I take vitamins from GMC for the over 50 male. I have for years. Since starting on vitamins, I have noticed that I feel good generally and have experienced far fewer colds and flu type maladies. (Then again, I take a yearly flu shot.) Plus, I hope they make up for some of the deficiencies in my diet–insufficient veggies and fruits, don’t you know. So, all in all, I am generally satisfied. (Of course, I also make a point of washing my hands often during the day, particularly when I am out and about, which might have more to do with my general good health than vitamins.)
Everything I just wrote is all anecdotal, of course. But that’s far more how people decide about things than scientific studies–which often conflict anyway, and are too often disguised politics. Besides, I have never thought there was scientific proof that vitamins improved health. Nor did I expect them to somehow reduce heart disease or prevent cancer. And now there is a major study out claiming that vitamins provide no protection against these two mass killers of humankind. From the Daily Mail story:
Researchers spent more than six years following 8,000 people and found that those taking supplements were just as likely to have developed cancer or heart disease as those who took an identical-looking dummy pill. And when they were questioned on how healthy they felt, there was hardly any difference between the two groups. Experts said the study – one of the most extensive carried out into vitamin pills – suggested that millions of consumers may be wasting their money on supplements.
I am not sure I would call it “wasting.” It depends on what people want from vitamins. If they think it is life extending, they probably are buying a pig in a poke. But if they take them like I do to promote general well being, I don’t think so–even if there is no scientific proof that they work or if the cause is the placebo effect.
There are advocates, of course, who push vitamins as a great means of reducing health care costs, studies be damned, such as this article in the Huffington Post. But I’ve never bought it. Magic pills only occur in fairy tales and Hollywood productions.
Still, there is clearly a major industry in playing on people’s fears of ill health and death. And so I think studies like this are very helpful because they create realistic expectations and help people resist snake oil sales pitches. Supplements will not magically extend the length of our days. But then, neither will transhumanism.
December 28th, 2011 | 11:43 am
The basic principles of Transhumanism have already extended the length of our days, and there’s little reason to suppose that’s going to change.
December 28th, 2011 | 12:02 pm
Somewhat related, and I thought it interesting: I read an article a while back about a study that showed (amongst other things) that the placebo effect worked even when the participants knew they were getting a placebo—though not as well as those who got it and didn’t know.
December 28th, 2011 | 12:43 pm
I’m reminded of the comments of a comedian who said that when his health went downhill, his doctor put him on twenty-two different vitamins and supplements. He reported, “I don’t feel any different, but my pee sure is purty.”
I’ve personally found that unless you have some rare condition, you’re better off eating the foods that the vitamins naturally come from rather than taking the concentrated form. i.e., instead of taking vitamin C tablets, have an extra glass of orange juice. With all the nutritional info available now, it’s not that hard.
RS Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
@padraig, Yes, ideally, we’d be on perfectly balanced diets, from which we derive all necessary vitamins and other nutrients. But consider: a can of frozen concentrated orange juice costs about $2 and makes about 8 cups of orange juice, so $0.25 per serving. My multi-vitamins cost $5 for 100 and contain more than just vitamin C. Also, they are more portable than even frozen concentrated orange juice, which would be important if I did my grocery shopping via public transportation. For those who struggle to afford and transport nutrient-rich foods, multi-vitamins, it would seem, are very cost-effective.
Multi-vitamins also don’t give me heartburn, though the mega-doses of vitamin B and vitamin D prescribed by my doctor do make me nauseous.
My vitamin D deficiency is another interesting anecdote in the efficacy of multi-vitamins and people’s ability to get nutrients from food. My blood test showed a vitamin D deficiency despite my taking a daily multi-vitamin and despite a diet involving lots (up to a quart a day) of vitamin D-fortified milk. So you never know.
December 28th, 2011 | 1:47 pm
I agree with your sentiments, but in particular with the study, I don’t know that six years is long enough. I wish they would do these health studies much more long-term, the human body is so complex it’s hard to figure out how everything reacts together.
David Reply:
December 29th, 2011 at 9:49 am
@Chris http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/multivit/multivit.pdf
December 28th, 2011 | 5:37 pm
It would also be good to study vitamin taking yea/nay in people with similar kinds of diets and activity levels. I tend to be more conscientious about my vitamin taking when I exercise. I like to be sure I get a good, high protein meal with a multi within an hour of working out. In other words, timing is important. Also, “needing” the nutrition is also important. Taking a multi might be more beneficial in someone who needs it because of, say, a higher metabolism or the greater need for building tissues because of exercise, compared with someone whose activity levels require much less in terms of nutrition.
“Most people” (whatever that means) probably get enough vitamins and minerals from diet.
December 28th, 2011 | 7:05 pm
Wesley, you give us vitamin-rich food for thought. You suggest that people who take vitamins to “promote general well being” do not thereby waste their money “even if there is no scientific proof that [the vitamins] work or if the cause is the placebo effect.” I think you conflate several issues which really merit separate consideration.
First, we are not at the point of pondering the value of vitamin supplementation for healthy people “even if there is no scientific proof that they work.” In fact our position is now the opposite: We now have evidence–which is different, of course, from proof–that vitamins do NOT work for this population (French adults) to improve health-related quality of life. Since there is evidence that they don’t work (for this purpose), we need not speculate as to what the mechanism of the (absent) benefit might be.
Of course, this study does not rule out a possible benefit for other populations.
Whether the vitamins are a waste of money, or not, is a different issue. Here, I offer an analogy. I episodically buy a lottery ticket. When I do, I make sure to buy it several days before the drawing, not the day of the drawing. What I am purchasing with the ticket is the privilege of daydreaming that I might win the lottery. When I buy the ticket three days before the drawing, I get three days worth of such daydreaming. What a bargain! Similarly, people who buy and take vitamins buy the belief that they are doing something beneficial for themselves. That belief, unsupported though it be by evidence of actual benefit, may be more valuable to them than the money spent on the vitamins.
Readers interested in reading the abstract of the study may find it here: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/6/1605.abstract?sid=f32218b3-ad39-463f-b730-e099011be50b
December 28th, 2011 | 11:20 pm
[...] suggests that other supplements may be ineffective or …Multi-Vitamin: Friend Or Foe?WOWTAre Vitamin Users Wasting Their Money?First Things (blog)Consuming Vitamin Doesn't Protect One From Diseases, Say ResearchersTopNews [...]
December 29th, 2011 | 4:45 am
I take a multi vitamin daily. Does it help in keeping me healthy? I don’t know. But some people really overdo it. The body simply cannot absorb mega doses of vitamins at one time, and they therefore become extrected from one’s body. Also, there can be harmful effects, from taking too many vitamins: taking too many fat soluable vitamins, such as vitamin A, can cause great harm to the body. (I’m not a doctor. One should check with one’s doctor before taking any vitamin.)
Also, vitamins can interact adversely with any medications one is taking.
I would also suggest that you eat more vegetables, Wesley, since they contain not just vitamins, and minerals, but other helpful substances, that cannot be derived from vitamin pills.
One should approach this issue, like any issue, with healthy skepticism. Vitamins pills may help compensate for any defieciencies in one’s diet, but one must NOT think “I can eat donuts, candy and fast food, because I’m taking a vitamin.” One would be missing out on all the other healthy elements found only in fruits and vegetables.
padraig Reply:
December 29th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
@Bret Lythgoe, It’s the holidays so I’ll agree with you again. ;)
In particular with your point about the benefit of more natural food being the extra substances whose value we may not recognize. You lose that when you resort to concentrates.
For instance, tap water loses a lot of nutritional value if you over-filter it, even if you think you’re “purifying” it. You really don’t want to live on distilled water.
BTW, I do take vitamin D in the winter to make up for the loss of sunlight in my chosen habitat.
Bret Lythgoe Reply:
December 30th, 2011 at 2:59 am
@padraig, Maybe we can agree to agree at least on holidays ;-)
I wonder if vitamin pills should have more government regulation. I’m inclined to think they should, for our protection.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
December 30th, 2011 at 11:17 am
How many bureaucrats to you want, Bret. They are teeming like bacteria already.
Bret Lythgoe Reply:
December 31st, 2011 at 2:18 am
@Wesley J. Smith, I see your point, but I think the FDA should have more control over them than they currently do, for our health.
December 29th, 2011 | 9:44 am
vitamin psychology = placebo effect + increased health awareness
vitamin biology = expensive urine
If the huffington post is pushing it, that should set off a red flag.
No need for vitamins
Eat more fruits and vegetables.
December 29th, 2011 | 4:30 pm
Some European countries, e.g., Germany and Ireland, require a doctor’s prescription for vitamin supplements, and even these have limited dosage. The reason is the (justified) belief that a balanced diet will give most people the vitamins they need, and the rest should be under a doctor’s supervision for the specific problem requiring a supplement.
Largish amounts of some vitamins, such as A and D, are known to accumulate in the body and become toxic, but others including vitamin C create other issues. Instead of acting as antioxidants, past a certain dosage they become damaging oxidants themselves. Also, vitamin C has been shown to prop up cancer cells to enable them to withstand some types of treatment.
For most healthy individuals there would seem to be little real benefit and some possibly grave consequences to long-term use of vitamin and many other nutritional supplements. (Many of the latter have recently been shown in trials to be absolutely no better than placebos for the conditions they supposedly treat.)
Eat your veggies. They’re good for you.
padraig Reply:
December 29th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
@K-Man, yer dang skippy K.
January 6th, 2012 | 9:01 pm
While I tend to think multivitamins are a waste of time (seriously how bad a diet do you have to need all that??) I think a lot of people can and do benefit from specific supplements. I took iron in high school because my long, heavy periods left me mildly anemic despite an iron rich diet. I take B-12 because I am chronically low (but still just inside ‘normal’ so a doc doesn’t care) and the supplement is the difference between being alert or constantly weary. I would prefer to get the B-12 from natural sources, and did in high school with a homemade drink called ‘gorp’ (because it was thick and that was the sound it made when poured), that had molassas, brewers yeast, and other high b-12 ingredients. But it’s now too expensive for me to purchase.
Long story short, lots of ppl can have minor health issues that can be alleviated through otc supplementation of one or two difficult to find vitamins or minerals. Balanced diet is all well and good but unless you live in a wonderful area your actual ability to obtain all the foods in a state necessary to fullfill a finicky body’s needs isn’t always a possibility.
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