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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Eat Wisely, Don't Rely on Vitamin Pills
Here are a couple of the most common questions about good nutrition. How would YOU respond to such questions?
- Does everyone need vitamin pills? Mineral supplements? Or, can most folks get all the nutrients they need from eating a good diet consisting of foods readily available at supermarkets?
- Will antioxidant supplements boost your immune system and thereby reduce the risks of cancer and/or other dread conditions? (A brief aside: What "conditions" are not "dread," anyway?)
As with hopes for an afterlife, vast numbers of people want to believe in vitamin and mineral supplements. What's more convenient than health in a bottle? Sure, all those pills are expensive, but think of the time saved that would otherwise be consumed by meal planning and exercise.
Alas, now additional evidence has surfaced that makes such faith more difficult to sustain. The work of a National Institutes of Health Conference assessing 47 different studies suggests that supplements Vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamin E may do more harm than good. Other vitamins, while not actual health risk factors, are risks of a different sort -- that of money wasters! Top offenders in this category are vitamin C (thanks, Linus Pauling!) and selenium. These findings should concern a lot of people.
The broad conclusion of the report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is that certain high-dose supplementation (beta-carotene and vitamins A and E) can be harmful. Other pills, even in high doses (vitamin C and selenium), seem to do nothing beneficial.Â
Naturally, there are critics of the study, such as spokespersons for the industry that sells billions of dollars worth of this stuff annually to 70 percent of the American public. The figures are a bit difficult to pin down. The Washington Post cited a total of $23 billion worth of supplements sold annually; the Wall Street Journal gave an estimate of "only" $7 billion sold last year.
If I were making a fortune selling snake oil or anything else, I would not take criticism lightly. I would, like the supplement folks, be terribly offended at uppity scientists whose work implies that my motives in pushing this stuff might not line up with the best interests of American or other consumers. I might even get a little indignant at the impertinence of such a suggestion. But, sad to say, I have no horse in the race to the bank in the supplement derby. In fact, I have been "pooh-poohing" (a scholarly term meaning demurral from a popular trend) vitamin supplements for decades. (See "Don Takes A Firm Stand Against Supplements!")
Here are additional findings from the JAMA article:
- A recent study of about 10,000 patients who took vitamin E pills over several years had a 13 percent higher risk for heart failure. However, even higher doses (600 IUs every other day) by 40,000 healthy women gave positive results. (Users over 65 were also 26 percent less likely to suffer heart problems.)
- Medically prescribed supplements such as vitamin B12, calcium or Vitamin D are, according to study authors, probably OK to take. However, this is not the case for beta-carotene or vitamin A supplements.
- Some well-placed skeptics have questioned whether oxidative stress even exists. These researchers suspect that destroying free radicals might interfere with the body's natural defensive mechanisms that aide in survival.
- Many cereals and other foods are fortified with Vitamin A and other vitamins and minerals, making supplementation redundant even for many who do not choose healthy diets most of the time.
There have been other studies in recent years pointing to MORE health problems, not fewer, among those who take high doses of antioxidants.
Jean Mayer, head of the USDA's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, offered this obvious but important point: "The best way to get your nutrients is through a varied diet." ("High Doses of Antioxidants May Hurt More Than Help," February 28, 2007.)
The Bottom-line advice based on these latest data, combined with all the information that has gone before, indicates that the key action recommendations are:
- Get your nutrients from food, especially vegetables, fruit and whole grains.
- Be deeply skeptical about any assertion by varied interest groups that the cost of supplements is worth the price -- and the risks involved.
Be well. Eat wisely, workout daily and always look on the bright side of life.
(Note: Articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post were helpful in compiling data for this essay.)
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