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Family Money: SMAs
By Leslie
Wright,
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
A few weeks ago a new client came to see me for advice
on his existing portfolio. Over the past several years he had acquired
various lump-sum investments, mostly unit-trusts and a couple of
with-profits bonds. The reason he gave for having so many from different
providers was: “I wanted diversification.” A perfectly acceptable
reason if he or an investment adviser was going to monitor them, and make
adjustments as market conditions changed.
Unfortunately, these investments had been bought mostly
on whim or past performance figures, and some - most notably a couple of
technology funds bought right at the peak in April 2000 - had performed
disastrously since then.
Overall, he had lost (on paper) over 50% of his
original capital - much of which could have been saved had he received
timely advice from his adviser to switch to other funds within the same
fund-management groups, or better, to dump the lemons and put the money to
better use elsewhere. Sadly, the investor was left out in the cold to fend
for himself - as happens all too often, unfortunately.
Not too long ago, it seemed that a modem and a point of
view was all anyone needed to become an investor. In the late 1990s stock
prices kept climbing upward on a seemingly unstoppable trend and the stock
markets were reaching all time highs. Making money as an amateur investor
didn’t seem so hard.
Alas, as trends reversed, investors have come to
realise that it wasn’t such an easy game after all. Even experienced
professionals have been hard put to beat the indices over the past three
years.
In the US the volume of online trades has declined some
39% from a high of 82.3m in mid-2001 to 50.6m a year later. This would
indicate that investors are abandoning the self-directed approach; many
have learned the hard way that investing is not as easy as it looks, and
are less comfortable these days managing their own money. They have also
realised that what is needed is professional money management with a
disciplined approach to customised portfolio management.
In the US this realisation has led to the rise of the
separately managed account (SMA) or “wrap” account.
Until recently, professional portfolio management was
reserved only for institutional investors and the super-wealthy. The SMA
typically provides individuals who have a comparatively modest sum of
available investment capital - a few hundred thousand dollars rather than
millions - with access to investment expertise which was previously out of
reach except to Fortune 500 CEOs and endowment and foundation boards in
the US.
Horses for courses
A separately managed account (SMA) is a professionally
managed private portfolio, owned by the investor, which is actively
managed or guided by a professional investment manager. This is
fundamentally the same as private portfolio management services offered by
large British and European banks for decades past - except those services
too were almost exclusively the realm of millionaires.
At the other end of the scale are unit trusts with low
entry thresholds, and a clear definition of what they can and cannot
invest in. This is the realm of the so-called retail investor with a spare
bit of cash to invest, and gives him a more diversified spread of stocks
or bonds than if he had bought them directly. The fund will also be
actively managed, so the investor hopes that it will be either less
volatile or perform better than the market sector it is invested in.
However, most retail investors will not have access to
the specialist information with which to differentiate between, for
example, one European stock market fund and another, other than past
performance figures as posted on a website or published in a newspaper. As
any horse-racing punter will tell you, last month’s winner is rarely
next week’s winner. Similarly with choosing funds. Performance - or
perhaps more importantly, consistent above-average performance over time -
is an important indicator, but not the only reason for choosing a
particular fund: several factors have to be taken into account.
Timing is always important when buying any lump-sum
investment, and with selling it too. You buy cheap and sell dear -
although many retail investors will insist on doing it the other way
round: selling when the stock or fund has plunged, and buying it only when
it’s risen 20% or 30% above its floor. The client who had come to see me
for portfolio advice was a prime example. He had been sold those
investments by fund salesmen on the basis of past performance figures, not
because they formed a strategic allocation mix pertinent to his needs,
risk-aversion profile, and projected market conditions at the time.
Assess first
Creating a portfolio - large or small - is a process.
The process begins with an assessment by an objective professional adviser
of the individual’s financial circumstances and objectives. Investors
have different requirements at various stages of their lives. The adviser
can then recommend a variety of strategic portfolio options, customised to
meet each individual investor’s needs.
Once the strategy has been agreed, a professional
portfolio manager creates an Asset Allocation Matrix (‘AAM’) which is
a model portfolio for that particular client’s requirements consonant
with his investor profile and prevailing market conditions. Adjustments
would be made to the AAM according to the client’s Risk-Aversion Profile
(‘RAP’) and, more fundamentally, whether he is income-orientated or
seeking longer-term capital growth.
The portfolio manager then monitors performance on a
regular basis, and makes adjustments as he deems appropriate to changing
market conditions. Risk management is an important part of this function.
Service
In essence, then, an SMA service is an ongoing process
that enables the investor to build and monitor a long-term portfolio that
can be adjusted over time to match different life-stage needs, all with
the guidance of an objective, client-orientated financial adviser.
This brings to the individual investor a level of
portfolio management expertise that has previously been available only to
institutions and wealthy individuals - and if you’ll pardon a bit of
self-serving advertising, the fundamental reason why Westminster Portfolio
Services Limited was established in Pattaya in the first place. A
significant number of retirees here with more than a little capital, but
less than would qualify for private banking services, clearly needed help
with constructing and managing medium sized portfolios - a personalised
SMA service in other words - except none such was available here until I
established one in 1997.
Snap Shot: The Twelve Commandments - or 12 rules for 12 months
by Harry Flashman
While there are plenty of photography books for sale in
the bookstores, most of those are of the genre, How To Photograph XYZ.
These tend to get a little overcomplicated in my book, so here are my 12
commandments, which if you follow them through, I will guarantee you will
get better photographs. And get more fun out of your photography.
The first is simply to use more film. Photography, like
any sport, recreation or pursuit is something where the more you do it and
practice it, the better you get. That just means putting more film through
the camera. Film and processing is really the cheapest part of
photography, especially when you compare it to the purchase price of a
half decent camera. Use more film!
Walk in
closer
The one major fault in most amateur photographs is taking the
shot from too far away. From now on, make the subject the “hero” and walk in
several metres closer to make the subject fill the frame.
Focussing! With modern auto-focus cameras the most obvious
focussing problem is where the subject is off-centre. The magic eye doesn’t
know this and focuses on the background, leaving your close-up subject soft and
blurry. Focus on the subject and use the focus lock facility of your camera.
Tripods I mentioned recently, but one of these will expand
your picture taking no end. Camera shake becomes a thing of the past, and you
will take more time to compose your shots.
Don’t be afraid to process half rolls - it will keep your
interest and enthusiasm going. If your photo-processor doesn’t do it, change
your photo-shop.
Keep your interest and pride in your work by making
enlargements of your better photos. At around 80 baht for most places, this is
very cheap and enlargements do make good presents at Xmas time too.
We all get lazy and it is too easy to end up just taking
every picture in the horizontal (landscape) format. Make it a habit to always
take two shots of each subject - one in the horizontal format and the other in
the vertical. You can get some surprising results that way. Don’t be lazy - do
it!
With colour photography, which covers about 99.99% of most
people’s pictures these days, the one major factor to give your skies and seas
and scenery some colour oomph is the use of a polarizing filter. Get one and use
it.
You will always miss some “classic” shots and regret it
later, but you certainly will never get them if you don’t have a camera (with
film) with you. With so many incredible photo opportunities in Thailand, you
should be photographically ready at all times!
To give your daytime shots some extra sparkle, use
“fill-in” flash. Most new cameras have a little setting that will do this
automatically for you - even with point and shooters. If you haven’t, then
spend some time learning how to do it. It’s worth it when you see the results
you get.
To give yourself the impetus to go out and take photos,
develop a project and spend your leisure time building up the images. It can be
flowers or fashion, cars or canaries, but fix on something and follow it
through. It’s worth it, just for the fact that it makes you become an
“enquiring” photographer.
Finally, at the end of every year, give the camera a birthday
by buying it some new batteries. You won’t have a problem damaging the
sensitive innards with neglected battery acid and the camera’s light metering
system will work correctly every time. It’s cheap insurance.
Here is the list to cut out, laminate and put in the camera
bag.
1. Use more film
2. Walk several metres closer
3. Use the focus lock
4. Buy a tripod
5. Process half rolls of film
6. Make enlargements of your better prints
7. Use different formats
8. Use a polarizing filter
9. Carry your camera with you
10. Use the flash during the day
11. Develop a project
12. Change the batteries
Modern Medicine: Immortality? At a price!
by Dr Iain Corness, Consultant
Do you have a spare 12 million baht? If so, this might
just be the answer for you if you want to escape death from heart attacks.
I spotted this ambulance at the motor show in Bangkok, on the Mercedes
stand. This is a fully equipped Cardiac Ambulance, complete with
defibrillators and all the latest coronary care equipment. In fact, after
talking to the doctor ‘on board’ he said that it was a complete CCU on
wheels.
Cardiac
Ambulance
The figures for heart attack survival do depend much upon
rapid treatment as 30% of heart attack victims die before even getting to the
hospital. A significant percentage is due to ventricular fibrillation (this is
where the heart ‘flutters’ rather than rhythmically pumping). To convert
this flutter can be done by electrical defibrillation, with electric paddles
that can shock the heart muscle into pumping properly again. Once in the CCU,
the mortality drops to below 10%, so it behooves one to get under treatment as
soon as possible.
One of the richest men in Australia is a media tycoon, Kerry
Packer, who owes his life to rapid treatment with defibrillation, when he
suffered a heart attack a few years back. In gratitude, he donated a few
defibrillators to the New South Wales (Australia) ambulance service.
This pictured unit is in Bangkok and is run by the Bangkok
General Hospital, and with all the gear, plus a trained cardiac nurse and
on-board cardiologist is just as good as being in the CCU itself. Perhaps even
better, as you get moving pictures outside the windows as well. I did chat with
the mobile cardiologist, who could tell me all the good points and the
advisability of getting treatment as soon as possible after a heart attack;
however, he was not able to tell me how he was going to get to the patients
through the horrendous Bangkok traffic jams!
So if you are a trifle worried that you may be next on the
heart attack list and have a spare 12 million, you can order one of these
babies, just for you. Of course the nurse and doctor are extra! In the meantime,
just do some regular exercise, stop smoking and get your cholesterol down!
Heart to Heart with Hillary
Dear Hillary,
I am interested in your opinion, just what do you think? I
arrived in Thailand 8 years ago. The girls here really liked me. We laughed and
I bought them drinks and we laughed and they came home with me and we laughed
again and they ‘really liked’ me. However, although I’m English I did find
it difficult to communicate with them. I started to learn Thai, I just seem to
pick it up and now can speak it pretty well. I only did it for the girls’
sakes, just to make conversation easier. I noted that their interest in me
seemed to wane a little and they began talking in Laos behind my back. Well, of
course, to be even more orally literate, I started to learn Laos,
surreptitiously of course. Now I can hold a conversation with the Isaan ladies.
Now when the ladies come over to me, I don’t buy them drinks any more because
they’re a bit pang, I just bung them sow baht (that’s Laos for twenty) for a
tip. Normally they ask me in their awful English my name etc. you know the
stuff, I reply in Laos and they just turn round and vanish, never to return to
me. Do you think it’s because I am older and uglier now, if so, what can I do
about it?
John
Dear John,
Thank you for your email, as I always get a great kick out
of writing “Dear John” letters! But let’s look at your problem in depth,
Petal, as I am sure you were very genuine in your request. Let’s begin with
the “older and uglier” part first. You ask, “What can I do about it?”
About the older part, you can do nothing, but about the uglier bit, there’s
always plastic surgery.
Actually your problem has nothing to do with being older
and uglier, it has more to do with oncoming Alzheimer’s disease. You have
forgotten what used to happen 8 years ago. Let me remind you. Remember the days
when, (I quote) “We laughed and I bought them drinks.” What happens now?
Again I quote, “I don’t buy them drinks any more because they’re a bit
pang (expensive).” Not only that, Jovial John the Linguist, you rub salt (or
perhaps nam pla) into the wounds by (I quote) “I just bung them sow baht
(that’s Laos for twenty) for a tip.” John, you have become what the Thai
ladies would call, “kee nee-oh” - and as you are so fluent in all the local
lingoes, you will realise that this means “stingy”, or in other words, in
eight years you have gone from being a generous chap to become a “cheap
Charlie” and probably a balloon chaser as well. (For those who do not know
what a balloon chaser is, the term refers to those stalwarts who appear at any
bar which is displaying balloons, signifying free food and the odd drink or two
‘on the house’.)
As far as replying, in your native tongue, to their
attempts at English, you forego this and speak to them in fluent Laos. To them
this indicates someone who has been living here for some time, and if that
person is living in Laos, they probably don’t have much sow baht to throw
around. Using the principle of Supply and Demand, you probably don’t have much
supply to meet their demands, so why waste time with you? They move on to the
next bar stool. And so should you. Hope this clears everything up for you Kee
nee-oh John.
Dear Hillary,
Let she who lives in a glass house not throw stones. The word
is elusive, Petal, not illusive (sic). Champagne to follow.
Tom
Dear Tom,
I presume you are referring to Vol XI, number 13, where I
wrote to a poor young lad, “Your lady will be easy to find. Just join in on
the end of the queue of other hopeful males all chasing the illusive
butterfly.” I like it that you are so sure of yourself that you are prepared
to take me to task, accusing me of throwing stones through my own windows, and
then try and ‘sweeten’ this vitriol by offering “champagne to follow.”
You will have noticed Petal, that it is over three weeks since you wrote. Three
weeks in which I have been waiting for your “illusive” champagne, which
needless to say, has never turned up. Your promise of champagne was an illusion,
and quoting the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, the meaning of
this is a delusion, so the champagne was “illusive” - the adjective from the
word illusion. OK?
Now to your other word, “elusive” - meaning
“difficult to catch” (again from the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current
English). I was not indicating that this young man’s butterfly was difficult
to catch, but rather that this butterfly did not exist - it was an illusion. In
other words, an “illusive” butterfly.
I do hope this has cleared up your illusions and if you
write again, attaching the letter to the previously promised bottle of
champagne, I will give you the telephone number of a reliable glazier.
A Slice of Thai History: The Thai invasion and occupation of the Shan States, 1942-1945 - Part 1
by Duncan Stearn
Although Thailand under Prime Minister Pibulsongkram
had allied itself with the Japanese Empire, the military had not been
given any major role to play in Japan’s invasion of either the Malay
Peninsula or Burma. Instead, the Thai army had merely been sent to the
border regions to act as a reserve.
For Pibulsongkram the Japanese attitude revealed quite
clearly that they regarded Thailand as something less than a reliable
ally. The Thai leader had wanted to be included in the invasion of Burma
so he could lay claim to two areas he considered part of greater Thailand.
The first was the Tenasserim region, a strip of land on
the Andaman Sea coast in southern Burma, which had been under Thai control
during the Ayutthaya period (1350-1767). The second was the mountainous
Shan States in north-eastern Burma, populated by people ethnically related
to the Thais.
Only after pressing his claims and with the conquest of
Burma almost complete, did the Japanese give Pibulsongkram permission to
move, and then only into the Shan States. The Thais were tasked with
engaging the Chinese (Kuomintang) 93rd Division which had moved into the
area from Yunnan Province in order to protect the supply routes between
Rangoon and Chungking.
On 3 May 1942 the Thai Air Force attacked the main
centre of Kengtung - close to the Sino-Burmese border - with more than 20
planes, bombing the central market. On 10 May 1942 the Northern Army,
consisting of three divisions under the overall command of General Seri
Roengrit and totalling around 35,000 men, crossed the Burmese border and
invaded the Shan States. General Pin Choonhavan was given command of the
Thai infantry.
The Thai army moved quickly and on 26 May occupied
Kengtung, the Chinese retreating into the surrounding hills. The Thais
established their headquarters here and certain high-ranking elements
began to involve themselves in the profitable opium trade, both the
locally grown and Chinese imported varieties. Within a few months the Thai
Opium Monopoly based in Bangkok had imported around 36 tons of opium from
the Shan States.
The political connections made at the time would later
bind this mountainous region into what has become known throughout the
world as the Golden Triangle. Many major Thai military personnel who came
to dominate the nation’s politics after the Second World War were
veterans of the occupation of the Shan States, among them the-then
Lieutenant Chatichai Choonhavan, Prime Minister between 1988 and 1991.
Unfortunately, the Thai army had been poorly equipped
for the invasion and soon more soldiers were dying from mosquito-borne
diseases than from enemy action. Food and medical supplies were also in
short supply, making life for the average soldier quite miserable.
Personal Directions: Getting to where you want to go in life
by Christina Dodd
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.
I have found over the years that most people in this
world do not have any goals, or should I say clear and realistic goals.
When I ask participants in my programs to talk about their goals it is,
for most, a difficult thing to do. Their faces become blank and they
struggle in their minds to try to understand what is being said. They
suddenly feel lost and without answers. Most people have never thought
deeply about their lives and what it is that they want in order to live a
meaningful and successful life. Could it be that some people are happy
just to live the way they live and without having to think too much about
this?
The best way to open people’s minds to goals, what
those goals can be, and “where they want to go in life”, is by doing a
very simple exercise. It’s like doing a personal inventory which is an
easy way to begin to look at various areas of your life and assessing your
personal level of “success” or “achievement” or “happiness” in
each of those areas of your life right now, in this present time. It is
finding out where you are right now in your life!
It is similar to knowing where you are on a map for
example, should you be trying to navigate your way to a new destination.
It makes sense to ascertain your exact location so that you know which
direction you should take - whether you should head north, south, east or
west. A map is of no use and will not be able to help you reach your
destination unless you know your present location and can spot it on the
map.
Our lives are very much the same. Without knowing
“where we are” in our lives, we don’t know what it is that we want
and how to move forward. We get stuck, or lost along the way and a lot of
us just go around and around in circles with no clear direction, no clear
ambition. Our lives enable us to simply exist - not to live and live with
fulfilment!
The exercise looks at assessing from 0 to 100, your
measure of yourself - your present life situation - in terms of these five
main areas of life; your physical health, your behavior and attitudes,
your family relationships, your involvement in the community/society, and
your finances. When you examine these areas closely it will hopefully help
you to realize the things that you would like to strive for or the things
that you would like to change and improve upon - all ultimately becoming
your goals.
Let’s look at physical health in the first instance.
How do you grade your health on a scale of 0 to 100? Are you a smoker? Are
you overweight? Do you suffer from stress? And the list goes on. Think of
your own health but look at it from every aspect. Take more than ten
minutes to do this and do it in earnest. Where will you mark yourself? 50,
80, 20, 30? Think about your health from your head right down to your toes
and all those bits and pieces in between!
Next we come to your personal understanding about you
and your behavior and attitudes. Take a look inside as to the way you
behave. Think about the attitudes you hold. Ask yourself some of these
questions and many more; Are you a bad-tempered kind of person? Do you
always criticize others? Do you lack confidence? Are you a bit full of
yourself and as such tend to disregard others? Are you a forgiving person
or do you hold grudges? Take some time to explore your behavior and
attitudes and honestly assess it on a level of zero to one hundred. Where
do you stand right now in your life in terms of this?
The third area involves the kinds of relationships you
have with your family and that is from immediate, say mother and father,
through to husband and wife, brother and sister, son and daughter and
other members such as grandparents, uncles and aunts and so on. Where are
you standing right now when you measure your present life situation in
these terms? Are you at the upper or the lower end?
The fourth and fifth areas can also be examined by
taking a long hard look at where you personally grade yourself. Be open
about it and honest as to your present life situation in these two areas
as well because the more open and honest you are, the more clearly you
will be able to see the things that you want to work for and to change or
improve upon.
These two areas of life require much more thought than
we actually give as we rush to do our daily chores. How much do you give
to the community or society in general? I don’t mean in terms of
monetary giving, but in terms of time and effort and all sorts of other
contributions such as books and pencils for schools without funds, caring
for a sick child and so forth. Examining your present life situation here
may be a real eye-opener and may ignite a spark of desire in you to
include goals of this nature in your life.
And finally your finances! This area of self assessment
always a lot of provokes thought - I wonder why?
Knowing your present life situation helps you to know
where you want to go in life! If you do this simple activity it can be a
great help to getting to where you want to go because it helps you to know
what you want to do! Have a great life and a great week!
If you would like more information about how our
programs can assist you or any members of your staff please contact me at
[email protected]
Social Commentary by Khai Khem
How long must we wait for adequate water supply in our area?
Chonburi Province is suffering from a water shortage
due to lack of sufficient rainfall and increased demand. The low levels in
our various reservoirs show we have only about 50% capacity and this is
not enough to supply residents and businesses with enough water to meet
their requirements.
Thailand is going through a drought in many other
areas, so until nature sees fit to provide enough of this precious
necessity, we as individuals and communities can pull together to conserve
water usage and implement measures which will help ease the shortage.
Drought years come and go. Most counties experience
them at one time or another. Other factors also contribute to water
shortages such as the severe shortages Pattaya suffered during the 1980s
when the city was going through a massive growth period and in the early
1990s when the industrialization of the Eastern Seaboard was in progress.
During those periods Pattaya City had to ration tap water. The city
regulated the flow to certain areas by scheduling times and days when
water was available. We learned to live with it, although admittedly it
was a hardship.
There is probably very little that big business and
commercial establishments in the city can do to conserve water, since most
of them are hostage to the demands of tourists and discerning customers
who are not prepared to surrender their creature comforts while paying top
prices for goods and services.
We may complain that the burden of sacrifice and
inconvenience lays most heavily on the “little people” and that as
residents and taxpayers we should not have to shoulder this hardship while
the rich and powerful have total and complete access to one of the most
basic necessities of life - water. That argument has merit. However, if we
consider that Pattaya is basically a tourist resort city and the tourism
industry and its spin-offs create jobs and income for the general populace
it would be in our best interest to find ways to get through this
temporary nuisance with as much creative innovation as we can muster.
I lived in Singapore for many years while that
city-state was quarreling with Malaysia about various petty political
issues. Singapore buys most of its water from Malaysia and every time
these two countries get into an argument, one of the more odious
intimidations involves threats by Malaysia to cut off Singapore’s water
supply. I remember years when Singapore introduced water conservation
measures that included the equivalent of a 40,000 baht fine for washing
our cars with a garden hose. We were told to clean our cars with one
bucket of water or leave them dirty. Car wash businesses disappeared
overnight.
Fortunately Thailand is blessed with adequate water
supply in most areas, barring drought years or when huge infrastructure
projects are in progress - or when authorities have been caught out
because of lack of forward planning.
For instance, there is a plan on the drawing board to
construct a 70 kilometer pipeline from the Bangprakong River in
Chacherngsao which would be able to produce 1 million cubic meters per
day. Water would then be redistributed to the various reservoirs. The
plans have been submitted to the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of
Agriculture and co-operatives and the prime minister to speed up the
process. Once approved the construction of the pipeline would take 4-5
years to complete.
Four to five years? Questions: how long will it take to
get approval from all of these ministries? Can our PM short-cut these
bureaucratic hurdles? And once the plans are improved, why will it take
almost 5 years to build a 70 kilometer pipeline?
This area is full of resident expat oilfields
executives and technicians. They can correct me if I am wrong, but if
memory servers me, the Alaskan oil pipeline didn’t take that long to
build and the people who built it had to work through Artic winters and
cut through frozen tundra to build that miracle of engineering and
ingenuity. What possible excuse would Chonburi have to take 5 years to
complete a water pipeline from neighboring Chacherngsao?
While we wait for decisions from “above” we can
educate the pubic in water conservation. This may be our only alternative.
We now have massive programs to urge our young people to participate in
wholesome activities which will replace curiosity about illegal drugs.
Charity organizations have banded together to introduce creative campaigns
which improve the living standards of the poor in Thai society. Government
agencies have awakened to promote better education, health care and
encourage social order. These progressive crusades are showing sincere
results in every sector of society. A water conservation campaign can be
just as successful and productive.
Women’s World: You are what you eat
Part 3
by Lesley Warner
There are so many vitamins to choose from, especially
for women, as we seem to need more than our male counterparts.
What exactly are vitamins and what do they do for us?
Writing this series I am at risk of developing a ‘fetish’ for
vitamins.
A vitamin deficiency can cause normal body functions to
break down and render a person susceptible to disease. In part one, I
briefly touched on the B vitamins, but I need to give you far more
information to do them justice. The B vitamins are a group of eight
individual vitamins, often referred to as the B-complex vitamins. One of
the most important natural ways to get your B vitamins is to eat cereal
for breakfast. Yes, for the past week I’ve been eating a bowl of cereal
every day!
B vitamins can also be used to treat serious conditions
such as coronary heart disease.
The B-complex vitamins are actually a group of eight
vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3),
pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), pantothenic acid
and biotin.
These vitamins are essential for the breakdown of
carbohydrates into glucose, providing energy for the body and the
breakdown of fats and proteins to aid the normal function of the nervous
system. They are also good for muscle tone in the stomach and intestinal
tract, skin, hair, eyes, mouth, and liver. It has been suggested that
taking the B-complex vitamins as a group will promote overall good health.
However, it seems research suggests that the best way
to get our B vitamins is naturally through the food we eat! The B-complex
vitamins are found in brewer’s yeast, liver, whole-grain cereals, rice,
nuts, milk, eggs, meats, fish, fruits, leafy green vegetables and many
other foods, so there are plenty to choose from.
Thiamine (B1)
The B vitamin thiamine is essential for the metabolism
of carbohydrates into simple glucose sugar. Thiamine is also important for
the proper functioning of the nervous system. There are several health
problems associated with a deficiency of thiamine. The first is beriberi,
a disease that is characterized by anemia, paralysis, muscular atrophy,
weakness, and spasms in the muscles of the legs. Other disorders caused by
thiamine deficiency include Wernicke’s encephelopathy, which causes lack
of coordination, and Korsakoff’s psychosis, which affects short-term
memory.
The mouth can also be affected by thiamine deficiency,
increasing the sensitivity of the teeth, cheeks and gums, as well as
“cracks” in the lips. Fortunately a thiamine deficiency is rare but
often occurs in alcoholics, because alcohol interferes with the absorption
of thiamine through the intestines. Fortunately, these conditions can be
reversed with the addition of the vitamin and you can’t overdose on it.
Thiamine is found in whole-grain cereals, bread, red
meat, egg yolks, green leafy vegetables, legumes, sweet corn, brown rice,
berries, yeast, the germ and husks of grains and nuts.
Riboflavin (B2)
Riboflavin is important in the breakdown of
carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It is also significant in the
maintenance of the skin and mucous membranes, the cornea of the eye and
for nerve sheaths. A deficiency of riboflavin can cause skin disorders (seborrheic
dermatitis) and inflammation of the soft tissue lining around the mouth
and nose, anemia, and it can cause the eyes to be light sensitive.
In the mouth, angular cheilosis can develop. This is a
painful condition where lesions develop at the corners of your lips, and
glossitis (inflammation of the tongue) can also occur. As a water-soluble
vitamin, any excess is excreted, although small amounts are stored in the
liver and kidney. Riboflavin is found in whole-grain products, milk, meat,
eggs, cheese and peas.
Niacin (B3)
Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid and nicotinamide,
is needed for the metabolism of food, the maintenance of healthy skin,
nerves and the gastrointestinal tract. Niacin is also used in those
all-important oxidation-reduction reactions. A deficiency of niacin causes
the disease pellagra. In the past, this disease was often associated with
the very poor and was also a major cause of mental illness. The symptoms
of pellagra are sometimes referred to as the “three D’s” - diarrhea,
dermatitis and dementia - ultimately resulting in a fourth “D”, death.
Niacin is found in protein-rich food such as meats,
fish, brewer’s yeast, milk, eggs, legumes, potatoes and peanuts. Niacin
can also be prescribed in higher doses as a drug to help lower
cholesterol. You can overdose on niacin, the main side effects of high
doses of niacin include flushed skin, itching, headaches, cramps, nausea
and skin eruptions.
Consult your doctor before taking too many vitamins.
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