A Scientist Debunks The 'Magic' Of Vitamins And Supplements
There is a growing trend in science journals that there is more harm being discovered from what was long thought to be beneficial supplements and vitamins that people have trusted and relied on for decades.
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A pediatrician who spent years defending childhood vaccines against the likes of actress/activist Jenny McCarthy has launched an assault on megavitamins and dietary supplements.
"If you take large quantities of vitamin A, vtamin E, beta carotene [or] selenium you increase your risk of cancer, risk of heart disease, and you could shorten your life," says Dr. Paul Offit, a researcher at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Many large studies in recent years have shown that vitamins and dietary supplements rarely help and often hurt, Offit says. Yet a huge number of people still believe that these products will improve their health. So, Offit says, he decided to challenge the false beliefs of "the church of vitamins and supplements."
Offit made the remarks during an appearance in Washington, D.C., Monday to promote his latest book: Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine.
Offit, an infectious disease specialist and the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, is best known for publicly challenging groups that claim there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism. That effort often pitted him against actress Jenny McCarthy, who became a spokeswoman for anti-vaccine groups.
It worries me because people like Katie Perry tweeted this image about her vitamin regime, this should be an example of exactly what NOT to do, not inspire her fans to do the same:
__________________ Allskonar fyrir Aumingja!!
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We don't know what Katie Perry is on, she may have someone detailing every meal she eats and knows exactly what gaps in diet to fill. With her money, that is very possible.
Multivitamin = bad
Target Specific vitamins to fill in gaps in your diet = very very good.
Also wanted to add this great article which pinpoints a scientific genius that was partly to blame for this vitamin worship we have today. Linus Pauling.
On October 10, 2011, researchers from the University of Minnesota found that women who took supplemental multivitamins died at rates higher than those who didn't. Two days later, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that men who took vitamin E had an increased risk of prostate cancer. "It's been a tough week for vitamins," said Carrie Gann of ABC News.
These findings weren't new. Seven previous studies had already shown that vitamins increased the risk of cancer and heart disease and shortened lives. Still, in 2012, more than half of all Americans took some form of vitamin supplements. What few people realize, however, is that their fascination with vitamins can be traced back to one man. A man who was so spectacularly right that he won two Nobel Prizes and so spectacularly wrong that he was arguably the world's greatest quack.
In 1931, Linus Pauling published a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society titled "The Nature of the Chemical Bond." Before publication, chemists knew of two types of chemical bonds: ionic, where one atom gives up an electron to another; and covalent, where atoms share electrons. Pauling argued that it wasn't that simple -- electron sharing was somewhere between ionic and covalent. Pauling's idea revolutionized the field, marrying quantum physics with chemistry. His concept was so revolutionary in fact that when the journal editor received the manuscript, he couldn't find anyone qualified to review it. When Albert Einstein was asked what he thought of Pauling's work, he shrugged his shoulders. "It was too complicated for me," he said.
For this single paper, Pauling received the Langmuir Prize as the most outstanding young chemist in the United States, became the youngest person elected to the National Academy of Sciences, was made a full professor at Caltech, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was 30 years old.
Here's a highlight of studies that have raised alarm bells in the scientific community of late.
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In 1996, investigators from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, studied 18,000 people who, because they had been exposed to asbestos, were at increased risk of lung cancer. Again, subjects received vitamin A, beta-carotene, both, or neither. Investigators ended the study abruptly when they realized that those who took vitamins and supplements were dying from cancer and heart disease at rates 28 and 17 percent higher, respectively, than those who didn't.
In 2004, researchers from the University of Copenhagen reviewed fourteen randomized trials involving more than 170,000 people who took vitamins A, C, E, and beta-carotene to see whether antioxidants could prevent intestinal cancers. Again, antioxidants didn't live up to the hype. The authors concluded, "We could not find evidence that antioxidant supplements can prevent gastrointestinal cancers; on the contrary, they seem to increase overall mortality." When these same researchers evaluated the seven best studies, they found that death rates were 6 percent higher in those taking vitamins.
In 2005, researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine evaluated nineteen studies involving more than 136,000people and found an increased risk of death associated with supplemental vitamin E. Dr. Benjamin Caballero, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, "This reaffirms what others have said. The evidence for supplementing with any vitamin, particularly vitamin E, is just not there. This idea that people have that [vitamins] will not hurt them may not be that simple." That same year, a study published in the Journal of theAmerican Medical Association evaluated more than 9,000 people who took high-dose vitamin E to prevent cancer; those who took vitamin E were more likely to develop heart failure than those who didn't.
In 2007, researchers from the National Cancer Institute examined 11,000 men who did or didn't take multivitamins. Those who took multivitamins were twice as likely to die from advanced prostate cancer.
In 2008, a review of all existing studies involving more than 230,000 people who did or did not receive supplemental antioxidants found that vitamins increased the risk of cancer and heart disease.
On October 10, 2011, researchers from the University of Minnesota evaluated 39,000 older women and found that those who took supplemental multivitamins, magnesium, zinc, copper, and iron died at rates higher than those who didn't. They concluded, "Based on existing evidence, we see little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements."
Two days later, on October 12, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic published the results of a study of 36,000 men who took vitamin E, selenium, both, or neither. They found that those receiving vitamin E had a 17 percent greater risk of prostate cancer. In response to the study, Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, said, "The concept of multivitamins was sold to Americans by an eager nutraceutical industry to generate profits. There was never any scientific data supporting their usage." On October 25, a headline in the Wall Street Journal asked, "Is This the End of Popping Vitamins?" Studies haven't hurt sales. In 2010, the vitamin industry grossed $28 billion, up 4.4 percent from the year before. "The thing to do with [these reports] is just ride them out," said Joseph Fortunato, chief executive of General Nutrition Centers. "We see no impact on our business."
__________________ Allskonar fyrir Aumingja!!
Last edited by Thor; 07-25-2013 at 08:53 AM.
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We don't know what Katie Perry is on, she may have someone detailing every meal she eats and knows exactly what gaps in diet to fill. With her money, that is very possible.
Multivitamin = bad
Target Specific vitamins to fill in gaps in your diet = very very good.
Take your vitamin D people!
Or is it?
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In research published in January 2012 in the American Journal of Cardiology, Amer and Qayyum found that increasing levels of vitamin D in the blood are linked with lower levels of a popular marker for cardiovascular inflammation— c-reactive protein (also known as CRP). Beyond blood levels of 21 nanograms per milliliter, any additional increase in vitamin D was associated with an increase in CRP, a factor linked to stiffening of the blood vessels and an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. The team’s unpublished research also suggests a link between excess vitamin D and elevated homocysteine levels, another danger sign for cardiovascular disease.
People should consult with their doctors, Amer says, before starting vitamin D supplements and should have their blood levels checked. Still, he says, “most healthy people are unlikely to find that supplementation prevents cardiovascular diseases or extends their lives,” and there is no consensus among doctors on what is the right level of vitamin D in the blood for healthy people.
“There are a lot of myths out there and not enough data,” he concludes.
The omega 3 (fish oils) and omega 6 (flax seed/vegetable oils) health benefits have taken hits recently too.
AREDS 2 study revealed no benefit of taking Omega 3's for the prevention of Wet Age-related Degeneration. It was long recommended in patients with Dry AMD.
Excess Omega 6's have been linked to an increased risk in inflammatory heart disease.
Beta - Carotene supplements increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers as well.
I can find you the studies later, if requested, as I am on my iPhone.
Multivitamins have prevented me from having a cold or flu for damn near three straight years. I don't care what anyone says, I feel healthier and I stay away from illness much better taking a daily supplement.
I'm guilty of taking a multi-vitamin and Omega 3 daily. I rarely catch colds or flue's so whatever I have been doing has been working but I am getting older. I guess it would save me money to quit but I would have to read into this more rather than knee jerk reaction quit.
Last edited by Erick Estrada; 07-25-2013 at 10:10 AM.
A Scientist Debunks The 'Magic' Of Vitamins And Supplements
