How Did They Survive Without Vitamins?

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

I'm sure there's been other "like" situations, but this is a particular
example that has me puzzled.

During the food shortage in WWII the death rate decreased significantly. The
reason given goes along similar lines to this...

"The real test of the value of refined (fortified) foods would be to put a
group of lab animals on a diet of white bread and compare them to a group
fed a diet of whole-grain bread. In one such experiment, two thirds of the
rats kept on a diet of enriched white bread died before the experiment was
finished." (Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, United States
Senate. Dietary Goals for the United States 1977.)

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

There were many deaths from Beri Beri (Vitamin B deficiency) among the
Australians and British in Japanese concentration camps. I think the
German camps looked after prisoners better.

Peter Moran

Quoted message said:

I'm sure there's been other "like" situations, but this is a particular
example that has me puzzled.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

I'm sure there's been other "like" situations, but this is a particular
example that has me puzzled.

I conduct interviews of Holocaust survivors for a visual history project.
They were fed, but a very limited amount, and very poorly. Many of the
deaths were due to malnutrition. In some camps, notably the work camps, they
were allowed to have their own gardens. Often, the Nazi's confiscated what
they grew.

How they survived, is a testimony to the strength of will. One man who I
interviewed several years ago survived several camps, and was a leader,
during 1947-1948, in the military in Israel and was one of the Israelis who
broke the Arab hold on Jerusalem. He told me that he survived on a diet of
despising the Nazis and a strong desire to make sure that Jews were never
subjected to a Holocaust again.

He also mentiuoned that he lost over 100 lbs. during this period.

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: How Did They Survive Without Vitamins?
From: "Dave Wickware" [email hidden]
Date: 4/20/04 3:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"The real test of the value of refined (fortified) foods would be to put a
group of lab animals on a diet of white bread and compare them to a group
fed a diet of whole-grain bread. In one such experiment, two thirds of the
rats kept on a diet of enriched white bread died before the experiment was
finished." (Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, United States
Senate. Dietary Goals for the United States 1977.)

The work I remember was the study where one group of dogs were given only
water. That group died in around 60 days.

A second group was given refined, bleached, white bread with the water. That
group died in 30 days, testifying to the introduced toxicity of refining and
bleaching.

A third group of dogs were fed whole grain breads. That group died even
sooner than the white bread fed dogs. The reason seems to be that up to four
times as much preservative has to be added to whole grain bread to give it the
needed shelf life. If is apparently the preservatives that killed the dogs so
quickly.

Luckly, man is not a dog. Yet, what is man, food wise, anyway?

DrC PhD.

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

They SURVIVED - they did not THRIVE, nor were they even what
would be called healthy. Most prisoners lost 50% or more of their
body weight, and had many nutritional problems when they were
rescued.

The Germans didn't care - these were disposable workers.

Tsu Dho Nimh

--
When businesses invoke the "protection of consumers," it's a lot like
politicians invoking morality and children - grab your wallet and/or
your kid and run for your life.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

To a degree. The "daily" requirement is simply the amount you need to
get every day (on average) to avoid deficiency diseases. You can get
less than the RDA today and more than the RDA tomorrow, as long as
your average intake meets the RDA and you're not trying to be too
extreme about the highs and the lows.

The body is good at conserving vitamins, and it takes quite a while
for deficiency diseases to show up even if your intake of a particular
nutrient drops to zero. Back in the days of limes to prevent scurvy,
the ship captains would wait for certain symptoms to show up in the
crew (usually irritability and an increase in fights) before they
broke out the limes.

-- David Wright :: alphabeta at prodigy.net
These are my opinions only, but they're almost always correct.
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants
were standing on my shoulders." (Hal Abelson, MIT)

Think of it like this - how did the enemy in our concentration camps survive
without the vitamins?
As I recall disease mortality deceased during the war, when people ate less.
Anth

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Many people were in concentration camps, particularly during WWII. Of
those that survived, many went on to lead long (though perhaps unhappy)
lives. Even today, I frequently read an obituary of one of these
people, & I'm sure there's still many around. They are(were usually in
their 80ties.

My question is how did these people go on so long without ingesting
their "daily requirement" of vitamins, sometimes for several years? Does
the human body somehow compensate for this lack even over a long period?

I'm sure there's been other "like" situations, but this is a particular
example that has me puzzled.

"Anth" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Think of it like this - how did the enemy in our concentration camps
survive without the vitamins?
As I recall disease mortality deceased during the war, when people ate
less. Anth

I think you're overgeneralizing. IIRC, mortality fell in Denmark during
WWII, but the Danes had been consuming excessive amounts of saturated fat
and the reductions due to rationing were probably beneficial. I certainly
haven't heard of Nazi concentration-camp victims becoming healthier; keep
in mind that while most of them were malnourished, they weren't on a
completely vitamin-free diet (which would imply a food-free diet). Also
keep in mind that the ones who survived may not have been completely
typical of all those who were interned. A little bit of selection going
on, don't you think?