A very dangerous film. DO NOT LISTEN TO IT. I am a REAL Biochemist (degree and all) and I can say for sure MOST OF this film is a lie.
Yes certain things are true such as B3 and depression but 11,500mg of B3 (Niacin) a day is NOT HEALTHY. The movie leads you on to believe that the person needs it because they are deficient. The truth could actually be that the person is actually not deficient and that the receptor in the brain for B3 is genetically hampered and doesn't respond well (or even none at all of which the next part wouldn't matter) to B3 unless massive doses (high molarity) is present which will decrease the Kd (dissociation constant). You could end up killing your family member doing this by OVER DOSING them. People have to understand that Niacin is a CHEMICAL and like all Chemicals they have side EFFECTS, so lets review them shall we? Primary side effects contain (hey we've seen this before right?) Blotching, Fever, dryness (Psoriasis), muscle damage, and hepatoxicity (liver damage to the extent of failure). also if you don't believe that you can always check an accredited medical site such as Mayo Clinic. Thank god the person listened to their psychiatrist and stopped that ludicrous regimen.
Why its not healthy even though the movie people say it is. The thing is when you have a high molarity of anything other reactions in the body can and will take place. This can make things very dangerous, and also the reason why many nutritionists have no idea what's going on in the human body. Nutrition is mostly PREVENTIVE and slightly CURATIVE. Medicine is the opposite and that is why people who get cured get sick again because they don't learn the PREVENTIVE MEASURES or decline to do them. There is a Biochemist I know in fact that takes Lipitor to reduce their cholesterol even though they know healthy eating would be better just cause they hate exercise and wants to eat what they want despite knowing and admitting its bad for them. That is also quite shameful and a poor example to others.
The whole thing about vitamin C and cancer is true to an extent. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and can prevent cancer (notice preventive!), so why don't we eat more of it? Because it can cause cancer at HIGHER MOLARITIES. There are hundreds of accredited documented papers that discuss this. They are hard to find (but they are there) because of all the science Jargon that I'm used to but It has been shown in:
Podmore ID, Griffith HR, Karl HE, Mistry N, Mistry P & Lunec J (1998): Vitamin C exhibits pro-oxidant properties. Nature 392, 559–560.
Cai L, Koropatnick J & Cherian MG (2001): Roles of vitamin C in radiation-induced DNA -damage in presence and absence of copper. Chem. Biol. Interact. 137, 75–88.
Guidarelli A, De Sanctis R, Cellini B, Fiorani M, Dacha M & Cantoni O (2001): Intracellular ascorbic acid enhances the DNA single-strand breakage and toxicity induced by peroxynitrite in U937 cells. Biochem. J. 365, 509–513.
What happens is metals such as iron can be reduced, oxidized, and then re-reduced, in a process called redox cycling that can generate reactive oxygen species and THOSE ARE BAD. Don't read the ones by Linus Pauling as they are biased (obviously) and were even cited as an embarrassment by the National Cancer Institute. Linus Pauling (discussed in this film) who was pretty much the founder of megadosing vitamin C took around 12,000mg of vitamin C A DAY and DIED of PROSTATE CANCER. If it was so miraculous why didn't it save him? Because it doesn't work.
Now the film also states that modern medicine and scientist didn't try megadosing. Well, that's not true either. The Mayo Clinic which is a NONPROFIT organization tried to replicate Linus Pauling's work with megadosing and cancer and found that they COULD NOT REPLICATE the results even with THREE subsequent trials.
Source: Cabanillas, F (2010). "Vitamin C and cancer: what can we conclude--1,609 patients and 33 years later?". Puerto Rico health sciences journal 29 (3): 215–7.
Everything you eat causes cancer because of the superoxide anion radicals (O2*-) formed in the mitochondria, but is also reduced to H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and other reactions with OH and so on and so forth. Now Vitamin C pulls away those oxygen radicals. That's how it works to SAVE you, but again too much is not a good idea.
Anyways, all foods have certain effects that negate one form of cancer and cause another. The trick is a BALANCE. Even grass fed beef while known to cause colon cancer and testicular cancer in men, prevents a slew of other cancers, diabetes, and other problems with its Conjugated Linoleic Acid only found in grass fed beef not corn fed beef. Again balance is key. Eat but in moderation.
In conclusion this film is trash and an abomination to real scientists and again if it was so true then why at the end of the credits do they pretty much say, "DO NOT DO THIS!" It is insulting, dangerous for the average viewer, and full of lies and worst of all false hopes.
Yes certain things are true such as B3 and depression but 11,500mg of B3 (Niacin) a day is NOT HEALTHY. The movie leads you on to believe that the person needs it because they are deficient. The truth could actually be that the person is actually not deficient and that the receptor in the brain for B3 is genetically hampered and doesn't respond well (or even none at all of which the next part wouldn't matter) to B3 unless massive doses (high molarity) is present which will decrease the Kd (dissociation constant). You could end up killing your family member doing this by OVER DOSING them. People have to understand that Niacin is a CHEMICAL and like all Chemicals they have side EFFECTS, so lets review them shall we? Primary side effects contain (hey we've seen this before right?) Blotching, Fever, dryness (Psoriasis), muscle damage, and hepatoxicity (liver damage to the extent of failure). also if you don't believe that you can always check an accredited medical site such as Mayo Clinic. Thank god the person listened to their psychiatrist and stopped that ludicrous regimen.
Why its not healthy even though the movie people say it is. The thing is when you have a high molarity of anything other reactions in the body can and will take place. This can make things very dangerous, and also the reason why many nutritionists have no idea what's going on in the human body. Nutrition is mostly PREVENTIVE and slightly CURATIVE. Medicine is the opposite and that is why people who get cured get sick again because they don't learn the PREVENTIVE MEASURES or decline to do them. There is a Biochemist I know in fact that takes Lipitor to reduce their cholesterol even though they know healthy eating would be better just cause they hate exercise and wants to eat what they want despite knowing and admitting its bad for them. That is also quite shameful and a poor example to others.
The whole thing about vitamin C and cancer is true to an extent. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and can prevent cancer (notice preventive!), so why don't we eat more of it? Because it can cause cancer at HIGHER MOLARITIES. There are hundreds of accredited documented papers that discuss this. They are hard to find (but they are there) because of all the science Jargon that I'm used to but It has been shown in:
Podmore ID, Griffith HR, Karl HE, Mistry N, Mistry P & Lunec J (1998): Vitamin C exhibits pro-oxidant properties. Nature 392, 559–560.
Cai L, Koropatnick J & Cherian MG (2001): Roles of vitamin C in radiation-induced DNA -damage in presence and absence of copper. Chem. Biol. Interact. 137, 75–88.
Guidarelli A, De Sanctis R, Cellini B, Fiorani M, Dacha M & Cantoni O (2001): Intracellular ascorbic acid enhances the DNA single-strand breakage and toxicity induced by peroxynitrite in U937 cells. Biochem. J. 365, 509–513.
What happens is metals such as iron can be reduced, oxidized, and then re-reduced, in a process called redox cycling that can generate reactive oxygen species and THOSE ARE BAD. Don't read the ones by Linus Pauling as they are biased (obviously) and were even cited as an embarrassment by the National Cancer Institute. Linus Pauling (discussed in this film) who was pretty much the founder of megadosing vitamin C took around 12,000mg of vitamin C A DAY and DIED of PROSTATE CANCER. If it was so miraculous why didn't it save him? Because it doesn't work.
Now the film also states that modern medicine and scientist didn't try megadosing. Well, that's not true either. The Mayo Clinic which is a NONPROFIT organization tried to replicate Linus Pauling's work with megadosing and cancer and found that they COULD NOT REPLICATE the results even with THREE subsequent trials.
Source: Cabanillas, F (2010). "Vitamin C and cancer: what can we conclude--1,609 patients and 33 years later?". Puerto Rico health sciences journal 29 (3): 215–7.
Everything you eat causes cancer because of the superoxide anion radicals (O2*-) formed in the mitochondria, but is also reduced to H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and other reactions with OH and so on and so forth. Now Vitamin C pulls away those oxygen radicals. That's how it works to SAVE you, but again too much is not a good idea.
Anyways, all foods have certain effects that negate one form of cancer and cause another. The trick is a BALANCE. Even grass fed beef while known to cause colon cancer and testicular cancer in men, prevents a slew of other cancers, diabetes, and other problems with its Conjugated Linoleic Acid only found in grass fed beef not corn fed beef. Again balance is key. Eat but in moderation.
In conclusion this film is trash and an abomination to real scientists and again if it was so true then why at the end of the credits do they pretty much say, "DO NOT DO THIS!" It is insulting, dangerous for the average viewer, and full of lies and worst of all false hopes.