Vitamin supplements - Do They Work?

Do you supplement your diet with vitamins? Below is an article that discusses the recent research findings about the effectiveness of taking vitamin dietary supplements to prevent cancer or heart disease.

Article by Susan Perry

There is no good evidence that vitamin or mineral supplements protect against either cancer or heart disease.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force officially updated its recommendation on the use of multivitamin supplements for the prevention of cancer or heart disease.

The recommendation by this independent panel of experts is essentially the same as the draft version released for public comment last fall: There is no good evidence that vitamin or mineral supplements protect against either cancer or heart disease.

In fact, the task force concludes that taking supplements of beta-carotene (vitamin A) may actually increase the risk of developing lung cancer, particularly among smokers. They thus recommend against the use of beta-carotene supplements, either alone or in combination with other supplements.

Their overall recommendation, the task force stresses, applies only to healthy adults and not to children, women who are pregnant or considering becoming pregnant, or people with a chronic illness or a specific diagnosed nutritional deficiency, such as Wernicke-Korsakoff disease or pellegra .

No substitute for healthful foods

I reported on the draft version of this recommendation last November, but I feel it’s important to bring attention to it again. For, as the Task Force notes, supplements continue to be promoted for the prevention of heart disease and cancer, and surveys have found that many physicians and nurses recommend dietary supplements to their patients for general health and wellness.

Yet, as the Task Force stresses — along with other major health organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, the American Institute for Cancer Research, the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians — vitamin and mineral supplements are no substitute for eating a variety of healthy foods, most notably, fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Still, despite the growing number of medical experts who point out how wasteful and potentially harmful these products are, Americans continue to believe in the supplement industry’s hype. In 2010, U.S. consumers spent $28.1 billion on vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements.

Read More

Vitamin supplements - Do They Work?