Can multivitamins actually hurt you

There has been a climb in consumer interest in vitamins with the whole vitamin market commanding over 6 billion in sales as of 2013. The course doesn't seem to be slowing down with the industry growing 8% year over year. Many people don't query the utility of consuming high amounts of multivitamins thinking that more is always better. So the question that physicians have recently began to consider is if these vitamins have hurtful effects. Has the growth of this market in effect worsened our healthiness or is taking these vitamins and supplements in effect warding off illness and the likes.

Yesterday the Cochran review a large organization often referred to by doctors used to review and analyze research to come up with clinical guidelines analyzed thousands of randomized controlled clinical trials including over 296,000 participants half of which were randomized to take various supplements including beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium and compared them to the other half of the patients who were set as controls. This study was setup as a randomized double blinded study which means that neither the patients nor physicians who providing the pills knew what the pills actually contained which may have been supplements or placedo i.e.)the control group receiving placebo pharmaceutical.

There have been studies like this performed formerly to evaluate the health benefits of supplements sometimes with confusing results commonly because many of these studies did not have enough patients enrolled or were not arranged in such a manner to be able to answer the clinical question. The Current study however has been powered to be able to shed some light on the age old question of whether vitamin containing supplements are really good for you.

"The real concern comes into play when you consider that perfectly able-bodied individuals are taking immense amounts of multivitamins in order to stay healthy" - Dr. Golshani an illustrious Los Angeles based interventional oncologist stated. Some dietary supplements are definitely indicated for certain illnesses vitamin supplements are essential as the body does not make, incorporate or utilize certain supplements in some clinical syndromes. However for the normal 50 something vitamin supplements in particular antioxidants which have been previously heralded for their tumor thwarting powers taking supplements may actually be heighten their risk of malignancy.

The Cochran review in 2008 with a deflated study than the study we are talking about here and found no basis for healthy adults to take a multivitamin that was not required for a certain infirmity and/or clinical syndrome. The current study that we are talking about here further reaffirmed this notion. It was actually found that in these healthy individuals taking beta-carotene containing supplements and possibly vitamin E and/or citamin A was associated with increased risk of death. Yes mortality this means that almost everything we thought we knew about supplements and taking multivitamins may be wrong.

A current debate as to why this may be the case for several vitamins and their potential cancer causing traits is that antioxidants have long been believed to help save cells from early death well in a clinical context cancer cells occure naturaly and our bodies have a mechanism to dispose of these cells but taking antioxidants can work to also save these cancerous cells from being tagged by the bodies normal methods of call destruction.

The fact still remains that there is no rule yet about whether all or most supplements are deleterious to our health because even in this study several of the tested supplements did not show damaging health effects including the Selenium and the all important vitamin C. What is now clear is that we ned to be more guarded with regard to what we consume

Medical doctors are most likely the best place to look for information regarding whether you should start or stop taking a supplement. If they are unaware of the health risks or benefits of a certain approach then they can definitely guide you or look into the approach to best practices.

If you like this review of original health related research visit us at our Pogosh website where we review and blog about health concerns related to the supplement industry reviewed by a knowledgable medical doctor.