The new book Your Vitamins are Obsolete: The Vitamin Revolution: A Program for Healthy Living and Healthy Longevity by Sheldon Zablow, M.D. is a must read. Dr. Zablow eloquently describes how the proper forms of B12 and folate are critical for proper health and body function especially of the brain, nervous, and vascular systems. I applaud his ease at describing this essential medical information. Being a seasoned child psychiatrist for 40 years may have helped him explain complex matters simply to the reader for greater comprehension.
This is an important book both for laypeople and healthcare providers. Our current healthcare system is doing the public a great injustice. Dr. Zablow describes a helpful adjunct or even a cure for some using active B12 and methylfolate- not folic acid and cyanocobalamin. This has been overlooked for decades because physicians are not being taught the basic biochemistry of the B vitamins and their necessity for health and life.
Dr. Zablow describes vitamers, methylation, nutritional epigenetics with ease, descriptive writing and clever graphics that assists comprehension. Dr. Zablow also lays out sound healthcare tips that the average person either needs to learn or have reinforced. This book could save your life, health, sanity, maybe even your marriage, as well as money. His preventative approach provides simple tools to educate readers about nutrition, stress, inflammation, sleep, and most importantly the critical vitamers (methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin, and L-methylfolate). It's about time mainstream medicine catches up to the facts presented in this book and begin practicing it!
Bravo Dr. Zablow, brilliant work!
Sally Pacholok, RN, BSN
Co-author of Could It Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses." Quill Driver Books (2005), 2nd Ed., (2011), Could It Be B12? Pediatric Edition. What Every Parent Needs to Know About Vitamin B12 Deficiency. Quill Driver Books (2015).
2021-02-18
A psychiatric physician makes a case for focusing on the key role of two specific molecules on one’s health.
In this debut health book, Zablow lays out his argument that the beneficial effects of two crucial forms of vitamin B are often overlooked and that if everyone consumed sufficient B12 and folate (B9) in forms most easily used by the body—the “vitamers” of the title—it would result in substantial improvements in individual and public health. The book opens with an explanation of how vitamins work, with a particular focus on B12 and folate, and a detailed account of how nutrition affects the expression of genes. It also presents a rundown of the biochemistry of metabolism and the different forms that B12 and folate can take. The body, Zablow says, responds to stress with inflammation, and if people are able to find ways to reshape their body’s response to stress, they can minimize inflammation, which, in turn, can improve their overall physical well-being. He addresses the dietary and lifestyle changes that he says are necessary to incorporate vitamers at appropriate levels and provides suggestions for reframing the medical field’s understanding and treatment of vitamin deficiencies. The book takes a fanciful turn when it uses questions about astronaut nutrition and an eventual mission to Mars to demonstrate the practical implications of particular B-complex deficiencies and suggest mitigation strategies, but Zablow effectively pulls the focus back to how his concepts might be applied to everyday circumstances on Earth. Ultimately, his book makes an intriguing argument for his health-management system. Zablow does a good job of making a complex topic comprehensible for those who might lack a background in nutrition or biochemistry while also providing more detailed information for those who are able to approach the topic from a more technical perspective: “Without ample supplies of B12 and folate to generate energy, regulate genetic expression, and keep the cells clear of metabolic waste, all other efforts to improve health will be of reduced benefit.” The author ably breaks down the various elements of what it takes to use vitamers properly—processing them into forms the body can use, consuming the compounds in sufficient quantities, and being aware of symptoms of deficiencies, which may also be present due to other conditions. The book is realistic about practical aspects of treating such deficiencies; for instance, it notes that folate supplements are readily available in stores, but it also warns that they’re often in forms that are harder for the body to process, making them less effective than their packaging might suggest. Zablow’s challenges to medical orthodoxies, such as that the body retains a usable store of vitamin B in the liver, will likely raise eyebrows, but his persuasive arguments, supported by research, make his ideas worth looking into further. Overall, the book provides readers with a new framework for understanding functions of the body—one that can serve as a basis for productive conversations with medical providers.
A thought-provoking reinterpretation of how vitamins affect wellness.
