Vitamin supplements is safe ?

2 research projects this week raised gnawing doubts concerning the security of nutritional vitamin supplements and a host of questions. Should everybody be taking them? Which ones are most risky? And if you do take them, how can you pick the safest ones?

Vitamins have long had a “health halo. ” Many of us feel they’re healthy for you and at worst might just be unnecessary. The industry calls them an insurance policy against bad eating.

But our foods are significantly pumped full of them already. Possibly junk foods and drinks frequently are fortified with vitamins and minerals to allow them a healthier profile, so the danger is increasing that we’re obtaining too much. Add a supplement and you will go over top of the limit.

“We’re figuring out they’re not as non-toxic as the industry might have us believe, ” said David Schardt, a nutritionist at the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

This week, a survey of almost 40, 000 older women observed a slightly increased risk of death among those using dietary supplements, such as multivitamins, folic acid, iron and copper. It was just an observational study, though, not a rigorous examination.

Another analysis discovered that men using higher doses of vitamin E — 400 units a day — for 5 years had a a little bit higher risk of prostate cancer.

Up to one-third of Americans have vitamins and almost half of people 50 and older have multivitamins, study propose. Americans spent $9. 6 billion on vitamins a year ago, up from $7. 2 billion in 2005, based on the Nutrition Business Journal. Multivitamins top the list, at nearly $5 billion in sales.

Yet there isn't any obvious information that multivitamins decreased the risk of cancer, heart disease or any other chronic health problems. No authorities agency endorses them “regardless of the quality of a person’s diet, ” affirms a truth sheet from the federal Office of Dietary Supplements. And vitamins aren’t necessary to undergo the rigorous testing required of U. S. -approved prescription medicines.

Some trends, such as the antioxidant craze over vitamins A and E and beta-carotene, backfired when analyses discovered further health risk, not less. And studies that find further disease in people with inadequate of a particular vitamin can be confusing: Fixing a insufficiency so you have the right daily amount is different from supplementing beyond suggested amounts.

The best method to obtain vitamins is to eat foodstuff that normally contain them, said Jody Engel, a nutritionist with Office of Dietary Supplements. “Foods furnish more than just vitamins and minerals, such as fiber and other ingredients that may have good health results. ”

Schardt adds: “It’s nearly difficult to overdose on the nutrients in food. ”

Some people may require more of certain nutrients and should talk with their doctors about supplements:

— Postmenopausal females concerning calcium and vitamin D to guard bones.

— Women planning on pregnancy relating to folate, or folic acid, to prevent birth defects.

— People over age 50 and vegans who might require vitamin B12. “As we get older, a number of us no longer produce enough acid in the stomach to extract the B12 in food, ” Schardt explained.