Are Vitamins Useless?

by Emily Matchar, Posted Feb 18th 2009 @ 10:00AM

Half of all American adults take some kind of dietary supplement, but a number of new studies have failed to show any link between multivitamin pills and better health or longer life among people with already adequate nutrition, reports the New York Times. Researchers at an eight-year-long study from the Women's Health Initiative showed that multivitamins did not reduce risk for heart disease or any kinds of cancer; a decade-long study on men showed that taking vitamins C and E made no differences in cancer or heart disease rates. Selenium was also not shown to have any effect on prostate cancer rates, as was previously believed.

Some studies have even shown potential harmful effects from vitamins, such as an increased risk of lung cancer among those taking high-dose beta carotene supplements.

But no one denies the health benefits of a balanced diet. Many physicians and researchers believe that the protective effects of vitamins may not translate from whole foods to vitamin pills, for reasons not completely understood. "There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits," says one researcher. "Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?"

Do you take vitamin supplements? Do you think they help?

Source

Filed Under: Health & Medical
Tags: health, new york times, vitamins

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-18-2009 @10:20AM Peter said... I do not take vitamins as I have always firmly believed that a balanced diet is the best way to get the nutrients you need. Plus I feel it is wise to eat what you crave (in moderation, of course) as you likely need the nutrients that that particular food provides.

Also, in reading the article, the following made me wonder if it this practice is also potentially non-effective since it is essentially artificially adding vitamins to the food in bulk versus taking it in individual pill form.

"....today many popular foods are fortified with extra vitamins and minerals..."
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2-18-2009 @10:36AM Pamela said... I do take vitamins/supplements - the usual multivitamin and others like Fish Oil/Omega 3,6,9. The research on the latter seems to support its use for a healthy heart; and there are additional supplements that can be used to address other concerns . . . like Vit D, which us NW types are lacking due to not enough sun.

I think there is value in supplementing and like everything else moderation is key. In addition I've seen studies that head in one direction only to be contradicted at a later date . . .

Having said all this however I do feel slightly less inclined to take a multivitamin
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2-18-2009 @11:43AM Raleigh Miller said... One question that I want answered: We can all agree (and I think this was something of common knowledge) that it's unclear whether vitamins do any good (though ruling out cancer and heart-disease prevention hardly amounts to ruling out all positive benefits), but one suspects that the evidence suggesting *harm* are equally, if not more, inconclusive. So, consider those of us that (a) try hard to eat a balanced diet, and (b) take a multivitamin just for the heck of it, and just to give an extra boost in case a particular day's diet is accidentally lacking in, say, vitamin D, (c) don't swear by the benefits of multivitamins, or assume that they could in any way replace the benefits of whole foods, but are operating under the assumption that they couldn't hurt. Does the evidence available provide an at-all-convincing case that we should stop?

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2-18-2009 @12:58PM bob haskins said... this is pretty blatantly miss-stating the focus of these studies. they were looking at mega-dosing, essentially the idea that more of a good thing is better. of course, the poison is in the dose. supplemental use, where you're accounting for deficiencies in diet, is just as good as it always was. it shouldn't come as a surprise that vitamins are not the alt-medicine panacea people with a dollar to make have claimed.
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2-18-2009 @1:59PM Liz Petty said... Because I'm a vegetarian, I miss out on some nutrients whose sources are primarily derived from animals. Though I eat eggs and dairy and occasionally fish (I guess I'm more of a "pescatarian," though I eat fish very rarely), I still think it's necessary for me to make up for those missing nutrients by taking a multivitamin/multimineral supplement, if only to put my mind at ease.

Despite the new study's findings that supplements don't really benefit us any more than getting nutrients naturally, I can say anecdotally that I've felt a lot more alert and a lot less sluggish since I've begun taking my daily multivitamin. I'm in better spirits, and I think even my memory has improved, however slightly.
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2-18-2009 @2:23PM Rt said... I don't know that vitamins are "useless" but they may certainly be overrated. "Mega dosing", like any other form of abuse, is fraught with dangers.

Liz may have said it best "...if only to put my mind at ease.". Reducing stress is a good thing. That said, most people would be better off understanding the actual risk (as opposed to the perceived) than trying to combat it.

The body is very good at doing a lot with very little - that includes vitamins. Balanced is best, peace of mind is cheap. Don't forget to take your aspirin :)
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2-18-2009 @5:17PM llaushway said... I gave up vitamins completely the day that I realized that the ones I was taking were throwing off my (already ridiculously sensitive) digestive system. I take a calcium supplement because I'm lactose-intolerant, and the odd iron supplement because my iron levels run low, but I'm through with spending the extra money in the hopes that my health will be better with than it would have been without. As we can never know whether or not our actions are helpful or detrimental to our overall well-being, what's the point?

I'm agreeing more and more with Michael Pollan's views that entrusting our dietary health to a handful of deified beings is folly. Humans have been eating for centuries without needing the advice of specially-trained scholars to do so. We've long since sorted out what does and does not kill us, yet in the span of about two generations we've become increasingly dependent on a pseudo-scientific class of beings (who's views are constantly in flux) to inform us what's best for us.

Vitamins are the snake oil of our times. Don't get me started on the damage that the "low-fat" diet has caused on this continent.
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2-18-2009 @10:41PM hbaumann said... What is often neglected when people talk about vitamins is whether or not they are synthetic. Vitamins derived from plants or fish or other things not created in a lab I think would be of benefit. Man made vitamins ... not so interested in taking those.

As for eating for nutrition, that's good too but keep in mind that with factory farming the soil and thus the plants most people eat have been depleted of many vitamins and minerals. Fruits and veggies were healthier 50 years ago compared to what we typically eat now.
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