The Vitamins are Coming! The Vitamins are Coming!

I was watching public TV with my wife a couple of years ago when a researcher was being interviewed about the Beta Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET), in which 18,314 smokers took either beta carotene and Vitamin A or a placebo. He embarrassedly stated that the beta carotene (found in carrots and orange vegetables) and Vitamin A, even though they are 'anti-oxidant' and theoretically should prevent heart disease and cancer, actually increased it in their trial. In fact, people on supplements equal to four carrots a day had 17% more heart disease and were 17% more likely to die than people on a placebo.

I found that pretty surprising, especially since you hear those natural health guru types yapping on the radio all the time about the benefits of anti-oxidant vitamins.

I later visited my sister-in-law Rossana (pronounced ROE - SSSS - ana, as my kids always point out) in the US Virgin Islands. Rummaging in her refrigerator while she was at work (Hey -- I didn't have anything else to do!) I found several large bottles of vitamins and supplements. I looked at the ingredients and found that she was taking Vitamin A at several times the recommended daily levels. When she got home from work I confronted her about it.

Doug: "Rossana, why are you taking so many vitamins and supplements?"

Rossana: "I don't have time to cook meals and eat enough vegetables, so this gives me what I need."

Doug: "But did you realize that the amount of Vitamin A you are taking may cause osteoporosis?"

[It's true-- women taking the highest amounts of Vitamin A supplements doubled their risk of fracture, leading Denmark to ban vitamin fortified Kellogg's breakfast cereals. You can see a goofy picture I made about the topic here.]

I don't want to be dodgy and name the company that made the vitamins and supplements she was taking, but I looked them up on the internet, and if you followed their recommendations, you would be spending $7,128 dollars per year on their products!

When I got home I read up more on vitamins. In the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study smokers treated with beta-carotene and alpha tocopherol (Vitamin E) had an 8% increase in death, while those with a prior history of heart attack had a 75% increase in heart attack with beta carotene therapy. People on Vitamin E had a 2% increase in mortality.

Looking at all studies put together, there is an increased risk of heart disease with Vitamin A and beta carotene and no heart disease prevention with Vitamin E. Vitamin A and beta carotene when taken together are associated with a 29% increase in mortality.

Even though in the laboratory there has been shown some connection between oxidative stress and heart disease, and in spite of the known role of vitamins C and E as anti-oxidants, you can't get around the fact that there is now a large body of research -- including studies with tens of thousands of patients -- that shows that vitamins do not prevent heart disease or lengthen your life.

In fact, they may actually have the opposite effect.

One study of Vitamin E combined with Vitamin C showed that vitamins actually accelerated the progression of thickening of the coronary arteries, and doubled the risk of dying of heart disease. Another study of a combination of anti-oxidants, including Vitamins E, C, beta carotene, and selenium, showed that vitamins actually blocked the effects of anti-cholesterol treatment (simvastatin plus niacin) on reducing atherosclerosis and preventing heart attacks and strokes. The vitamins in this study interfered with the ability of the other medications to raise HDL (good) cholesterol. Looking at all studies combined in which Vitamin E was given with beta carotene, there was a 10% overall increase in mortality.

I think the vitamins may be giving a boost to little tumors that wouldn't have been a problem otherwise.

Based on these studies, I believe there is no role for vitamins in the treatment or prevention of heart disease.

Doug Bremner MD is author of Before You Take That Pill: Why The Drug Industry May Be Bad For Your Health.

Comments

[research]

Who Paid for those studies?

[juicycrone]

Checked with the man who monitors my blood work for my GP. Here's his take on the tests referred to:
The beta carotein was from Hoffman-LaRoche and was COAL TAR DERIVED-NOT-a natural derived beta carotein AND it was rancid upon assay. Rancid oils are some of the most toxic/mutagenic things in our food supply. You have to know the mind set of these people. They make synthetic crap because you cannot get a patent on a natural product hence their position is beta carotein is beta carotein regardless of source. WRONG-and most people are fools enough to buy the bullshit hook line and sinker. The load if missinformation out there is mind blowing.
blessings
david

[wm1066]

Most vitamin pills are a dead food, thier life essence has been milled out and you get nothing from them.
If you study Chinese food theory in Traditional Chinese Mediciene you cans see how vitamin pills don't work.
Eating real food and eating slowly gives you more life force than vitamin pills do.
I used to be a big believer in vitamin pills but after twenty years I realized they just don't work.

[dougbremner]

Yes, one positive controlled trial for CHM in irritable bowel syndrome treatment.

[edgraham]

Corporate greed.

Let's sell something that won't help anyone and might hurt them. It will make a lot of money, and the people who buy them will defend the honor of out product.

By the way, this also applies to all fake cures. Head-On: a stick of wax that "cures" headaches. Acupuncture. Healing Touch.

All of it is nonsense.

Ed Graham

[ignrnthllblly]

Dr. Bremner,

Might you have any comments relative to statins and memory loss? As our personal physician fixates on cholesterol level, he doesn't seem to be concerned in the least that the deterioration in my wife's memory is self-evident and increasing. Is Co-Q-10 of benefit to anything other than anxiety level in regard to this, as Dr. Duane Graveline suggests?

[dougbremner]

Yes, statins can 'make you stupid' and I have written more about that on my blog here:
http://www.beforeyoutakethatpill.com/2008/2/statins-make-you-stupid.html

Here is what I wrote about CoenzymeQ in my book: "This enzyme occurs naturally in the body that is involved in energy transfer in the mitochondria. Since coenzyme Q10 decreases naturally with aging, and since the risk of heart disease increases with aging, this has led to the conclusion that supplementation with coenzyme Q10 will prevent heart disease, or prevent recurrence of a heart attack. Studies of coenzyme Q10, however, have shown only some modest changes in measures of cardiovascular function that were not directly related to clinical function. No studies have shown clinical improvement related to heart disease treatment or prevention with coenzyme Q10."

If you have high cholesterol you might consider niacin. It is a vitamin, can cause flushing but is safe and effectively lowers cholesterol.

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Hmm. I'll give you two guesses as to who funded these so-called "studies". Rubbish, if I ever heard it.

[tao53nyc]

Vitamin C didn't seem to hurt Linus Pauling any - he took 17 grams a day and lived to 93.

"There are more old drunkards than old doctors."

[jvarga]

Hey I've got an idea. Lets throw out all science and replace it with anecdotal stories. We can start with evolution and instead say "what about what this here old book says?"

[dougbremner]

Vitamin C if taken daily can reduce the number of days you have a cold, but taken after the cold starts has no effect. Yes it is safe, flushed out in the urine, unlike Vitamins A,D,E,K which are stored in the liver and body fat and can go up to toxic levels.

[camb94]

One thing that you have not covered though is what kind of vitamins are they doing studies on? Are they synthetic, or organic (i.e. coming from plant based). Or does it matter. I have heard that there is a major difference between whether your vitamins are synthetic. The organically created vitamins have much shorter shelf lives, and are closer to the equivalent of getting vitamins from your food. That said, there are a lot of people who still go overboard.

[dougbremner]

good point. They are synthetics, which represent one chemical variant of the wide variety of variants of the individual vitamins which actually exist in food. That is why I say eat your fruits and vegies-- they have what you need.