Posted on 04/15/2008 8:34:19 PM PDT by blam
Vitamin pills 'increase risk of early death'
By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/04/2008
Popular vitamin supplements taken by millions of people in the hope of improving their health may do no good and could increase the risk of a premature death, researchers report today.
They warn healthy people who take antioxidant supplements, including vitamins A and E, to try to keep diseases such as cancer at bay that they are interfering with their natural body defences and may be increasing their risk of an early death by up to 16 per cent.
Antioxidants, including vitamins A, E, and C are said to mop up free radicals, which cause disease
Researchers at Copenhagen University carried out a review of 67 studies on 230,000 healthy people and found "no convincing evidence" that any of the antioxidants helped to prolong life expectancy. But some "increased mortality".
About 12 million Britons supplement their diets with vitamins and the industry is worth £330 million. But little research has been done on the long-term health implications.
The Department of Health said yesterday that people should try to get the vitamins they need by eating a balanced diet and advised care in taking large doses of supplements.
A spokesman said: "There is a need to exercise caution in the use of high doses of purified supplements of vitamins, including antioxidant vitamins, and minerals. Their impact on long-term health may not have been fully established and they cannot be assumed to be without risk.
"Anyone concerned about their diet should speak to their doctor or dietitian."
Antioxidants, including vitamins A, E, C and beta-carotene and selenium, are said to mop up compounds, called free radicals, which cause disease. It is this action that researchers believe may cause problems with the defence system.
The Danish research, released by the influential Cochrane Library, applied only to synthetic supplements and not to vitamins that occur naturally in vegetables and fruit.
It found that vitamin A supplements increased the risk of death in healthy people by 16 per cent. Taking beta-carotene was linked to a 7 per cent increased risk, while regular users of vitamin E supplements increased the risk of an early death by four per cent.
Although the review found no significant detrimental effect caused by vitamin C, it found no evidence that it helped ward off disease. Millions take it in the hope of avoiding a common cold.
Goran Bjelakovic, who led the review, said: "We could find no evidence to support taking antioxidant supplements to reduce the risk of dying earlier in healthy people or patients with various diseases.
"If anything, people in trial groups given the antioxidants beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E showed increased rates of mortality."
But Patrick Holford, a nutritionist who has formulated supplements for the company Biocare, said: "Antioxidants are not meant to be magic bullets and should not be expected to undo a lifetime of unhealthy habits.
"When used properly, in combination with a healthy diet full of fruit and vegetables, getting plenty of exercise and not smoking, antioxidant supplements can play an important role in maintaining and promoting overall health."
A spokesman for the Health Supplements Information Service said: "People should get all the vitamins and minerals they need from their diet, but for the millions who are not able to do that, vitamins can be a useful supplement and they should not stop taking them."
However, Catherine Collins, of the British Dietetic Association, said: "This study is deeply worrying and shows that there should be more regulation for vitamins and minerals.
"The public can buy vitamins as easily as sweets. They should be treated in the same way as paracetamol with maximum limits on the dosage."
Do you know it is possible to learn ABOUT the contents of a book without reading the book?
And thousands of others.
Uh, no. That's the false conclusion drawn by Cauvin.
It is not about disproving that one quote, it's about considering the Scriptures as a whole, rather than picking and choosing what fits a predetermined conclusion.
Yes, we're all aware that's how the RCC instructs its members regarding the Bible.
It's not the best way to understand much of anything.
The “whole of Scripture” proclaims that God “declared the end from the beginning.”
I know you hate the Roman Catholic Church, but that is no reason slander it and by insinuation all of its members.
It does not.
I merely noted that your opinion isn't surprising given the fact that this is the exact same way the RCC teaches the Bible.
Traditions of Men
It is not. Is there no truth in you at all?
The weight of your lack of Scriptural evidence is overwhelming.
That is a bad and self-serving paraphrasing of my words. You seem to bear false witness with every keystroke.
After you’ve read the chapter we can talk. Until then, as you’ve said, all you know about it is what you’ve heard.
Again you demand I prove a negative.
I will address you whenever you slander Christ's own Church, and at any such other time as I choose.
"Do you know it is possible to learn ABOUT the contents of a book without reading the book?"
How is this any different from what I wrote -- "You said you could understand a book by being told what was in the book rather than reading it for yourself."
???
So far, you haven't offered anything to buttress your claim.
They read the ICR and such verses of the Bible as Cauvin tells them to read, are baffled by what Cauvin tells them should baffle them, create paradoxes where none exist, (try to) paint God in Cauvin's dark image, bolt shiny "ELECT" vanity plates to their cars and generally sin boldly.
I thank God for Christ's church, and I thank God it is headed not by a man but by the only mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.
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