Tight Budget?

Posted on | February 17, 2009 | Comments Off on Tight Budget?

Drop the vitamins!I think it’s fair to say that fear and concern about our individual and collective financial future is now widely, if not evenly, spread everywhere from Wall Street to Main Street and all the stops in-between. And with that has come belt tightening in almost every home in America. So here’s one cost saver you might not have thought of: stop buying vitamins. They don’t work and at times can even be harmful.

I know. It’s hard to believe. For some reason we just can’t shake that old image of Linus Pauling promoting supercharging our bodies with Vitamin C.¹ It is so appealing to think of our bodies in mechanical terms as missing that one critical ingredient that would make our engines run forever. The appeal is so strong that one in every two Americans takes one of these "magic" over-the-counter pills daily. We spend an astounding $23 billion on vitamins every year.²

In the past, the fight between the true-believers in vitamins and the non-believers has been roughly a draw. This meant continued growth in the industry because people thought, "Well if it does no harm and could do some good, why not?" But results over the past year are beginning to tip the scale. Not only do vitamins do no good, but they could be harmful as well.

Let’s look at a short list:

First, the ubiquitous daily multi-vitamin: The Archives of Internal Medicine this month, after studying 161,000 older women for 8 years found no impact on progression of chronic disease or incidence of cancers.³

Second, Vitamin E and C in older men: Last year’s research says no decrease in chronic disease levels and cancers including prostate cancer in 35,000 men.^4,5 In January, 2009, the National Cancer Institute came to a similar conclusion: no connection between vitamins and cancer prevention.⁶

Yet, what about those anti-oxidants, the ones that gobble up all those nasty free radicals? A 2007 JAMA review of 47 studies with 181,000 individuals found a 5% higher rate of mortality in the anti-oxidant users^.7 How is that possible? Well, some recent studies suggest free radicals keep your immune system tuned up for action.^7,8

Third, leaders in the field increasingly say we need to reunite vitamins with Mother Earth. As Dr. Peter Gunn, an expert from the University of Illinois says, "There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for all the health benefits. Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?"²

So, if you’re saving money at home and searching for ways to tighten the family belt without feeling the pinch, take my advice: drop the vitamins.

For HealthCommentary, I’m Mike Magee

P.S. One addition to my piece above. It goes without saying (but I should have said it) that for women anticipating pregnancy, pregnant or in the immediate postpartum period, select vitamins and nutrients are are critical to the health of mother and child. For this population, it is important to follow the direction of your obstetrician, pediatrician and family physician.

References:

1. Pauling L. How to Live Longer and Feel Better. New York: WH Freeman, 1986.

2. Parker-Pope, T, Vitamin Pills: A False Hope? New York Times. D1. 17 Feb. 2009.

3. Neuhouser ML, et al. Multivitamin Use and Risk of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease in Women’s Health Initiative Cohorts. Archives of Internal Medicine. Volume 169:3. 9 Feb. 2009.

4. Lippman SM, et al. Effect of Selenium and Vitamin E on Risk of prostate cancer and other cancers. JAMA 2009: 301(1):39-51. 9 Dec. 2008.

5. Sesso HD, et al. 7th Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research. Vitamin E and C Don’t Change Cancer Risk. Medical News Today. 17 Nov. 2008.

6. Vitamin C and E and betacarotene again fail to reduce cancer risk in randomized controlled trial. Release from JNCI. 30 Dec. 2008.

7. Bjelakovic G, et al. Mortality in Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention. JAMA. 2007;297: 842-857.

8. Zeisel S. Oxidants Suppress Apoptosis. The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 134:3179S-3180S. Nov. 2004.