Vitamins May Shorten Your Life
Research has suggested certain vitamin supplements do not extend life and could even lead to a premature death.
But the Health Supplements Information Service, which is funded by the association which represents those who sell supplements, said many people were simply not able to get everything they needed from their diet.
“For the millions who are not able to do that, vitamins can be a useful supplement and they should not stop taking them,” said spokeswoman Pamela Mason.
Not able to get everything they need from their diet? Yet they can afford expensive supplements? Yeah right.
I’ve always thought that taking vitamin supplements were a waste of money, not to mention the false sense of security it gives people who can’t be bothered to eat properly, as apparently your body just pisses away most of them. It’s interesting to read here that some may also have an adverse effect on your health.
What do you think?
casa azahar 
I think that we should not confuse vitamins with anti-oxidants when we are talking about this subject. They are two different categories of supplements. I personally do not take anti-oxidant supplements because I have been unconvinced that they are effective. For the same reason I do not take chondroitin HCl. But I do take extra calcium since it has been shown to help protect against bone density loss, and I take a multivitamin supplement. I have taken it for years and I will continue to do so. I treat it sort of like insurance. I don’t think I really need it (insurance)because I am a fairly healthy person, but you never know when a tree is going to fall on you and you might need brain surgery. I also supplement with acidophilus because I have found that keeping a high level of those beneficial baccilli in my system protects me against oral herpes outbreaks and yeast infections. If I run out of acidophilus and don’t replace my supply I find very quickly that I am dealing with a yeast infection and/or a cold sore. It is a combination that works for me, and may not work for other people.
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I started taking calcium a few months ago because I’m pretty sure I do not get enough in my diet. That, and I keep noticing that some of my friends are getting shorter. A friend of mine who is 55 has low bone density from osteo and now takes a pill every day for that. She bonked me over the head and told me to start taking calcium, so I buy the chewable kind they sell in the farmacia.
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I take a multivitamin and mineral supplement and my son, Jesse, an ecologist, supplies me with a variety of herbal teas. Works for me, but I don’t doubt that excessive vitamin intake would be damaging, Anything in excess is usually damaging.
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I normally take a stiff martini and a marly light every afternoon to ensure I have a balanced diet. One must focus both on physical and mental health.
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Absolutely Bb … balance is the key to total everythingness. 🙂
I don’t think basic multivitamins are harmful, but I also don’t think they really do much good. I’ve read that so little of what’s in them actually gets absorbed by the body (must google and find out where I read that).
Wouldn’t, say, having an extra serving of yoghurt a day be just as good as taking calcium supplements?
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Well, I’m no calcium expert but they say you should have about 1000 mg/day intake. For women over 50, I think you are supposed to increase it to about 1200-1500 mg/day.
You only get about 250 mg/day from regular non-dairy foods, so you have to have some dairy (milk, yogurt, or cheese… which are anywhere from 200-350 mg per serving). If you don’t have at least 3 servings of those a day you are not getting to 1000 mg/day.
Do you have 3 of those each day? I certainly don’t, so I take a chewable pill that provides 600 mg/day. And the only reason I do is because of my friend with low bone density who is borderline-osteo… seems like it’s practically inevitable if you are a woman unless you do something to prevent it.
My friend also has convinced me to start using sunscreen regularly, but I’m not so good about that. If only that were as easy as taking a little pill every day!
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I’m not too clued-up on vitamins, but I do know what nine out of ten doctors recommend for pain: hitting yourself over the head with a hammer.
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You are right about the absorption of many multivitamins, az. The big names like One a Day and Centrum contain a lot of things that don’t get readily absorbed. That is why it is important to find a supplement (if you are going to supplement) that is water soluble and plant based. These generally are available at health food stores and cost more than the “big names”, but I figure if I’m going to take the thing, I at least want to receive the benefit of it rather than flushing most of its components down the stool.
The trouble with calcium in food is that often the older we get the less well we absorb it, and if it is not present with vitamin D and certain fats and certain B vitamins as well, it doesn’t get absorbed. Additionally, there are sources of calcium that are notoriously non-absorbable, which is why most people who are aware of all of this suggest that you take the chewable kind or a calcium citrate for your calcium source.
I rely on yogurt and my leafy green veggies for some of my calcium, but in the interests of prevention of osteoporosis, I feel it is cheap insurance to supplement my intake. So far, my bone density tests have been way up in the “green”.
Of course, it is also important to realize that if you want to protect your bone density, daily weight bearing exercise is an important component of the regimen. Without it, you can be taking in and absorbing all the calcium you need but it won’t be being deposited in the bones the way it should be.
Nutritional issues are never simple, are they?
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I haven’t taken a vitamin supplement since I left my parents’ home 30 years ago – my mother liked to foist them on us. Somehow I’ve survived…
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“All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.”
Paracelsus (1493-1541)
Those words by the Swiss physican, astrologer and alchemist are still worth considering. Vitamin pills can’t substitute food and exercise, and overintake might be harmful.
For instance lack of vitamin A might cause night blindness, while an overdose might cause osteroporosis and liver damages.
If your diet is sufficiently varied you’ll probably do without extra vitamins and such.
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I just love it when people quote Paracelsus. It never happens often enough. 🙂
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