The results of a recently published study in the Archives of Internal Medicine raised this very question from a number of my patients. The media blitz to warn us, the vulnerable consumer, of the dangers of multivitamin supplementation may have arrived just in time to save many of us from the multiple dangers of daring to consider taking a vitamin (Not!).
Due to our slowly deteriorating national attention span, many of us count on internet sound bites and 30 second news clips to help guide us toward optimal health and living. If a topic such as the above requires a little further investigation, many of us (doctors included) don’t have the time nor inclination to dig deeper. When our primary source of information comes from Yahoo, USA Today or The Wall Street Journal, we are further misled into a vast wasteland of misinformation that unfortunately can only be uncovered with more research. When the truth finally bubbles to the top and is discovered, it never receives the same attention or correction needed to further explain or validate what was falsely presented in the first place. The big media outlets have moved on while the smaller media sources clean up the damage and make the corrections (benefitting a much smaller audience).
The study referenced above was based on mail in surveys from the years 1986, 1997 and 2004. There were a few questions included about general health, while the source or quality of the supplements utilized was not uniform or even considered. In the final analysis, the data were statistically massaged to nearly render the final findings meaningless. The positive associations demonstrating the value of nutritional supplementation were basically completely ignored while the negative correlations were shouted from the rooftops. As Dr. David Brownstein mentions, if the results demonstrated positive findings across the board, the study would be roundly condemned for being so poorly designed (which it was). If this were the case, the findings would not likely even be published. To consider that appropriate nutritional supplementation could lead to premature death, excluding all other variables, is ludicrous.
Further discussion concerning the misstatements and untruths propagated in the publication of information regarding this article, can be found in the links below. I would encourage you to peruse the articles for a more detailed description of the facts concerning the way the information was presented. As the saying goes, “there are lies, damn lies and statistics.” I have even more explanatory links than the ones below but these are a good representation.
The USDA confirms that there has been a gradual depletion in the nutritional value of our soils and that the nutrient value of our foods is less than what it was in years past. With statements like these, it makes it difficult to figure out how to obtain all of the nutrients we need from diet alone. I agree that obtaining the full spectrum of nutrients and micronutrients from diet is the optimal way to do so but doubt that as a consumer of the standard American diet, I am able to do so without supplementation. Th US RDA is designed to be the very minimum an individual requires to prevent the onset of deficiency disease. A higher dose is frequently required if one is to actually make an attempt to treat disease nutritionally.
In the documentary FoodMatters, it is stated the over a 20 year period, there have been 23 deaths recorded to have been associated with the use of vitamins. That is a little more than 1 death/year. In 1998, The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that there are on average 106,000 deaths per year secondary to appropriately prescribed and appropriately taken prescription drugs (I can only imagine what that number is now, 13 years later). Why is this finding not more frequently discussed or presented in the media? Ever the skeptic, I look at studies condemning the use of nutritional supplementation with a jaded eye. This may represent bias on my part but I like to think for myself rather then blindly accepting what I am told by the media.
Pushing for Optimal Health,
Chris
http://www.smart-publications.com/blog/halloween-scare-or-maskedploy-your-multiple-vitamin-may-kill-you/
http://www.naturalnews.com/033883_vitamins_mortality_risk.html
http://www.anh-usa.org/shame-on-ama-archives-of-internal-medicine/
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Comments
Applause for this post – one of your best!