
Rethinking the Multivitamin - ALee
http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/10/11/rethinking-the-multivitamin/
======
tzs
> A 2010 study of Swedish women found that those who took multivitamins were
> 19% more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer over a 10-year period
> than those who didn’t. A 2007 paper in the Journal of the National Cancer
> Institute found that men who took multivitamins along with other supplements
> were at increased risk of prostate cancer.

I wonder how much of this has to do with the kind of people who are health-
conscious enough to take multivitamins being more likely to get cancer
screening?

I take a couple of Flintstone Vitamins a day, not to try to improve my health,
but rather (1) to hopefully make up any gaps in my diet, and (2) their
pleasant taste covers up the horrible taste of a prescription I take at the
same time.

~~~
TomOfTTB
I think this might have something to do with the ineffectiveness issue:
<http://www.jigsawhealth.com/resources/myth-multi-vitamin>

As far as the supposed dangers I find their argument hard to swallow. If the
increased chance of breast cancer and prostate cancer was really that high I'd
think we'd be seeing massive fallout. Multi-Vitamins are a 4-billion a year
industry meaning they're pretty wide spread and have been around for way
longer than 10 years. If the female population was truly 19% more likely to
get breast cancer it would create an impossible to ignore societal phenomenon.

------
atomical
"The first, a review of 63 randomized, controlled trials (the gold standard
research method) on multivitamins, published by the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, found that multis did nothing to prevent cancer or heart
disease in most populations (the exception being developing countries where
nutritional deficiencies are widespread). In the second paper, published last
year, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center followed
160,000 postmenopausal women for about 10 years. The researchers’ conclusion:
“Multivitamins failed to prevent cancer, heart disease, and all causes of
death for all women. Whether the women were healthy eaters or ate very few
fruits and vegetables, the results were the same,” says the lead author,
Marian Neuhouser, PhD. read more from MSN Heatlh…

So basically, a multivitamin is a waste of money!"

According to who? The person fears naught but death? What about injury in
athletes, general well-being, and mental performance?

------
Adam503
Nonsense. It's in the pharmaceutical industry to get people to stop taking
cheap vitamins. They more money when people are sick.

I've lost all confidence that people in the pharma industry wouldn't act like
that. Those same people have watched a whole lot of people in Africa and the
3rd world die from illnesses that could easily prevented with a few cents of
medicine.

They most certainly do act that way.

