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Posted on 11/03/2011 9:56:57 AM PDT by djf
Over the past 27 years — the complete time frame that the data has been available — there have been 0 deaths as a result of vitamins and over 3 million deaths related to prescription drug use. In fact, going back 54 years there have only been 11 claims of vitamin-related death, all of which provided no substantial evidence to link vitamins to the cause of death. The news comes after a recent statistically analysis found that pharmaceutical drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the US. In 2009, drugs exceeded the amount of traffic-related deaths, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide.
(Excerpt) Read more at naturalsociety.com ...
Very, very long PDF report at the end of the article that summarizes the data.
Big-Pharm SUCKS!! All their lawyers too !!
If you take a daily multivitamin, you will live less long than if you do not -- that's what the peer reviewed scientific data says.
That's terrorist thinking.
/helpless sheeple think
If you are going to say that, you should be prepared to provide pointers and links to that data.
So please provide pointers or links.
You sayin a milti-vitamin reduces life expectancy?
There are so many older people that take a menagerie of different drugs, I am extremely suspicious of the side effects of just one, but when you have a cocktail of 10 or more of these drugs running through your system, I don’t think they can predict what the hell it’s doing to you.
My dad takes statins, as well as about 10-15 other drugs, I’m convinced it’s affecting his memory, among other things.
Your best bet is to stay lean and physically fit as you age, eat as many healthy foods as you can and avoid taking more 2-3 drugs, it may be better to take your chances than to put another drug into your system.
From way back in October 2011...
Could Vitamins Decrease Your Life Expectancy?
If you want to live longer, popping a vitamin may not help
Christen Brownlee
Americans sure do love their vitamins and supplements. Every year, we spend a whopping $20 billion on them. But if you think all that cash is going to buy you a longer life, think again. A new study in this week’s Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that some supplements may actually shorten your life.
In the study, researchers used information from 40 thousand women who filled in questionnaires several times over the last 22 years. They answered questions about all sorts of health issues, including supplement use.
Matching this data to records from the state health registry and the National Death Index, the researchers identified seven supplements that actually seemed to be hastening death. Those include vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, and even your innocent-looking multivitamin.
Some of them only slightly increased the risk of death during the study period. For example, multivitamins nudged it up by 2.2 percent. However, others were more substantial; copper, for example, increased the risk of death by about 18 percent.
If It Isn’t Broken...
These results apply to both women and men, says study leader Jaako Mursu, Ph.D. of the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Minnesota, Lots of previous supplement use studies that included men have shown the same thing: If you don’t have a documented nutritional deficiency, taking extra vitamins and minerals doesn’t seem to help, and it may even harm.
Anything—even water—can be hazardous in huge quantities, says adds Mursu, Supplements usually contain megadoses of many vitamins and minerals that you’d never find in food. Also, food usually contains vitamins and minerals in vastly different forms and combinations than those found in supplements—all potential reasons popping a pill for your nutrients might not be the best plan.
“Usually, what we advise is to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and whole grains,” Mursu says. Whole foods, such as vegetables, are packed with more than enough vitamins and minerals (in addition to other important components, like fiber), in combinations that appear to be far more beneficial than those in vitamin pills. Eating lots of different foods means you get the whole complement of nutrients without ever setting foot in a supplement store.
“If you’re not allergic or don’t have a specific reason, don’t exclude anything,” Mursu adds. “You can’t go wrong with the idea that if you plenty of plant food and minimize processed food, nutrient intake will be high enough for most people.”
Big-Supplement is worse. $50 billion shadowy industry peddling all sorts of dubious health claims -- and many of their products cause harm, even death. I'm not suggesting that pharma is angelic -- but at least their products are regulated and there's some measure of accountability for what they peddle.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Is that the NHANES study?
From all the items I have read, I have to disagree with those findings. For example, I’ve read estimates that something between 50-70 percent of Americans ARE deficient in magnesium. So how can they turn around and then say taking magnesium will kill you?
However, in toto, there is NO DOUBT that the biggest drug abuse problems in this country are prescription painkillers and anti-psychotics, of course adding the caveat that alcohol is number one.
If you think it would be better if there was more government regulation, you haven't been paying attention.
“From all the items I have read, I have to disagree with those findings. For example, I’ve read estimates that something between 50-70 percent of Americans ARE deficient in magnesium. So how can they turn around and then say taking magnesium will kill you?”
The findings are the findings. One may disagree with conclusions drawn but are you saying the data was falsified? If you are referring to the study I read last month, the data shows statistically significant increased mortality among those who take vitamins compared to those who don’t.
“However, in toto, there is NO DOUBT that the biggest drug abuse problems in this country are prescription painkillers and anti-psychotics, of course adding the caveat that alcohol is number one.”
Please define drug abuse problem.
There are people out abusing narcs but anti-psychotics??? They are generally prescribed for signficant mental issues and compliance is poor because of unpleasant side effects.
I’m pretty sure people have died from vitamins (Iron poisoning).
I'm saying it's BS statistical correlation. The study tracks increasing deaths of people taking supplmeents at a time when the use of supplements rose from 60% to nearly 90%.
It's like saying that the use of indoor plumbing in the early twentieth century, at a time when the entire population was adopting indoor plumbing, correlated with increasing mortality. You can do this kind of idiotic correlation with just about any trend.
“You can do this kind of idiotic correlation with just about any trend.”
Correlation does not mean causation, that bears repeating.
The results are dissonant with expected outcomes and the study was not designed specifically designed to measure the benefits of vitamins IIRC which means this one study should be taken with a rather large grain of salt. On the other hand, many important discoveries are first identified in unexpected findings like this.
gee it appears like maybe you work or have close ties to the big pharma corps...
SFL
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