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:17513-40854581-246@storefull-
3131.bay.webtv.net...

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?