Health Alert: Taking vitamins…can kill you?

Despite the dubious health benefits of weight-loss pills (like Hoodia) and fad diets (like the low-carb craze), people still invest billions in them in vain attempts to look good - though not necessarily to feel good. In fact even the sudden death of seemingly-fit Dr Atkins - reportedly from following his eponymous diet, which spawned a cottage industry of low-carb diets – did little to deter people from their Faustian quest for the perfect diet.

But it never occurred to me, a former personal trainer who is congenitally averse to quick-fix diet plans, that my daily ingestion of a cocktail of vitamins could be hazardous to my health. Yet a report by the London TimesOnline on Monday suggests this might be the case:

The vitamin study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA], overturns earlier research suggesting that vitamins A, E and beta carotene could protect against heart disease and cancer....But far from helping, the new study says, the evidence is that taking vitamins, either singly or as part of a multivitamin pill, actually increases mortality by 5 per cent.

Of course, I am cynical enough to suspect that this study may have been conducted in furtherance of a conspiracy between pharmaceutical companies and physicians groups to siphon billions away from the unregulated dietary-supplement industry. Especially since quacks are now marketing vitamins and other non-prescription remedies for everything from streptococcal infections to HIV.

But I’ve been reading reports challenging the efficacy of dietary supplements for years. And my respect for JAMA’s scientific integrity and credibility is such that I thought twice before popping my daily dose of vitamins this morning. Indeed, this study may wean me off them entirely. And instead I shall rely solely on fruits and vegetables as my source of vitamins – notwithstanding the pesticides they contain that might prove even more deadly….


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Miracle Hoodia

dietary supplements vitamins