Study: Vitamins Won't Protect You

Don't think that taking a multivitamin will prevent cancer or heart disease. It won't, according to a large study of older women. This study used data from long-running government research on women age 50 or older. More than 4 out of 10 said they took multivitamins regularly. The studies kept track of women for eight years. In that time, the rates of cancer and heart disease were about the same whether women took vitamins or not. Death rates also were similar. Researchers said people should get nutrients from food, not pills. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. The Associated Press wrote about it February 10.

What Is the Doctor's Reaction?

In these hard times, many of my patients are having trouble paying for medicine. Many have lost their jobs. Yet, several times a day, people ask me about whether they should take expensive vitamins, herbal medicines and nutritional supplements. More than half of Americans take these supplements.

Americans spend $20 billion a year on vitamins. Yet no study to date has demonstrated a clear benefit for vitamins in the prevention of cancer, heart disease or death.

A new study from the journal Archives of Internal Medicine looked at women's vitamin use. The study used data from more than 150,000 women who had completed menopause. About 4 out of 10 used multivitamins. The authors of the study gathered eight years of data on the women's health. They showed that multivitamins had little or no benefit on the risk of common cancers, heart disease or death.

One interesting finding was that women who used vitamins were more likely to be white and college educated than women who did not use vitamins. They also were thinner and more physically active. It makes me wonder whether these vitamin users might have had a healthier lifestyle in general. This could have lowered their risk of illness, regardless of vitamin use.

This study has several strengths. They include the large number of women involved, the use of detailed measures, and direct information from patients' pill bottles. These results also agree with earlier studies that asked similar questions.

What Changes Can I Make Now?

If you are a woman taking a lot of vitamin supplements, you can probably save your money!

In all seriousness, disease prevention is very hard work. In order to maximize your chances of preventing heart disease, cancer and death, it's a great idea to:

• Quit smoking, if you smoke.

• Maintain a healthy weight.

• Exercise.

• Buy the best-quality, fresh food you can.

• Eat foods that are low in fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Some groups of people do benefit from vitamin and mineral supplements. Among them are women of child-bearing age, who should take folic acid. All women need calcium. If you don't get enough in your diet, you should probably consider taking calcium supplements.

What Can I Expect Looking to the Future?

Several large studies about the health benefits of vitamins are under way. Unlike the study published this week, the ones running now are randomized, controlled studies. People with similar health status and background are assigned at random into at least two groups. Usually, one group receives a treatment, such as a pill. The other group receives a placebo (fake pills). Then results in the two groups are compared.

This type of study is considered the gold standard of medical research. I will be interested in the results of these French, Chinese and American studies. I suspect that the results above will be confirmed, but we'll see!

In the meantime, I continue to hope that health and food policies will evolve to make it easier and less costly to choose healthy habits.