Rethinking the Multivitamin

> A 2010 study of Swedish women found that those who took multivitamins were 19% more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer over a 10-year period than those who didn’t. A 2007 paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that men who took multivitamins along with other supplements were at increased risk of prostate cancer.

I wonder how much of this has to do with the kind of people who are health-conscious enough to take multivitamins being more likely to get cancer screening?

I take a couple of Flintstone Vitamins a day, not to try to improve my health, but rather (1) to hopefully make up any gaps in my diet, and (2) their pleasant taste covers up the horrible taste of a prescription I take at the same time.

"The first, a review of 63 randomized, controlled trials (the gold standard research method) on multivitamins, published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, found that multis did nothing to prevent cancer or heart disease in most populations (the exception being developing countries where nutritional deficiencies are widespread). In the second paper, published last year, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center followed 160,000 postmenopausal women for about 10 years. The researchers’ conclusion: “Multivitamins failed to prevent cancer, heart disease, and all causes of death for all women. Whether the women were healthy eaters or ate very few fruits and vegetables, the results were the same,” says the lead author, Marian Neuhouser, PhD. read more from MSN Heatlh…

So basically, a multivitamin is a waste of money!"

According to who? The person fears naught but death? What about injury in athletes, general well-being, and mental performance?

Nonsense. It's in the pharmaceutical industry to get people to stop taking cheap vitamins. They more money when people are sick.

I've lost all confidence that people in the pharma industry wouldn't act like that. Those same people have watched a whole lot of people in Africa and the 3rd world die from illnesses that could easily prevented with a few cents of medicine.

They most certainly do act that way.