Posted on 06/20/2015 11:07:42 AM PDT by rickmichaels
More than half the Canadian population regularly uses vitamins and minerals in order to stay healthy, according to Health Canada. Yet most are likely not aware that high doses of many common vitamins can increase the risk of cancer or death.
“Vitamins have become synonymous with health, but there’s this false idea that, if a little bit is good, a lot has to be better,” says Dr. Tim Byers, associate dean at the Colorado School of Public Health. Byers challenged this idea recently at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting. “We now have direct evidence that a lot is not better. In fact, a lot is worse and can create health problems,” he said.
There is no doubt the body needs a minimum amount of vitamins to function normally. Deficiencies in vitamin C can lead to scurvy, and inadequate vitamin D can cause the bony deformities of rickets in children, though these diseases are rarely seen in Western countries nowadays, thanks largely to widespread improvements in nutrition.
There are some valid clinical uses for vitamin therapy, such as folic acid given in pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects, or vitamin K given prophylactically to prevent hemorrhagic disease in newborns. Vitamin B12 is the treatment for patients with pernicious anemia, and iron supplements are often given to patients with iron deficiency.
But most people who take vitamins don’t have any of these medical problems. In fact, most of them are completely healthy and take vitamins not to treat sickness, but to prevent it. So the first question Byers asked himself when he set out to review 30 years’ worth of research conducted on vitamins and cancer was: Can vitamins actually prevent disease? He presented his findings at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.
The 1996 Physicians’ Health Study, he pointed out, found there’s no evidence to show that beta-carotene (the dietary form of vitamin A) prevents cancer. In 2009, the Physicians’ Health Study II found that vitamin C and vitamin E had no protective effect, either. The examination of a number of trials, specifically, in women, again showed no benefit for tens of thousands of patients over 10 years. Study after study showed that vitamins C, D and E did not lower the risk of cancer.
But hidden in the mass of data that Byers presented at the conference are worrying signs that vitamins might actually increase people’s cancer risk. Two other large randomized trials found that high doses of beta-carotene increased the risk of lung cancer in both male and female smokers. Another trial that studied 35,000 men in Canada and the U.S. found a link between high doses of vitamin E and prostate cancer in men.
Moreover, the findings from these various studies were reviewed by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international group of researchers, who, after analyzing the data, found no evidence to support the use of vitamin therapy, and corroborated that there seemed to be an increased risk of dying with beta-carotene and vitamin E supplements. That position was later echoed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
“After so many trials and so many studies, I think we can be very confident that these compounds are not having much benefit and are likely doing harm,” says Dr. Eliseo Guallar of Johns Hopkins University. But Guallar believes most of the risk is due to the use of supraphysiological doses, or doses above and beyond what the body actually requires.
Water-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, will simply be filtered by the kidneys and passed in the urine, once the blood levels rise above a certain threshold. Fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A, D, E and K, may pose more of a problem, accumulating in the soft tissues of the body and potentially causing toxicity at higher doses.
“Most [vitamin E] supplements are 400 IU, which is 20 times what you get with diet,” Guallar explains. That is also 20 times more than you may really need. Research he conducted with other colleagues at Johns Hopkins showed that the risk with vitamin E followed a dose-response pattern, where the danger only became visible at these higher doses. In other words, people taking higher doses have a greater risk of dying.
Byers agrees that the concern with supplements is the dose. “My problem is the people taking handfuls [of vitamin supplements], or the manufacturers that are putting incredibly high doses into single pills in a completely unregulated way,” he says.
The results of these trials have been seen for diseases besides cancer, as well. In 2013, a series of articles in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that daily multivitamins did not lower people’s risk of developing heart disease or Alzheimer’s. It led Guallar and a number of other colleagues to write an editorial in the same issue titled, “Enough is enough: Stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements.”
For well-nourished adults, Guallar says, vitamins are, at best, ineffective. “I wish we had a magic pill that could decrease disease,” he says, “but these vitamins are not that pill.”
Healthy people are bad for business.
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Don’t take tablets. They are nearly useless. Capsules and gelcaps are best. Don’t take multis, take the vitamins you decide you need, like C and D perhaps, or magnesium. You can easily test your D levels and adjust your personal dose.
And I’d be wary about supplementing iron right now as some new research is being discussed... Detriments of iron even that in “enriched” foods. At least read about it, as this is something new to worry about,
http://freetheanimal.com/2015/06/enrichment-theory-everything.html
Eat right
Exercise
Reduce stress
Die anyway.
How long we live and the quality of life is better and longer for most!
-
Horrendous diets ! Many eat the wrong things in excess sugar, fats, etc., Usually it is haw they were brought up on French fries, and sweets, bacon, ham, hamburgers in total. Not good for humans to have more than occasionally.
This is complete bs. You will die if you take a bottle of tylenol. You will not die if you take a bottle of vitamin c.
Yes certain vitamins when taken in excessively large and unusual doses can cause problems, but most do not.
The big difference is that government does track “vitamin deaths” each year and most years it is ZERO, a few have one or two, and they are asterisked because the evidence linking them to the death is speculative at best. Compare this to the thousands of people that die from prescription drugs.
It’s a scare piece, a hit piece against people who want to use vitamins to supplement their health because it is a form of independence and it is very safe and easy. The RDA min requirements are set so low, they are absolute bare minimums. They are not optimal values for best health.
Yes, capsules and gelcaps are absorbed the best. Yes.
Iron is usually only suggested if the person is anemic. Simple blood test can reveal it. But they still need to get to the source of the anemia, either it’s chronic (body not making enough blood cells) or specific (ulcer, bleeding inside somewhere)...
Only one statement here. With Global Warming, “What difference does it make?”(/S)
80% of the healthy 80 year old geezers in this world have almost no stomach acid and have lost 30% of their muscle mass, 10-15% of their brains and a lot of their bone density.
We are unable to break out the amino acids, trace metals, and B vitamins we need without the stomach acid (achlorhydria).
Vitamin supplementation or intravenous infusion are the two ways to solve this problem.
Regarding low iron. It’s rarely a problem with men. Also, if you are taking large does of C you will have much more efficient absorption of iron which can be a problem.
Some years ago my doctor had me on large doses of C. But my blood work showed my iron levels were too high (not good), so he said I had to either back off on the C or go give blood regularly.
Example: In her late 50s at the time my wife had a freak fall & shattered her wrist. Resulting in surgery & a plate in her arm. About a year before our family doctor had tested her D levels and said it was seriously low. She went on 50,000 units twice a week until level was in range & then stayed on 2,000 per day as maintenance.
Key point here: The orthopedic surgeon said that her arm healed faster than anyone of any age that had a similar break. In 4 weeks she was out of the (removable) cast). He said he expected even a young person to take 6-8 weeks to heal to the degree she had in 4. In his option it was definitely the D that was responsible. Her healing times for the usual cuts and scrapes have decreased compared to before.
Apples and oranges.......
You'll lose a headache with two Tylenols, you'll keep your headache with two vitamin C's.........
Liberals feel the same way about government.
Exercise
Reduce stress
Have lots of sex
Die anyway. with smile on face.
The reason more and more people are deficient in Vitamin D is due to the air conditioner and heating systems we have in our homes. As we want to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter we tend to stay indoors. Vitamin D is a vitamin that is produced in the body with the natural occurrence of the sun. Want more Vit-D go outside more often, you don’t have to be a pro athlete to take in the rays. Don a pair of cool shades grab an ice cold lemonade and sit in the sun! A healthy dose of sun can do wonders for the body. And by the way, a healthy dose of sun does not give one skin cancer. Depending on how much Vit-D you need is how much time you should spend in the sun per day. Summer fun is for a reason and the sun is the reason for the season. Just like our kids need 60 minutes of play outside, adults need just about the same amount of time in the sun everyday or maybe a little more.
Some vitamin deficiencies are dangerously common, especially vitamins B-12 and D, as are deficiencies in micronutrients like essential fatty acids. In addition, common digestive disorders like celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, Crohn's disease, and IBS and IBD, all tend to cause significant nutritional deficiencies that require vitamin and mineral supplementation.
Finally, common illnesses and drugs like statins and antacids can impair nutritional uptake and metabolism, while in other instances, supplements can help prevent or treat an illness. What doctor these days does not recommend supplementary Vitamin D and fish oil for older patients?
Nevertheless, as to cancer, there is valid cause for concern in that it seems that taking anti-oxidant supplements to excess may spur cancer by weakening the body's use of oxidative reactions in the immune response against cancerous cells. Moreover, Vitamin A spurs cell growth and may therefore directly aid the development and progression of some forms of cancer.
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