year 2007
The 7th International Conference VITAMINS - Nutrition and Diagnostics was held in the Congress Center of the Czech Agricultural University in Prague from 19. - 21. September 2007. The Conference language was English and one block of lectures was held in Czech. Almost 300 participants from 31 countries have registered for the 7th year Conference. The program was comprised of 50 plenary lectures and 77 poster presentations. Vitamins Conference is a meeting of IADSA (International Alliance of Dietary /Food Supplement Associations), Conference is included among the educational programs of the Czech Medical Chamber, Czech Pharmacy Chamber, the Czech Association of Nurses and KVVOPZ.
The main organizers of the conference were Radanal Ltd., Society for Nutrition, Tomas Bata University in Zlin.
As every year, many sponsors contributed to support the Conference. The main sponsor was traditionally
Brainway Inc.
In the program of the Conference, lot of attention was focused on natural antioxidants, vitamins C, E, β-carotene and other carotenoids, for example asthaxantin, which was identified as the most effective antioxidant. Antioxidants play a role in preventing diseases by scavenging harmful free radicals, which are able to cause a great damage to the human body. Antioxidants are not drugs and cannot be used solely for treating a disease.
Besides the antioxidant vitamins and vitamins of B group - folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 and their effects on homocysteine - marker in many diseases, other microelements were discussed during the lectures -minerals and their use and effects on certain diseases.
For example Zinc is seen to be an essential element for good health status of the human body. Zinc is a part of many enzyme systems (acts as a coenzyme of more than 300 enzymes) and its beneficial effect can be seen in various diseases: cancer, malaria or neurodegenerative diseases, for example Parkinson disease.
Other discussed element was Chromium, in trivalent form, which is able to increase 8x times the cell sensitivity for insulin. In a study of diabetic 2 patients, favorable insulin level fluctuations and better oxidative status of the blood were observed after the administration of chromium. The study has shown, even if the daily chromium needs are lower, the higher even 100x doses don't lead to any harm of the organism.
One afternoon was traditionally devoted to analytical methods, various determination methods, new laboratory instruments, chromatography methods. Without sensitive and reliable analytical method, we cannot obtain reliable results in any research or study.
Nowadays molecular genetics and biotechnology provide a range of instruments which can be used for producing higher quality foods.
It was clearly concluded from the lectures that using various supplements - food supplements should be done with care. Every person is a biological individual, and one substance that may help him may be harmful to other person.
If we take the food supplements in special situations, for example in diseases, pregnancy, lactation, elderly age, professional sport career and etc., after consulting with medical doctor or qualified nutrition expert, and change the intake with the change of situation, this extra intake of supplements can be helpful for our organism and won't cause harm.
Jarmila Blattná and Aleš Horna
