Some consider vitamins as a great ally to combat alcoholism problems.
It is a pleasure for me to introduce a new section in our blog: “Stories and Books that Inspire”. Once a month we will have bibliographic references with topics of health, science, divulgation, nutrition, among other topics that we hope you will enjoy. This time it’s the turn of a very interesting book that aroused my curiosity. It has as its title:
“Can vitamins cure alcoholism?”
A very popular book by the renowned biologist and writer Andrew Saul, who is also president of the magazine “Psychology Today” or “Psicología y Bienestar” in Spanish.
Drinking is a very important factor in most violent crimes and at least one of the most serious crimes are committed with alcohol. one-third of suicide cases. Drug and alcohol use is directly related to the individual’s social situation and is often considered an incurable disease.
Fred and Edith. These are two of the many cases presented in this book. Both had been considered alcoholics for at least 15 years; they had both social and health problems. After two weeks of administering large amounts of vitamin C and vitamin B3 they stopped suffering from the absence of alcohol. Both claim to have recovered with this therapy.
But how do we define an alcoholic? It is very common to hear the term “social drinker”; we separate those who drink large amounts casually from those who drink, even in smaller amounts, on a more frequent and routine basis.
Addictions start at a very young age. Let’s think of a child who is fed daily from a bottle, who becomes addicted to a seemingly innocent substance: cow’s milk. The sweet taste of milk becomes his first addiction. Sugar is the main addictive substance, and many children are as addicted to sugar as alcoholics are to alcohol. In fact, alcohol is a very simple carbohydrate, similar to sugar.
Conventional medicine does not welcome the idea that food can be addictive, but Dr. Abram Hoffer invites us to look at the alcoholic with the same eyes as we look at the soda addict, the milk addict, the junk food addict, and the sugar addict in general. Nutrition is the key. It is necessary to improve the quality of food, therefore, a healthy diet is the first step to stop addiction.
We all have a common enemy: sugar.
We all have a common enemy. A toxic, addictive and violent enemy; but attractive, sweet and delicious: sugar. There are several types of sugars. The most important is glucose, which interestingly is found in food, as carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, absorbed and metabolized. Glucose is the least toxic of the sugars.
On the other hand we have fructose, the most dangerous of all. Although its name indicates that it comes from fruits, actually nowadays we consume it more from processed foods, such as junk food, soft drinks and candy.
None of the sugars are really food. They do not provide a single nutrient, only calories. A good diet is based on vegetables and large amounts of fresh vegetable juices; more fibre and complex carbohydrates; less sugar and fat: it’s as simple as that. No more junk food!
Like smoking, alcohol can cause lung cancer and can cause cancers of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, tongue, throat and more. It is clear that it is a substance that damages our health, particularly the liver and the brain.
When talking about nutrition and alcoholism, it’s like asking the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Does heavy alcohol use cause malnutrition, or does malnutrition cause alcoholism? Although it has been found that a person is more likely to be an alcoholic if there is a family history, a vitamin deficiency during childhood may predispose a person to alcoholism later in life.
If it is known that such a relatively simple and inexpensive treatment as giving vitamins can ease the life of an alcoholic, why has it taken so long for this amazing knowledge to gain prominence?
Doctors have reservations about the number of side effects that manifest themselves during such vitamin treatment. That is why we recommend that you seek other sources of information and seek professional advice before making the decision to pursue this therapy. On the other hand, virtually all drugs have side effects, that is, they produce effects (including those that are adverse and serious) other than those intended.
Do you remember the message with which we started this program? Let’s say there is a blind man who assures us that, in order to give up alcohol, you only need willpower; on the other hand we have another blind man who assures us that you only need to follow a healthy diet, as well as vitamins and food supplements. Is it possible that both are right? From their own personal and professional experience both could testify to the results of both practices, but that does not devalue either argument.
Although most medications prescribed by doctors can seemingly eradicate a disease, many of them only relieve the symptoms or pain associated with that disease. For example, the most popular asthma medication is inhaled beta antagonists that relax the muscles in the airways. It helps asthmatics breathe easier, but it does not eliminate asthma. The person will still need to take the medicine.
Medicines that stop the spread of invading germs, such as bacteria and viruses, do achieve their goal, but not without harming the body.
Vitamins, despite their side effects, have proven to be completely safe, and in any case, if complications occur, it is only recommended to reduce the dose until you get used to it and then go from there. Of course, it should be a health expert who will tell you what is the right dosage for your condition.
Alcoholic beverages contain ethanol, a simple carbohydrate very similar to sugar, which provides a lot of energy but no nutrients. Thiamine is necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates. Therefore additional carbohydrates, in this case from alcohol, require additional amounts of thiamine. If in the process of assimilation of carbohydrates we deplete our thiamine resources we become prone to fatigue, anxiety and depression. Thus, we can assume that a thiamine supplement could help an alcoholic with his or her depression problems and help him or her cope with this very stressful situation in a happier way, as a family, and perhaps overcome the problem in a shorter period of time.
Can vitamins cure alcoholism? As we have seen so far, we can compare alcoholism addiction to sugar addiction; there are records of people who have alleviated the suffering of recovery by following a therapy based on vitamin C and vitamin B3; also, it has been mentioned that depression, anxiety and fatigue are a symptom of malnutrition that can be alleviated with a diet rich in vegetables and low in sugars; the fatal consequences of alcoholism include lung, throat and stomach cancer; and lastly, we mention the common side effects of vitamin therapy that may cause fear when the benefits and benefits of vitamins are unknown.
The fifth chapter of today’s book is entitled: “Results of the vitamin treatment”. As indicated, different case studies with their clinical results are presented here. If I have to cite one of the most interesting, at least from my point of view, it would be the following:
“One of my patients was an alcoholic and schizophrenic, but whenever she stopped drinking with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, she began to suffer violent auditory hallucinations. When she drank again the voices would disappear. She was faced with a terrible dilemma: either continue to be an alcoholic, with all that that entailed, so she would stop hearing the voices, or stay sober and suffer. She tried abstinence several times but to no avail. I started treating her with niacin and a few months later, when she stopped drinking, the voices went away. After that, she became a valued member of the first Schizophrenics Anonymous group I organized in Saskatoon Canada.”
It is said that it is the children who usually pay for the sins of their parents. This applies, at least, particularly to fetal alcohol syndrome. This is when the mother drinks during pregnancy. The metabolic disorder caused by alcohol is not limited to the mother’s body, we will certainly see damage also in the fetus, which acquires a very important problem for which there seems to be no effective treatment: fetal alcohol syndrome.
Dr. Andrew Saul successfully treated several of these children using primarily niacin, or vitamin B3 as we usually know it. She gives us details of one case in particular: a girl neglected by her parents, whose aunt had to take care of her. The little girl suffered from slow learning and drastic mood swings; with her younger sister she was very aggressive, even to a physical degree. The aunt, before learning about the treatment proposed by Dr. Andrew Saul, tried several medications without any result.
Ten months after a dairy-free diet and a therapeutic process based on vitamins, narrated in detail in the contents of this book, the little girl returned to school in a special education center. The patient was cheerful, relaxed and on her way to a full recovery.