Does That Vitamin Nutrition Supplement Help You Or Harm You?

To millions of people in this country, the taking of a vitamin nutrition supplement is a cherished part of the daily routine. And why wouldn’t they – there are so many studies out there, in prestigious medical magazines like the Journal of the American Medical Association no less, that recommend that everyone take at least one multivitamin every day. Doctors and therapists have always been on the side of erring on the side of caution and taking a couple of vitamin nutrition supplements just to make sure that there is no vitamin shortfall because of an inadequate diet. But doctors are waking up to a new kind of research now as well.

There has recently been a virtual deluge of scientific evidence to get doctors to begin to think that perhaps vitamin supplements play no part in promoting health – that it’s all just been an elaborate old wives’ tale. All of this comes about through two great studies that have been put in place in the medical literature recently. One study that included dozens of randomized controlled trials found that no one was ever able to cut down their risk of getting heart disease or cancer through taking multivitamins. In the second study, they followed tens of thousands of women past menopause for 10 years and found again that their vitamin habit didn’t help them stay clear of heart disease, cancer or anything else. And the women in the study came from every kind of dietary background.

But what if you don’t expect your vitamin nutrition supplement to help fight cancer or heart disease for you? What if you’re just trying to get healthier, stronger and more in control of your day with your vitamin habit? Studies on those innocent expectations have turned out to be completely discouraging too. They found that among older people, a vitamin habit does nothing to help keep infections away. It doesn’t help breast cancer patients feel stronger and keep fatigue at bay, and children on vitamins don’t do any better at anything with them. Some studies even say that there could be harm that you can expect from taking multivitamin nutrition supplements.

How about that – not only do multi-vitamins not give you protection from cancer, they actually might cause cancer, as they found it a 10 year study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. How is it that the entire world of medical researchers got it wrong first time? To begin with, they studied the wrong kinds of people to see if taking multivitamins helped. They studied rich people. Rich people have better health expectations, anyway.