From USA Today: Medical journal: ‘Case closed’ against vitamin pills
“it’s time for most consumers to stop wasting money on multivitamins and other supplements, because they have no proven benefits and some possible harms.”
That declaration comes in a strongly worded editorial that accompanies two new studies and an expert panel’s report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“The message is simple: Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified, and they should be avoided,” says the editorial, signed by two researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, one British researcher and one of the journal’s senior editors…
The new results from that study will disappoint anyone who hoped a multivitamin might keep them sharp in old age. The study followed male physicians over age 65 for an average of 11 years and found multivitamins had no effect on cognitive decline…
A second, unrelated, new study in Annals found high-dose multivitamins had no effect on the progression of heart disease in heart attack survivors…
there are exceptions. For example, health officials strongly urge women of childbearing age to take folic acid, to prevent birth defects. Some ongoing studies of vitamin D, he says, are justified because some benefits…
most of the 53% of U.S. consumers who use supplements are wasting money, to the tune of $28 billion a year.
Same story from NY Times: http://t.co/kEwrk1mGyQ
Related blog entry: Live longer -don’t take your vitamins? | gutsandgrowth
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