Our experts (clockwise from top left): Dr. Melina Jampolis, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Walter Willett, Dr. Christiane Northrup

Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Correspondent

Americans love to take their vitamins. More than 150 million Americans take dietary supplements according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group.

But what should you do? Walk through the vitamin aisle of any grocery store, and you’re hit by a staggering array of options. From vitamin A to glucosamine to milk thistle (what is that, anyway?) to whey protein, it’s hard to decide what to take.

That’s why this week the Empowered Patient asked four experts — all medical doctors — what supplements they take every day. Their lists may surprise you — they all take at least two supplements — some take three or four or more.

Choosing a daily vitamin regimen is especially daunting in light of two new studies out this week. In the largest and longest study of its kind, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, found that vitamins C and E do nothing to protect against heart disease in men. The study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that vitamin E even appeared to raise the risk of bleeding strokes, which, while rare, are often the most deadly. Other research on women and vitamins is also discouraging.

A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute this week found that a daily regimen of vitamin D and calcium did not offer any protection against invasive breast cancer.

With those studies in mind, here’s what our panel of experts takes every day.

Read more…

For every pound lost by Weight Watchers between Sept. 7th and Oct. 18, the equivalent of one pound of food will be donated to Share Our Strength or Action Against Hunger.

David Kirchhoff
CEO, Weight Watchers International

We live in such an unusual time, given that so many people are struggling to get enough to eat, and yet obesity is a major health care issue around the world. Just look at these two statistics: 862 million people are underfed, and1.6 billion people are overweight or obese. What a startling imbalance.

To contribute to righting this imbalance, we announced Lose for Good a couple of months ago, a new challenge to Weight Watchers Members to band together and invest in their own health while helping a neighbor in need.

The goal was simple: For every pound lost by Weight Watchers between Sept. 7th and Oct. 18, we would donate the equivalent of one pound of food, up to a million dollars, to Share Our Strength or Action Against Hunger. In addition, our members and staff could contribute food locally to those who are having a hard time making ends meet.

When we started planning earlier this year, it seemed a compelling way to motivate our members and do something good for the community. As the economy started to deteriorate, food banks started to get hit pretty hard with decreased donations and increased demand. Suddenly, Lose For Good began to feel more than just compelling. It became a call to action.

Keep reading

I find it interesting the two states that put forward concrete universal health care plans, a core Democratic issue, were both led by Republican governors - Mitt Romney in Massachusetts and Schwarzenegger in California. I also wonder if the members of the Senate Health Committee in California looked at the successes and failures of the Massachusetts plans before voting their own plan down. While more people than ever are covered in Massachusetts, the cost overruns have been more than $400 million.

So, here is the question. Looking at these two states, does their history make the argument that universal health care cannot be achieved in the United States or that it can be achieved, but only at the national level? What do you think we have learned about the country from looking at these two states?

- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent Programming note: Watch “Broken Government: Health Care - Critical Condition” Sunday night at 11 ET on CNN.

The Number 1 cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is unpaid medical bills. As we found, it is not just the uninsured, but also the underinsured. It is also people who think they have excellent health insurance, but it is simply not enough.

The Zeiglers hold baby Brooke

Dawn and William Zeigler were living the American dream with a nice house, cars and plenty of money. When their daughter Brooke was born too early and required multiple surgeries, they never considered the cost because they thought they were covered. And, they were, at least for a while. They were amazed at how quickly the bills piled up, though. Tens of thousands of dollars a day, and soon their policy no longer provided any money. (Watch Video)

Brooke Zeigler died when she was 18 months old. Her father told me that he had to tell the doctors to stop working on her. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life. The bills that arrived for nearly a million dollars may pale in comparison to losing one’s child, but the Zeiglers are now at real risk of losing their dreams.

The health care debate is complicated. Again, the Zeiglers were covered, but not enough to cover little Brooke’s millions of dollars of expenses. This is the reality of our broken health-care system and continues to be one of the biggest domestic issues on the minds of voters. Any thoughts on how to address this specific issue within of our health-care system?

- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medial Correspondent

Programming note: Watch “Broken Government: Health Care - Critical Condition” on Thursday and Sunday at 11 p.m. ETEditor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.