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Dr. Michael Camardi

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About Dr. Michael Camardi

Dr. Michael Camardi is a geriatrician at Carilion's Center for Healthy Aging. Age Matters is his new Roanoke Times column, appearing the third Tuesday of every month.

Camardi has been with Carilion for about three years and was one of the experts who reporter Beth Macy spoke to for her series, “Age of Uncertainty.” He wanted to start this column to help answer questions he’s often heard as part of his job.

Camardi was founder and past medical director of the geriatric liaison program for Jacobi Medical Center (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) in Bronx, N .Y.

Camardi trained at Winthrop University Hospital (Stony Brook University Medical School), where he was chief medical resident. He has received numerous commendations for his contributions to education, patient advocacy, community relations and hospital administration.

If you have questions for Camardi, please mail them to him at Center for Healthy Aging, 2118 Rosalind Ave., Roanoke, VA 24014, or e-mail them to extra@roanoke.com with “Age Matters” in the subject line.

Dear Dr. Camardi:

I have been taking vitamin E 400 international units a day for years now because my doctor said it helps my circulation, my heart and I swear I've seen it said that it helps the prostate.

Now I saw on the Internet that it can cause prostate cancer. What is going on?

— Washington

We have this article from the National Cancer Institute in which the institute halted research into the proposed value of vitamin E and selenium in the prevention of prostate cancer.

In this study the institute's goal was to show a 25 percent risk reduction in prostate cancer, but after five years the study failed to achieve that goal and was stopped. Then the observation was made that there were slightly more cases of prostate cancer in those taking the form of vitamin E provided in the study and a slight increase in diabetes in those taking the selenium.

It should be pointed out the statistical values presented could fall into the probability of chance. Remember that the sources of vitamins may be a matter of concern for some, and in this study, the form of vitamin E used was dl-alpha tocopherol acetate, made from coal tar.

Without getting too technical with the organic chemistry, if there is an "L" (levo or left) after the "D" (dextro or right) in the vitamin E you have, you should know that it does not come from a natural food source.

Let me be clear: vitamin E is a good thing — where it comes from may not be. There are those in the field who have shown that if one consumes a synthetic — or man-made -vitamin, the bioavailability (or the amount you actually absorb) can be less than 50 percent.

Also what you produce in the test tube may not be what you end up with after the body metabolizes it.

Clearly all of this is in its early stages of development, but I would go back to the simple premise of consuming a healthy diet and securing these key nutrients naturally.

To answer what many of you have asked from last month's article, no, I do not take multiple vitamins: I stopped about 10 years ago as I thought they were a waste of money with the diet I consume.

However, did I take vitamins after my surgery to help me recover faster? Yes. Do I order vitamins for my patients who need them in support of the stresses of their diseases? Yes again.

The take-home message is I use them in function of need, not of habit. So how difficult is it to follow a daily diet that will give the vitamin support you need? Just follow the "Food Pyramid" system as presented by the Food and Drug Administration on its website.

As an exercise, write down what you eat in one day — including amounts — and then compare that to the foods and amounts you need for your vitamin support. You may be quite surprised to find you are getting more vitamins than you thought.

Now, there are studies ongoing comparing man-made versus natural vitamins and how they affect health. I will report on the results of those studies as they appear.

In the meantime, forgo the pizza for dinner and pour the carbonated soda drinks down the drain. Instead, grab that turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread — with mustard and hold the mayo — with a glass of orange juice and wrap it up with some blueberry yogurt and know you may be doing more good for yourself than you realize.

Dr. Michael Camardi is a geriatrician at the Carilion Center for Healthy Aging and an assistant professor of medicine of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. His column runs monthly in Extra.