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."
You put it in the passive, “by being told,” though I understand that rises out of your prejudice against Catholicism.
The Catholic Church is Christ's own, founded by him, and you slander it and its members with virtually every post.
There are more ways to answer a question than with a simple yes or no.
For you, the choices seem to be “yes,” “no,” and “slam Catholics.”
But you are known by your fruits.
If you don’t read the book itself, how are you learning? Is it something you catch in the air, or is it something you are told by another man or written source?
Christ’s church is not led by a man sitting in Rome, but by Jesus Christ.
It is not necessarily either of those.
So far, you've given us exactly zero support for your belief.
True, Christ is the leader of His Church, the Roman Catholic Church. Benedict is but his Vicar.
HOw do you learn, Petronski? How do you know whom to believe, especially if you don’t read the source but rely on something else?
Even presuming arguendo that you have, such would still not prove that the “whole of Scripture” proclaims that God “declared the end from the beginning.”
Don't insinuate that this is all I ever do.
They were your words, not mine.
The were NOT my words. MY words would be a quote. YOUR words are what you posted.
Do you know it is possible to learn ABOUT the contents of a book without reading the book?
441 posted on Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:13:30 PM by Petronski
And thus the question, how do you know what you believe, Petronski, if you do not read the original source, but rely on something else?
If I read ten or five or three or even one reliable resource that says the Book of Mormon rejects the Trinity, I know that the book is false.
I can know Dianetics is false simply by reading the secret Xenu papers online or even by seeing them described on South Park.
Your question is synonymous to “How can you know an event occurred if you were not an eyewitness?”
It is proof for me because I have actually read them and found the "Institutes of the Chrsitian Religion" to be aligned with Scripture.
If and when you ever get around to reading them, let's discuss them.
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