Should I take a multivitamin to prevent a heart attack?
I used to take the Flintstone multivitamins. Don’t tell me my mom was wrong to give them to me.
If she did, you weren’t alone. Over half of the US population takes some sort of supplement. In Europe, Denmark has the highest intake (men 51%, women 66%), while Greece has the lowest (men 2%, women 7%). But Flintstone vitamin tablets add up with Americans spending about $11.8 BILLION on supplements in 2011.
But the vitamins tasted yummy. I used to sneak a TON when my mom wasn’t looking. Surely they were good for me?
Only one medical society in the entire world recommends a vitamin of any kind in “vitamin sufficient” areas. In Canada, it’s recommended that the population take Vitamin D 1000 IU during the fall and winter months. No other medical society recommends vitamins, anti-oxidants, or multivitamin for general health improvement. It’s not that there isn’t science to back that up….there’s tons of science to suggest that supplementation does not help overall health. In fact supplementation may cause harm.
Are you accusing my mom of trying to harm me with Flintstone multivitamins?
Wait. Let me give you the science…the recent science…long after you grew up. In the most recent analysis of medical studies on supplements it was concluded that multivitamins, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Calcium have NO effect on heart disease or death. This is not one or two studies saying this either. For example, the science behind Vitamin D included 43 good studies. The only good effect was that the rates of stroke were reduced in people who took Folic Acid (1 less stroke for every 111 poeple who took the vitamin), or a B-complex vitamin containing Folic Acid, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin B12 (1 less stroke for every 228 people who took the drug).
See vitamins do prevent strokes. Everyone should take them right?
Not exactly. In looking at the science, most of the benefit was seen in populations that didn’t have supplementation of folic acid in their diets like we do in the United States.
So if supplements won’t hurt you, why can’t I take them?
Actually there might be harm to taking some supplements. In the same study they showed that niacin (Vitamin B3) at 1-3 grams/day, as well as antioxidants (any combination of >/=2 of Vitamins A, C, E, Beta-carotene, and zinc) had higher death rates in a combined 21 studies (127 people needed to take antioxidants for 1 more person to die compared with non vitamin takers). Other supplementation has also been shown to be harmful. Beta carotene has been shown to increase cancer rates in smokers and asbestos workers. Vitamin D and Calcium may increase kidney stones. There’s even a signal in some studies (study 1, study 2) that Vitamin A, Beta Carotene, and Vitamin E increase death rates. Vitamin E supplementation has also been linked to increased prostate cancer.
But Folic Acid was good right? Less strokes?
It did prevent stroke in populations without Folic Acid supplementation. However, are you willing to accept that with the possible increased risk of prostate and breast cancer?
Okay….no more Flinstones for me.
Good choice. I think the bottom line is save your money and don’t get a walletectomy. Vitamins and minerals DO NOT prevent heart disease. To quote from physicians from John’s Hopkins School of Medicine who reviewed the science on supplements: “Enough is Enough. Stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements”