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."
In direct contradiction to sola scriptura, you have reached out instead to mere Traditions of Men.
South Park?
Okay, it's good to know where you get your information.
Do you also rely on South Park for your understanding of the Virgin Mary?
Your question is synonymous to “How can you know an event occurred if you were not an eyewitness?”
If all we had were traditions and word of mouth, you'd have a point. But we have the Scriptures and we can read them and know our salvation is by Christ alone, if God gives us eyes to see.
Certainly the early church fathers understood this.
South Park accurately reported the secret Xenu papers.
South Park did not accurately report Catholic teaching on Mary.
Thanks to the Catholic Church.
...and know our salvation is by Christ alone...
If that is you choose how to interpret them, no one can stop you.
My fruits?
I would tell you of them, but I’d much rather tell you about Christ crucified. Would you like to hear of how his death turned away God’s wrath from a sinner like me?
How do you know South Park was "accurate?"
"I am saved because I was smarter than the poor slob next door."
Here's a bedtime prayer consistent with your beliefs that you can offer up tonight:
`Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists.Lord, I was born with a glorious free will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace.
If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved.
Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do.
There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am.
It was not thy grace that made us differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not - that is the difference between me and them.'
By verifying with other sources.
LOL
Wouldn't it be much easier and simpler and more sane and logical and clearer and more accurate to simply read the original source rather than rely on books about books on books and South Park episodes?
That's what sets Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion apart from a lot of theology books -- Calvin based every word and concept and thought and principle on the words of God.
And if you doubt that, you can read them for yourself and tell us where he strayed from Scripture. (I don't think South Park has done any shows on Calvin yet so you may be forced to actually read him.)
So again, I believe Calvin is correct because I've read the Bible and I've read the Institutes and they align perfectly with the Bible.
How do you know the "other sources" you've read are correct?
Hmmm. Did Christ want us to be confident of God's grace? Did Paul know whom he had believed?
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" -- Philippeans 1:6
Anyone who has been given saving grace through Trinitarian faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is most likely among the elect because that is the method God told us He employs for redeeming His family. Do you disagree with that?
"Be not afraid; only believe." -- Mark 5:36
Doesn't it occur to you as interesting that you are in agreement with two Roman Catholics on this thread while arguing against the faith of the Reformation?
Yup indeed, we can "most likely" be absolutely confidant that we are saved. ROFLOL!
Those of us with free wills can be 100% confidant. You Calvinists, AS YOU'VE STATED, don't really know if you are one of the "chosen ones".
We are justified by Christ's righteousness and not our own.
I've never said that. Individuals can be assured of their own salvation because Christ told us to believe and be saved. And if we been graced with saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we can be confident in His promise.
None of us knows if anyone else is saved, but we have a pretty good idea by the fruits a person exhibits.
You continue to speak doubletalk. If you were truly predestined, pre-elected, you would not have to do anything, and that includes "believing". There would be no action/effort required on your part. NONE/ZERO. You would already be saved. Now you can get all puffed up like a peacock, because YOU BELIEVED.
Christ also said things like "For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." Of course your theology of no free will election makes this statement absurd, since "chosen/elected" men can not be "lost".
In your view, do I need to read this book before I say it is false?
Well, that's not how God has ordained His creation or His merciful salvation. All God's family will believe, and thus be saved by Christ's atonement. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the evidence of our regeneration by the Holy Spirit; not a requirement for it. Grace is the requirement for salvation, and that is a gift from God.
"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" -- 2 Thessalonians 2:13
Christ also said things like "For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." Of course your theology of no free will election makes this statement absurd, since "chosen/elected" men can not be "lost".
Nothing absurd about it. While it may feel like we're finding Christ, it is Christ who finds us, as the Bible tells us.
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." -- John 15:16
Even the old hymn "Amazing Grace" has the right perspective -- "I once was lost but now am found..."
It wouldn’t hurt.
4 But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. 5 Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.
Clear as day, they must CHOOSE TO REPENT, or else they will not be saved. If they were elected and the "deal was sealed", THIS WARNING WOULD MAKE NO SENSE WHATSOEVER!!! Jesus is not irrational and does not make irrational statements, the way some men's doctrines are/do.
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