My basic problem with this report is that doesn't describe the study, how many and what demographics were in it or how long it lasted. It takes three specific vitamins along with a diet and then becomes a wide sweeping generality.
To begin with Vitamin A and beta-carotenes are essentially the same pro-vitamin though the process is chemically different. One major difference is that pill form beta carotene has been linked to increased death rates in people already predisposed to prostate and lung cancer. This isn't new to those in the research and cancer communities.
Vitamin A and Vitamin E are both fat soluble vitamins which means that if combined with a low fat diet, which is the other side of this study, then benefits of these two vitamins are decreased along with a decrease in basic physiological functions like ovulation which is another part of the study.
To make claims against three, extremely well researched compounds, and then generalize that anyone taking any multivitamin has a 5% greater chance of dying. C'mon! Maybe people who take multivitamins are more physically active than those that don't and that the higher mortality is from increased outdoor activity. Maybe the study used geriatrics.
Coffee is good for you one week, bad the next.
Red wine is good for your heart but then your an alcoholic.
Dark chocolate is good for you but it makes you fat.
Exercise increases the quality of your life, unless its running because Jim Fixx died of that.
Driving is good time management but it increases your chances of dying on the road.
I also heard that research is the number cause of cancer in lab rats.
Don't through your endurolytes and flintstone chewables away yet. Keep that tub of powdered carbs close. Next week it will be something else.
Medical backlash over health foods
Two of the most popular products in Britain’s vast health food industry come under attack today, as scientists cast doubts on the benefits of vitamin supplements and low-fat dairy products. Research published today suggests that regular consumption of a wide range of vitamin pills, taken by more than ten million people in the UK, may actually increase the risk of dying, while eating low-fat dairy products could make it harder for some women to conceive.
The vitamin study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, overturns earlier research suggesting that vitamins A, E and beta carotene could protect against heart disease and cancer.
But far from helping, the new study says, the evidence is that taking vitamins, either singly or as part of a multivitamin pill, actually increases mortality by 5 per cent.
The scientists, based at Copenhagen University Hospital, who carried out an in-depth analysis of research involving more than 200,000 people, conclude that the “public health consequences could be substantial”.
A second study in the journal Human Reproduction, by researchers from Harvard Medical School , indicates that the rush into low-fat foods, driven by fear of heart disease and obesity may also have consequences for fertility.
The researchers found that women eating normal amounts of low-fat dairy products stood a higher risk of failing to conceive. Their diet appears to be implicated in a failure to ovulate, which is responsible for 12 to 15 per cent of cases of infertility. Women who ate whole-fat dairy products suffered fewer cases of this form of infertility.
8 comments:
See, this is the kind of "sound-bite" information that the average person will take as gospel. Face it Comm, the vast majority of the unwashed masses won't take the time to consider this the way you did. You hit on my immediate thought, what else did these vitamin takers do?? You're right, they could be more active hence a bigger target. They could have a family history of early deaths. They could take vitamins cause they eat at McD's 3x a week. But it's much easier to just take a piece of info and run with it, the truth be damned!!!
Next thing you know they're going to ban Girl Scout Cookies - now THAT would be the last straw...mmmm...thin mints....
What? You didn't watch O'Reilly last night did you. Go to O'Reilly and look for the GS cookie link on the front page. Won't last long
http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/
"screaming loudly" ARRRRRG! That's insane! Lets make government resposible for everything - parents don't have to do any childraising anymore...yea, yea, sycophant - I've got no kids, so who am I, right? Take away my Thin Mints so some little punk won't get too fat 'cause mommy and daddy can't tell the kid, "NO!" or "Get of the couch and go outside and play". Maybe, maybe, if the feds made our streets a little safer so parents wouldn't feel like they had to hide their kids in their own home and kept child related offenders locked up - forever - they wouldn't have to waist time with stupidity like banning GSC's!
Good grief, what next? Add eggs.... bad for you for a long time, OK now. Margarine.... heart-healthy alternative to artery-clogging butter until they found out trans fats are worse for you than saturated fats.
I say, eat what we want. Life is dangerous, no one makes it out alive.
Ha ha! As a grad student, I fully appreciate the humor of your statement, "Research is the #1 cause of death in lab rats"! Incidentally, research is also the leading cause of massive brain trauma in grad students. :-(
That is the maddening thing about research - it depends who's doing the study. The best thing to do is to go straight to the actual research article for the details, if possible. And most people don't get the "statistical significance" vs. practical significance, anyways. I'm all for balance - eat a healthy, well-rounded diet, do the things we know are good for us, and let Mother Nature worry about the rest.
Wow, while I'd need to see the actual report, raw data and research protocols to make an actual judgment, that report makes the research look pretty thin.
Taking vitamins increases mortality by 5%. They didn't actually make that leap of logic, did they? They would make Capt. Kirk proud with that jump.
Here's how I handle all this stuff. I ignore it, and laugh when the government starts to intervene (mostly because I called all these things about 15 years ago, so while frustrated, at least I made good predictions).
Here's one sure thing. 100% of all people who ever died were victims of aging. So, aging leads to death. I guess since we're all getting older, we should resign ourselves to dying, and give up. Or ask the government to intervene.
I vote for keeping coffee, booze, chocolate and exercise in the 'good column'. Vegetables in the 'good column' except for brussel sprouts, because I heard a guy once got cancer and he ate brussel sprouts occasionally. ...but seriously, a sports doctor once recommended to me, to take Vitamin E (along with several other supplements), only to find out a week later that Vitamin E was linked to an increase of dying. You can't win.
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