Study: Dietary Supplements Do Nothing for Health By Serena Gordon (HealthDay Reporter)
Quote
MONDAY, April 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- If you're popping dietary supplements in the hope of living longer, a large new study suggests you'd be better off investing that money in nutritious foods.
The research found that vitamins A and K, magnesium, zinc and copper were linked to a lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke, and an overall lower risk of dying during the average six years of follow-up. But these findings were true only when the nutrients came from foods, not from supplements.
Of more concern, the study found that taking at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily from supplements was associated with an increased risk of death. This was not true of calcium from food.
I've been hearing, from bona fied medical scientific research, since at least 2005, that multivitamins and supplements are not needed unless you're a vegan or pregnant, or diagnosed by a medical doctor as deficient. Which is very rare.
If you are basically healthy adult you do not need them.
Being tired, not adjusting to night shift or day shift, is no reason to take them. Sure see your primary physician if you're constantly tired. But unless a specific diagnosis is made multivitamins and supplements won't help!
In fact they give many people the false impression that scrimping on a DAILY variety of fruits, vegetables and unprocessed foods, because they are soooo busy, work night shift, don't have time for healthy eating, is okay!
Just my vent. I'm tired of reading on All nurses recommendations for vitamins and supplements?.
I'll weigh in. I have a degree in dietetics. I agree that multivitamins are not necessary when a person has a healthy, balanced diet. The typical American diet is not this, and so for most, taking a multivitamin every other day can't hurt. We already know that women who are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant should be taking a prenatal vitamin mainly for folate and iron.
I'm an avid runner and woman who menstruates. It's likely that my iron needs are higher than normal, so I take an iron supplement most days. I don't take it with calcium rich foods b/c the two minerals compete for absorption. I think a lot of people pop random supplements with no clue as to how they interact with one another. Taking calcium with vitamin D is important and taking iron w/a B complex including C is important b/c all of these micronutrients are co-factors for one another. If a person is lacking adequate co-factors required for absorption, then they are simply not going to absorb the nutrient.
I'll admit that sometimes I drink those mega-C "emergency" powder packs knowing full and well that I'm just going to void most of it within the next few hours. I honestly don't think those packets are good for anything except bringing someone back up to par if they have a deficiency.
Low carbohydrates, cut out grains and sugars, eat organic produce, eggs and meat from free pasture fowl and beef, pork, etc.
Try to find low or no mercury fish.
Half your body weight in H20 daily.
A friend was able to get off of 300 mg. MS04 QID by using Mg++ as prescribed by an MD. Takes only 2 Percocet BID now for chronic pain and only 1 BID some days. The pain has all but disappeared. Tolerates walking and standing better than he used to, has begun at the gym after years of sedentary, pain-filled living. Does no more than 30 Gm of CHO per day.
And has lost 70 pounds without much effort other than the above.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
A few years ago I was getting repeat skin absesses so after the last one cleared up my doctor put me on vitamin c and zinc which helped prevent a reoccurrence
That said, the problem with vitamin supplements is that what may have benefits for one person may not do a dam thing for the next person.
I have no issues with multivitamins and suppliments being used, but as someone has said they should not be a replacement for healthy eating
A few years ago I was getting repeat skin absesses so after the last one cleared up my doctor put me on vitamin c and zinc which helped prevent a reoccurrence
That said, the problem with vitamin supplements is that what may have benefits for one person may not do a dam thing for the next person.
I have no issues with multivitamins and suppliments being used, but as someone has said they should not be a replacement for healthy eating
There is a reasonable amount of scientific studies that support a role for vitamin C supplementation in wound healing. For example this review of studies published in the Indian Journal of Biochemistry and available through the US National Library of Medicine for free https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783921/ . Goes over a variety of settings where vitamin C has shown utility.
"Our results suggest that the early use of intravenous vitamin C, together with corticosteroids and thiamine, are effective in preventing progressive organ dysfunction, including acute kidney injury, and in reducing the mortality of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Additional studies are required to confirm these preliminary findings."
Happy to see this conversation. Vitamins should be used to treat medical problems as indicated. Because they have actual pharmacologic activity in our body (duh, that's their whole purpose). Same with antioxidants and electrolytes. Our body maintains a careful balance of these chemicals for good reason, and I am not sure why we think its a good idea to screw with that.
Tangientially related-
What kills me is that the "alternative med" community derides us as pill pushers and pharma shills. Yet they dole out "natural" pills for every possible problem (real and imagined) under the sun! Big Supplement is just as money hungry as Big Pharma (in fact they are often the same umbrella company).
And worse, alt med practitioners routinely profit by selling these supplements directly to their patients. Imagine making money off every prescription you write.
As a former alt med provider who is thoroughly ashamed of her past, this is a hulksmash issue for me. Lol.
Supplement deficiencies and medical conditions as clinically indicated. But flintstones vitamins are delicious, so it's okay to have one or two as an occasional treat hahaha.
This is my last hijack related to alt med- Oddly, this is a huge blindspot in the nursing profession. We are inexplicably accepting of pseudomedicine. Case in point- an entire forum on this website dedicated to the topic, misleadingly titled "Holistic Nursing." Not sure how "holistic" has become synonymous with liberally sprinkling psuedoscience into our evidence-based practices.
Holistic. You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means. ?
We have a responsibility to our patients to understand these issues and base our practice off of the best available evidence. We can cause real harm when we don't. For real.
BSNbound21, BSN, RN
102 Posts
I'll weigh in. I have a degree in dietetics. I agree that multivitamins are not necessary when a person has a healthy, balanced diet. The typical American diet is not this, and so for most, taking a multivitamin every other day can't hurt. We already know that women who are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant should be taking a prenatal vitamin mainly for folate and iron.
I'm an avid runner and woman who menstruates. It's likely that my iron needs are higher than normal, so I take an iron supplement most days. I don't take it with calcium rich foods b/c the two minerals compete for absorption. I think a lot of people pop random supplements with no clue as to how they interact with one another. Taking calcium with vitamin D is important and taking iron w/a B complex including C is important b/c all of these micronutrients are co-factors for one another. If a person is lacking adequate co-factors required for absorption, then they are simply not going to absorb the nutrient.
I'll admit that sometimes I drink those mega-C "emergency" powder packs knowing full and well that I'm just going to void most of it within the next few hours. I honestly don't think those packets are good for anything except bringing someone back up to par if they have a deficiency.