With so many studies being publicized recently on vitamins not preventing a wide variety of illnesses, consumers are wondering what to do about taking vitamins.
After doing research for the article “Are Vitamins Good for You … Or Bad for You?” I decided I couldn’t tell. I found as many positive studies as I found negative ones. And, I wasn’t able to evaluate who sponsored the studies.
However, to researchers from four medical institutions, the answer is clear: Vitamins have value.
Researchers from the Oregon State University, the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Tufts University, and the Harvard School of Public Health say a multivitamin/mineral supplement should be taken by most people to help obtain needed micronutrients.
In a letter published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers said this type of dietary supplement helps fill nutritional gaps, improves general health, might help prevent chronic disease, will cause no harm, and is easily worth the few cents a day that it costs.
To “call the case closed” is wrong and “misinforms the public and the medical community,” the researchers wrote. Their statements are a response to an editorial in the same publication last year, which argued that supplements are unnecessary.
While most nutrition experts agree that a balanced and nutritious diet is the best way to obtain needed nutrients, the researchers point out that many Americans have a less-than-perfect diet – long on calories and short on nutrients – and the vast majority aren’t getting enough of several important vitamins and minerals.
“It’s naïve to ignore the fact that most people have micronutrient inadequacies, and wrong to condemn a daily supplement that could cover these nutritional gaps safely and at low cost,” said Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at OSU and a biochemist in the OSU College of Science.
“There’s strong evidence that a multivitamin/mineral supplement supports normal functioning of the body and helps improve overall health and may even help lower chronic disease risk,” Frei said. “It’s irresponsible to ignore decades of nutrition research and tell the people of the United States they have no need for a supplement that could be so helpful, and costs as little as $1 a month.
The researchers point out:
- The vast majority of people in the U.S. don’t meet all of the guidelines for dietary intake of vitamins and minerals.
- More than 93 percent of adults in the U.S. don’t get the estimated average requirement of vitamins D and E from their diet; 61 percent not enough magnesium; and 50 percent not enough vitamin A and calcium.
- Many subpopulations have even more critical needs for micronutrients, including older adults, African Americans, obese persons, and some people who are ill or injured.
- Concerns about “increased mortality” from supplements of vitamins A and E have been based on extremely high use through supplements far beyond the amount available in a multivitamin, and in the case of vitamin E largely refuted by analyses that compare and contrast the results from different studies.
The value of proper nutrition is wide-ranging and positive, Frei said. Micronutrients maintain normal cell and tissue function, metabolism, growth and development. A supplement that helps a person “cover all the bases” can help protect daily, routine health.
And the potential for vitamins and other micronutrients to help reduce or prevent chronic disease continues to show promise, he said.
One of the longest, largest controlled studies, the Physicians’ Health Study II, found an 8 percent reduction in total cancer incidence in male physicians – people who, through their education, income and lifestyle, probably had diets much closer to optimal than the average American.
Frei is critical of many studies that show multivitamin/mineral supplements unhelpful or harmful. He said:
- Most research is done without first checking to see if a person is inadequate in a nutrient, which failes to show how much how much a supplement helps.
- Too much research has been done with groups such as doctors and nurses who are probably not representative of the general population.
