Many of my patients have been asking my opinion on the recent news on the risks of taking vitamin supplements. Studies have shown that there is a slight increase in mortality risk from taking vitamin supplements and an increased prostate cancer risk in men who took Vitamin E. So should we be taking mulit-vitamins at all?
I had already been advising my patients to stop their vitamin supplements four to five years ago unless absolutely necessary. For me this would be in the case of patients who have a Vitamin B or D deficiency, pregnant patients who need folate and pre-natal multi-vitamins or those with cognitive impairment (pre-dementia) when I would recommend a Vitamin B complex.
The issue of vitamin E was raised a few years ago after studies indicated an increase in cerebral hemorrhage hence I do not recommend it. Now the study on prostate cancer further confirms the risks associated with this vitamin.
Iron supplements are out of the question unless there is a clear deficiency and a need for replacement.
Calcium is recommended in small doses due to possible association with kidney stones and the controversy around women and calcium deposition in the heart.
As a nation with a more than adequate supply of nutritional food at our disposal, there is little need to take supplements. And yet the latest surveys show that one third of Americans take vitamins and nearly half of people over 50 take multi-vitamins, spending nearly $10 billion on vitamins last year.
I would rather give the money spent on monthly vitamins to the millions of malnourished human beings in Africa and other underprivileged areas of the world.
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