Jamieson Wellness Inc T.JWEL

Multivitamins wont cut risk of cancer or heart disease

[kijiji]

Those who use multivitamins in the hope of reducing their risk of heart disease or cancer might be wasting their time and money, according to a major new study.

 

The research suggests the age-old advice about getting the vitamins you need from a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables rings as true as ever.

 

Multivitamins are particularly popular as they contain a mix of the dozen or so vitamins and minerals the body needs to stay healthy.

 

The Health Food Manufacturers’ Association, which represents the supplements industry, says more than a third of adults feel they do not get all the nutrients they need through their diet.

 

But there is little strong scientific evidence that taking multivitamins in tablet form prevents ill health.

The latest study, one of the largest to date, was by scientists from Harvard Medical School in the US and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

Researchers tracked 21,442 men and women in their 60s over five years, putting half on a multivitamin and the rest on a dummy pill.

They found little difference between the two groups in the risk of developing cancer or heart disease.

 

Almost the same number developed breast, bowel or prostate cancer – 518 in the multivitamin group and 535 in the placebo group.

 

The same pattern was seen in the number who suffered heart attacks, which was 96 in multivitamin takers and 93 placebo takers, and also in stroke cases – at 121 and 116 respectively.

 

Mortality rates barely differed either, with deaths from all cancers totalling 116 in the multivitamin group and 109 in those who were given placebos.

 

However, a daily multivitamin did appear to lower the chances of lung cancer by almost 40 per cent, compared with taking a placebo.

 

In a report on the findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, scientists said individual vitamins and minerals consumed as part of a healthy diet may well protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease.

 

But taking them as an all-in-one pill did not seem to be the answer.

‘A multivitamin cannot replicate the natural interactions of vitamins, minerals and bioactive components in foods,’ they wrote.

 

‘These findings do not support the regular use of multivitamins for cancer or heart disease prevention among healthy men and women.’

 

The Health Food Manufacturers’ Association said it was unable to comment on the latest findings.