DEAR DR. GOTT:
My 86-year-old father has lost 35 pounds within the last eight months. He saw his primary care physician when this started, and was sent for CT scans, MRI, digestive system studies, blood tests, and colonoscopy. All results were negative. He had only one diagnosis — unexplained weight loss.

He recently saw a geriatric physician who found a B12 deficiency. Could there be a correlation with the weight loss?

DEAR READER:
As we age, we tend to find food less appealing than we once did. I would like to hope your father is simply uninterested, but a weight loss of 35 pounds is substantial and the cause must be discovered. I’d be interested to know if the blood tests revealed any other abnormalities, albeit minor, that might contribute to the problem. I can’t determine if your father’s weight loss is related to the B12 deficiency or to another cause.

Vitamin B12 is a necessary component of blood formation in the body. In the absence of the vitamin, anemia and other medical problems can become more serious until the deficiency is corrected.

At this point, I would give your father supplemental B12 injections every week for a month, and then cut back to one a month. Also, I recommend that he be followed by the geriatric specialist. Your father’s primary care physician could have missed the boat, as do many practitioners. The elderly are sometimes a challenge to diagnose; hence, the “unexplained” weight loss. It reflects his general physician’s inability to diagnose the cause of your father’s health problem.

I recommend you put off any additional testing and use one form of B12 supplements for two months. If your father’s weight loss is related to his vitamin deficiency, you will start to see results. If not, go ahead with further testing.

Vitamin B12 is commonly given as an injection, oral pills or sublingual (dissolved under the tongue) pills. There is currently a transdermal patch on the market, but I do not know about its efficacy and reliability. Injection is the most direct and potent way to administer the vitamin and can be done by a physician or properly trained family member. Pill forms are often a lower dosage and may require that several be taken daily to achieve results.

Your dad should eat a well-balanced diet. You may wish to add more carbohydrates and proteins to his diet in the form of chicken, fish, and whole grains. Perhaps he is simply burning more calories than he consumes or he is not eating proper foods.

If the geriatric specialist has a different approach, bless his heart. I gladly support the expert’s recommendations.

To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Fads: Vitamins and Minerals”. Other readers who would like a copy should send a self-addressed, stamped number 10 envelope and $2 to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.

DEAR DR. GOTT:
A while ago, someone wrote saying that doctors are brainwashed. I believe this person was correct to some degree. There are plenty of problems with modern medicine but there are also some big problems with homeopathic remedies as well.

I was told I should take ginkgo and Hawthorne. The good brand of ginkgo costs $18 per bottle. The brand I use costs $10 but may have little or no ginkgo in it. The Hawthorne I am taking costs $3.50 a bottle and I am willing to bet that it is mostly filler.

I get a lot of information from the Health Sciences Institute, Health Alert and several others.

About four months ago I paid lots of money to the Institute for Vibrant Living for a product called Natto to prevent strokes and heart attacks. I recently had a stroke. I have not yet called them to ask why this happened if their product is supposed to prevent strokes.

DEAR READER:
Your experience is not unique. That’s why most physicians do not subscribe to the outlandish guarantees promised by these get-rich-quick companies.

A reader recently sent me a copy of an email he received from the Health Sciences Institute. After reading it over, it appears that the company is using scare tactics to push their products to consumers. Whether or not the company is in fact headed by a group of physicians and researchers as they claim, I do not know. Whether their products work and have truly been pushed to the back shelf by government agencies and drug companies, I do not know. I am willing to accept that some alternative medicines work and that there are still natural products that have yet to be used to their full advantage. Most of the medications we have today are the result of extensive testing of a natural source. Aspirin, for example, is the result of an old remedy used to treat pain. But until these remedies have gone through rigorous testing, been proven to work and are regulated to control content, I don’t believe they should be used on a regular basis.

Vitamins are not regulated by the FDA and therefore, can (unethically) contain ingredients not listed on the label and may not even contain what they do claim. This can be potentially dangerous. A prime example is Red Yeast Rice. This is a product that claims to lower cholesterol. It does in fact work well for some but that is because it contains a natural form of the cholesterol lowering drug, Mevacor. Despite the fact that the medicine is natural, it still needs to be monitored as if it were a prescription drug because it can cause liver damage and many of the same side effects of a statin drug. I received a bottle in the mail as a promotion tool. No where on this bottle does it list potential side effects or adverse reactions.

I recommend you stop wasting your money on these unproven remedies. Medication, regardless of whether it is natural, alternative or prescription, will only solve part of the problem. If you want to be healthy and stay healthy, it is up to you. Proper diet, exercise, and prudent lifestyle choices, such as not smoking or drinking alcohol excessively, can prevent many of the problems we experience as we get older. Thanks for writing.