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American Medicine
I’m often asked whether or not a person should take vitamins. You probably have asked yourself this very question. You’ve also likely read countless articles say why you absolutely should take vitamins, and heard just as many reports about why you should absolutely never take vitamins. What is a person to believe?
Dr. J. Gaziano and coworkers studied over 14,000 male physicians for a period of over 14 years. Half of them took multivitamins, and half took placebos (sugar pills). The study compared the results in vitamin takers with results in the doctors who took placebos. These results, published in The Journal of American Medical Association online on October 17, 2012, indicated that there was significant reduction of 8% in cancers, and 12% in non-prostate cancers. The total mortality of this group of men decreased 6% by taking vitamins (a trend, but not statistically significant) and cancer mortality was decreased by 12% (again, a trend of only borderline statistical significance). Decreases were seen in frequency of colon cancer, lung cancer and bladder cancer and were more apparent in older men.
These results are similar to other reports. A study of women in Sweden showed a 19% decrease in breast cancer mortality associated with vitamin use. Calcium and vitamin D decreased cancer diagnoses in the Woman’s Health Initiative study. Vitamins were also found to decrease other cancers in the Chinese Linxian study, and in the SU.VI.Max French study.
Importantly, there were no major side effects of vitamins (not surprising since so many of us, about 60% of Americans, already take vitamins). Rash was slightly more common in men taking the vitamins but urinary bleeding was less frequent.
So what’s a person to do? My tip for you: since multivitamins have no toxicity, everyone should start taking multivitamins. This is particularly important as one gets older, but a pill a day may keep a cancer (or other diseases) away! It is important to research where your vitamin comes from, who makes your vitamin, and it’s nutritional density as well. Contact your doctor or nutritionist for recommendations.
