775
- awarded for vitamin science, so I'm in search of a deeper
- 250
- 00:14:01,775 --> 00:14:05,168
- understanding and I want to start with the basics, like
- 251
- 00:14:05,168 --> 00:14:07,335
- what exactly is a vitamin?
- 252
- 00:14:09,268 --> 00:14:12,018
- (peaceful music)
- 253
- 00:14:15,615 --> 00:14:19,865
- Vitamins are chemicals that are essential for life.
- 254
- 00:14:21,598 --> 00:14:25,015
- Without them, we get sick and we can die.
- 255
- 00:14:28,945 --> 00:14:32,421
- Our bodies can't make vitamins by themselves, so we usually
- 256
- 00:14:32,421 --> 00:14:35,017
- get them from our food.
- 257
- 00:14:35,017 --> 00:14:38,141
- So far, 13 vitamins have been identified and although they
- 258
- 00:14:38,141 --> 00:14:41,965
- share a name, these are very different molecules and they
- 259
- 00:14:41,965 --> 00:14:44,450
- do very different things.
- 260
- 00:14:44,450 --> 00:14:47,033
- (bright music)
- 261
- 00:14:48,670 --> 00:14:51,872
- ♪ Hey, hey, I'm vitamin A ♪
- 262
- 00:14:51,872 --> 00:14:55,896
- ♪ The first vitamin on display ♪
- 263
- 00:14:55,896 --> 00:14:59,829
- ♪ When you open your eyes, I help you see the light ♪
- 264
- 00:14:59,829 --> 00:15:04,279
- ♪ When the germs arise, I'm gonna teach you to fight ♪
- 265
- 00:15:04,279 --> 00:15:07,608
- ♪ Here we come, we're the vitamin Bs ♪
- 266
- 00:15:07,608 --> 00:15:10,926
- ♪ We're a great big family ♪
- 267
- 00:15:10,926 --> 00:15:14,297
- ♪ So much energy you can gain ♪
- 268
- 00:15:14,297 --> 00:15:17,946
- ♪ For your metabolism and your genes and your brain ♪
- 269
- 00:15:17,946 --> 00:15:22,946
- ♪ One two three five six seven nine 12, the Bs ♪
- 270
- 00:15:23,646 --> 00:15:27,204
- ♪ Howdy folks, they call me vitamin C ♪
- 271
- 00:15:27,204 --> 00:15:28,446
- ♪ Vitamin C ♪
- 272
- 00:15:28,446 --> 00:15:33,446
- ♪ I'm a healer and protector and I can almost guarantee ♪
- 273
- 00:15:34,052 --> 00:15:39,052
- ♪ You're impervious to scurvy if you get your share of me ♪
- 274
- 00:15:39,906 --> 00:15:44,906
- ♪ Vitamin C, vitamin C, vitamin C ♪
- 275
- 00:15:47,157 --> 00:15:52,157
- ♪ I think it's unfair, it almost seems cruel ♪
- 276
- 00:15:54,378 --> 00:15:59,378
- ♪ To come from the sun and still be so cool ♪
- 277
- 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:05,645
- ♪ Warmest regards, vitamin D ♪
- 278
- 00:16:05,645 --> 00:16:08,170
- ♪ Yeah ♪
- 279
- 00:16:08,170 --> 00:16:13,170
- ♪ Well, babe I know sometimes it's hard to recognize ♪
- 280
- 00:16:13,762 --> 00:16:18,762
- ♪ When you need some help to antioxidize ♪
- 281
- 00:16:19,222 --> 00:16:23,584
- ♪ So stop those radicals from running wild and free ♪
- 282
- 00:16:23,584 --> 00:16:28,584
- ♪ Look to me, E ♪
- 283
- 00:16:29,718 --> 00:16:32,481
- ♪ Hey I'm K, there's something I'd say, I keep your body ♪
- 284
- 00:16:32,481 --> 00:16:34,679
- ♪ Rocking in a critical way ♪
- 285
- 00:16:34,679 --> 00:16:37,430
- ♪ A well known cornerstone for your blood and bone ♪
- 286
- 00:16:37,430 --> 00:16:40,073
- ♪ I can't do it alone, you need all the crew, the whole ♪
- 287
- 00:16:40,073 --> 00:16:43,037
- ♪ Retinue, props to do because that's how you grew ♪
- 288
- 00:16:43,037 --> 00:16:45,682
- ♪ And that's what you need to get through the day, ♪
- 289
- 00:16:45,682 --> 00:16:49,849
- ♪ Talk about vitamins A through K ♪
- 290
- 00:16:55,971 --> 00:16:58,967
- The 13 vitamins can be divided into two teams, the water
- 291
- 00:16:58,967 --> 00:17:02,991
- soluble team consisting of all the B vitamins and vitamin C
- 292
- 00:17:02,991 --> 00:17:04,224
- and the fat soluble team,
- 293
- 00:17:04,224 --> 00:17:07,746
- consisting of A, D, E, and K, ADEK.
- 294
- 00:17:07,746 --> 00:17:10,006
- So why does this matter?
- 295
- 00:17:10,006 --> 00:17:12,838
- Well, we can get rid of excess water soluble vitamins
- 296
- 00:17:12,838 --> 00:17:15,566
- in our urine, but the fat soluble ones are stored in our
- 297
- 00:17:15,566 --> 00:17:18,808
- livers and fatty tissue, so they're the ones that can
- 298
- 00:17:18,808 --> 00:17:21,475
- build up easily to toxic levels.
- 299
- 00:17:23,658 --> 00:17:26,440
- What does a food data miner do?
- 300
- 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,406
- So essentially, I'm looking at all
- 301
- 00:17:28,406 --> 00:17:31,807
- these different kind of (mumbles) foods.
- 302
- 00:17:31,807 --> 00:17:33,693
- Someone who's an expert in the vitamins in our
- 303
- 00:17:33,693 --> 00:17:36,776
- food is dietician Dr. Yasmine Probst.
- 304
- 00:17:38,441 --> 00:17:42,777
- If I could see the amount of vitamins that I need every day,
- 305
- 00:17:42,777 --> 00:17:44,123
- it would look like this?
- 306
- 00:17:44,123 --> 00:17:44,956
- That's right,
- 307
- 00:17:44,956 --> 00:17:45,789
- that's a very close representation
- 308
- 00:17:45,789 --> 00:17:48,328
- to what we need, they're tiny.
- 309
- 00:17:48,328 --> 00:17:49,523
- There's hardly anything here.
- 310
- 00:17:49,523 --> 00:17:50,684
- Exactly.
- 311
- 00:17:50,684 --> 00:17:52,044
- They're a speck on this plate here.
- 312
- 00:17:52,044 --> 00:17:54,633
- Yeah, like vitamin D there, nearly invisible.
- 313
- 00:17:54,633 --> 00:17:56,064
- Yeah, exactly.
- 314
- 00:17:56,064 --> 00:17:59,390
- It just looks like a few pinches of salt or spice.
- 315
- 00:17:59,390 --> 00:18:02,050
- Yeah, so it might be about the size of say, a poppy seed
- 316
- 00:18:02,050 --> 00:18:06,714
- or something really tiny that people see on a regular basis.
- 317
- 00:18:06,714 --> 00:18:09,559
- So in order to get all the vitamins I need in a day, this
- 318
- 00:18:09,559 --> 00:18:11,400
- is the food I need to eat?
- 319
- 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,587
- That's right, that's right, not very many foods at all.
- 320
- 00:18:14,587 --> 00:18:18,011
- But I would eat this in one meal, this looks like dinner
- 321
- 00:18:18,011 --> 00:18:19,338
- and dessert to me.
- 322
- 00:18:19,338 --> 00:18:21,273
- Well, this is the amount that you would need as an
- 323
- 00:18:21,273 --> 00:18:22,732
- average adult male.
- 324
- 00:18:22,732 --> 00:18:25,134
- Some people imagine you need to eat a giant mound
- 325
- 00:18:25,134 --> 00:18:27,875
- of food, you know like a pile of spinach to get the vitamins
- 326
- 00:18:27,875 --> 00:18:31,114
- that you need in a day, but it's really not that much.
- 327
- 00:18:31,114 --> 00:18:33,137
- Well, I guess there's a little bit of confusion out there.
- 328
- 00:18:33,137 --> 00:18:35,317
- People think that the amount of food that you need are
- 329
- 00:18:35,317 --> 00:18:38,352
- these really big numbers but it's really not that much
- 330
- 00:18:38,352 --> 00:18:41,054
- and it's more about eating the right foods in the right
- 331
- 00:18:41,054 --> 00:18:44,686
- balance so that you get the right nutrients that you need.
- 332
- 00:18:44,686 --> 00:18:47,693
- One carrot gives me all I would need of vitamin A.
- 333
- 00:18:47,693 --> 00:18:51,129
- That's right, one medium carrot.
- 334
- 00:18:51,129 --> 00:18:53,918
- When we eat a carrot, vitamins are released
- 335
- 00:18:53,918 --> 00:18:58,751
- into the bloodstream, beginning a complex molecular dance.
- 336
- 00:18:59,593 --> 00:19:00,843
- Take vitamin A.
- 337
- 00:19:01,811 --> 00:19:05,956
- Our body makes it from a plant chemical called beta carotene
- 338
- 00:19:05,956 --> 00:19:09,637
- and transforms it into forms of vitamin A that are essential
- 339
- 00:19:09,637 --> 00:19:14,637
- for sight, immune function, and even how an embryo develops.
- 340
- 00:19:16,439 --> 00:19:20,523
- Each of the vitamins trigger amazing chemical reactions,
- 341
- 00:19:20,523 --> 00:19:24,606
- and together, they impact every part of our body.
- 342
- 00:19:25,610 --> 00:19:30,523
- We can't hear, smell, think, touch, taste, breathe
- 343
- 00:19:30,523 --> 00:19:33,001
- without these 13 vitamins,
- 344
- 00:19:33,001 --> 00:19:36,751
- they don't just keep us alive, they are life.
- 345
- 00:19:38,417 --> 00:19:42,384
- And when it's all working well, it's a wonder.
- 346
- 00:19:42,384 --> 00:19:47,384
- But when we don't have enough, when there are deficiencies,
- 347
- 00:19:47,541 --> 00:19:49,541
- the body's systems fail.
- 348
- 00:19:54,829 --> 00:19:58,106
- I noticed that I was getting very tired.
- 349
- 00:19:58,106 --> 00:20:01,105
- Weakness, blood was coming out through the side of the
- 350
- 00:20:01,105 --> 00:20:04,855
- teeth and stuff and it started getting worse.
- 351
- 00:20:07,475 --> 00:20:12,223
- And then I also noticed that I was sleeping a lot.
- 352
- 00:20:12,223 --> 00:20:17,223
- Now, I'm talking about from six in the afternoon all the way
- 353
- 00:20:18,251 --> 00:20:21,418
- 'til 10 in the morning, I mean, a lot.
- 354
- 00:20:22,770 --> 00:20:25,884
- And so that kind of scared me, so I knew something
- 355
- 00:20:25,884 --> 00:20:30,134
- was wrong, so that's why I'm glad I went and I seen
- 356
- 00:20:31,244 --> 00:20:32,654
- Dr. Churchill.
- 357
- 00:20:32,654 --> 00:20:35,321
- (intense music)
- 358
- 00:20:42,464 --> 00:20:45,128
- Sonny Lopez had a disease that no one had
- 359
- 00:20:45,128 --> 00:20:49,696
- thought to look for, let alone test for for decades,
- 360
- 00:20:49,696 --> 00:20:52,113
- and he wasn't the first case.
- 361
- 00:20:55,073 --> 00:21:00,073
- So the first patient came in with painful, bruisy rash
- 362
- 00:21:00,252 --> 00:21:04,296
- on both of his legs and general joint pains and fatigue
- 363
- 00:21:04,296 --> 00:21:08,988
- and other systems and he had been treated for what they
- 364
- 00:21:08,988 --> 00:21:12,425
- thought was an infection of the legs with no improvement,
- 365
- 00:21:12,425 --> 00:21:16,576
- people were looking for blood clots and other things and all
- 366
- 00:21:16,576 --> 00:21:19,873
- of the tests were coming up negative.
- 367
- 00:21:19,873 --> 00:21:23,040
- Someone thought to ask about his diet.
- 368
- 00:21:24,345 --> 00:21:27,774
- They found that he had been eating nothing but white bread
- 369
- 00:21:27,774 --> 00:21:31,879
- and American cheese for the last several years.
- 370
- 00:21:31,879 --> 00:21:36,002
- No fruits, no vegetables, nothing that would provide you
- 371
- 00:21:36,002 --> 00:21:41,002
- with the basic level of nutrition that you would need.
- 372
- 00:21:41,084 --> 00:21:43,975
- Then, with that kind of nutritional problem, maybe we should
- 373
- 00:21:43,975 --> 00:21:48,250
- check some vitamin levels and his vitamin C level came back
- 374
- 00:21:48,250 --> 00:21:51,809
- at absolutely undetectable, level of zero.
- 375
- 00:21:51,809 --> 00:21:54,282
- Dr. Eric Churchill was stunned.
- 376
- 00:21:54,282 --> 00:21:57,092
- He realized the patients had a disease common more than
- 377
- 00:21:57,092 --> 00:21:59,675
- 100 years ago, they had scurvy.
- 378
- 00:22:01,643 --> 00:22:03,944
- This is something you hear about with pirates in the
- 379
- 00:22:03,944 --> 00:22:07,414
- 18th century, it's just not a disease that we thought
- 380
- 00:22:07,414 --> 00:22:08,997
- people had anymore.
- 381
- 00:22:10,011 --> 00:22:12,761
- (dramatic music)
- 382
- 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,666
- Scurvy was absolutely devastating
- 383
- 00:22:22,666 --> 00:22:27,066
- it's been estimated that between the late 1400s and early
- 384
- 00:22:27,066 --> 00:22:30,862
- 1800s, two million sailors perished as a result
- 385
- 00:22:30,862 --> 00:22:32,195
- of this disease.
- 386
- 00:22:33,185 --> 00:22:35,275
- It's harder than I expected.
- 387
- 00:22:35,275 --> 00:22:37,942
- Medical historian Dr. John Waller has studied the links
- 388
- 00:22:37,942 --> 00:22:39,942
- between scurvy and diet.
- 389
- 00:22:41,261 --> 00:22:43,820
- So this is a typical daily ration for a sailor in the
- 390
- 00:22:43,820 --> 00:22:48,820
- royal navy in the 18th century, about a pound of very hard
- 391
- 00:22:48,915 --> 00:22:50,516
- ship's biscuit.
- 392
- 00:22:50,516 --> 00:22:52,813
- Then they would get something like half a pint
- 393
- 00:22:52,813 --> 00:22:53,980
- of dried peas.
- 394
- 00:22:55,033 --> 00:22:59,704
- Then salted meat, and it would be washed down with something
- 395
- 00:22:59,704 --> 00:23:01,324
- like a gallon of beer every day.
- 396
- 00:23:01,324 --> 00:23:04,156
- But there was something missing from their diet.
- 397
- 00:23:04,156 --> 00:23:07,079
- Yeah, there's something very, very significant missing.
- 398
- 00:23:07,079 --> 00:23:09,746
- And that of course is vitamin C.
- 399
- 00:23:10,915 --> 00:23:12,715
- The thought that certain foods might
- 400
- 00:23:12,715 --> 00:23:14,859
- cure scurvy wasn't a new one.
- 401
- 00:23:14,859 --> 00:23:18,731
- It was an old idea that had been discovered and forgotten
- 402
- 00:23:18,731 --> 00:23:19,648
- many times.
- 403
- 00:23:20,866 --> 00:23:25,393
- Every so often, somebody would try citrus fruits.
- 404
- 00:23:25,393 --> 00:23:28,079
- The sailors would make what appeared to be a miraculous
- 405
- 00:23:28,079 --> 00:23:32,079
- recovery, but it never became standard practice.
- 406
- 00:23:33,292 --> 00:23:34,867
- So how did they eventually figure out
- 407
- 00:23:34,867 --> 00:23:36,375
- how to cure scurvy?
- 408
- 00:23:36,375 --> 00:23:38,315
- It happened very gradually, but there were a few
- 409
- 00:23:38,315 --> 00:23:40,560
- really critical moments.
- 410
- 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,893
- One of them took place in 1747, when a Scottish born
- 411
- 00:23:45,961 --> 00:23:50,260
- ship's surgeon ran what is the first controlled
- 412
- 00:23:50,260 --> 00:23:52,927
- clinical trial in human history.
- 413
- 00:23:54,742 --> 00:23:58,069
- Dr. James Lind had seen the horrors of scurvy
- 414
- 00:23:58,069 --> 00:23:59,417
- firsthand.
- 415
- 00:23:59,417 --> 00:24:02,682
- Usually the ship's surgeon would try a range of supposed
- 416
- 00:24:02,682 --> 00:24:07,461
- remedies and hope for the best, but Lind came up with a
- 417
- 00:24:07,461 --> 00:24:08,378
- novel idea.
- 418
- 00:24:09,658 --> 00:24:14,177
- He took 12 men with scurvy and split them into pairs.
- 419
- 00:24:14,177 --> 00:24:16,490
- Each pair was given ship's rations plus one of the
- 420
- 00:24:16,490 --> 00:24:19,450
- supposed cures of the time.
- 421
- 00:24:19,450 --> 00:24:22,950
- Cider, vinegar, seawater, something called
- 422
- 00:24:24,385 --> 00:24:29,385
- "elixir of vitriol" made from sulfuric acid, a concoction
- 423
- 00:24:29,602 --> 00:24:33,352
- of garlic and mustard, or oranges and lemons.
- 424
- 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,140
- The two sailors who had been receiving the citrus fruits
- 425
- 00:24:40,140 --> 00:24:43,025
- had made a really remarkable recovery.
- 426
- 00:24:43,025 --> 00:24:47,497
- Now, the two who had received cider were somewhat improved.
- 427
- 00:24:47,497 --> 00:24:50,864
- The rest, they had continued to deteriorate and they were
- 428
- 00:24:50,864 --> 00:24:53,139
- fast on the way to dying.
- 429
- 00:24:53,139 --> 00:24:57,478
- So this experiment had allowed him to arrive at a really
- 430
- 00:24:57,478 --> 00:25:02,172
- clear conclusion, that fresh fruits and vegetables
- 431
- 00:25:02,172 --> 00:25:05,757
- really can be used to cure scurvy.
- 432
- 00:25:05,757 --> 00:25:08,589
- How significant would you consider Lind's experiment?
- 433
- 00:25:08,589 --> 00:25:11,602
- There's no question that this single discovery saved
- 434
- 00:25:11,602 --> 00:25:15,360
- millions of lives, but there's a broader and every bit as
- 435
- 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:20,183
- enduring effect of Lind's work and that is the way in which
- 436
- 00:25:20,183 --> 00:25:23,988
- controlled clinical trial eventually becomes orthodoxy
- 437
- 00:25:23,988 --> 00:25:24,988
- in medicine.
- 438
- 00:25:26,124 --> 00:25:29,735
- It's a species altering development.
- 439
- 00:25:29,735 --> 00:25:33,060
- Humans had unlocked the way to identify
- 440
- 00:25:33,060 --> 00:25:34,810
- what cures will work.
- 441
- 00:25:36,272 --> 00:25:39,104
- When Lind goes to publish his findings a few years later,
- 442
- 00:25:39,104 --> 00:25:42,405
- he buries the information in a few paragraphs 200 pages
- 443
- 00:25:42,405 --> 00:25:44,844
- into his 400 page book.
- 444
- 00:25:44,844 --> 00:25:47,442
- It's as though not even Lind realizes the significance
- 445
- 00:25:47,442 --> 00:25:50,146
- of his own discovery, and it may have been forgotten
- 446
- 00:25:50,146 --> 00:25:53,082
- yet again if not for the work of a young doctor Gilbert
- 447
- 00:25:53,082 --> 00:25:56,567
- Blain who manages to convince the British navy to supply
- 448
- 00:25:56,567 --> 00:25:58,733
- lemon juice to its sailors.
- 449
- 00:25:58,733 --> 00:26:00,150
- The year is 1795.
- 450
- 00:26:01,755 --> 00:26:05,117
- That's one year after Lind's death and 48 years after his
- 451
- 00:26:05,117 --> 00:26:07,338
- historic experiment.
- 452
- 00:26:07,338 --> 00:26:10,171
- (whimsical music)
- 453
- 00:26:11,323 --> 00:26:15,504
- With lemons and later limes as their secret weapon,
- 454
- 00:26:15,504 --> 00:26:20,140
- the British navy emerged as the strongest on the globe.
- 455
- 00:26:20,140 --> 00:26:24,410
- The supply of fruit shaped the destiny of nations, allowing
- 456
- 00:26:24,410 --> 00:26:28,811
- us to venture out across the seas, to live and to thrive
- 457
- 00:26:28,811 --> 00:26:31,311
- fueled by the right nutrition.
- 458
- 00:26:37,216 --> 00:26:40,502
- But today, it seems that knowledge is being forgotten
- 459
- 00:26:40,502 --> 00:26:41,942
- once again.
- 460
- 00:26:41,942 --> 00:26:43,647
- How many people live here?
- 461
- 00:26:43,647 --> 00:26:45,389
- I'd say about 15.
- 462
- 00:26:45,389 --> 00:26:47,142
- And how long you been living here?
- 463
- 00:26:47,142 --> 00:26:48,809
- Five years, Derek.
- 464
- 00:26:48,809 --> 00:26:50,571
- That's a pretty long time.
- 465
- 00:26:50,571 --> 00:26:52,321
- Yes, it is.
- 466
- 00:26:55,734 --> 00:26:57,688
- This is my castle right here.
- 467
- 00:26:57,688 --> 00:26:58,521
- Wow.
- 468
- 00:27:01,458 --> 00:27:04,854
- This is my family, this is everybody I love.
- 469
- 00:27:04,854 --> 00:27:07,271
- That's me back when I was 21.
- 470
- 00:27:08,523 --> 00:27:10,005
- You had a lot of hair back then.
- 471
- 00:27:10,005 --> 00:27:12,705
- Yes, that was back in the hippie days, you know?
- 472
- 00:27:12,705 --> 00:27:14,027
- It's a beautiful family.
- 473
- 00:27:14,027 --> 00:27:14,860
- Thanks.
- 474
- 00:27:16,110 --> 00:27:19,175
- This is all the stuff, this is where I keep my cereal,
- 475
- 00:27:19,175 --> 00:27:21,175
- my bread, peanut butter.
- 476
- 00:27:23,033 --> 00:27:26,541
- Refrigerate down the hall here, come on, I'll show you.
- 477
- 00:27:26,541 --> 00:27:30,374
- I like to eat burgers, hot dogs, sodas, cakes,
- 478
- 00:27:33,184 --> 00:27:36,818
- bad cereals, I'm not gonna lie to you.
- 479
- 00:27:36,818 --> 00:27:38,815
- I do eat a lot of sugar.
- 480
- 00:27:38,815 --> 00:27:42,565
- When I have my coffee, 15 sugars, two creams.
- 481
- 00:27:44,968 --> 00:27:49,635
- Many people who have difficulty affording food tend to
- 482
- 00:27:50,478 --> 00:27:54,061
- go for food that is high fat, high calorie,
- 483
- 00:27:55,165 --> 00:27:57,089
- and very filling.
- 484
- 00:27:57,089 --> 00:27:59,287
- If you have a limited food budget, those are the meals
- 485
- 00:27:59,287 --> 00:28:02,933
- that will fill you up and will satisfy you more than
- 486
- 00:28:02,933 --> 00:28:05,566
- eating fruits and vegetables.
- 487
- 00:28:05,566 --> 00:28:08,712
- Alright doc, how you been?
- Good, good.
- 488
- 00:28:08,712 --> 00:28:11,611
- In Sonny's case, he has got a lot of other things to worry
- 489
- 00:28:11,611 --> 00:28:15,787
- about and for him, making sure to eat enough fruits
- 490
- 00:28:15,787 --> 00:28:19,333
- and vegetables is very far down on his list.
- 491
- 00:28:19,333 --> 00:28:21,539
- I thought I had some kind of vicious disease and I was
- 492
- 00:28:21,539 --> 00:28:26,456
- really, really scared, because that's an ugly word, scurvy.
- 493
- 00:28:27,682 --> 00:28:30,744
- So once we had diagnosed Sonny with scurvy,
- 494
- 00:28:30,744 --> 00:28:34,214
- the first thing we did was to give him vitamin C tablets
- 495
- 00:28:34,214 --> 00:28:38,086
- to correct the deficiency, and then, at a later visit
- 496
- 00:28:38,086 --> 00:28:39,578
- when he said he was having trouble getting those
- 497
- 00:28:39,578 --> 00:28:43,348
- supplements, I took out my prescription pad and I wrote
- 498
- 00:28:43,348 --> 00:28:47,015
- "One orange every day" and handed it to him.
- 499
- 00:28:48,788 --> 00:28:51,083
- It turned out that Sonny was part of an
- 500
- 00:28:51,083 --> 00:28:53,500
- extraordinary scurvy cluster.
- 501
- 00:28:54,362 --> 00:28:56,886
- In the last five years, we've documented 30 cases
- 502
- 00:28:56,886 --> 00:28:59,974
- of scurvy and as far as I'm aware, that's the largest
- 503
- 00:28:59,974 --> 00:29:03,400
- collection of scurvy cases in the developed world outside
- 504
- 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,389
- of some exceptional circumstances like war or refugee
- 505
- 00:29:07,389 --> 00:29:09,054
- situations.
- 506
- 00:29:09,054 --> 00:29:10,954
- So is it just an issue of all these people with scurvy
- 507
- 00:29:10,954 --> 00:29:12,595
- not eating enough?
- 508
- 00:29:12,595 --> 00:29:13,772
- It's really not.
- 509
- 00:29:13,772 --> 00:29:17,206
- It's about the quality of the food that you eat.
- 510
- 00:29:17,206 --> 00:29:19,811
- Over half of the people that we diagnose with scurvy
- 511
- 00:29:19,811 --> 00:29:23,946
- are actually obese and so they are getting enough calories
- 512
- 00:29:23,946 --> 00:29:28,755
- in their diet but they are low quality, low nutrition
- 513
- 00:29:28,755 --> 00:29:33,292
- calories, we use the phrase hypercaloric malnutrition
- 514
- 00:29:33,292 --> 00:29:35,964
- one of the things about scurvy is that it's really not
- 515
- 00:29:35,964 --> 00:29:37,714
- difficult to prevent.
- 516
- 00:29:38,562 --> 00:29:42,045
- This is not a high nutritional bar to reach.
- 517
- 00:29:42,045 --> 00:29:44,614
- And even something like a handful of ketchup packets
- 518
- 00:29:44,614 --> 00:29:48,897
- a day contain enough vitamin C to keep you out of scurvy.
- 519
- 00:29:48,897 --> 00:29:51,457
- Not that I recommend people get all of their vitamin C
- 520
- 00:29:51,457 --> 00:29:54,624
- from ketchup packets, but it's enough.
- 521
- 00:29:56,186 --> 00:29:58,989
- Surprisingly, the top vitamin C foods
- 522
- 00:29:58,989 --> 00:30:01,235
- aren't all citrus.
- 523
- 00:30:01,235 --> 00:30:04,078
- Kiwi fruit, strawberries, and red peppers are all
- 524
- 00:30:04,078 --> 00:30:05,161
- rich sources.
- 525
- 00:30:09,176 --> 00:30:13,516
- But vitamin C is fragile, it degrades with time.
- 526
- 00:30:13,516 --> 00:30:16,911
- One study showed that left at room temperature, 75 percent
- 527
- 00:30:16,911 --> 00:30:21,161
- of the vitamin C in an apple can be lost in a week.
- 528
- 00:30:22,788 --> 00:30:26,355
- So just over time, the nutritional content is going down.
- 529
- 00:30:26,355 --> 00:30:29,665
- Yeah, it's affected by heat, by light, by storage
- 530
- 00:30:29,665 --> 00:30:31,681
- conditions, lots of different things.
- 531
- 00:30:31,681 --> 00:30:33,375
- So what should you do if you want to maximize
- 532
- 00:30:33,375 --> 00:30:34,974
- your nutrition?
- 533
- 00:30:34,974 --> 00:30:37,747
- I think keep it fresh, keep it local.
- 534
- 00:30:37,747 --> 00:30:40,126
- The sooner you pick it and consume it, that's probably
- 535
- 00:30:40,126 --> 00:30:40,959
- the best.
- 536
- 00:30:44,772 --> 00:30:47,372
- Fascination with the power of vitamin C
- 537
- 00:30:47,372 --> 00:30:50,530
- led scientists to isolate it and determine its
- 538
- 00:30:50,530 --> 00:30:52,873
- chemical structure.
- 539
- 00:30:52,873 --> 00:30:56,206
- In 1937, this work one two Nobel prizes.
- 540
- 00:30:58,766 --> 00:31:01,497
- And led to the world's first synthetic
- 541
- 00:31:01,497 --> 00:31:03,330
- or artificial vitamin.
- 542
- 00:31:05,119 --> 00:31:07,038
- So where do you think the vitamin C in your pills
- 543
- 00:31:07,038 --> 00:31:07,955
- comes from?
- 544
- 00:31:12,562 --> 00:31:14,917
- This is the last remaining manufacturing plant for
- 545
- 00:31:14,917 --> 00:31:17,554
- vitamin C in the western world.
- 546
- 00:31:17,554 --> 00:31:21,098
- The vast majority of vitamins produced today are synthetic.
- 547
- 00:31:21,098 --> 00:31:24,210
- That is, they're man made in chemical factories, and in
- 548
- 00:31:24,210 --> 00:31:27,601
- general, the goal is to duplicate the exact structure
- 549
- 00:31:27,601 --> 00:31:30,118
- of the naturally occurring vitamins.
- 550
- 00:31:30,118 --> 00:31:32,903
- Now, we'd hoped to show you how that's done here,
- 551
- 00:31:32,903 --> 00:31:35,329
- but after 12 months of negations, we've not been able
- 552
- 00:31:35,329 --> 00:31:38,909
- to film inside, so instead, to understand how to create
- 553
- 00:31:38,909 --> 00:31:42,576
- a vitamin, we're gonna have to make our own.
- 554
- 00:31:44,078 --> 00:31:46,823
- To build a vitamin, you need raw materials.
- 555
- 00:31:46,823 --> 00:31:49,490
- (truck beeping)
- 556
- 00:31:51,057 --> 00:31:53,385
- And believe it or not, at least eight vitamins can be
- 557
- 00:31:53,385 --> 00:31:56,669
- synthetically created from fossil fuel products like
- 558
- 00:31:56,669 --> 00:31:57,502
- coal tar.
- 559
- 00:32:00,500 --> 00:32:03,378
- They contain components like acetone, found in nail
- 560
- 00:32:03,378 --> 00:32:07,536
- polish remover, short chain alkanes, found in petrol,
- 561
- 00:32:07,536 --> 00:32:11,625
- and various aromatic rings found in (mumbles).
- 562
- 00:32:11,625 --> 00:32:15,239
- The idea is to rearrange these building blocks into more
- 563
- 00:32:15,239 --> 00:32:17,842
- complex chemical compounds.
- 564
- 00:32:17,842 --> 00:32:22,472
- Actually building vitamins, precision matters, as a single
- 565
- 00:32:22,472 --> 00:32:24,472
- bond can alter function.
- 566
- 00:32:27,023 --> 00:32:31,603
- Not all synthetic vitamins come from fossil fuels.
- 567
- 00:32:31,603 --> 00:32:35,853
- For example, if you extract sugars from corn syrup.
- 568
- 00:32:38,174 --> 00:32:42,635
- Ferment them with bacteria and add a chemical reaction,
- 569
- 00:32:42,635 --> 00:32:45,052
- you have synthetic vitamin C.
- 570
- 00:32:46,896 --> 00:32:49,780
- Most synthetic vitamins are chemically identical
- 571
- 00:32:49,780 --> 00:32:51,951
- to the natural form, but without the fiber
- 572
- 00:32:51,951 --> 00:32:55,201
- and micronutrients that come with food.
- 573
- 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,199
- The end result is a vitamin made not by a plant,
- 574
- 00:33:00,199 --> 00:33:01,449
- but in a plant.
- 575
- 00:33:02,784 --> 00:33:05,284
- (jazzy music)
- 576
- 00:33:06,864 --> 00:33:08,366
- It's far more efficient and cheaper
- 577
- 00:33:08,366 --> 00:33:11,949
- to produce vitamins on an industrial scale.
- 578
- 00:33:13,649 --> 00:33:16,512
- Today, more than 80 percent of the world's vitamin C is
- 579
- 00:33:16,512 --> 00:33:19,641
- made in China, and it's pretty hard to work out where all
- 580
- 00:33:19,641 --> 00:33:22,429
- of the raw materials for vitamins come from but most
- 581
- 00:33:22,429 --> 00:33:27,429
- are produced unquestionably like this, synthetically.
- 582
- 00:33:27,476 --> 00:33:29,835
- And then they're sent out across the globe to manufacturing
- 583
- 00:33:29,835 --> 00:33:33,847
- plants, ready to be turned into vitamin pills.
- 584
- 00:33:33,847 --> 00:33:36,347
- (jazzy music)
- 585
- 00:33:47,449 --> 00:33:50,888
- Here in Australia, manufacturers are required to test
- 586
- 00:33:50,888 --> 00:33:54,543
- raw materials on arrival, to ensure the product is what
- 587
- 00:33:54,543 --> 00:33:56,293
- it says on the label.
- 588
- 00:33:59,226 --> 00:34:01,809
- Then, the manufacturing begins.
- 589
- 00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:18,032
- The raw vitamin material is blended with additives
- 590
- 00:34:18,032 --> 00:34:21,052
- and binding agents, a different recipe
- 591
- 00:34:21,052 --> 00:34:23,052
- for a different product.
- 592
- 00:34:25,106 --> 00:34:28,472
- Given the amount of vitamin needed is generally tiny,
- 593
- 00:34:28,472 --> 00:34:32,099
- what makes up the rest of the pill?
- 594
- 00:34:32,099 --> 00:34:34,999
- Well, inactive materials like cellulose, sugars,
- 595
- 00:34:34,999 --> 00:34:38,378
- or rice flour are often added to provide bulk and to
- 596
- 00:34:38,378 --> 00:34:41,461
- help the tablets dissolve in the gut.
- 597
- 00:34:43,417 --> 00:34:46,403
- Colors and flavors can also be added to make the tablets
- 598
- 00:34:46,403 --> 00:34:47,653
- more palatable.
- 599
- 00:34:50,361 --> 00:34:53,045
- The manufacturing process is similar for most synthetic
- 600
- 00:34:53,045 --> 00:34:57,212
- vitamins, depending on the end product being made.
- 601
- 00:35:00,739 --> 00:35:04,231
- Thousands of generic looking pills then fill containers
- 602
- 00:35:04,231 --> 00:35:07,731
- and the distinctive packaging takes place.
- 603
- 00:35:10,179 --> 00:35:12,396
- The vitamins are now branded and they're ready
- 604
- 00:35:12,396 --> 00:35:13,896
- to hit the market.
- 605
- 00:35:21,432 --> 00:35:24,076
- It's interesting, if vitamin manufacturers here want to
- 606
- 00:35:24,076 --> 00:35:27,426
- claim "made in Australia," by law, none of the raw
- 607
- 00:35:27,426 --> 00:35:30,593
- ingredients actually have to come from this country.
- 608
- 00:35:30,593 --> 00:35:32,461
- And if you want to claim your product is natural,
- 609
- 00:35:32,461 --> 00:35:34,910
- well, most of the regulators worldwide haven't defined
- 610
- 00:35:34,910 --> 00:35:37,951
- what natural means, and so it can say natural on the label
- 611
- 00:35:37,951 --> 00:35:41,118
- and yet contain synthetic ingredients.
- 612
- 00:35:42,891 --> 00:35:44,857
- But what if you've never taken a vitamin pill
- 613
- 00:35:44,857 --> 00:35:46,400
- in your life?
- 614
- 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,867
- You might think this entire vitamin manufacturing process
- 615
- 00:35:48,867 --> 00:35:52,831
- is irrelevant to you, but then, you'd be wrong.
- 616
- 00:35:52,831 --> 00:35:55,453
- It turns out even if you're not popping vitamin pills,
- 617
- 00:35:55,453 --> 00:35:58,650
- chances are you are ingesting synthetic vitamins because
- 618
- 00:35:58,650 --> 00:36:03,400
- in at least 95 nations, they're being added to your food.
- 619
- 00:36:06,220 --> 00:36:07,803
- Eat Wonder Bread!
- 620
- 00:36:08,658 --> 00:36:11,096
- You want to grow bigger and stronger, don't you?
- 621
- 00:36:11,096 --> 00:36:12,443
- Golly, sure!
- 622
- 00:36:12,443 --> 00:36:13,494
- Okay!
- 623
- 00:36:13,494 --> 00:36:16,357
- A sandwich daily and two slices of Wonder Bread every meal
- 624
- 00:36:16,357 --> 00:36:18,863
- give you eight elements you need.
- 625
- 00:36:18,863 --> 00:36:20,952
- Around half the countries on Earth allow the
- 626
- 00:36:20,952 --> 00:36:25,002
- addition of synthetic vitamins to common food products.
- 627
- 00:36:25,002 --> 00:36:27,483
- It's called fortification.
- 628
- 00:36:27,483 --> 00:36:30,724
- That's why you can help yourself grow bigger and stronger
- 629
- 00:36:30,724 --> 00:36:32,900
- eight ways with Wonder Bread.
- 630
- 00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:35,479
- So be sure to eat Wonder Bread!
- 631
- 00:36:35,479 --> 00:36:38,062
- (lively music)
- 632
- 00:36:42,302 --> 00:36:44,912
- In places like the US and Australia, fortifying
- 633
- 00:36:44,912 --> 00:36:48,662
- bread flour and margarine is required by law.
- 634
- 00:36:51,096 --> 00:36:54,292
- And companies often decide to add vitamins, mostly from
- 635
- 00:36:54,292 --> 00:36:55,375
- the B family.
- 636
- 00:36:58,017 --> 00:37:00,629
- The B vitamins are sometimes called the pep vitamins,
- 637
- 00:37:00,629 --> 00:37:02,402
- they help our bodies produce energy and assist
- 638
- 00:37:02,402 --> 00:37:03,990
- in cell development.
- 639
- 00:37:03,990 --> 00:37:06,924
- Now, they're all water soluble, like vitamin C, which means
- 640
- 00:37:06,924 --> 00:37:09,409
- our bodies don't store them, so we have to replenish
- 641
- 00:37:09,409 --> 00:37:10,326
- them often.
- 642
- 00:37:11,369 --> 00:37:14,967
- Their discovery and synthesis took over 50 years and led
- 643
- 00:37:14,967 --> 00:37:16,634
- to six Nobel prizes.
- 644
- 00:37:17,476 --> 00:37:20,143
- (factory music)
- 645
- 00:37:28,416 --> 00:37:31,777
- One of the vitamins added to bread is B9, better known
- 646
- 00:37:31,777 --> 00:37:35,842
- as folate, so why is it being added to my bread?
- 647
- 00:37:35,842 --> 00:37:38,425
- (all shouting)
- 648
- 00:37:54,756 --> 00:37:57,924
- At 29, Kim Robins is an international wheelchair
- 649
- 00:37:57,924 --> 00:37:59,257
- basketball star.
- 650
- 00:38:04,633 --> 00:38:08,216
- He tours the world, playing professionally.
- 651
- 00:38:14,748 --> 00:38:18,605
- His body and entire life has been shaped by the power
- 652
- 00:38:18,605 --> 00:38:19,438
- of folate.
- 653
- 00:38:20,532 --> 00:38:23,449
- (applause, cheers)
- 654
- 00:38:26,063 --> 00:38:30,269
- Kim was born with a hemangioma on his back
- 655
- 00:38:30,269 --> 00:38:33,760
- in the middle of his shoulder blades.
- 656
- 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:38,427
- It was a legion which looked a bit like a red birthmark.
- 657
- 00:38:39,872 --> 00:38:44,039
- We were assured at birth that everything was okay.
- 658
- 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:57,229
- And it wasn't until he was six months when flags started
- 659
- 00:38:57,229 --> 00:39:00,512
- to be raised that perhaps he wasn't meeting all of
- 660
- 00:39:00,512 --> 00:39:01,762
- his milestones.
- 661
- 00:39:02,687 --> 00:39:05,080
- After months of tests, Kim was diagnosed
- 662
- 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,650
- with a neural tube defect.
- 663
- 00:39:07,650 --> 00:39:10,641
- Effectively, a whole in his spinal column which caused
- 664
- 00:39:10,641 --> 00:39:12,058
- permanent damage.
- 665
- 00:39:14,646 --> 00:39:17,305
- Part of my disability is that I have chronic back pain
- 666
- 00:39:17,305 --> 00:39:22,055
- and that's in my lower back, so I get pain maybe 200, 250
- 667
- 00:39:23,099 --> 00:39:24,099
- times a day.
- 668
- 00:39:25,298 --> 00:39:27,387
- It's kind of like a back spasm.
- 669
- 00:39:27,387 --> 00:39:29,804
- My brain's fully functioning.
- 670
- 00:39:31,129 --> 00:39:35,245
- I guess it affects my leg function to some extent
- 671
- 00:39:35,245 --> 00:39:37,945
- so I can walk, not super well, but I can walk
- 672
- 00:39:37,945 --> 00:39:39,540
- a little bit.
- 673
- 00:39:39,540 --> 00:39:41,957
- Neural tube defects like Kim's can be caused
- 674
- 00:39:41,957 --> 00:39:45,290
- by the lack of folate long before birth.
- 675
- 00:39:50,288 --> 00:39:53,122
- If you eat folate, it's the best kind of diet because
- 676
- 00:39:53,122 --> 00:39:57,856
- it's actually found richly in leafy green vegetables,
- 677
- 00:39:57,856 --> 00:39:59,881
- it's found in things like asparagus, it's found in
- 678
- 00:39:59,881 --> 00:40:03,930
- strawberries, it's found in whole grains, so if you are
- 679
- 00:40:03,930 --> 00:40:06,918
- eating fruits and vegetables, it's quite likely that you
- 680
- 00:40:06,918 --> 00:40:09,585
- will have a diet rich in folate.
- 681
- 00:40:11,282 --> 00:40:15,418
- Folate is very important for both DNA and RNA repair,
- 682
- 00:40:15,418 --> 00:40:19,116
- but also for the rapid development and multiplication
- 683
- 00:40:19,116 --> 00:40:21,973
- of cells which is what's happening in the fetus,
- 684
- 00:40:21,973 --> 00:40:24,676
- so it's essential for that.
- 685
- 00:40:24,676 --> 00:40:27,332
- Professor Fiona Stanley led the Australian arm
- 686
- 00:40:27,332 --> 00:40:30,135
- of an international children's study that showed lack of
- 687
- 00:40:30,135 --> 00:40:33,609
- folate in a mother's diet before she was pregnant could
- 688
- 00:40:33,609 --> 00:40:36,806
- cause major defects in utero.
- 689
- 00:40:36,806 --> 00:40:40,428
- If before a woman knows that she's pregnant, the fetus
- 690
- 00:40:40,428 --> 00:40:42,909
- is starting to form all of its major organs and one of
- 691
- 00:40:42,909 --> 00:40:46,616
- the earliest, by perhaps the seventh week is the
- 692
- 00:40:46,616 --> 00:40:51,616
- neural tube which starts as an open little trough and then
- 693
- 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:56,034
- starts to zipper up and it zips up and down.
- 694
- 00:40:56,034 --> 00:40:59,172
- I think of it like a zipper going down and as each link
- 695
- 00:40:59,172 --> 00:41:02,653
- forms together, that's part of the neural tube forming
- 696
- 00:41:02,653 --> 00:41:05,078
- and if it misses one link, that's where the neural tube
- 697
- 00:41:05,078 --> 00:41:06,411
- defect would be.
- 698
- 00:41:07,296 --> 00:41:11,419
- Mine is up between T2 and T6, which is quite high up and
- 699
- 00:41:11,419 --> 00:41:14,257
- so my spinal cord's a little bit withered, so some
- 700
- 00:41:14,257 --> 00:41:17,697
- messages get through and some messages don't
- 701
- 00:41:17,697 --> 00:41:20,138
- By the time a woman knows she's pregnant,
- 702
- 00:41:20,138 --> 00:41:21,863
- it can be too late.
- 703
- 00:41:21,863 --> 00:41:24,689
- So scientists sought a way to get a form of folate into
- 704
- 00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:27,585
- a food that everyone might eat.
- 705
- 00:41:27,585 --> 00:41:31,176
- There were lots of debates about what staple food
- 706
- 00:41:31,176 --> 00:41:35,783
- should be fortified, and of course the one that was
- 707
- 00:41:35,783 --> 00:41:38,252
- suggested was flour, bread making flour because bread seems
- 708
- 00:41:38,252 --> 00:41:40,669
- to be such a ubiquitous food.
- 709
- 00:41:42,266 --> 00:41:44,480
- In 2009, Australian bread was fortified
- 710
- 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,313
- with folic acid, synthetic folate.
- 711
- 00:41:49,821 --> 00:41:53,986
- It might be added to all white flour for bread making.
- 712
- 00:41:53,986 --> 00:41:57,738
- It's the same in the US, Canada, and the UK.
- 713
- 00:41:57,738 --> 00:42:01,155
- Organic or traditional breads are exempt.
- 714
- 00:42:03,304 --> 00:42:06,037
- Folic acid supplements are also recommended for women
- 715
- 00:42:06,037 --> 00:42:08,370
- planning to become pregnant.
- 716
- 00:42:09,427 --> 00:42:14,016
- I had no idea about folate before I fell pregnant.
- 717
- 00:42:14,016 --> 00:42:17,766
- I didn't even know about neural tube defects.
- 718
- 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:23,213
- How it would have changed things if I'd have had folate
- 719
- 00:42:23,213 --> 00:42:25,380
- in the early stages, we...
- 720
- 00:42:29,865 --> 00:42:32,485
- That would have been a huge difference, maybe Kim wouldn't
- 721
- 00:42:32,485 --> 00:42:33,568
- be like this.
- 722
- 00:42:37,062 --> 00:42:41,645
- I can't change what's happened, it happened and I can't
- 723
- 00:42:43,524 --> 00:42:45,357
- blame myself for that.
- 724
- 00:42:46,723 --> 00:42:49,640
- (players shouting)
- 725
- 00:42:51,434 --> 00:42:53,524
- With folic acid fortification
- 726
- 00:42:53,524 --> 00:42:56,553
- and supplementation, the rate of neural tube defects
- 727
- 00:42:56,553 --> 00:42:58,553
- in Australia has halved.
- 728
- 00:43:01,271 --> 00:43:03,127
- I think it's pretty cool to be doing something
- 729
- 00:43:03,127 --> 00:43:04,127
- that I love.
- 730
- 00:43:05,972 --> 00:43:08,467
- A lot of people ask me "If you could, would you prefer not
- 731
- 00:43:08,467 --> 00:43:11,177
- "to be in a wheelchair" and I say no because of maybe I
- 732
- 00:43:11,177 --> 00:43:13,876
- never would have done all the things that I've done and I'm
- 733
- 00:43:13,876 --> 00:43:17,630
- fairly satisfied with where I am and where I'm going.
- 734
- 00:43:17,630 --> 00:43:20,547
- (crowd applauding)
- 735
- 00:43:31,474 --> 00:43:34,098
- Over 4000 neural tube defects occur every
- 736
- 00:43:34,098 --> 00:43:38,419
- year in the European union, yet fortification is not
- 737
- 00:43:38,419 --> 00:43:39,669
- mandatory here.
- 738
- 00:43:40,695 --> 00:43:44,445
- So why is Europe taking a different approach?
- 739
- 00:43:46,604 --> 00:43:48,793
- (foreign language)
- 740
- 00:43:48,793 --> 00:43:52,055
- Dr. Mathilde Touvier leads a team of French researchers
- 741
- 00:43:52,055 --> 00:43:54,720
- investigating the relationships between nutrition
- 742
- 00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,281
- and health.
- 743
- 00:43:56,281 --> 00:43:58,037
- I'll take that, thank you.
- 744
- 00:43:58,037 --> 00:43:59,589
- It's all yours.
- Thank you.
- 745
- 00:43:59,589 --> 00:44:01,713
- How much of this bread is fortified?
- 746
- 00:44:01,713 --> 00:44:04,522
- No bread is fortified, in France, we don't fortify
- 747
- 00:44:04,522 --> 00:44:06,522
- the flour with anything.
- 748
- 00:44:07,642 --> 00:44:09,932
- But you have the same problems here with neural tube
- 749
- 00:44:09,932 --> 00:44:11,582
- defects.
- 750
- 00:44:11,582 --> 00:44:15,574
- Yes, sure, in fact, it is recommended for women who want
- 751
- 00:44:15,574 --> 00:44:18,963
- to get pregnant or at the beginning of pregnancy to increase
- 752
- 00:44:18,963 --> 00:44:23,300
- their intakes of vitamin B9 to prevent these birth defects.
- 753
- 00:44:23,300 --> 00:44:25,238
- But why not just put it in the bread?
- 754
- 00:44:25,238 --> 00:44:29,444
- No, the bread in France is quite a secret and traditional
- 755
- 00:44:29,444 --> 00:44:32,611
- product, and no, it's not transformed.
- 756
- 00:44:34,154 --> 00:44:36,694
- But do you add vitamins to any foods?
- 757
- 00:44:36,694 --> 00:44:39,745
- Yes, there are fortifications of food with some vitamins
- 758
- 00:44:39,745 --> 00:44:42,160
- or minerals but it's not mandatory, it's at the
- 759
- 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:44,323
- discretion of manufacturers.
- 760
- 00:44:44,323 --> 00:44:45,782
- A lot of people around the world are worried about
- 761
- 00:44:45,782 --> 00:44:47,763
- getting too few vitamins.
- 762
- 00:44:47,763 --> 00:44:49,521
- Your concern is too many.
- 763
- 00:44:49,521 --> 00:44:53,562
- Yeah, it depends on country such as France or Europe.
- 764
- 00:44:53,562 --> 00:44:57,156
- You don't have problems of deficiency in general, you really
- 765
- 00:44:57,156 --> 00:45:01,361
- have much more problem of excess, excess in the sugar,
- 766
- 00:45:01,361 --> 00:45:04,103
- salt, and so on and maybe excess in vitamins if you take
- 767
- 00:45:04,103 --> 00:45:07,261
- fortified foods, stable foods rich in vitamins, minerals
- 768
- 00:45:07,261 --> 00:45:09,032
- and daily supplements.
- 769
- 00:45:09,032 --> 00:45:12,199
- Maybe you can reach excessive intakes.
- 770
- 00:45:14,068 --> 00:45:16,971
- The fortification of food by governments is the result
- 771
- 00:45:16,971 --> 00:45:21,122
- of a careful assessment of potential risks versus benefits,
- 772
- 00:45:21,122 --> 00:45:24,643
- but these days, industry can modify almost any food or
- 773
- 00:45:24,643 --> 00:45:29,204
- drink with additional nutrients without the same scrutiny.
- 774
- 00:45:29,204 --> 00:45:32,163
- In the United States, you can find a claim about the things
- 775
- 00:45:32,163 --> 00:45:35,338
- that these products bring to you, 200 percent of which you
- 776
- 00:45:35,338 --> 00:45:39,838
- need per day, and if the recommendation is 100 person,
- 777
- 00:45:41,035 --> 00:45:44,659
- why are you taking 200 per person, and American people
- 778
- 00:45:44,659 --> 00:45:47,446
- are used to such claims and they are used with this idea
- 779
- 00:45:47,446 --> 00:45:50,779
- of too much of a thing is really better.
- 780
- 00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:56,165
- In Europe, we really don't have this state of mind.
- 781
- 00:45:56,165 --> 00:45:58,564
- Today, there is one vitamin in particular that's
- 782
- 00:45:58,564 --> 00:46:02,420
- increasingly being added to our food, vitamin D.
- 783
- 00:46:02,420 --> 00:46:05,679
- Low vitamin D has been linked to cancer, heart disease,
- 784
- 00:46:05,679 --> 00:46:10,054
- dementia, it's been linked to over 100 different conditions.
- 785
- 00:46:10,054 --> 00:46:12,475
- There are some who claim we're in a midst of a global
- 786
- 00:46:12,475 --> 00:46:15,028
- vitamin D deficiency.
- 787
- 00:46:15,028 --> 00:46:17,392
- So how do we decide whether we need extra vitamin D
- 788
- 00:46:17,392 --> 00:46:18,225
- or not?
- 789
- 00:46:20,052 --> 00:46:22,802
- (peaceful music)
- 790
- 00:46:36,335 --> 00:46:39,886
- I've come to one of the coldest places on Earth
- 791
- 00:46:39,886 --> 00:46:44,469
- to better understand the hottest vitamin on the planet.
- 792
- 00:46:49,217 --> 00:46:53,124
- For centuries, a mysterious and horrible condition affected
- 793
- 00:46:53,124 --> 00:46:55,920
- thousands of children all around the world.
- 794
- 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,356
- Their bones grew weak and broke easily and many were
- 795
- 00:46:59,356 --> 00:47:01,023
- deformed, many died.
- 796
- 00:47:04,181 --> 00:47:07,446
- They call the condition rickets, but no one knew
- 797
- 00:47:07,446 --> 00:47:08,696
- what caused it.
- 798
- 00:47:10,336 --> 00:47:13,659
- Oddly, here on the Norwegian coast, fewer cases were
- 799
- 00:47:13,659 --> 00:47:17,909
- reported, so an important clue appeared to be fish.
- 800
- 00:47:19,574 --> 00:47:21,991
- (airy music)
- 801
- 00:47:35,113 --> 00:47:38,062
- The world's greatest cod harvest takes place here
- 802
- 00:47:38,062 --> 00:47:39,895
- from January to April.
- 803
- 00:47:41,023 --> 00:47:44,106
- (machinery whirring)
- 804
- 00:47:47,566 --> 00:47:50,672
- Millions of tons are caught, their flesh
- 805
- 00:47:50,672 --> 00:47:52,589
- helping feed the world.
- 806
- 00:47:55,978 --> 00:47:57,728
- That is one big fish!
- 807
- 00:47:58,805 --> 00:48:01,807
- But there's another benefit.
- 808
- 00:48:01,807 --> 00:48:06,224
- A powerful traditional medicine called cod liver oil.
- 809
- 00:48:07,667 --> 00:48:10,398
- Here in Norway, the stories of the healing powers of
- 810
- 00:48:10,398 --> 00:48:14,731
- the cod liver oil go back more than 1000 years.
- 811
- 00:48:14,731 --> 00:48:17,975
- It was a key part of the viking diet, prized for its
- 812
- 00:48:17,975 --> 00:48:20,830
- strength giving utilities.
- 813
- 00:48:20,830 --> 00:48:24,163
- The Norse called it the gold of the sea.
- 814
- 00:48:25,470 --> 00:48:28,145
- This is a messy business.
- 815
- 00:48:28,145 --> 00:48:31,292
- I don't know that I like it very much.
- 816
- 00:48:31,292 --> 00:48:35,042
- So how do you know which one has a big liver?
- 817
- 00:48:36,177 --> 00:48:37,594
- That's the liver.
- 818
- 00:48:39,483 --> 00:48:41,657
- So the cod liver oil, do you think of it as a food
- 819
- 00:48:41,657 --> 00:48:43,074
- or as a medicine?
- 820
- 00:48:55,092 --> 00:48:56,425
- Not really sick.
- 821
- 00:48:57,282 --> 00:48:59,282
- Does it taste like fish?
- 822
- 00:49:00,246 --> 00:49:02,163
- Do you like the flavor?
- 823
- 00:49:07,193 --> 00:49:09,507
- (laughing)
- 824
- 00:49:09,507 --> 00:49:11,924
- (airy music)
- 825
- 00:49:17,548 --> 00:49:21,033
- There are hundreds of thousands of heads and tails strung
- 826
- 00:49:21,033 --> 00:49:25,242
- out on drying racks almost every village.
- 827
- 00:49:25,242 --> 00:49:29,582
- And it's incredible to see the scale of the cod fishing here
- 828
- 00:49:29,582 --> 00:49:30,749
- and the smell.
- 829
- 00:49:31,946 --> 00:49:35,869
- The stench of cod blankets entire villages.
- 830
- 00:49:35,869 --> 00:49:39,810
- The locals say it's the smell of money, but the value
- 831
- 00:49:39,810 --> 00:49:43,404
- of cod and their livers goes far beyond money.
- 832
- 00:49:43,404 --> 00:49:45,321
- It's also about health.
- 833
- 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,783
- (gulls crying)
- 834
- 00:49:52,767 --> 00:49:55,453
- Professor Magritt Brustad is an expert in the links
- 835
- 00:49:55,453 --> 00:49:59,536
- between food like cod and diseases, like rickets.
- 836
- 00:50:01,545 --> 00:50:06,249
- Rickets was a huge problem in Norway some years ago.
- 837
- 00:50:06,249 --> 00:50:10,999
- Rickets is a condition that is characterized by soft bone
- 838
- 00:50:13,038 --> 00:50:17,949
- so it causes your bone and your skeleton be disformed
- 839
- 00:50:17,949 --> 00:50:20,427
- and it's rather painful.
- 840
- 00:50:20,427 --> 00:50:22,504
- And if this happens in childhood,
- 841
- 00:50:22,504 --> 00:50:23,819
- it's permanent.
- 842
- 00:50:23,819 --> 00:50:27,136
- Yeah, if it's not treated.
- 843
- 00:50:27,136 --> 00:50:30,122
- I mean, this is just horrible.
- 844
- 00:50:30,122 --> 00:50:31,955
- Yeah, a lot of pain.
- 845
- 00:50:34,947 --> 00:50:38,831
- We knew many years ago that cod liver oil could cure
- 846
- 00:50:38,831 --> 00:50:41,498
- rickets, but we didn't know why.
- 847
- 00:50:42,799 --> 00:50:46,248
- Magritt and I have come to see how codfish is turned
- 848
- 00:50:46,248 --> 00:50:48,575
- into cod liver oil.
- 849
- 00:50:48,575 --> 00:50:49,878
- Welcome.
- Thank you!
- 850
- 00:50:49,878 --> 00:50:52,628
- You are not seeing this before.
- 851
- 00:50:53,716 --> 00:50:56,958
- It's a simple if revolting business.
- 852
- 00:50:56,958 --> 00:51:00,400
- Cut out the fish livers, throw them into barrels,
- 853
- 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,025
- and let them decompose.
- 854
- 00:51:03,025 --> 00:51:07,260
- The oil grows darker in the rotting process.
- 855
- 00:51:07,260 --> 00:51:12,001
- Then skim off the oil from the surface and drink.
- 856
- 00:51:12,001 --> 00:51:13,834
- You sure this is safe?
- 857
- 00:51:17,398 --> 00:51:19,981
- Yeah, it's not bad.
- 858
- 00:51:22,704 --> 00:51:23,780
- (all laughing)
- 859
- 00:51:23,780 --> 00:51:25,254
- That was much better
- 860
- 00:51:25,254 --> 00:51:26,754
- than I remember it as a child.
- 861
- 00:51:26,754 --> 00:51:27,587
- Really?
- 862
- 00:51:28,653 --> 00:51:32,925
- It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
- 863
- 00:51:32,925 --> 00:51:36,100
- Cod liver oil was so successful in treating rickets
- 864
- 00:51:36,100 --> 00:51:37,957
- that people across Europe began
- 865
- 00:51:37,957 --> 00:51:40,374
- feeding it to their children.
- 866
- 00:51:41,264 --> 00:51:46,181
- In the 1870s, it reached America, and mass marketing began.
- 867
- 00:51:50,210 --> 00:51:52,877
- (vibrant music)
- 868
- 00:51:53,809 --> 00:51:57,392
- But still, no one understood why it worked.
- 869
- 00:52:02,856 --> 00:52:06,441
- In the early days, cod liver oil was mostly marketed
- 870
- 00:52:06,441 --> 00:52:11,441
- as again, a kind of product that would help build flesh.
- 871
- 00:52:11,865 --> 00:52:15,520
- In fact, this one product here of Scott's Emulsion, one of
- 872
- 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:18,399
- the biggest cod liver oil products.
- 873
- 00:52:18,399 --> 00:52:22,407
- Scott started making this product in the 1870s.
- 874
- 00:52:22,407 --> 00:52:26,738
- He really believed in advertising and he was able to make
- 875
- 00:52:26,738 --> 00:52:30,659
- a fortune off of this particular product.
- 876
- 00:52:30,659 --> 00:52:32,842
- You know, the important thing is if you're marketing this,
- 877
- 00:52:32,842 --> 00:52:36,755
- you want people to take it as much as possible.
- 878
- 00:52:36,755 --> 00:52:39,836
- By the late 1890s, the cod liver oil industry
- 879
- 00:52:39,836 --> 00:52:43,205
- was booming, but the marketing ran decades ahead of
- 880
- 00:52:43,205 --> 00:52:44,205
- the science.
- 881
- 00:52:45,683 --> 00:52:49,896
- It wasn't until 1913 that biochemist Elmer McCullum
- 882
- 00:52:49,896 --> 00:52:52,752
- and Marguerite Davis proved the existence of an essential
- 883
- 00:52:52,752 --> 00:52:55,272
- nutrient in cod liver oil.
- 884
- 00:52:55,272 --> 00:52:58,045
- They called it fat soluble A.
- 885
- 00:52:58,045 --> 00:53:00,628
- A simply for the first vitamin.
- 886
- 00:53:01,516 --> 00:53:05,141
- McCullum later identified another vitamin in cod liver oil,
- 887
- 00:53:05,141 --> 00:53:07,974
- fat soluble D, the fourth vitamin.
- 888
- 00:53:09,951 --> 00:53:14,618
- And McCullum proved it was vitamin D that cured rickets.
- 889
- 00:53:15,593 --> 00:53:18,062
- So you have this new scientific knowledge coalescing with
- 890
- 00:53:18,062 --> 00:53:21,894
- what is already kind of a market out there, so if you're
- 891
- 00:53:21,894 --> 00:53:24,863
- marketing this stuff, I can't imagine anything better
- 892
- 00:53:24,863 --> 00:53:26,335
- to come along.
- 893
- 00:53:26,335 --> 00:53:27,523
- - [Derek] It's pretty incredible, right?
- 894
- 00:53:27,523 --> 00:53:30,476
- It is pretty incredible.
- 895
- 00:53:30,476 --> 00:53:35,071
- And there were hints of something else at play.
- 896
- 00:53:35,071 --> 00:53:38,285
- In 1920, microbiologist Harriette Chick carried out an
- 897
- 00:53:38,285 --> 00:53:40,368
- experiment with children.
- 898
- 00:53:41,947 --> 00:53:46,706
- Half were given cod liver oil, the other half were not.
- 899
- 00:53:46,706 --> 00:53:48,783
- As expected, the children given the oil
- 900
- 00:53:48,783 --> 00:53:52,844
- didn't develop rickets, but then Dr. Chick noticed that
- 901
- 00:53:52,844 --> 00:53:56,678
- children with rickets who spent time outside in the sun
- 902
- 00:53:56,678 --> 00:53:57,928
- healed rapidly.
- 903
- 00:53:58,879 --> 00:54:02,323
- She determined that cod liver oil and sunshine both
- 904
- 00:54:02,323 --> 00:54:03,490
- cured rickets.
- 905
- 00:54:07,063 --> 00:54:09,230
- And vitamin D is the link.
- 906
- 00:54:16,391 --> 00:54:19,097
- How's that sunlight feeling?
- 907
- 00:54:19,097 --> 00:54:20,570
- Oh, it's wonderful.
- 908
- 00:54:20,570 --> 00:54:21,837
- Isn't it?
- 909
- 00:54:21,837 --> 00:54:25,004
- So how does the sun deliver a vitamin?
- 910
- 00:54:25,934 --> 00:54:30,192
- When sunlight hits our skin, something remarkable happens.
- 911
- 00:54:30,192 --> 00:54:34,747
- Just under the surface lies a type of cholesterol.
- 912
- 00:54:34,747 --> 00:54:37,678
- When the sun's ultraviolet rays hit this molecule,
- 913
- 00:54:37,678 --> 00:54:41,345
- it transforms, becoming a form of vitamin D.
- 914
- 00:54:42,974 --> 00:54:47,652
- This is the same molecule found in cod liver oil.
- 915
- 00:54:47,652 --> 00:54:50,638
- It then travels to the liver, where it's converted into
- 916
- 00:54:50,638 --> 00:54:54,952
- the form that doctors measure in our blood.
- 917
- 00:54:54,952 --> 00:54:58,869
- This is then activated by the kidneys, and now,
- 918
- 00:55:00,621 --> 00:55:05,050
- it's ready to help absorb calcium, building strong, healthy,
- 919
- 00:55:05,050 --> 00:55:06,633
- rickets free bones.
- 920
- 00:55:07,827 --> 00:55:10,495
- Think that's about enough sun for one day.
- 921
- 00:55:10,495 --> 00:55:12,912
- (airy music)
- 922
- 00:55:19,066 --> 00:55:22,729
- But here in the far north, during the dark winter months,
- 923
- 00:55:22,729 --> 00:55:25,900
- there's a distinct lack of sunshine, so to get enough
- 924
- 00:55:25,900 --> 00:55:30,387
- vitamin D, over generations, people have devised rather
- 925
- 00:55:30,387 --> 00:55:32,970
- remarkable meals to compensate.
- 926
- 00:55:34,097 --> 00:55:35,264
- This is cod.
- 927
- 00:55:36,453 --> 00:55:40,748
- And this is cod eggs, and this is the boiled liver.
- 928
- 00:55:40,748 --> 00:55:43,688
- It's fresh cod liver oil together with onion and pepper
- 929
- 00:55:43,688 --> 00:55:45,260
- and salt.
- 930
- 00:55:45,260 --> 00:55:49,141
- And this is potatoes, Norwegians always have potato.
- 931
- 00:55:49,141 --> 00:55:51,928
- Ahh, very good.
- 932
- 00:55:51,928 --> 00:55:54,760
- This is the traditional (foreign language),
- 933
- 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:57,400
- packed with vitamin D.
- 934
- 00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:00,343
- So one meal of this will give you 16 out of 20
- 935
- 00:56:00,343 --> 00:56:05,063
- daily doses of the recommended amount of vitamin D.
- 936
- 00:56:05,063 --> 00:56:08,175
- This has kind of saved our vitamin D health
- 937
- 00:56:08,175 --> 00:56:10,525
- in the north during the dark season.
- 938
- 00:56:10,525 --> 00:56:13,596
- But not everyone likes oily fish, let alone
- 939
- 00:56:13,596 --> 00:56:16,096
- fish livers and cod liver oil.
- 940
- 00:56:17,386 --> 00:56:21,523
- So scientists invented something far more palatable.
- 941
- 00:56:21,523 --> 00:56:25,231
- So the first really important vitamin pill is this
- 942
- 00:56:25,231 --> 00:56:30,231
- Osdogal, and this was developed actually by Casimir Funk.
- 943
- 00:56:30,662 --> 00:56:34,333
- We've solved a big problem that messy, nauseating oil
- 944
- 00:56:34,333 --> 00:56:38,861
- is now a nice little pill in (mumbles) coated.
- 945
- 00:56:38,861 --> 00:56:41,686
- So cod liver oil really started this whole vitamin
- 946
- 00:56:41,686 --> 00:56:43,126
- explosion?
- 947
- 00:56:43,126 --> 00:56:46,822
- Yes, cod liver oil really is the beginning of it.
- 948
- 00:56:46,822 --> 00:56:49,405
- (bright music)
- 949
- 00:56:50,299 --> 00:56:52,729
- With the new pills readily available, the era
- 950
- 00:56:52,729 --> 00:56:57,092
- of cod as a key source of vitamin D was ended, and soon,
- 951
- 00:56:57,092 --> 00:57:00,092
- the vast majority of vitamin D would be created in an
- 952
- 00:57:00,092 --> 00:57:05,092
- utterly different manner from an utterly different beast.
- 953
- 00:57:05,415 --> 00:57:08,165
- (sheep bleating)
- 954
- 00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:13,053
- Today, most of the world's vitamin D pills are created
- 955
- 00:57:13,053 --> 00:57:15,553
- from the greasy wool of sheep.
- 956
- 00:57:16,838 --> 00:57:18,838
- Mostly Australian sheep.
- 957
- 00:57:20,561 --> 00:57:23,700
- (clippers buzzing)
- 958
- 00:57:23,700 --> 00:57:27,450
- So how do you turn sheep wool into a vitamin?
- 959
- 00:57:28,996 --> 00:57:30,663
- Let's give it a try.
- 960
- 00:57:33,175 --> 00:57:36,924
- Well, the wool is coated in a type of grease or lanolin,
- 961
- 00:57:36,924 --> 00:57:40,394
- it's the stuff that makes your hands feel soft.
- 962
- 00:57:40,394 --> 00:57:42,870
- It's a mixture of fatty acids produced by the sheep's
- 963
- 00:57:42,870 --> 00:57:47,787
- oil glands, and this lanolin is the key to making synthetic
- 964
- 00:57:48,921 --> 00:57:49,754
- vitamin D.
- 965
- 00:57:51,347 --> 00:57:54,750
- (sheep bleating)
- 966
- 00:57:54,750 --> 00:57:56,917
- Here's how it can be done.
- 967
- 00:58:00,123 --> 00:58:02,981
- The lanolin is separated from the wool by boiling in
- 968
- 00:58:02,981 --> 00:58:04,981
- hot water and detergent.
- 969
- 00:58:05,981 --> 00:58:09,993
- Around 15 percent of the lanolin is a form of cholesterol,
- 970
- 00:58:09,993 --> 00:58:12,993
- like the cholesterol under our skin.
- 971
- 00:58:14,076 --> 00:58:18,529
- This is a extracted and oxidized to produce a new compound
- 972
- 00:58:18,529 --> 00:58:21,736
- which is then irradiated with ultraviolet light,
- 973
- 00:58:21,736 --> 00:58:25,569
- transforming it into a precursor of vitamin D.
- 974
- 00:58:27,131 --> 00:58:30,425
- This chemical process mimics the biological process
- 975
- 00:58:30,425 --> 00:58:33,175
- of the sunlight hitting our skin.
- 976
- 00:58:34,063 --> 00:58:36,898
- Several more steps create the end product,
- 977
- 00:58:36,898 --> 00:58:38,565
- synthetic vitamin D.
- 978
- 00:58:43,269 --> 00:58:46,502
- And of course, it's not done like this, but on an
- 979
- 00:58:46,502 --> 00:58:49,002
- industrial scale in factories.
- 980
- 00:58:49,963 --> 00:58:52,713
- (peaceful music)
- 981
- 00:58:55,728 --> 00:58:57,684
- Chemists from the University of Melbourne calculated
- 982
- 00:58:57,684 --> 00:59:01,486
- that you can make a lot of money from a sheep's fleece.
- 983
- 00:59:01,486 --> 00:59:04,599
- Online, vitamin D3 can seel for about 50 Australian
- 984
- 00:59:04,599 --> 00:59:08,893
- dollars per gram, but packaged in pill form, it can sell
- 985
- 00:59:08,893 --> 00:59:11,643
- for around 3700 dollars per gram.
- 986
- 00:59:13,523 --> 00:59:17,606
- This makes vitamin D far more valuable than gold.
- 987
- 00:59:20,024 --> 00:59:23,157
- But the million dollar question is should we be taking
- 988
- 00:59:23,157 --> 00:59:24,490
- vitamin D pills?
- 989
- 00:59:36,013 --> 00:59:38,513
- (tense music)
- 990
- 00:59:41,566 --> 00:59:45,837
- Today, most of us spend large parts of our days indoors,
- 991
- 00:59:45,837 --> 00:59:49,535
- with limited exposure to direct sunlight.
- 992
- 00:59:49,535 --> 00:59:52,438
- So do we need more vitamin D?
- 993
- 00:59:52,438 --> 00:59:55,105
- Should we be taking supplements?
- 994
- 00:59:56,051 --> 00:59:59,240
- Dr. Rachel Neale is part of a global investigation
- 995
- 00:59:59,240 --> 01:00:00,823
- trying to find out.
- 996
- 01:00:02,240 --> 01:00:05,850
- Vitamin D's not just a vitamin, vitamin D is a hormone
- 997
- 01:00:05,850 --> 01:00:08,320
- that has a range of incredibly powerful effects
- 998
- 01:00:08,320 --> 01:00:11,590
- on the cells in our body that could determine whether or not
- 999
- 01:00:11,590 --> 01:00:14,789
- that cell starts to divide uncontrollably and become
- 1000
- 01:00:14,789 --> 01:00:17,471
- a cancer for example or whether or not that cell gets
- 1001
- 01:00:17,471 --> 01:00:19,804
- a mutation and kills itself.
- 1002
- 01:00:20,974 --> 01:00:23,918
- So it's this incredibly powerful molecule that we need
- 1003
- 01:00:23,918 --> 01:00:27,340
- to understand a lot more about before we just recommend
- 1004
- 01:00:27,340 --> 01:00:30,673
- that everybody should take a supplement.
- 1005
- 01:00:33,627 --> 01:00:35,798
- Rachel leads one of the world's largest
- 1006
- 01:00:35,798 --> 01:00:39,159
- clinical trials of high dose vitamin D.
- 1007
- 01:00:39,159 --> 01:00:44,159
- 21 thousand people are taking a vitamin D pill or a placebo,
- 1008
- 01:00:44,168 --> 01:00:46,585
- a sugar pill, for five years.
- 1009
- 01:00:47,543 --> 01:00:50,402
- They're trying to see if taking vitamin D supplements
- 1010
- 01:00:50,402 --> 01:00:54,235
- reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases.
- 1011
- 01:00:55,510 --> 01:00:59,183
- I think the general public have a perception that
- 1012
- 01:00:59,183 --> 01:01:02,894
- vitamin D is proven to be beneficial for a whole range
- 1013
- 01:01:02,894 --> 01:01:04,956
- of different health outcomes, like cancer and
- 1014
- 01:01:04,956 --> 01:01:07,407
- cardiovascular disease and the reality is that we know
- 1015
- 01:01:07,407 --> 01:01:10,831
- vitamin D's incredibly important for our bones, but beyond
- 1016
- 01:01:10,831 --> 01:01:13,331
- that, we don't yet have proof.
- 1017
- 01:01:14,176 --> 01:01:16,740
- So why all the uncertainty?
- 1018
- 01:01:16,740 --> 01:01:21,153
- Well first, there's debate around how much we actually need.
- 1019
- 01:01:21,153 --> 01:01:24,638
- Vitamin D is measured in our blood in units generally
- 1020
- 01:01:24,638 --> 01:01:26,888
- called nanomoles per liter.
- 1021
- 01:01:27,878 --> 01:01:32,309
- Experts agree that below 25 is considered deficient,
- 1022
- 01:01:32,309 --> 01:01:35,251
- but knowing what levels are sufficient is trickier.
- 1023
- 01:01:35,251 --> 01:01:37,232
- A level over 50 is generally thought to be enough
- 1024
- 01:01:37,232 --> 01:01:41,649
- for good bone health for most people but others argue
- 1025
- 01:01:44,271 --> 01:01:46,688
- for 75 or 100 or even higher.
- 1026
- 01:01:49,097 --> 01:01:52,557
- It's worth noting that the US used a different measure,
- 1027
- 01:01:52,557 --> 01:01:56,646
- nanograms per milliliter and like metric versus imperial,
- 1028
- 01:01:56,646 --> 01:01:59,896
- this can cause international confusion.
- 1029
- 01:02:01,199 --> 01:02:05,426
- So we don't yet have a single number that is accepted
- 1030
- 01:02:05,426 --> 01:02:09,056
- by all organizations and all scientists and all doctors
- 1031
- 01:02:09,056 --> 01:02:10,473
- around the world.
- 1032
- 01:02:11,737 --> 01:02:16,319
- There's also controversy around blood testing,
- 1033
- 01:02:16,319 --> 01:02:17,846
- with studies showing different labs can get very different
- 1034
- 01:02:17,846 --> 01:02:21,887
- results, and although we know taking supplements increases
- 1035
- 01:02:21,887 --> 01:02:25,759
- the levels of vitamin D in our blood, we don't yet know
- 1036
- 01:02:25,759 --> 01:02:28,419
- if this improves our health.
- 1037
- 01:02:28,419 --> 01:02:31,002
- (lively music)
- 1038
- 01:02:44,054 --> 01:02:47,096
- So we don't know what vitamin D does yet.
- 1039
- 01:02:47,096 --> 01:02:50,054
- We've got hints about what vitamin D might do but what
- 1040
- 01:02:50,054 --> 01:02:51,955
- we don't know is-
- 1041
- 01:02:51,955 --> 01:02:53,901
- Different kinds of studies are revealing
- 1042
- 01:02:53,901 --> 01:02:56,616
- different kinds of clues.
- 1043
- 01:02:56,616 --> 01:02:58,993
- These people are getting a fair amount of vitamin D.
- 1044
- 01:02:58,993 --> 01:03:00,388
- They are.
- 1045
- 01:03:00,388 --> 01:03:02,463
- Vitamin D studies are often
- 1046
- 01:03:02,463 --> 01:03:06,790
- observational, meaning they observe the world as it is.
- 1047
- 01:03:06,790 --> 01:03:09,707
- For example, people with cancer often have low levels
- 1048
- 01:03:09,707 --> 01:03:11,810
- of vitamin D in their blood.
- 1049
- 01:03:11,810 --> 01:03:15,681
- The link is clear and potentially important.
- 1050
- 01:03:15,681 --> 01:03:19,255
- But it doesn't tell us if low vitamin D caused the cancer
- 1051
- 01:03:19,255 --> 01:03:22,422
- or if the cancer caused low vitamin D.
- 1052
- 01:03:25,489 --> 01:03:28,885
- To work it out, we need to do the kind of study pioneered
- 1053
- 01:03:28,885 --> 01:03:31,135
- by James Lind back in 1747.
- 1054
- 01:03:32,412 --> 01:03:34,829
- The randomized control trial.
- 1055
- 01:03:35,857 --> 01:03:40,535
- Take a group of people, divide randomly in two, give
- 1056
- 01:03:40,535 --> 01:03:45,134
- vitamin D to one group and a placebo to the other, then, if
- 1057
- 01:03:45,134 --> 01:03:47,874
- you see a difference between these groups, you know it was
- 1058
- 01:03:47,874 --> 01:03:52,541
- caused by vitamin D, and better still, do this at scale.
- 1059
- 01:03:53,896 --> 01:03:56,334
- The more people in your study, the more confident you can
- 1060
- 01:03:56,334 --> 01:03:57,834
- be of the results.
- 1061
- 01:03:59,495 --> 01:04:02,245
- Rachel's results are due in 2021.
- 1062
- 01:04:06,657 --> 01:04:09,528
- It's very exciting but currently the jury really is out
- 1063
- 01:04:09,528 --> 01:04:13,861
- on what we should be recommending to the population.
- 1064
- 01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:23,022
- Despite the uncertainty, in 2016, UK
- 1065
- 01:04:23,022 --> 01:04:25,896
- scientists recommended an increase in the recommended
- 1066
- 01:04:25,896 --> 01:04:28,063
- daily amount of vitamin D.
- 1067
- 01:04:29,736 --> 01:04:31,403
- Not everyone agrees.
- 1068
- 01:04:32,945 --> 01:04:35,893
- One high profile champion of vitamin D has since changed
- 1069
- 01:04:35,893 --> 01:04:36,726
- his mind.
- 1070
- 01:04:37,878 --> 01:04:40,628
- Geneticist professor Tim Spector.
- 1071
- 01:04:41,646 --> 01:04:44,865
- I've studied vitamin D a lot in the last 15 years
- 1072
- 01:04:44,865 --> 01:04:46,755
- and we were the first group to show
- 1073
- 01:04:46,755 --> 01:04:49,572
- that the levels in individuals is
- 1074
- 01:04:49,572 --> 01:04:53,383
- actually partly controlled by your genes so we always assume
- 1075
- 01:04:53,383 --> 01:04:56,864
- it's purely how much sunshine you get or how much oily fish
- 1076
- 01:04:56,864 --> 01:05:00,917
- you're eating but in fact, about 50 percent of the levels
- 1077
- 01:05:00,917 --> 01:05:04,398
- vary just because the genes you've got and so everyone
- 1078
- 01:05:04,398 --> 01:05:08,697
- has a different normal level of their vitamins and that is
- 1079
- 01:05:08,697 --> 01:05:11,144
- generally holding true for all the vitamins we've been able
- 1080
- 01:05:11,144 --> 01:05:15,038
- to test so far so our idea of normal should actually be very
- 1081
- 01:05:15,038 --> 01:05:18,554
- person specific so you might have a normal level that's
- 1082
- 01:05:18,554 --> 01:05:21,988
- three times higher than mine and we don't really know what
- 1083
- 01:05:21,988 --> 01:05:24,738
- is the good level and what's low.
- 1084
- 01:05:25,737 --> 01:05:28,071
- I think the public (mumbles) realize there is a controversy
- 1085
- 01:05:28,071 --> 01:05:31,742
- here and all these amounts of vitamins are important for us,
- 1086
- 01:05:31,742 --> 01:05:33,819
- but let's wait for the proper trials before we make a
- 1087
- 01:05:33,819 --> 01:05:36,993
- decision rather than the default being the artificial
- 1088
- 01:05:36,993 --> 01:05:40,325
- chemical first, worry about it later.
- 1089
- 01:05:40,325 --> 01:05:42,097
- Let's get our facts right, make sure we're not doing
- 1090
- 01:05:42,097 --> 01:05:44,232
- something harmful first.
- 1091
- 01:05:44,232 --> 01:05:46,118
- There's no doubt that we need to clinically manage
- 1092
- 01:05:46,118 --> 01:05:49,285
- people who have vitamin deficiency, it's important we
- 1093
- 01:05:49,285 --> 01:05:53,109
- recognize that vitamin D deficiency is a real thing, but we
- 1094
- 01:05:53,109 --> 01:05:56,640
- don't yet have the evidence to be able to say to the general
- 1095
- 01:05:56,640 --> 01:06:01,640
- population taking a vitamin D supplement is a good thing.
- 1096
- 01:06:02,042 --> 01:06:05,359
- So should we just get more sun?
- 1097
- 01:06:05,359 --> 01:06:08,149
- What about the risk of skin cancer?
- 1098
- 01:06:08,149 --> 01:06:13,149
- Well, like everything around vitamin D, it's complicated.
- 1099
- 01:06:13,291 --> 01:06:15,896
- In sunny climates, most people get enough from short bursts
- 1100
- 01:06:15,896 --> 01:06:19,201
- of sunshine a few times a week.
- 1101
- 01:06:19,201 --> 01:06:22,824
- Although of course sunscreen should always be used.
- 1102
- 01:06:22,824 --> 01:06:26,756
- And in less sunny places, more deliberate sun exposure
- 1103
- 01:06:26,756 --> 01:06:31,756
- may be needed, or your doctor may recommend supplementation.
- 1104
- 01:06:33,469 --> 01:06:38,469
- Vitamin D is powerful, no question, but can we get too much
- 1105
- 01:06:38,520 --> 01:06:40,436
- of a good thing?
- 1106
- 01:06:40,436 --> 01:06:42,936
- (tense music)
- 1107
- 01:06:53,740 --> 01:06:58,367
- They were born at 9:45, so he came out first and she was
- 1108
- 01:06:58,367 --> 01:07:02,187
- a minute later, so they're just a minute apart.
- 1109
- 01:07:02,187 --> 01:07:04,634
- When Becky Jackson gave birth to twins Joe
- 1110
- 01:07:04,634 --> 01:07:07,358
- and Elizabeth, she was thrilled.
- 1111
- 01:07:07,358 --> 01:07:09,591
- So that's three months and you know,
- 1112
- 01:07:09,591 --> 01:07:12,069
- Joe was such a little chunkalunk at first.
- 1113
- 01:07:12,069 --> 01:07:13,890
- But when she noticed her five month old
- 1114
- 01:07:13,890 --> 01:07:17,397
- daughter wasn't growing as quickly as her twin brother,
- 1115
- 01:07:17,397 --> 01:07:19,412
- Becky began to worry.
- 1116
- 01:07:19,412 --> 01:07:22,194
- And so here's five months and you can see her eyes look
- 1117
- 01:07:22,194 --> 01:07:26,349
- a little baggy and sunken and her face just looks
- 1118
- 01:07:26,349 --> 01:07:28,097
- a little strange.
- 1119
- 01:07:28,097 --> 01:07:32,142
- These pictures, nothing was alarming really until this one.
- 1120
- 01:07:32,142 --> 01:07:35,074
- Suddenly, things took a turn for the worse.
- 1121
- 01:07:35,074 --> 01:07:38,848
- Elizabeth wasn't gaining weight and she just wouldn't eat.
- 1122
- 01:07:38,848 --> 01:07:41,694
- I noticed one day when I was changing her diaper that
- 1123
- 01:07:41,694 --> 01:07:44,179
- her stomach looked sunken, I could see the bottom of her
- 1124
- 01:07:44,179 --> 01:07:48,929
- ribcage and her skin looked and felt strange, almost like
- 1125
- 01:07:49,781 --> 01:07:51,436
- pizza dough.
- 1126
- 01:07:51,436 --> 01:07:54,480
- Becky took her to the doctor for blood tests.
- 1127
- 01:07:54,480 --> 01:07:56,858
- The next day, the doctor called.
- 1128
- 01:07:56,858 --> 01:08:00,803
- She said "You have to go to children's hospital right now,
- 1129
- 01:08:00,803 --> 01:08:05,094
- "everything is all over the place, things that are low
- 1130
- 01:08:05,094 --> 01:08:07,568
- "should be high, things that are high should be low,
- 1131
- 01:08:07,568 --> 01:08:10,644
- "nothing is where it should be."
- 1132
- 01:08:10,644 --> 01:08:13,144
- (tense music)
- 1133
- 01:08:18,478 --> 01:08:23,203
- I was freaking out, I was panicked, I didn't know what any
- 1134
- 01:08:23,203 --> 01:08:28,036
- of it meant for a couple of days which was the scary part.
- 1135
- 01:08:28,961 --> 01:08:31,667
- The tests revealed that Elizabeth had toxic
- 1136
- 01:08:31,667 --> 01:08:35,509
- levels of vitamin D and this was causing dangerously high
- 1137
- 01:08:35,509 --> 01:08:38,092
- levels of calcium in her blood.
- 1138
- 01:08:39,493 --> 01:08:43,586
- I have never seen a case of vitamin D toxicity until
- 1139
- 01:08:43,586 --> 01:08:44,919
- I saw Elizabeth.
- 1140
- 01:08:45,986 --> 01:08:49,554
- She's only five or six months old and pretty much a baby's
- 1141
- 01:08:49,554 --> 01:08:52,759
- diet is mostly formula, so we had to do a little
- 1142
- 01:08:52,759 --> 01:08:57,759
- investigation why or where could she have gotten that.
- 1143
- 01:08:57,816 --> 01:09:01,378
- When they first said the words "hypercalcemia" to me,
- 1144
- 01:09:01,378 --> 01:09:05,013
- then I did what every parent does and I googled and I got
- 1145
- 01:09:05,013 --> 01:09:08,980
- online and I found out everything I could about it and then
- 1146
- 01:09:08,980 --> 01:09:11,907
- I started to see a recurring theme of high doses of
- 1147
- 01:09:11,907 --> 01:09:14,852
- vitamin D, vitamin D overdose.
- 1148
- 01:09:14,852 --> 01:09:16,602
- And I knew instantly.
- 1149
- 01:09:19,082 --> 01:09:21,978
- So you start with powdered goat's milk and you put in
- 1150
- 01:09:21,978 --> 01:09:23,749
- eight scoops.
- 1151
- 01:09:23,749 --> 01:09:25,444
- Becky didn't have enough breast milk for
- 1152
- 01:09:25,444 --> 01:09:28,463
- both twins, so she decided to keep Joe on breast milk
- 1153
- 01:09:28,463 --> 01:09:31,610
- while Elizabeth received a mix of breast milk and homemade
- 1154
- 01:09:31,610 --> 01:09:33,261
- formula.
- 1155
- 01:09:33,261 --> 01:09:36,428
- Vitamin C, vitamin E, coral calcium.
- 1156
- 01:09:39,490 --> 01:09:41,729
- This is cod liver oil.
- 1157
- 01:09:41,729 --> 01:09:44,248
- It was an organic recipe of goat milk
- 1158
- 01:09:44,248 --> 01:09:47,364
- and coconut milk from a local health store.
- 1159
- 01:09:47,364 --> 01:09:51,427
- And this was the soy lecithin which is a thickener.
- 1160
- 01:09:51,427 --> 01:09:53,834
- And wanting to do the best for her baby,
- 1161
- 01:09:53,834 --> 01:09:57,401
- Becky decided to add a little something extra to the mix.
- 1162
- 01:09:57,401 --> 01:10:00,053
- And then lastly is the vitamin D.
- 1163
- 01:10:00,053 --> 01:10:01,795
- How much do you put in?
- 1164
- 01:10:01,795 --> 01:10:04,962
- Well, the recipe calls for one drop.
- 1165
- 01:10:07,149 --> 01:10:08,463
- One drop.
- 1166
- 01:10:08,463 --> 01:10:09,296
- That's all that--
- that's it.
- 1167
- 01:10:09,296 --> 01:10:12,053
- Put in.
- Which seems trivial
- 1168
- 01:10:12,053 --> 01:10:15,401
- at best, that's just silliness, that's not gonna do anything
- 1169
- 01:10:15,401 --> 01:10:19,401
- for anybody, so I would do the whole dropperful.
- 1170
- 01:10:22,483 --> 01:10:26,111
- One ML or full dropper, like most infant droppers,
- 1171
- 01:10:26,111 --> 01:10:29,028
- would contain about 20 to 30 drops.
- 1172
- 01:10:31,658 --> 01:10:34,603
- If there's too much vitamin D, then you will reabsorb
- 1173
- 01:10:34,603 --> 01:10:39,210
- a lot of the calcium, then it causes some of the symptoms
- 1174
- 01:10:39,210 --> 01:10:43,022
- would be increased urination, lack of appetite, both of
- 1175
- 01:10:43,022 --> 01:10:45,889
- which could lead to dehydration.
- 1176
- 01:10:45,889 --> 01:10:49,396
- If this condition persisted without any treatment
- 1177
- 01:10:49,396 --> 01:10:53,353
- or intervention, this could ultimately lead to Elizabeth
- 1178
- 01:10:53,353 --> 01:10:55,186
- having kidney failure.
- 1179
- 01:11:00,783 --> 01:11:03,463
- And then this was in the actual hospital with the feeding
- 1180
- 01:11:03,463 --> 01:11:07,177
- tube but she's rounded out, she's plumped up and had
- 1181
- 01:11:07,177 --> 01:11:10,231
- started to look normal again.
- 1182
- 01:11:10,231 --> 01:11:12,540
- It took 10 days in hospital to stabilize
- 1183
- 01:11:12,540 --> 01:11:13,457
- her levels.
- 1184
- 01:11:14,719 --> 01:11:16,469
- I felt very guilty.
- 1185
- 01:11:17,335 --> 01:11:21,982
- I did this, this is something that I did and I knew that I
- 1186
- 01:11:21,982 --> 01:11:25,885
- was giving her too much when I was doing it but I thought
- 1187
- 01:11:25,885 --> 01:11:27,270
- "What harm could there be?
- 1188
- 01:11:27,270 --> 01:11:29,634
- "It's just a vitamin, it's like vitamin C, you get rid
- 1189
- 01:11:29,634 --> 01:11:34,051
- "of what you don't need, how could it be a big deal?"
- 1190
- 01:11:35,199 --> 01:11:38,085
- I was trying to be a good mom, I was trying to go above
- 1191
- 01:11:38,085 --> 01:11:42,418
- and beyond in a very easy, every day way that seemed
- 1192
- 01:11:43,612 --> 01:11:44,612
- so harmless.
- 1193
- 01:11:49,633 --> 01:11:53,094
- I think people have underestimated the power of these
- 1194
- 01:11:53,094 --> 01:11:55,094
- vitamins with vitamin D.
- 1195
- 01:11:57,814 --> 01:12:02,632
- You know, little mistakes can mean a lot if it's tenfold,
- 1196
- 01:12:02,632 --> 01:12:06,299
- hundredfold, that can really spell disaster.
- 1197
- 01:12:08,574 --> 01:12:11,080
- Luckily, Elizabeth is now fine.
- 1198
- 01:12:11,080 --> 01:12:12,913
- Her levels are normal.
- 1199
- 01:12:14,892 --> 01:12:18,329
- It's difficult to overdose on vitamins in food, but easy
- 1200
- 01:12:18,329 --> 01:12:21,747
- to do with manmade vitamins as they can be consumed in such
- 1201
- 01:12:21,747 --> 01:12:26,090
- large quantities, and fat soluble vitamins like D can
- 1202
- 01:12:26,090 --> 01:12:30,257
- accumulate in body fat, reaching dangerous levels.
- 1203
- 01:12:36,396 --> 01:12:39,056
- Becky Jackson and her family are not alone.
- 1204
- 01:12:39,056 --> 01:12:42,860
- In 2015, the US Poison Center reported over 3000 calls
- 1205
- 01:12:42,860 --> 01:12:45,384
- concerning children under six who had taken too much
- 1206
- 01:12:45,384 --> 01:12:46,217
- vitamin D.
- 1207
- 01:12:48,692 --> 01:12:51,192
- (tense music)
- 1208
- 01:12:56,153 --> 01:12:58,716
- Throughout the world, the potential risks of dietary
- 1209
- 01:12:58,716 --> 01:13:02,439
- supplements are being studied carefully.
- 1210
- 01:13:02,439 --> 01:13:05,655
- There's no question now that we have the data after
- 1211
- 01:13:05,655 --> 01:13:09,818
- decades of study, really, that the supplements are not
- 1212
- 01:13:09,818 --> 01:13:11,206
- risk free.
- 1213
- 01:13:11,206 --> 01:13:13,440
- And in America, supplements send tens of thousands of
- 1214
- 01:13:13,440 --> 01:13:17,722
- consumers to emergency departments every year and thousands
- 1215
- 01:13:17,722 --> 01:13:20,942
- of hospitalizations every year are due to serious side
- 1216
- 01:13:20,942 --> 01:13:23,445
- effects of supplements.
- 1217
- 01:13:23,445 --> 01:13:25,224
- Tonight, Walgreens and Target have pulled
- 1218
- 01:13:25,224 --> 01:13:27,009
- the products nationwide.
- 1219
- 01:13:27,009 --> 01:13:28,465
- GNC did the same in--
- 1220
- 01:13:28,465 --> 01:13:31,378
- In 2015, dietary supplements were pulled off
- 1221
- 01:13:31,378 --> 01:13:35,775
- the shelves of four major pharmacy chains in New York.
- 1222
- 01:13:35,775 --> 01:13:38,174
- Most of the supplements tested didn't contain the
- 1223
- 01:13:38,174 --> 01:13:41,687
- materials listed on the label and many contained
- 1224
- 01:13:41,687 --> 01:13:42,770
- contaminants.
- 1225
- 01:13:44,497 --> 01:13:47,364
- One of the serious safety concerns has been serious
- 1226
- 01:13:47,364 --> 01:13:50,558
- deficits in the manufacturing process.
- 1227
- 01:13:50,558 --> 01:13:53,095
- For example, there have been multi-vitamins in which the
- 1228
- 01:13:53,095 --> 01:13:57,457
- amount of a mineral has been 100 times greater than what
- 1229
- 01:13:57,457 --> 01:14:01,448
- it should be, leading to serious health defects.
- 1230
- 01:14:01,448 --> 01:14:04,615
- In other multi-vitamins, there has been drugs that weren't
- 1231
- 01:14:04,615 --> 01:14:08,281
- supposed to be in there at all, such as anabolic steroids,
- 1232
- 01:14:08,281 --> 01:14:10,722
- these are steroids that weightlifters might clandestinely
- 1233
- 01:14:10,722 --> 01:14:14,522
- use to get stronger have been found in multi-vitamins
- 1234
- 01:14:14,522 --> 01:14:19,420
- at such levels that people taking it became sick.
- 1235
- 01:14:19,420 --> 01:14:22,139
- Specific risks are appearing around specific
- 1236
- 01:14:22,139 --> 01:14:24,222
- vitamins, like vitamin D.
- 1237
- 01:14:25,094 --> 01:14:28,542
- We're seeing levels of five times, ten times normal
- 1238
- 01:14:28,542 --> 01:14:31,562
- in the blood of my patients when I see them with
- 1239
- 01:14:31,562 --> 01:14:35,622
- osteopetrosis and studies are now showing these people
- 1240
- 01:14:35,622 --> 01:14:38,644
- are now actually more prone to fractures and more prone
- 1241
- 01:14:38,644 --> 01:14:43,226
- to falling down and all the evidence is building up that we
- 1242
- 01:14:43,226 --> 01:14:47,890
- actually have a fairly narrow range of where these
- 1243
- 01:14:47,890 --> 01:14:49,057
- vitamins work.
- 1244
- 01:14:50,632 --> 01:14:53,369
- Every vitamin has a toxic level and some of them are
- 1245
- 01:14:53,369 --> 01:14:55,591
- actually not that much higher than just the normal
- 1246
- 01:14:55,591 --> 01:14:57,546
- nutritional amount.
- 1247
- 01:14:57,546 --> 01:15:01,280
- I see patients all the time who have vitamin B six levels
- 1248
- 01:15:01,280 --> 01:15:03,890
- in the toxic range and it can cause nerve damage
- 1249
- 01:15:03,890 --> 01:15:04,890
- for example.
- 1250
- 01:15:06,646 --> 01:15:09,373
- In the 1990s, studies testing a form of
- 1251
- 01:15:09,373 --> 01:15:13,344
- vitamin A were halted when it became clear that participants
- 1252
- 01:15:13,344 --> 01:15:16,261
- were at an increased risk of dying.
- 1253
- 01:15:17,913 --> 01:15:21,552
- That really shocked I think almost everyone.
- 1254
- 01:15:21,552 --> 01:15:23,807
- We need to look at the type of supplement, we need to look
- 1255
- 01:15:23,807 --> 01:15:26,314
- at the amount of supplement, we need to look at what's
- 1256
- 01:15:26,314 --> 01:15:30,049
- being given to and it does seem that there are some places
- 1257
- 01:15:30,049 --> 01:15:33,565
- where vitamin supplements can definitely provide benefit,
- 1258
- 01:15:33,565 --> 01:15:36,120
- there are a number of places where they can provide
- 1259
- 01:15:36,120 --> 01:15:39,089
- some harm and there are a lot of places where they're still
- 1260
- 01:15:39,089 --> 01:15:42,183
- not sure what the outcomes will be.
- 1261
- 01:15:42,183 --> 01:15:46,255
- So the big picture is that these products are not
- 1262
- 01:15:46,255 --> 01:15:47,997
- entirely safe.
- 1263
- 01:15:47,997 --> 01:15:49,909
- It's not that they're gonna harm everyone who's gonna take
- 1264
- 01:15:49,909 --> 01:15:51,436
- them, certainly not.
- 1265
- 01:15:51,436 --> 01:15:52,997
- The majority of people aren't gonna experience any
- 1266
- 01:15:52,997 --> 01:15:54,731
- adverse effects.
- 1267
- 01:15:54,731 --> 01:15:56,730
- But my concern is this.
- 1268
- 01:15:56,730 --> 01:16:01,730
- If these products are offering none to almost no benefit
- 1269
- 01:16:02,154 --> 01:16:07,154
- to a healthy consumer, but posing a small risk of harm,
- 1270
- 01:16:07,259 --> 01:16:10,482
- why should we be recommending them and why should consumers
- 1271
- 01:16:10,482 --> 01:16:11,649
- be using them?
- 1272
- 01:16:14,633 --> 01:16:16,342
- Now there's no questions that medicines can have
- 1273
- 01:16:16,342 --> 01:16:18,547
- dangerous side effects and complications.
- 1274
- 01:16:18,547 --> 01:16:20,874
- But they're clearly stated on the label and doctors know
- 1275
- 01:16:20,874 --> 01:16:22,161
- to look out for them.
- 1276
- 01:16:22,161 --> 01:16:23,601
- It's a known risk.
- 1277
- 01:16:23,601 --> 01:16:26,123
- The issue with vitamins and dietary supplements is that
- 1278
- 01:16:26,123 --> 01:16:28,789
- they're perceived to be risk free.
- 1279
- 01:16:28,789 --> 01:16:31,619
- Yet there can be complications, there can be side effects,
- 1280
- 01:16:31,619 --> 01:16:34,063
- and there can be bad products.
- 1281
- 01:16:34,063 --> 01:16:36,220
- It's not a no risk proposition.
- 1282
- 01:16:36,220 --> 01:16:38,803
- (lively music)
- 1283
- 01:16:41,428 --> 01:16:44,778
- Yet, in the US, there's no legal requirement for products
- 1284
- 01:16:44,778 --> 01:16:47,645
- to be tested for safety or effectiveness before
- 1285
- 01:16:47,645 --> 01:16:48,978
- they go on sale.
- 1286
- 01:16:50,411 --> 01:16:53,220
- In the US and in many countries, the laws are lax to the
- 1287
- 01:16:53,220 --> 01:16:55,120
- point where you can basically put any combination of
- 1288
- 01:16:55,120 --> 01:16:58,486
- vitamins and minerals in a pill, call it anything you want
- 1289
- 01:16:58,486 --> 01:17:01,545
- and make pseudo-health claims for it.
- 1290
- 01:17:01,545 --> 01:17:03,378
- So it's the wild west.
- 1291
- 01:17:05,509 --> 01:17:08,930
- Clearly, there is a huge problem in supplement use that's
- 1292
- 01:17:08,930 --> 01:17:11,422
- not regulated, there are things there
- 1293
- 01:17:11,422 --> 01:17:12,694
- that shouldn't be there,
- 1294
- 01:17:12,694 --> 01:17:16,161
- there are things that should be there that aren't there.
- 1295
- 01:17:16,161 --> 01:17:19,218
- It is sort of the wild west.
- 1296
- 01:17:19,218 --> 01:17:21,925
- To understand how this could happen, we need
- 1297
- 01:17:21,925 --> 01:17:23,008
- to look back.
- 1298
- 01:17:26,651 --> 01:17:29,156
- To see how the line between food
- 1299
- 01:17:29,156 --> 01:17:31,489
- and medicine became blurred.
- 1300
- 01:17:33,283 --> 01:17:38,283
- ♪ Well, let's talk about the US government of 1938 ♪
- 1301
- 01:17:40,132 --> 01:17:45,132
- ♪ The burgeoning new industry, they didn't regulate ♪
- 1302
- 01:17:46,668 --> 01:17:48,108
- ♪ Said it makes no sense ♪
- 1303
- 01:17:48,108 --> 01:17:53,108
- ♪ They're just dispensing nutrients my dear ♪
- 1304
- 01:17:53,592 --> 01:17:58,592
- ♪ And if we pop that bottle top, we know what we would hear ♪
- 1305
- 01:17:58,773 --> 01:18:03,773
- ♪ I am not a medicine, I am not a drug ♪
- 1306
- 01:18:04,848 --> 01:18:08,811
- ♪ Dude, I'm food, so don't intrude, it's rude ♪
- 1307
- 01:18:08,811 --> 01:18:12,256
- ♪ To pull my plug ♪
- 1308
- 01:18:12,256 --> 01:18:17,256
- ♪ I wanna be a mystery, don't peer inside the pill ♪
- 1309
- 01:18:19,253 --> 01:18:23,089
- ♪ And if I'm not a medicine ♪
- 1310
- 01:18:23,089 --> 01:18:26,506
- ♪ Perhaps you never will ♪
- 1311
- 01:18:28,561 --> 01:18:31,736
- In 1938, a new US law requires all pharmaceutical
- 1312
- 01:18:31,736 --> 01:18:35,184
- drugs to be tested for safety, but vitamins escaped
- 1313
- 01:18:35,184 --> 01:18:37,605
- this regulation, opening the door for the industry
- 1314
- 01:18:37,605 --> 01:18:38,981
- to expand.
- 1315
- 01:18:38,981 --> 01:18:41,824
- And by the 1970s, the industry is booming.
- 1316
- 01:18:41,824 --> 01:18:44,716
- The FDA, concerned about high dose vitamins, tries to
- 1317
- 01:18:44,716 --> 01:18:47,543
- tighten the rules, but fails.
- 1318
- 01:18:47,543 --> 01:18:49,412
- They try again in the 90s.
- 1319
- 01:18:49,412 --> 01:18:51,502
- This time, they want better labeling and to remove
- 1320
- 01:18:51,502 --> 01:18:53,276
- unsafe products.
- 1321
- 01:18:53,276 --> 01:18:55,517
- But the industry fights back, claiming the regulation
- 1322
- 01:18:55,517 --> 01:19:00,282
- will make it too expensive and limit consumer choice.
- 1323
- 01:19:00,282 --> 01:19:05,282
- ♪ You know I wear my therapeutic promises with pride ♪
- 1324
- 01:19:06,915 --> 01:19:11,915
- ♪ But every name I have to claim discreetly qualified ♪
- 1325
- 01:19:13,466 --> 01:19:18,466
- ♪ No reason to investigate, no reason to delay ♪
- 1326
- 01:19:20,359 --> 01:19:24,781
- ♪ You might just live forever if you take me twice a day ♪
- 1327
- 01:19:24,781 --> 01:19:29,781
- ♪ Oh but I am not a medicine, I am not a drug ♪
- 1328
- 01:19:32,108 --> 01:19:37,108
- ♪ To keep me cheap you need to sweep me right under the rug ♪
- 1329
- 01:19:38,774 --> 01:19:43,774
- ♪ Hey FDA, get out the way, why can't we stay like this ♪
- 1330
- 01:19:45,437 --> 01:19:50,437
- ♪ Where I am not a medicine ♪
- 1331
- 01:19:52,245 --> 01:19:55,662
- ♪ And ignorance is bliss ♪
- 1332
- 01:19:59,717 --> 01:20:04,717
- In 1994, a new US law is passed, forbidding the testing
- 1333
- 01:20:04,957 --> 01:20:07,927
- of dietary supplements for safety or effectiveness
- 1334
- 01:20:07,927 --> 01:20:08,927
- before sale.
- 1335
- 01:20:15,356 --> 01:20:18,794
- And the industry explodes from around 4000 products
- 1336
- 01:20:18,794 --> 01:20:19,961
- to over 85000.
- 1337
- 01:20:22,499 --> 01:20:24,249
- Perhaps the most surprising part about the way that
- 1338
- 01:20:24,249 --> 01:20:27,612
- supplements are regulated is that it is because of
- 1339
- 01:20:27,612 --> 01:20:31,307
- us consumers, we supported this legislation.
- 1340
- 01:20:31,307 --> 01:20:35,035
- We lobbied on behalf of the dietary supplement industry
- 1341
- 01:20:35,035 --> 01:20:38,931
- to get congress to pass a sweeping law in 1994 that
- 1342
- 01:20:38,931 --> 01:20:42,608
- forever forbade the FDA from requiring that dietary
- 1343
- 01:20:42,608 --> 01:20:46,398
- supplements be tested or for efficacy before they're sold.
- 1344
- 01:20:46,398 --> 01:20:48,015
- What do you mean forever?
- 1345
- 01:20:48,015 --> 01:20:52,268
- Like unless there's another law, that's just how it is.
- 1346
- 01:20:52,268 --> 01:20:54,685
- (soft music)
- 1347
- 01:20:56,407 --> 01:21:00,406
- Different countries have different regulations.
- 1348
- 01:21:00,406 --> 01:21:02,972
- In Australia, most vitamin products are classified as
- 1349
- 01:21:02,972 --> 01:21:04,972
- complimentary medicines.
- 1350
- 01:21:06,118 --> 01:21:08,844
- Manufacturers must certify that they use low risk
- 1351
- 01:21:08,844 --> 01:21:11,458
- ingredients, products contain what they say they
- 1352
- 01:21:11,458 --> 01:21:16,458
- contain and they have evidence to back up health claims.
- 1353
- 01:21:16,856 --> 01:21:20,037
- But, it's a trust based system.
- 1354
- 01:21:20,037 --> 01:21:23,355
- Products don't have to be proven safe or effective
- 1355
- 01:21:23,355 --> 01:21:25,272
- before they go on sale.
- 1356
- 01:21:29,117 --> 01:21:31,687
- In Europe, vitamin products are regulated as food
- 1357
- 01:21:31,687 --> 01:21:35,207
- supplements and again, they don't have to be tested
- 1358
- 01:21:35,207 --> 01:21:37,557
- before they go on sale.
- 1359
- 01:21:37,557 --> 01:21:39,466
- However, the laws are tougher.
- 1360
- 01:21:39,466 --> 01:21:42,207
- To claim a health benefit, for example, manufacturers
- 1361
- 01:21:42,207 --> 01:21:47,110
- must show proven scientific evidence, and in France,
- 1362
- 01:21:47,110 --> 01:21:49,991
- high doses of vitamins generally need a medical
- 1363
- 01:21:49,991 --> 01:21:51,074
- prescription.
- 1364
- 01:21:54,700 --> 01:21:56,655
- But increasingly, people are buying their vitamin
- 1365
- 01:21:56,655 --> 01:21:58,447
- products online.
- 1366
- 01:21:58,447 --> 01:22:00,947
- (tense music)
- 1367
- 01:22:05,779 --> 01:22:09,196
- So globally, it's a case of buyer beware.
- 1368
- 01:22:10,430 --> 01:22:13,462
- (players shouting)
- 1369
- 01:22:13,462 --> 01:22:18,126
- And yet, we can't forget that in cases of real deficiency,
- 1370
- 01:22:18,126 --> 01:22:21,459
- vitamin supplements can transform lives.
- 1371
- 01:22:25,941 --> 01:22:28,441
- They can save a child's sight.
- 1372
- 01:22:30,279 --> 01:22:32,279
- They can be life savers.
- 1373
- 01:22:34,078 --> 01:22:38,262
- But what if we're healthy, with no known deficiency?
- 1374
- 01:22:38,262 --> 01:22:42,012
- How do we decide whether to take them or not?
- 1375
- 01:22:44,210 --> 01:22:47,693
- My final stop is to meet experts planning the ultimate
- 1376
- 01:22:47,693 --> 01:22:48,860
- human journey.
- 1377
- 01:22:51,956 --> 01:22:56,123
- I wanna know, are they taking supplements to Mars?
- 1378
- 01:22:59,291 --> 01:23:00,923
- And liftoff.
- 1379
- 01:23:00,923 --> 01:23:05,137
- The (mumbles) of (mumbles) hit a new era of American
- 1380
- 01:23:05,137 --> 01:23:06,637
- space exploration.
- 1381
- 01:23:12,356 --> 01:23:15,090
- NASA is preparing to send humans to Mars
- 1382
- 01:23:15,090 --> 01:23:16,090
- around 2030.
- 1383
- 01:23:19,378 --> 01:23:22,775
- Imagine a three year round trip with only the food
- 1384
- 01:23:22,775 --> 01:23:25,192
- you have on board to survive.
- 1385
- 01:23:26,555 --> 01:23:28,500
- They can't go down the street and go to a restaurant.
- 1386
- 01:23:28,500 --> 01:23:30,773
- If they don't like what you've provided, they can't go
- 1387
- 01:23:30,773 --> 01:23:34,342
- to the grocery store and have hundreds of choices.
- 1388
- 01:23:34,342 --> 01:23:37,546
- So this is where we freeze dry the products.
- 1389
- 01:23:37,546 --> 01:23:40,190
- Dr. Grace Douglas leads NASA's research into
- 1390
- 01:23:40,190 --> 01:23:43,302
- the nutritional needs of astronauts.
- 1391
- 01:23:43,302 --> 01:23:46,757
- The focus is on taking whole foods into space.
- 1392
- 01:23:46,757 --> 01:23:49,588
- And all of our freeze dried foods get made in this lab
- 1393
- 01:23:49,588 --> 01:23:51,950
- here, so cook like you would at home and then they get put
- 1394
- 01:23:51,950 --> 01:23:56,950
- in here frozen and the moisture gets pulled out of them.
- 1395
- 01:23:57,082 --> 01:24:00,025
- In flight, they'll add the water back and it rehydrates
- 1396
- 01:24:00,025 --> 01:24:02,753
- to be just like the meal it was before we pulled
- 1397
- 01:24:02,753 --> 01:24:04,152
- the water out.
- 1398
- 01:24:04,152 --> 01:24:06,198
- Some of the vitamins actually do really well through
- 1399
- 01:24:06,198 --> 01:24:07,670
- this process.
- 1400
- 01:24:07,670 --> 01:24:10,753
- (cheerful whistling)
- 1401
- 01:24:14,556 --> 01:24:18,999
- Strawberry shortcake, ready for you, Chris.
- 1402
- 01:24:18,999 --> 01:24:20,325
- I like the look of this,
- 1403
- 01:24:20,325 --> 01:24:22,242
- this is your shrimp dish, is it?
- 1404
- 01:24:22,242 --> 01:24:24,518
- That's shrimp cocktail.
- Wow, these are really
- 1405
- 01:24:24,518 --> 01:24:26,705
- cool, and a burger, of course, very American.
- 1406
- 01:24:26,705 --> 01:24:28,178
- Yes.
- 1407
- 01:24:28,178 --> 01:24:31,967
- So this one's sweet and sour chicken.
- 1408
- 01:24:31,967 --> 01:24:36,926
- Honey coming out pretty well there, there we go.
- 1409
- 01:24:36,926 --> 01:24:38,894
- Chocolate pudding cake.
- 1410
- 01:24:38,894 --> 01:24:41,100
- So will NASA be sending vitamin supplements
- 1411
- 01:24:41,100 --> 01:24:42,646
- to Mars?
- 1412
- 01:24:42,646 --> 01:24:43,948
- Pretty good.
- 1413
- 01:24:43,948 --> 01:24:45,950
- The only one we send is vitamin D and that's because
- 1414
- 01:24:45,950 --> 01:24:47,836
- you get a lot of your vitamin D exposure from sunlight
- 1415
- 01:24:47,836 --> 01:24:50,736
- exposure on your skin and we're not gonna have that option
- 1416
- 01:24:50,736 --> 01:24:52,207
- in space flight.
- 1417
- 01:24:52,207 --> 01:24:53,409
- Only vitamin D?
- 1418
- 01:24:53,409 --> 01:24:56,025
- Yeah, we expect that we have all the other nutrients
- 1419
- 01:24:56,025 --> 01:24:59,674
- in a wide variety of a balanced food system.
- 1420
- 01:24:59,674 --> 01:25:01,836
- Why is food better than supplements?
- 1421
- 01:25:01,836 --> 01:25:06,086
- Food is just core and fundamental to every aspect
- 1422
- 01:25:06,953 --> 01:25:09,272
- of human health and performance, so it's central
- 1423
- 01:25:09,272 --> 01:25:12,300
- to these missions and there's really no way because there's
- 1424
- 01:25:12,300 --> 01:25:14,714
- so many different vitamins in food, there's so many
- 1425
- 01:25:14,714 --> 01:25:17,895
- things that you're getting that you can't replicate
- 1426
- 01:25:17,895 --> 01:25:19,895
- at this point in a pill.
- 1427
- 01:25:20,799 --> 01:25:24,248
- Okay, there we go, it says 75, so we're gonna put in 75.
- 1428
- 01:25:24,248 --> 01:25:26,936
- I mean to me, it feels like the linchpin, right?
- 1429
- 01:25:26,936 --> 01:25:30,411
- To determine whether a crew gets to Mars and is happy and
- 1430
- 01:25:30,411 --> 01:25:33,094
- healthy and ready to go.
- 1431
- 01:25:33,094 --> 01:25:35,084
- It sounds to me comes down to the food.
- 1432
- 01:25:35,084 --> 01:25:36,517
- It's one of the great needs,
- 1433
- 01:25:36,517 --> 01:25:37,733
- you have oxygen, water, and food,
- 1434
- 01:25:37,733 --> 01:25:39,504
- and no matter what, you can't go anywhere
- 1435
- 01:25:39,504 --> 01:25:41,378
- or do anything with the human system without those three
- 1436
- 01:25:41,378 --> 01:25:43,497
- critical things.
- 1437
- 01:25:43,497 --> 01:25:44,330
- How do you like it?
- 1438
- 01:25:44,330 --> 01:25:48,247
- It's fantastic, I would eat this, absolutely.
- 1439
- 01:25:49,398 --> 01:25:50,904
- For three years.
- 1440
- 01:25:50,904 --> 01:25:52,895
- For three years, this is all I get?
- 1441
- 01:25:52,895 --> 01:25:53,728
- Yeah.
- 1442
- 01:25:56,195 --> 01:25:57,952
- This is mission control Houston.
- 1443
- 01:25:57,952 --> 01:26:00,272
- As we come up on the first two critical Orion program
- 1444
- 01:26:00,272 --> 01:26:03,978
- milestones, the service module faring panel jettison
- 1445
- 01:26:03,978 --> 01:26:05,962
- and the launch abort system jettison--
- 1446
- 01:26:05,962 --> 01:26:08,277
- Our growing understanding of the power
- 1447
- 01:26:08,277 --> 01:26:12,027
- of food is revealing something extraordinary.
- 1448
- 01:26:16,843 --> 01:26:19,979
- As well as the 13 vitamins, there are thousands of other
- 1449
- 01:26:19,979 --> 01:26:24,573
- chemicals in food, a multitude of molecules working
- 1450
- 01:26:24,573 --> 01:26:27,906
- in complex and often mysterious synergy.
- 1451
- 01:26:30,671 --> 01:26:34,370
- Together, they protect against disease, but they don't
- 1452
- 01:26:34,370 --> 01:26:37,805
- always have that same power if they're isolated
- 1453
- 01:26:37,805 --> 01:26:38,972
- from our food.
- 1454
- 01:26:40,988 --> 01:26:43,571
- (all laughing)
- 1455
- 01:26:46,838 --> 01:26:50,869
- At this point in time, we can't begin to think that a
- 1456
- 01:26:50,869 --> 01:26:54,577
- supplement could replicate what we would get from a food
- 1457
- 01:26:54,577 --> 01:26:57,494
- or replace whole foods in our diet.
- 1458
- 01:26:58,448 --> 01:27:02,604
- Foods contain dozens of essential micronutrients, but they
- 1459
- 01:27:02,604 --> 01:27:05,997
- also contain literally thousands of compounds that we've
- 1460
- 01:27:05,997 --> 01:27:10,215
- only minimally studied up until this point in time.
- 1461
- 01:27:10,215 --> 01:27:12,844
- Even if it's comfortable to think that this pill will
- 1462
- 01:27:12,844 --> 01:27:16,924
- solve many problem of the daily life and will prevent
- 1463
- 01:27:16,924 --> 01:27:20,512
- longterm or chronic diseases, and it's not true and it's not
- 1464
- 01:27:20,512 --> 01:27:23,711
- proven for the moment and what is proven are the
- 1465
- 01:27:23,711 --> 01:27:26,794
- relationship between diet and health.
- 1466
- 01:27:29,092 --> 01:27:31,144
- I actually think it's unfortunate that there's been
- 1467
- 01:27:31,144 --> 01:27:34,863
- so much hype and pseudoscience around vitamins, so you
- 1468
- 01:27:34,863 --> 01:27:39,190
- have people who are evidence based, science based who think
- 1469
- 01:27:39,190 --> 01:27:42,137
- "Oh, vitamins are all nonsense," no, they're not, actually,
- 1470
- 01:27:42,137 --> 01:27:45,804
- it's science, it's nutrition, it's medicine.
- 1471
- 01:27:46,848 --> 01:27:51,088
- What's nonsense is over hyping vitamins or pretending that
- 1472
- 01:27:51,088 --> 01:27:54,005
- they're something that they're not.
- 1473
- 01:27:57,405 --> 01:27:59,595
- You know, before, when I thought of vitamins, I thought
- 1474
- 01:27:59,595 --> 01:28:00,974
- of pills.
- 1475
- 01:28:00,974 --> 01:28:04,003
- I had kind of forgotten that they all come from food, but
- 1476
- 01:28:04,003 --> 01:28:06,049
- now I've learned it's really not that hard to get everything
- 1477
- 01:28:06,049 --> 01:28:09,408
- you need from food and there's so much more to food than
- 1478
- 01:28:09,408 --> 01:28:11,420
- we currently understand.
- 1479
- 01:28:11,420 --> 01:28:13,782
- After all, we've been getting our food from vitamins for
- 1480
- 01:28:13,782 --> 01:28:15,728
- millions of years.
- 1481
- 01:28:15,728 --> 01:28:18,469
- You think we'd have it all worked out in barely a hundred?
- 1482
- 01:28:18,469 --> 01:28:20,124
- So should we take our vitamins?
- 1483
- 01:28:20,124 --> 01:28:21,166
- Yes!
- 1484
- 01:28:21,166 --> 01:28:23,877
- By eating good food, and if you feel like you need something
- 1485
- 01:28:23,877 --> 01:28:26,855
- extra, maybe the best thing to do is think of vitamins
- 1486
- 01:28:26,855 --> 01:28:28,317
- as if they're medicines.
- 1487
- 01:28:28,317 --> 01:28:32,234
- That is, if you take them, take them seriously.
- 1488
- 01:28:34,017 --> 01:28:38,434
- (people chattering under soft music)
- 1489
- 01:28:52,338 --> 01:28:54,838
- (tense music)
- 1489
- 01:28:55,305 --> 01:29:01,639
- Support us and become VIP member
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