Women Who Take Vitamin Supplements May Have Increased Death Risk

MSNBC:

Popping vitamins may do more harm than good, according to a new study that adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting some supplements may have health risks. Researchers from the University of Minnesota examined data from more than 38,000 women taking part in the Iowa Women's Health Study, an ongoing study with women who were around age 62 at its start in 1986. The researchers collected data on the women's supplement use in 1986, 1997 and 2004.

Read the whole story: MSNBC

Comments

[Linda N]

10:47 AM on 10/16/2011

You have got to be kidding! See Natural News'' take on this at:

http://www.naturalnews.com/033883_vitamins_mortality_risk.html#ixzz1ax9m91Kq

The women were mailed only 3 surveys over 18 years, asking them to recall what vitamins and minerals they were taking.

Then the Researchers altered the actual data which show a "Hazard Ratio" associated with each of the nutrients in the study.

Vitamin B complex 7% reduction in mortality

Vitamin C 4% reduction

Vitamin D 8% reduction

Magnesium 3% reduction

Selenium 3% reduction

Zinc 3% reduction

Folic acid a 9% increase

Copper 31% increase

They then adjusted all the numbers for "age, educational level, place of residence, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, body mass index waist to hip ratio, hormone replacement therapy, physical activity, smoking status, and intake of energy.

Then they did a second "multivariable adjustment" in which they "...adjusted for age; educational level; place of residence; diabetes mellitus; high blood pressure; body mass index; waist to hip ratio; hormone replacement therapy; physical activity; smoking status; and intake of energy, alcohol, saturated fatty acids, whole grain products, fruits, and vegetables."

Except even with these adjustments a statistically insignificant increase in mortality of 1% of women who took a daily multivitamin was shown. ROFL!!!

From the looks of all the comments on the media sites, the public is NOT falling for this blatant attempt at scaring them away from taking supplements.

Learn more at : http://www.naturalnews.com/033883_vitamins_mortality_risk.html#ixzz1ax75ElOA

[karensull12]

05:03 PM on 10/14/2011

What a bunch of ridiculous propaganda (aka LIES).

I started taking supplements about 2 years ago and I HAVE NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.

[1512c]

03:31 PM on 10/12/2011

Pro-Pharma BullShittery to the Extreme here!!!

[ANH-USA]

10:08 AM on 10/12/2011

This study is a classic example of scientific reductionism being used to fulfill a particular need. In this case, it’s supplement bashing, a well-known preoccupation of Big Pharma — and an approach that appears to be central to the protection of Big Pharma’s profit margins. See our rebuttal http://www.anh-usa.org/shame-on-ama-archives-of-internal-medicine/

[Luke23]

12:09 AM on 10/12/2011

This was a fraudulent study funded by major drug companies. Furthermore it was not statistically relevant as there was less than 1% difference in mortality in the the two groups. No information about life style risks such as smoking , existing illnesses or family history were included. Prescription drugs kill far more people than do vitamin supplements. This has been a common ploy by the medical and pharmaceutical corporations to max their profits by scaring people away from healthy alternatives.

A controlled study would have ascertained health of the women in both groups before they started and what illness they died from. ( most of them were in their eighties when the "study" was completed.) They would have also studied whether the supplements allowed the women to lead a healthier life. None of this was done. It was a questionaire- not a study. Nobody checked to see what the people were actually doing to stay healthy and whether they really were taking their supplements regularly. It was word of mouth- and that is not science

[Pete59]

05:22 PM on 10/11/2011

This type of publication gives science a bad name, the referees should have rejected it. They needed to look for links between specific vitamins and specific diseases.

[esilversurfer]

01:26 PM on 10/11/2011

More propaganda from the drug companies. They know as people continue to find out they can stay healthy using supplements, they won't need their taking toxic, expensive prescription drugs,

[helipilot]

01:02 PM on 10/11/2011

This is just more FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) being spread by the pharmaceutical conglomerates, the traditional "health care" industry and their sock puppet, Codex Alimentarius. Ridiculous story, ridiculous study. Even as this kind of tripe is being breathlessly reported, it's a near-100 percent certainty that one wouldn't be able to find a single death in the last 50 years directly attributable to taking vitamin supplements.

[sillyblueness]

08:22 AM on 10/11/2011

"Increased Death Risk"? That wording seems odd since we all have a 100% chance of death. Early death perhaps?

HuffPo headlines need some work.

[Chuck Bluestein]

01:31 AM on 10/11/2011

If you look at government sites and others, they tell you that you should try to get vitamins and minerals from foods, not from supplements. Vitamins and minerals are not food. Carrots are high in beta-caroteen that the body makes into vitamin A. But is the carrot any better than vitamin A supplements?

On the doctors show on TV they said that carrots are a negative calorie food that means you use more calories to eat and digest them than what they contain. I did not do this research. This is the opinion of this TV show with 6 doctors on it. http://www.thedoctorstv.com There are less than 100 vitamins and minerals, but plant foods contain thousands of phytochemicals, like lycopene in tomatoes, resveratrol in grapes and curcumin in tumeric.

Today on Huffington Post, they had an article on 8 foods that prevent cancer. One was broccoli due to the sulfuophane in it. This is a phytochemical. There are articles that say that ascorbic acid is only one part of vitamin C, but there are other things needed to make the full vitamin C. So one orange is better for you than 20 vitamin C pills. A glass of orange juice is loaded with potassium and calcium. Webmd has an article saying orange juice lowers high blood pressure due to the hesperdin in it. It is a phytochemical and there are supplements of it.

[helipilot]

01:05 PM on 10/11/2011

Doctors have much lower life expectancy due to unhealthy lifestyle choices than the populace at large. Although some of what you write may be true, are we to take advice from doctors, Big Pharma and the traditional "health care" industry on maintaining one's health?

[sillyblueness]

08:45 PM on 10/11/2011

I get your point but do not kid yourself - supplements are big business and not well regulated at that. The world is full of snake-oil salesmen.

[rikadarling]

09:55 PM on 10/10/2011

Doctors Are the Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.

Cause 250,000 Deaths Every Year

By Joseph Mercola, D.O.

The U.S. health care system may contribute to poor health or death. According to Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 250,000 deaths per year are caused by medical errors, making this the third-largest cause of death in the U.S., following heart disease and cancer.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr. Starfield has documented the tragedy of the traditional medical paradigm in the following statistics:

Deaths Per Year

Cause

106,000
Non-error, negative effects of drugs2

80,000
Infections in hospitals10

45,000
Other errors in hospitals10

12,000
Unnecessary surgery8

7,000
Medication errors in hospitals9

250,000
Total deaths per year from iatrogenic* causes

* The term iatrogenic is defined as "induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially to pertain to a complication of treatment."


If vitamin supplements came anywhere near these statistics they'd be outlawed. I don't see any trend toward outlawing the western medical system in the near future. For me, I'll take my chances on a few supplements. Let's not forget the big pamphlets the drug companies MUST publish listing the possible side effects of their chemical soup of pills they sell folks.

[helipilot]

01:47 PM on 10/11/2011

Also keep in mind that in the U.S., FDA approvals of drugs are made on the basis of test results provided by the pharmaceutical company seeking approval, and they cherry-pick the data to present their new drugs in the most favorable light. You're right. We're much better off taking our chances on a few supplements.

[rikadarling]

09:39 PM on 10/10/2011

Pharmacutical drugs are the leading cause of death in the United States and there has never been one death attributed to ingesting a vitamin or mineral supplement. So why is this sham science being foisted on the public? Perhaps the pharma industry is trying to destroy the supplement industry. Here are some of the dangers associated with prescription drugs.

http://internet-scam-busters.com/pharmaceutical-drug-dangers-a-prescription-for-disaster