vitamin supplements is safe ?

2 analyses this week raised gnawing anxieties concerning the security of nutritional vitamin supplements and a host of questions. Should everybody be taking them? Which ones are most risky? And if you do take them, how can you pick the safest ones?

Vitamins have long had a “health halo. ” Most people consider they’re good for you and at worst might simply be unnecessary. The industry calls them an insurance policy against bad eating.

But our foods are increasingly pumped full of them already. Even junk foods and drinks frequently are fortified with vitamins and minerals to offer them a healthier profile, so the danger is increasing that we’re obtaining too much. Add a supplement and you could exceed the upper limit.

“We’re realizing they’re not as harmless as the industry might have us believe, ” said David Schardt, a nutritionist at the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

This week, a report of almost 40, 000 older women identified a slightly higher risk of death among those using dietary supplements, such as multivitamins, folic acid, iron and copper. It was just an observational study, though, not a rigorous analyze.

Another analyze discovered that men taking high doses of vitamin E — 400 units a day — for 5 years had a a little bit greater risk of prostate cancer.

As many as one-third of Americans take vitamins and nearly half of people 50 and older take multivitamins, reviews advise. Americans spent $9. 6 billion on vitamins last year, up from $7. 2 billion in 2005, based on the Nutrition Business Journal. Multivitamins top the list, at nearly $5 billion in sales.

Yet there isn't any obvious facts that multivitamins reduced the risk of cancer, heart disease or any other chronic health problems. No authorities agency advises them “regardless of the quality of a person’s diet, ” affirms a truth sheet from the federal Office of Dietary Supplements. And vitamins aren’t necessary to undergo the rigorous testing required of U. S. -approved prescription medicines.

Some trends, such as the antioxidant craze over vitamins A and E and beta-carotene, backfired when reports discovered more health risk, not less. And studies that find more disease in people with too little of a particular vitamin can be misleading: Fixing a insufficiency so you have the right daily amount is different from supplementing beyond suggested amounts.

The easiest way to obtain vitamins is to eat foods that normally contain them, said Jody Engel, a nutritionist with Office of Dietary Supplements. “Foods produce more than just vitamins and minerals, such as fiber and other ingredients that may have good health results. ”

Schardt adds: “It’s almost difficult to overdose on the nutrients in food. ”

Some people may require more of certain nutrients and should talk with their doctors about supplements:

— Postmenopausal women concerning calcium and vitamin D to guard bones.

— Women preparing for pregnancy regarding folate, or folic acid, to prevent birth defects.

— People over age 50 and vegans who might need vitamin B12. “As we get older, a number of us no longer produce enough acid in the stomach to extract the B12 in food, ” Schardt explained.