West Hollywood, California (Monday, June 1, 2009) - A recent study warning of the dangers of taking vitamins is part of a drug company campaign created to misinform the public. 
Michael Mooney, age 56, has written for numerous publications about exercise, diet, and the progressive use of dietary supplements. WeHo News. |
The study, “Multivitamins Do Not Prevent Chronic Disease,” screamed from major newspaper and magazine headlines, claiming that taking vitamins wasted money and time.
The article by M.L. Neuhouser opens by saying, “The news about vitamins keeps getting worse.” It then references studies from the last few years that said vitamins didn’t really do anything and might even be harmful.”
Unmentioned in the articles planted by big pharma were other studies showing that taking vitamins helps people lead healthier, longer lives with less need of pharmaceutical drugs.
While what the study said was true (small doses of vitamins have no affect on anything at all), what it leads readers to believe is false.
By stating simply, “In a study of post-menopausal women, most of the popular supplements do nothing to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke or a variety of cancers,” without providing the dosage of vitamins these “scientists” cheat.
WeHo News. |
Notably, M.L. Neuhouser mentioned only Centrum Silver, a very low potency multivitamin, setting up a strawman to knock down with specious reasoning.
Centrum Silver contains only 50 IU of vitamin E, far below the 400 to 800 IU doses that reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and cancers, 220 mg of calcium and only 55 mcg of selenium, all very low ineffective doses.
There are numerous multivitamin products sold in health food stores across the USA that deliver the higher nutrient potencies that have been shown to reduce the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Thousands of published studies show that the statement “applies only to very low potency multi-vitamins, like Centrum. Numerous other studies suggest that more potent vitamins may have significant effects on reducing the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease.”
The study’s authors deceived the public by omitting the obvious disclosure and newspapers failed to do due diligence, not researching results from higher potency vitamin treatments, which give a different picture.
WeHo News. |
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study showed an increasing reduction in the risk of digestive system cancers of 31 percent for women and 23 percent for men when calcium intake increased to 1300 mg per day.
Another study found that women who had low vitamin D blood levels had five times more risk of breast cancer than women with higher blood levels that require taking 1,000 to as much as 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day.
While studies like the Women’s Health Initiative showed that vitamin D at 400 IU per day had no effect on reducing the risk of breast cancer, numerous studies have shown that vitamin D dosing over 800 IU per day equaled significantly less risk of breast cancer.
Vitamin D authority Dr. Michael Holick confirmed the need for higher vitamin D dosing to reduce cancer risk in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006.
Selenium, a mineral, at 200 mcg per day, has numerous publications showing anti-cancer effects, with one study showing a 25 percent reduced risk of total cancers.
WeHo News. |
A study showed a 63 percent reduced risk of prostate cancer with 200 mcg of selenium per day over a 10-year period, while another Selenium study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed less risk of prostate, lung, colorectal and total cancers and a 49 percent reduction in the risk of total cancer mortality.
Higher vitamin doses reduce cardiovascular risk; the Iowa Women's Health Study found a 47% reduction in cardiac mortality, as well as a significant reduction in the risk of colon cancer of more than 50 percent, as vitamin E supplement dosing increased, with 400 IU per day being the highest vitamin E dose noted in the study.
In the best known of these trials, the Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study, vitamin E at 400 IU to 800 IU per day reduced the incidence of overall fatal and nonfatal heart disease events by 47 percent and the incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction by 77 percent.
In summary, this study looked at doses that are too low to be effective and, of course, found that they didn’t work.
In the future when you read a newspaper headline that says vitamins don’t work, the first question you ask should be, “Were the vitamin doses in the study high enough to work?”
See this article in academic format, complete with end notes and links to studies, at Michael Mooney’s web site.
Mr. Mooney, age 56, has written for numerous publications about exercise, diet, and the progressive use of dietary supplements. He co-authored a book about complementary medical options, such as nutritional and hormonal intervention for people living with HIV, called Built To Survive; Michael donates all profits to non-profit HIV research.
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