How Beneficial Are Multivitamins? We Don't Know

May 19, 2006

You see multivitamins for sale in supermarkets, health shops,

pharmacies, general grocery stores and health clubs. Hundreds of

millions of people worldwide take them regularly, without fail. But,

what good do they do us? We simply don't know.

According to a US panel of experts from the NIH Office of Medical

Applications of Research and the Office of Dietary Supplements, there

is scant information on the benefits and safety of multivitamins.

Multivitamins, in the USA alone, bring in revenues of over $20

billion a year for those who sell them. Half of all American adults

take multivitamins.

The panel looked at two days of expert presentations and public

discussions. It concluded that more rigorous scientific research is

needed on multivitamins use to prevent chronic diseases.

NIH Panel Chairman, Dr. M McGinnis, said the science base is

especially thin with respect to the health impact of multivitamins.

He said that insufficient available data makes it impossible for the

panel to make a firm recommendation for or against the use of

multivitamins. He said what little data there is, is not in-depth

enough.

The theory goes that if you eat badly, multivitamins can compensate.

But we just don't know whether this really happens. Some studies have

indicated that the people who take multivitamins the most are also

the most health-conscious ones. People who eat well and do exercise

consume much larger quantities of multivitamins than those who eat

badly and exercise the least.

Several studies have shown, though, that if you eat your fruit and

vegetables regularly, you will be consuming the right amounts of

vitamins needed for good health.

The panel did manage to make the following recommendations:

-- The combined use of calcium and vitamin D supplementation helps

protect postmenopausal women's bone health.

-- Anti-oxidants and zinc should be considered for use by non-smoking

adults with early-stage, age-related macular degeneration.

-- Women of childbearing age should take daily foliate to prevent

neural tube defects in infants.

-- There is evidence that smokers should avoid taking beta carotene

supplements regularly as there is a raised risk of lung cancer.

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