Vitamin supplements may increase mortality

Triathlon Forum
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From the New Zealand Herald

Deadly side-effect in vitamin boosters

02.10.2004
By JEREMY LAURANCE

Vitamin supplements increase the death rate of people taking them, medical researchers have found - but they don’t know why.

About one in three women and one in four men in Britain take dietary supplements to boost their health.

But a review of 14 trials of vitamin pills taken by 170,000 people found they increased the death rate.

The researchers, writing in British medical journal the Lancet, say 9000 of every one million people taking the supplements will die prematurely as a result.

Dr Goran Bjelakovic, of the University of Nis in Serbia, who led the review, said: “We could not find evidence that anti-oxidant supplements can prevent gastrointestinal cancers. On the contrary, they seem to increase overall mortality.”

Two British experts described the findings as “somewhat chilling”.

Professor David Forman, of the University of Leeds, and Douglas Altman, of Cancer Research UK, say in the Lancet: “The prospect that vitamin pills may not only do no good but also kill their consumers is a scary speculation given the vast quantities that are used in certain communities.”

Professor Forman said yesterday that supplements could be useful for people such as pregnant women and the elderly who might be unable to get adequate vitamins from their diet, but they were not a short-cut to better health.

Most people ate healthy diets and had no reason to take vitamin supplements.

“If someone has a good reason for taking these supplements other than to prevent cancer, they should continue to do so. But I remain sceptical of their overall value.”

The Lancet study is the latest to cast doubt on the value of dietary supplements.

A huge trial of beta carotene (pre-cursor of vitamin A) and Vitamin E in male smokers in 2000 found it increased the lung cancer rate 18 per cent and the death rate 8 per cent. Smokers are now advised against taking these vitamins pills.

The Lancet study researchers acknowledge that they did not look at all trials of vitamin supplements in preventing death and say their results are preliminary.

And the Lancet commentary says the study is “work in progress” and “does not provide convincing proof of hazard”.

If such a hazard were confirmed, the researchers would have to identify which supplements were dangerous.

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3596938&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

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Most likely cause would be the significant drop in pH from high dosages of water soluble (acidic) vitamins. You should take them with meals, not after, and make sure you get plenty of calcium and magnesium. Also not a bad idea to take calcium carbonate or some other product to reduce pH.

Low pH give cancer a better environment
Low pH causes vitamin and mineral depletion

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I told you. Vitamins are easily come by unless you only eat white and brown things. Even farm grown veggies and fruit have phytonutrients. Vitamins don’t.

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Phytonutrients ARE available in pill form. Perfect for guys like me who don’t do much cooking and eat on the run.

Four words about early death due to supplements:
1- Jack
2- LaLanne
3- Linus
4- Pauling

Jack just turned 90 last weekend and still works out 2 hours a day. Linus lived to be 96, if memory serves. Both were pill-poppers.

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Most likely cause would be the significant drop in pH from high dosages of water soluble (acidic) vitamins. You should take them with meals, not after, and make sure you get plenty of calcium and magnesium. Also not a bad idea to take calcium carbonate or some other product to reduce pH.

Low pH give cancer a better environment
Low pH causes vitamin and mineral depletion

Huh? What are you talking about? Low pH in what body compartment?

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“What are you talking about?”

    • It’s a pet theory of mine for about 20 years now…

Low pH in what body compartment?

    • fluids, digestive tract, urine and saliva. Obviously not blood, but the workload required to maintain blood pH (in individuals who overdo the acidic vitamins without adequate buffering) depletes resources.
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Phytonutrients ARE available in pill form. Perfect for guys like me who don’t do much cooking and eat on the run.

Four words about early death due to supplements:
1- Jack
2- LaLanne
3- Linus
4- Pauling

Jack just turned 90 last weekend and still works out 2 hours a day. Linus lived to be 96, if memory serves. Both were pill-poppers.

Just goes to show how good genetics can overcome almost anything. A friend is 84 smokes and drinks like fiend. Eats beef and starch. no supplements. I guess that proves we should all do the same.

I know you can buy dessicated fruit and veggie products in capsule form. I take them. Not the same as vitamins. Vitamins are easy in nature, that’s why humans lost the ability to produce them ourselves. It’s the other things that oare tougher to get.

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Variables may be confounded.

It is possible that the increase mortality is not the effect of the pills, but a third life style factor that is correlated with consuming these pills. Drawing cause and effect inferences from correlations could be the main pitfall of this discussion.

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“…a third life style factor that is correlated with consuming these pills.”

Woah, what an insightful post. Not very comforting, but I’m sure you’ve got something there. E.g., I’m O/C and type A, so I do everything to extreme. fortyhowevermany years ago, I read that Jack LaLanne took over 200 “vitamin” pills every day. Starting that day, I would go back to the cupboard where mom kept the vitamins, and grab several extras. Once I moved out on my own, and started learning a little about vitamins and other nutrients, I started buying them by the truckload, and taking them by the handful.

I’ve also been an exercise fiend all my life, so I look great. People can’t believe I’m 54 years old, and members at my health club line up to train with me or get advice, because they’d all like to look as fit as I do, even the folks who are much younger than I. I’ve always been inclined to believe that all the pills I’ve taken have helped me to stay young and active, and that they’re also the reason I never get sick. Could be yes, could be no.

It’s also interesting, because mom’s side of the family lives to be 90-100, while dad’s side croaks in their mid 60s to early 70s. Unfortunately, by the time I find out if I’m going to live long like mom or die young like dad and uncle Joe, it will be too late to try any counter measures. So I’m REEEEAAAALY hoping that taking gobs and gobs of vitamins will do the trick!

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Better eat those veggies.

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Variables may be confounded.

It is possible that the increase mortality is not the effect of the pills, but a third life style factor that is correlated with consuming these pills. Drawing cause and effect inferences from correlations could be the main pitfall of this discussion.

That’s definitely true, except that this is one of many such studies.

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“Better eat those veggies”

yeah, yeah, yeah…

I was a vegetarian for eleven years. My GF has turned me back into a carnivore… Well maybe an omnivore, 'cuz I eat everything.

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Great, just great. I did some research on what I should be taking and about a year ago I settled on a multivitamin, two fish oil pills, 800 IU of vit E and a gram of Vit C each day. I know there’s a lot of conflicting research out there, but I still think there’s more research in favor of this than against it. It sounds like some of you have actually researched this beyond reading an article in Readers Digest. What’s the current thinking? (Also, I should say that I read an article by Slowman on aging and he recommended a product that involved taking something like 250 pills a day and cost more than my house mortgage. Okay, it wasn’t that much, but it was a lot. I looked at the ingredients and it has 800 of Vit E and 1.5 grams of Vit C plus a lot of crap I’ve never heard of.)

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How does taking vitamins increase the death rate of people? Isn’t the death rate 100%? Is someone saying that if I don’t take vitamins I might live forever?

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How does taking vitamins increase the death rate of people? Isn’t the death rate 100%?

ohmigod that is so funny. thank you.

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If variable A is highly correlated to variable B it does not necessarily mean that A is the cause of B or indeed vice versa.

Both A and B could be caused by C. (as well as many other possibilities).

The above holds regardless of how many studies show that A and B are correlated.

For example, lets assume that there is a correlation between Time Trial bike ownership and lower than average body fat percentage. Regardless, of the number of studies that support this observation, one cannot conclude that the purchase of such a bike caused changes to body composition.

On this basis I am not accepting your critique as a valid argument. Please elaborate, clarify and explain.

I can provide a more relevant example if required.

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IronPluto wrote: If variable A is highly correlated to variable B it does not necessarily mean that A is the cause of B or indeed vice versa.
Both A and B could be caused by C. (as well as many other possibilities).

He’s absolutely right. That’s why a condition generally considered to be healthy, such as lower than “normal” % body fat, CAN be shown to be correlated with early death, depending upon how you present the data. The reason? Cancer patients often are very thin before succumbing to the disease…and I’ve read several reports that say being too thin is associated with early death…these reports don’t take into account this relationship between cancer and body fat %. So, just because there is an association doesn’t mean one condition causes the other.

As far as the vitamin study…I don’t know what is “true”. When I read all the vitamins “fortified” into the food I eat, as well as the food that I eat that is not labeled (never seen a label on an orange), I get much more than the recommended minimums of everything.

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That is true, but random trial studies have shown the same thing. (That addiing antioxidant supplements don’t decrease the incidence of cancers or vascular disease. )It is probable, in that case, the the elevated levels of various individual antioxidants are a marker for a good diet, because adding the individual compounds did not decrease vascular disease, and in fact, increased it.
Numerous comfounding factors could account for same, but when it happens repeatedly, it is highly suggestive.

It is more likely that Elwood’s level of health is due to his omnivourous diet, which, in light of his previous vegetarianism, suggests that he still eats lots of fruits and veggies. Of course his faimly history might accound for a lot of it.