Vitamins and You Nomatter what infections youmay or may not have, maintaining good nutrition will include taking a variety of vitamin pills, in addition to eating many fresh vegetable each day, and making sure you have a good source of protein. Unfortunately, because we each have different and individual chemical make- up, we will each have different vitamin needs. Regardless of whatthe FDA claims, there are many doubts that a minimum daily requirementof vitaminsand minerals ‘can be applied to every individual on this arth. If you wantto find outyour personal vitamin requirements, some research will have to be done, plus some experimentation, At least, this is what I id. Do vitamin supplements work? The FDA says they are not needed if you eat well, but let me tell you a story. When I was twenty-six, ater years of gymnastics and weight lifting, I developed a blood clot in my right shoulder because I over- developed my shoulders for my small yw 7 frame. My muscles’ strength pulled my floating top rib against my collar bone, pinchingoffthemajorveinscomingoutof myarm, Eventually, wehad the offending rib removed. This was supposed to solve the problem 95% of the time. Of course, Iwas in the 5% whose space left by the rib was replaced by scar tissue, pinching the veins once again. My surgeon then told me that there was nothing more he could do, and that I would haveto accept having abum arm for the rest of my life. Not longafter this, my mother read in Prevention Magazine thatnatural Vitamin E helped dissolve scar tissue, and my parentsboughtmeayear’ssupply. Within that year, the scar tissue in my shoulder had disappeared. Once I realized that this claim about ‘Vitamin E was true, I decided that other claims regarding mega-doses of vitamins might also be true, and I started investigating and experimenting. ‘The first thing you want to leam is that, while most excess vitamins will pass right through you, there are some that will linger in your body. If you take too much of these particular vitamins or minerals on. a regular basis, they can build up in your liver with toxic results. PUTT Selenium is one of these. Vitamin A is another, but Vitamin A can be replaced with Beta-Carotene. Beta-Carotene will be converted by yourbody into Vitamin A as needed, and the excess will wash out like many other vitamins. Before adding any vitamins or mincralsto yourdiet, research the subject. Read Prevention Magazine and check your bookstore for good books. Prevention Magazine has also released a book titled “The Complete Book of Vitamins,” but there are many other good books. Even some of the good books may make claims that could use more research and should perhaps be taken lightly, but many other claims are backed by solid, quality research and should be considered. Alsoremember thatvitamin therapy results are slow in coming, and itmay take a year before you realize that you feel better. Ican't make any other major claims beyond my shoulder scar tissue, but I haven't had a cold or the flu in almost a decade, and I'm one of the few who have tolerated AZT for over six years, so who's to say? Imay be wasting some funds on my vitamins, but after surviving AIDS for almost eight years, I'm not going to quit them now.