Posted on 12/18/2013 8:57:00 PM PST by artichokegrower
Q
uestions about the health benefits of vitamin supplements have been percolating in the medical establishment for decades — even as the multivitamin industry has grown to a multi-billion powerhouse in the U.S. This week, the respected journal the Annals of Internal Medicine put its well-heeled foot down.
"We believe that the case is closed — supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful," the journal said in an editorial. "These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough."
Here's Dr. Edgar Miller of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, one of the editorial's five co-authors: "What will protect you is if you spend the money on fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, low fat dairy, things like that," Miller tells CBS News. "Exercising would probably be a better use of the money." The only exceptions are folic acid for pregnant women and, possibly, vitamin D — the studies are mixed on its benefits and risks.
Assuming Miller and his colleagues are right — and they base their assertion on three large, recent studies — Americans have been wasting lots of money on vitamins. About half of U.S. adults take dietary supplements, and the vitamin industry has grown to $12 billion a year for vitamins alone and about $30 billion for all dietary supplements. That's just in the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
Big Pharm is just going after the 30 billion dollar market and trying to use the FDA as there personal guild thugs.
their
The Big Pharma monolith is on the anti-vitamin warpath.
“We believe that the case is closed — supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful,”
Key word there is “well-nourished”.
As for any health benefit to the person of good diet and overall health, vitamins are just expensive colored urine.
Big Pharma needs a customer base of sick people to buy their disease products. The natural health industry reduces that customer base.
Oh well, Big Pharma to the rescue...
sniff, sniff...(the author)
Big Pharma doesn’t want to cure anything. Big Pharma wants steady predictable monthly sales... Repeat customers.
This dude obviously has not eaten any fresh fruits or vegetables lately. Sure they look pretty and are perfect but they taste like cardboard. I wasn't aware that fruit picked when they're still green have their full nutritional value. then there's GMO foods. Are they as nutritious as their original source??
How much is Hopkins receiving from obama?
Course these are the same agenda-driven half-wits that conduct studies whose data indicate salt won’t hurt you, then claim in the report it’s deadly, so YMMV.....
I probably spend a total of $100/year for supplements which I purchase from Costco. That covers a multi-vitamin, Glucosamine-Chondroitin, a supplement that includes a number of other things, and saw palmetto.
Only thing I don’t get at Costco is DHEA - 50 mg/day.
This stuff does work, and if I don’t take them for a couple of weeks, I really notice it.
No one is getting rich off of me in this area.
I’m 60 and in excellent health.
There are real benefits to certain vitamins and supplements, even if wholesale use of multivitamins will not prevent cancer or heart disease.
Where I live there is a real shortage of vitamin D. Niacinamide can help with arthritis. Vitamins and supplements have there place in modern health, but are not a magic solution.
Like most things, I guess. That sounds like a balanced view.
Yup it's sad how dumbed-down we've become as a society.
I'm glad you put forth the truth at the top of this thread.
Rx has it's place, but we all know for a fact that humans need vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes to sustain life. We don't need Rx to sustain life.
Vitamins/Minerals are well known, hard to produce, but relatively cheep. Exactly the opposite for drugs.
The good health population is probably not more than 10% of the population overall.
Eat good meals and you do not need vitamen supplements, in fact they can be harmful. People who eat them like candy are in danger of over-dosing.
Eat a decent diet, you will be fine. I’m far from vegan, I eat lots of meat along with plenty of veggies, I’m fond of brussel sprouts and lima beans, but whatever suits your taste.
I have never been able to detect the slightest benefit from taking multivitamins. It appears money spent on them quite literally is down the toilet.
I am 44. I take NO drugs except the occasional analgesic. Everybody I know and work with takes handfuls of drugs every day. Some of the drugs are to counteract other drug side effects. These azzhats want to point the finger at the natural foods and vitamin industry? When I get sick I treat the illness. I have not taken an antibiotic in 10 years.
My parents are in their 70’s. They take NO drugs. None. Before you blame genetics. Dad, is Stepdad. But they treat with alternative medicines when sick.
A Conservative argument: Government wants to take away the choice of how I treat illness and maintain health. That comes under Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Choice IS freedom.
This war on the Natural Foods and Health industry is spawned on K street, who is using the present occupier of the Oval Orifice and his propensity to make deals with corporate entities. That’s why the big push is on. This is just the start.
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