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Most popular vitamin and mineral supplements provide no health benefit, study finds
The most commonly consumed vitamin and mineral supplements provide no consistent health benefit or harm, suggests a new study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto.
Published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the systematic review of existing data and single randomized control trials published in English from January 2012 to October 2017 found that multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium and vitamin C -- the most common supplements -- showed no advantage or added risk in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke or premature death. Generally, vitamin and mineral supplements are taken to add to nutrients that are found in food.
"We were surprised to find so few positive effects of the most common supplements that people consume," said Dr. David Jenkins*, the study's lead author. "Our review found that if you want to use multivitamins, vitamin D, calcium or vitamin C, it does no harm -- but there is no apparent advantage either."
The study found folic acid alone and B-vitamins with folic acid may reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Meanwhile, niacin and antioxidants showed a very small effect that might signify an increased risk of death from any cause.
What about people who would otherwise eat an incredibly nutrient-deficient diet (e.g. junk food, rice, bread, pasta, french fries, hot dogs, etc.)?
Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals for CVD Prevention and Treatment (DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2018.04.020) (DX)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday May 30 2018, @05:42AM (1 child)
Uh, actually scurvy is seemingly surprisingly common [slate.com] these days, though woefully underdiagnosed.
And actually, a friend of one of my good friends in college actually was diagnosed with it after eating a really bad diet with no fruits or vegetables. Yes, I actually knew this guy personally (or at least saw him and talked to him a few times). No, he didn't eat only instant ramen, but it was a pretty bad diet that probably had only a few items including stuff like that.
Scurvy is indeed around and in the days of processed foods, it's quite possible to get it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Goghit on Wednesday May 30 2018, @05:37PM
Thanks for the link. That's hilarious, in a "Fuck this FSM-Forsaken Earth" sort of way.
I'll have to alert my wife about this. She works with autistic children and some of the diets described in that article are straight out of the "Autism for Dummies" handbook.
This study as presented is junk. Lack of impact on CVD does not mean lack of impact on health. There's lots of research showing the negative impact of low Vitmin D on neuromuscular issues, balance, bone health and even certain cancers. Once doctors finally started measuring D levels a lot of of us northerners are at risk due to our indoor slip-slap-slop-fear-the-sun livestyle.
The researchers made a fundamental error by not choosing their words more carefully while talking to the sensation-driven idiots from the press. Or maybe the researchers are idiots too.