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From: wolit@rabbit.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Vitamin B-6 Danger
Message-ID: <1851@rabbit.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Aug-83 16:14:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: rabbit.1851
Posted: Fri Aug 26 16:14:13 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Aug-83 23:22:00 EDT
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 14

Given the interest in any kind of pseudoscientific nonsense about
caffeine, VDTs, accupuncture, etc., seen on this net recently
(it seems the only forbidden subject is MEDICINE), I'm not surprised
that no one has yet mentioned the report in yesterday's New England
Journal of Medicine that indicates that "megadoses" of vitamin B-6
can cause serious nerve damage.  (Health faddists claim that high
doses -- 2 to 6 grams per day -- help put on muscle, reduce
premenstrual swelling, and make you feel better.)  The effects of the
vitamin poisoning were so severe as to be mistaken initially for
multiple sclerosis, and included difficulty in walking, and numbness in
the feet, legs, or hands.  Although the symptoms were said to start
subsiding as soon as the victim stopped taking the vitamin, recovery
takes over a year, and is not known to be complete.
	Jan Wolitzky, BTL Murray Hill