SUPPLEMENTS CONTROVERSY RE-EMERGES!

Vitamin pills 'increase risk of early death'

writes Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent in Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/16/scivita116.xml&posted=true&_requestid=370468

Official health warning on risk of vitamin supplements

Writes David Rose in The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3754205.ece

Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor of The Independent writes:-

Vitamin supplements 'do us no good and may be harmful'

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/vitamin-supplements-do-us-no-good-and-may-be-harmful-809607.html

And many others....

This controversial topic has re-emerged….. Please see Breda’s response to the papers at the bottom. We have also copied few responses from The Independent website. To read more, please follow the link above.

We swallow them by the bucketload at great expense but there is no evidence vitamin supplements do us any good, and they may even be doing us harm, scientists have concluded. In a blow to the multimillion pound dietary supplement industry, a review of 67 randomised trials of vitamin pills has found that far from prolonging life, they may actually shorten it.

There is "no convincing evidence" that antioxidant supplements cut the risk of dying prematurely and some of the commonest ones may increase the risk of early death, according to the review, published by The Cochrane Collaboration.

One in three women and one in four men in the UK are estimated to take vitamin pills to ward off disease. Despite several studies warning of potential dangers, the industry continues to thrive.

The latest review, one of the largest involving 232,000 participants, compared those taking the supplements with those who took a placebo or received no treatment. The supplements studied were beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A that is converted into the vitamin in the body), vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium.

Goran Bjelakovich, the visiting researcher who led the systematic review at Copenhagen University, said: "We could find no evidence to support taking antioxidant supplements to reduce the risk of dying earlier in healthy people or patients with various diseases."

"The findings show that, if anything, people in trial groups given beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E showed increased rates of mortality. There was no indication that vitamin C and selenium may have positive or negative effects; we need more data [on these]."

The researchers separated out the 47 trials with a low risk of bias and in these they found a significantly increased death rate. When taken separately, vitamin A was associated with a 16 per cent increased mortality, beta-carotene with a 7 per cent increase and vitamin E with a 4 per cent increase. For vitamin C and selenium there was no significant increase or decrease in the death rate.

Dr Bjelakovich said: "The bottom line is that current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the general healthy population." The researchers were unable to explain their findings but said "excessive antioxidants can adversely affect key physiological processes".

Yesterday, Pamela Mason, of the Health Supplements Information Service, said: "Trials using antioxidant supplements have shown inconsistent findings and yet another review is not going to tell us anything at this stage that we do not already know."

If what the scientists say was true, I should have been dead long time ago.... However, as a nutritional therapist I do know what I am doing and I treat supplements with 'respect'. Vitamins and minerals in excess doses can be toxic and dangerous. Hence, as Principal of BCNH - UK College of Nutrition & Health, I am against supplements being available to general public who may not be aware of potential side effects and safe doses.

In our view, vitamins (and other nutrients such as herbs) should be prescribed by fully qualified health professionals, such as nutritional therapists and herbalists, whom, having had an extensive consultation with a client will a) ensure that clients are not overdosing on any nutrients b) check for any drug-nutrient interactions and c) ensure that all nutrients are in synergy and e) ensure they follow a healthy diet and lifestyle.

As for vitamins increasing mortality, I have not seen the review, so I am not sure what other factors may have been involved in the mortality rates of the specified groups and individuals.

As Pauline Russel commented in response to the article:-

Newpapers please cite the scientific source of your science articles! Similar type of article many appeared many years ago. At the press conference, the 15 scientists where asked by the press did they take vitamins. All agreed they did. Only by reading the full text is a reader like myself able to go to source material and look at the methodology used and who paid for this research. Often there is mention of scientists who do, or do not support the methodology employed or they whish to view the studies themselves. If it appeared in Nature I would be likely to take it seriously.

Claire pointed out the following:-

This study is very interesting, Roaccutane is given to acne patients, it is a derivative of vitamin A. This drug has many side effects, physiological and psychological. So far 27 suicides of young people have been reported to the MRHA in relation to adverse drug reactions. This drug is given in high doses and patients are monitored by dermatologists, because of the adverse reactions. However, despite the deaths and adverse reactions, it is still allowed on the market. However, no outcry is made, I wonder why?

Fred asked:-

Just out of curiosity, could you clarify who funds the Cochrane Collaboration?

More comments on The Independent websites - see the link above.