Vitamins Don't Do Jack!

Attack Of The Killer Multi-Vitamins

Hey Green Health Heads,

I don't know about you, but it seems like every time you turn around you get more contradictory evidence about what to do for your health. It seems like everybody has a different point of view on what you should do. Case in point, multi-vitamins. Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper it seems like people have been beating into our heads that we need to take them. The soil is depleted, you don't get enough from food, you need anti-oxidants to fight disease, your teeth will rot, your hair will fall out, here, put these in your mouth, now!

But, not so fast. It seems, now, that there is a considerable amount of research out there which says that taking synthetic multi-vitamins actually does nothing for you or worse, may be dangerous to your health. We visited with UCLA Registered Dietician, Deborah Novak and tried to figure out what the heck is going on here.

Here's Some Basic Advice:

Get your vitamins from whole foods, not from a chemist working for a major conglomerate. Fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes are also excellent vitamin delivery systems and have used the last 4 million years to work out the kinks so that they can do so without killing you dead. But don't take our word for it, take a look at the research findings first:

Trials of Antioxidant Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis by Goran Bjelakovic in the February 28, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reported, "We did not find convincing evidence that antioxidant supplements have beneficial effects on mortality. Even more, beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E seem to increase the risk of death. Further randomized trials are needed to establish the effects of vitamin C and selenium."

A total of 226,606 people in 68 trials were examined. All supplements were administered orally. Beta carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E singly or in combinations increased mortality. The meta-analysis indicated that the synthetic form of Vitamin A increased death risk by 16%, beta carotene by 7% and Vitamin E by 4%. Vitamin C singly or in combination did not increase mortality. It is likely cancer and cardiovascular death were the reason for an increase in all-cause mortality. Selenium used singly or in combination with other supplements seemed to be of benefit and reduced all-cause mortality.

This study clearly suggests that the synthetic form of Vitamin A, Beta Carotene and Vitamin E all increased mortality. That would mean hasten our departure from this lovely planet. Vitamin C and Selenium didn't have that effect. In fact, Selenium seemed to help lengthen our time on this earth plane allowing us to enjoy more and more reality television.

Then there was this recently published study on Prostate cancer and vitamin consumption:

Heavy multivitamin users were almost twice as likely to get fatal prostate cancer as men who never took the pills, concludes the study in Wednesday's (May 16, 2007) Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Government scientists turned to a study tracking the diet and health of almost 300,000 men. About a third reported taking a daily multivitamin, and 5 percent were heavy users, swallowing the pills more than seven times a week.

Within five years of the study's start, 10,241 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some 1,476 had advanced cancer; 179 died.

Here's the twist: Overall, the researchers found no link between multivitamin use and early-stage prostate cancer.

The researchers thought that perhaps high-dose vitamins had little effect until a tumor appeared, and then they actually helped the tumor grow.

Which makes sense, cancer cells are extremely opportunistic, they will utilize whatever they can to keep growing. Here, the emphasis seems to be on high-dose multivitamins. What does that mean? Well, there are US RDA (or recommended daily allowances) and it is recommended that you do not exceed 150% of the US RDA. This can be complicated by the fact that many foods are now fortified with vitamins. Deborah pointed out that Diet Coke has a new product Diet Coke Plus. You guessed it, fortified with vitamins and minerals. So, once again you need to be conscious of what you pour into your face.

Here are two more humongous studies done in Europe which looked at multi-vitamin use.

The Norwegian Vitamin Trial (NORVIT) of 3,749 patients, who were followed for 3.5 years was designed to show the benefits of taking supplements. Folic acid supplementation was found to lower homocysteine levels by 28%, but to increase the risks of heart attack, stroke, and death by 20%, along with a more than 30% increase in cancer. Those with the highest baseline homocysteine levels (13umol/L or greater) suffered the most harm from taking supplements of folic acid.

Bonaa, KH. NORVIT: Randomized trial of homocysteine-lowering with B-vitamins for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease after acute myocardial infarction. Program and Abstracts from the European Society of cardiology Congress 2005; September 3-7, 2005; Stockholm, Sweden.

In a study of 7,876 French women who were between the ages of 35 and 60 and 5,141 French men between 45 and 60; 3,844 females (mean age of 46.6) and 2,520 males (mean age 51.3 years) took a single daily capsule which contained a combination of 120 mg of ascorbic acid, 30 mg of vitamin E, 6 mg of beta-carotene, 100 mcg of selenium and 20 mg of zinc compared with 3,869 females (mean age 46.6) and 2,508 males (mean age 51.3) who took placebo. After the median follow-up time of 7.5 years, there were no major differences seen between the groups in total cancer incidence, ischemic cardiovascular disease incidence or all cause mortality.

The SU.VI.MAX Study: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of the Health Effects of Antioxidant Vitamins and Minerals,� Hercberg S, Galan P, et al Arch Intern Med, Nov. 22, 2004; 164:2335-2342.

Holy crap, that was exhausting. Now where does all of this leave us? There is enough evidence here that multi-vitamins may be potentially dangerous in certain circumstances to warrant some serious research. Left to their own devices, vitamin manufacturers are not going to go there. But just like drug companies who need to be transparent about the risks of drugs, these supplement companies need to be held accountable for their promises as well.

This is one of the biggest problems in health care today, the lack of transparency and the lack of adequate research into the potential adverse effects of all of the products on the market. Whether it is drugs, vitamins, herbs, surgery or medical devices. We need to be told the whole story, good and bad so that we can make intelligent, informed decisions about our health and well being.

Check out this link for a complete list of food sources of vitamins.