Vitamins Don't Work

[sparkels]

According to new reports ...Vitamins taken to ward off risks of various cancers do little good.

I've invested a considerable amount of money on multi-vitamins, and mineral tablets on the advice of my Dr., and now it seems, it's all for nothing.   


...I'm trying to post a link to this ... but it's not working.      Anyway here is the information with the websites which aren't linked for some reason.

""""uk Study: multivitamins does not lower cancer risks
Xinhua - 1 hour ago
BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A new finding, published in the February issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, said taking multivitamins do not lower the risks of various cancers, nor do they prevent cardiovascular disease.
Study: Multivitamins don't lower older women's cancer risk CNNVitamins Do Older Women Little Good U.S. News & World Report
New York Times - Reuters - WebMD - USA Today
all 470 news articles »

[k1w14ever]

I think it depends on the person.  I take a muti vitamin and it helps during winter.  But having said that I can still get sick if there is bad bugs about.
I have a friends who kids take 3 - 4 different ones a day and they have heaps of time off school.

[Lovelee]

Yeh - a woman just has to pop a couple of B multis one day to feel the difference.

This is probably the chinese trying to disrepute vits and get a good word in for their pillules.

[sparkels]

Considering the huge cash cow that is the Vitamin industry ... this new finding gives cause for concern. 

You're right Kiwi1, many kids are given vitamin tablets daily, and thousands of elderly people are taking them like lollies.  The fact that vitamins aren't covered by Govt. funding, could the money spent on them be totally wasted, and in fact lead to more people being worse off financially. 

The last time I bought a multi-vitamin it cost me $24.00 for 30 tablets.

[Lovelee]

Heres a thought -

If you are given pills or medicine, GP prescribed or ones youve bought yourself at the health food shop/supermarket and you notice NO CHANGE AT ALL - do you continue taking them?

[gladys2]

Have been taking vitamins for years - still get every cold that walks by.
One time had a cough-cold for 6 weeks - couldn't shake even with Western medicines, finally took a Chinese herbal mix designed to counter SARS - cured virtually the next day.

[Lovelee]

Gladys - what are the vitamins for? Or more realistically what are they?
One cant take vitamin Bs and expect not to get a cold, they do a whole different job.

Kinda like rubbing corn ointment on inflamed gums 

[gladys2]

Multis and vitamin C

[Lovelee]

   anyway colds are colds, if yer gonna get 'em you'll get 'em.
Kiwifruit is the one for C - more C in one of them than in a bag of oranges - and its al la naturalle 

[gladys2]

Yes, but it makes you wonder about all the hype about Vit. C as cold prevention

[DidiMau69]

When working 12 hour night shifts, security patrols, in and out of the car all night in all weather, I used Berocca.

In four years I never caught a cold nor was I sick.

I still take it every day.

The only time I have been sick in the last few years is after having the Flu jab. Twice now it has kicked me into touch.

[Lovelee]

Yes, but it makes you wonder about all the hype about Vit. C as cold prevention

Thats where trying to be fully informed comes in I reckon.

For me it comes back to animals, babies and plants.  I have used alternative medcines on all of them and theyve worked - it cant be 'in the mind' for a plant - can it?


I never get SICK - ill - LOL I dont know when I was last unwell.

[Calliope]

here's the story

Study Finds No Benefit From Daily Multivitamin

Multivitamins are the most commonly used diet supplement, but new research shows that daily multivitamin use doesn’t ward off cancer or heart disease.

In a study of 161,808 women who were part of the government-funded Women’s Health Initiative research effort, doctors from 40 centers around the country collected data on multivitamin use. While research shows that people who eat nutrient-rich diets filled with fruits and vegetables have lower rates of heart disease and cancer, it hasn’t been clear whether taking a daily supplement results in a similar benefit.

After following the women for about eight years, they looked at rates of various cancers and heart problems among the 42 percent of women who were regular multivitamin users, and compared them to those who didn’t take vitamins. The researchers found no evidence of any benefit from multivitamin use in any of 10 categories studied, including no differences in the rate of breast or colon cancer, heart attack, stroke, blood clots or mortality. The findings were published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The finding that multivitamins produced no benefit in such a large, well-regarded study is disappointing, given that some earlier research has produced mixed results. While some earlier studies failed to show a benefit of daily multivitamin use, other research has suggested a possible benefit for colon and breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, those data were collected from less rigorous studies, and researchers say the lack of a benefit measured in the Women’s Health Initiative is a “robust finding.” In the tightly controlled W.H.I. trials, data from women were copiously collected, and participants actually brought vitamin bottles to W.H.I. centers so supplement use could be confirmed by researchers.

“We have very detailed information on what people were taking measured over a period of many years,” said Marian Neuhouser, the lead author and associate member in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “We thought there could be a modestly reduced risk, but there is nothing. There is no helpful benefit, but they’re not hurting either.”

About half of all Americans use some form of vitamin or dietary supplement, spending $20 billion annually on the products. In a statement, the vitamin industry trade group, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, said the study shouldn’t dissuade consumers from using multivitamins, since many of them aren’t getting essential nutrients in their diets.

“From a practical standpoint, this study does not change the fact that the majority of consumers could benefit from taking an affordable multivitamin,” said Andrew Shao, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with the council. “It is better to meet these recommendations than not, and consistently taking a multivitamin over the long term could help fill these nutrient gaps and may help consumers lead healthier lives.”

Dr. Neuhouser said she realizes that many people who are devoted vitamin users will be skeptical of the finding that they are receiving no benefit from a daily multivitamin.

“I don’t want to disparage people who take multivitamins — it’s their choice as a consumer,” Dr. Neuhouser said. “What we’re presenting is the science showing it’s neither beneficial nor harmful. If they want to choose to spend their dollars elsewhere this might be a good place to do so. Perhaps they can buy more fruits and vegetables.”


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/study-finds-no-benefit-from-daily-multivitamin/

[bump head benny]

A high percentage of illnesses come from the foods we eat and the acidic drinks we ingest. The experts reckon to keep alkaline levels in foods to around 70% and you should be right. As for vitamins, berries are super storehouses of all the required vitamins for humans.

[relaxed1]

My son is here from NZ and he was pretty worn out been through alot back at home....I gave him b12 and what a difference to his mood and energy in the past few days he will be staying on it for a while.

Now my youngest 2 many years ago had asthma and i put them on garlic and echenachia and it worked wonders.

I have a friend in NZ she was a nurse back then a sister nurse who was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus and they told her she needed to have it removed...she said like hell got some accupuncture to start then became a naturopath that was some 20 odd years ago and still alive and kicking today she eats all kinds of things like beet leaves and takes her own supplements and its all good...

[Nitpicker1]

A high percentage of illnesses come from the foods we eat and the acidic drinks we ingest. The experts reckon to keep alkaline levels in foods to around 70% and you should be right. As for vitamins, berries are super storehouses of all the required vitamins for humans.

So would you ignore the high percentage of illnesses that come from the places we frequent?

Schools, theatres, pubs, hospitals, doctor's waiting rooms, supermarkets, sports stadiums, churches, public transport, aircraft, criuse ships, f'rinstance?

And/or the high percentage of illnesses come from the foods that we are forced to eat through GE'd and round-up ready modification, sterilisation by irradiation, fruit picked green for storage "ripening" without the natural benefit of sunshine to develope fructose, and long storage of vegetables, sprayed by fluoridated chlorinated water in supermarkets to prevent wilting and give the appearance of freshness while further reducing whatever nutrients they may once have contained?

Seems to me the only problem with over-the-counter vitamins is our inability to know whether we are actually getting the product on the label.
                                                               

[bump head benny]

Hiya Nits.. no I wouldnt ignore those, but theyre more along the lines of viruses, bugs and greeblies, a lot of them ingested by the way....(who'd a thunk it?) then there is medical errors, where the doctors get you to ingest the WRONG chemicals simply because they dont know any better. Deaths from wrongly diagnosed chemicals number 10% of all medical deaths. Thats 1 out of every 10 people dead when they didnt need to be. The germiest places are ATM buttons, doorknobs on public toilets and supermarket trolleys where little shitty nappies were sitting 5 minutes before you chose the trolley. Theres a radio doctor in the states called Sherri Breschia? her alkaline food recipes are changing a lot of peoples lives...she reckons even things like colon cancer is all a part of what we eat or drink.
She has a free newsletter too that really informs you of the consequences of eating the wrong stuff (wrong food combinations)
 

[ssweetpea]

I am a firm believer in a varied diet and seldom resort to vitamins. Two of my children have  been on vitamins. Sp1 as an under weight prem baby with a poor appitite so was on a supplment until 3 months old. We had huge issues getting anything other than meat, dairy products and bread into sp2 for 4 years so she was on a multi vitamin. In both instances it was under doctors orders.

Vitamins do have their uses - I have used B vitamins, B6 in particular when suffering from PMS - for me that seems to work but I don't need to take it all the time. Coming off the pill and eating better seems to have solved the problem.

[bump head benny]

 

[k1w14ever]

each to there own.  Some they work for and other people they do not work for at all.

[bump head benny]

Yup...