Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
The results of a very large study extending over several years about the use of vitamin supplements has recently been published as many of you know. It says that multivitamin supplements have not proved successful in the prevention of cancer and other diseases and in some cases taking multivitamins can be harmful.
Yesterday it was reported that taking vitamin B supplements, (moderately) can promote eye health in older people.
It also reaffirms that nutrients obtained from food are more effective to promote general health and even if our diet is not all that "healthy" our bodies do absorb what they need.
|
Good thread, graciegirl. It doesn't matter whether the study is 3 years old or 10 years old; I like it. Over the years there have been many many articles pointing out the harm of vitamins that were once thought to be beneficial. There was one really big article in The Wall Street Journal. If I can find it I'll give more information on it later.
What impressed me the most was a health book (not sure which one) that stated vitamins are not the same as food. For example, vitamin C is not the same as an orange, tomato or broccoli. Although those foods contain vitamin C they also contain lots of other nutrients that are balanced by nature. And it was estimated that something like 25% of the nutrients in foods are still unknown. So, it's kind of silly, in my opinion, to put much faith in multiple vitamins. I have never taken any multiple vitamins and I'm perfectly healthy at 71. (No drugs either.)
I just read in the Alzheimer's book (100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's) that older people should not be taking a multiple vitamin containing iron and copper. Those two items greatly increase your risk for Alzheimer's. (And, by the way, what does red meat contain? A lot of iron and copper.)
Multi-vitamins are designed for people who don't like healthy foods and want to ease their conscience. They can go through the day eating junk and think, "I'm going to be okay because I took my multi-vitamins this morning."