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04-12-2009, 11:13 PM
One More Bad Vitamin Study
Michael Mooney is a long-term health researcher. Michael co-authored a book about complementary medical options Built To Survive, with all profits donated to non-profit HIV research organizations. He is a consultant to companies in the dietary supplement industry and several non-profit medical research organizations.
Reviews of a study by Neuhouser recently hit most major newspapers with the title: Most Multivitamins Show No Benefit in Preventing Chronic Diseases. The article opens by saying; The news about vitamins keeps getting worse. It then references a number of studies that have been published over the last few years that said that vitamins didn’t really do anything and they might even be harmful. I believe that this study confirms once again that vitamins taken in potencies too low do not reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. The medical/ pharmaceutical industry is creating these studies in its long-term strategy to protect itself from the healthy competition that the progressive use of vitamins represents.
Misinforming Doctors and Patients Alike
Unfortunately, many doctors don’t have time to search for and read the full text of all the studies that are published, so they get too much of their information about nutrition from poorly-grounded newspaper headlines. Like other studies of its kind, the conclusion of the above study will likely have a great affect on physician’s statements to their patients about the use of multivitamins, causing doctors to say that multivitamins have no value in reducing the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
If the authors of that study had fully disclosed what thousands of other published studies show, they would have added, This [conclusion] applies only to very low potency multi-vitamins, like Centrum. Numerous other studies suggest that vitamins with higher potencies may have significant effects on reducing the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. However, the authors left out this disclosure and in effect created a feeling that all vitamins don’t work, deceiving the public by omission. The newspapers continued the trend towards deception by emphasizing this in the text of their articles, and not providing a counterpoint.
Other higher quality studies have given good indications that certain vitamins and minerals in higher potencies do reduce risks of some cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Typically, optimal dose-dependent effects for most nutrients occur at doses far greater than the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which is a survival dose that guarantees only that one will not suffer nutrient deficiency diseases and die. The RDA for vitamin E, for instance, is 30 IU per day, less than one tenth the 400 IU daily vitamin E dose that was shown to effectively reduce the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. RDA doses have never been considered to be doses that optimize human metabolism. Numerous studies confirm the concept that vitamins and minerals have threshold potencies where they begin to cause significant beneficial effects for human metabolism. For example:
Vitamin D Dosing Higher Than the RDA
Still another study found that women who had low vitamin D blood levels (https://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400420/Does-Lack-of-Vitamin-D-Worsen-Breast-Cancer.html) have five times more risk of breast cancer than women with higher blood levels. While studies like the Women’s Health Initiative showed that vitamin D at 400 IU per day had no effect on reducing the risk of breast cancer, numerous studies have shown that vitamin D dosing over 800 IU per day resulted in significantly less risk of breast cancer. Highly regarded vitamin D authority Dr. Michael Holick confirmed the need for higher vitamin D dosing to reduce cancer risk in correspondence published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006.
Selenium At 200 mcg Per Day
Selenium, a mineral, taken at 200 mcg per day, has numerous publications supporting its anti-cancer effects, with one quality study showing a 25% reduced risk of total cancers. Another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a reduced risk of prostate, lung, colorectal and total cancers and a 49% reduction in the risk of total cancer mortality when selenium is supplemented. Yet another study showed a 63% reduced risk of prostate cancer with 200 mcg of selenium per day taken over a 10-year period.
Vitamin E At 400 To 800 IU Per Day
Cardiovascular risk reduction has also been seen with higher vitamin doses. The Iowa Women’s Health Study found a 47% reduction in cardiac mortality as well as a significant reduction in the risk of colon cancer of more than 50% as vitamin E supplement dosing increased, with 400 IU per day being the highest vitamin E dose noted in the study. In the best known of these trials, The Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study, vitamin E at 400 IU to 800 IU per day significantly reduced the incidence of overall fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease events by 47% and the incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction by 77%. In fact, dose comparison studies of Vitamin E consistently show that doses of supplemental Vitamin E of 400 IU or higher can produce important health benefits that lower doses can’t provide. For instance, one placebo-controlled dose-response comparison study showed that while Vitamin E dosing at 60 IU or 200 IU per day had no effect on reducing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that can precede the formation of cholesterol plaque in arteries, increasing doses of 400, 800 and 1,200 IU produced dose-related increasing reductions in the oxidization of LDL cholesterol in the blood stream of 25%, 58% and 61%.
(To read more about studies that show what doses of nutrients are effective see: https://www.michaelmooney. net/VitaminSafetyDosesComplete. pdf)
Many Vitamins Have Optimal Potencies
In summary, Neuhouser’s study looked only at low potency vitamins and minerals, doses that are too low to be effective, and Neuhouser concluded that they didn’t work. Notably, the only multivitamin mentioned in the study was Centrum Silver, a very low potency multivitamin, which was described in the study as a standard multivitamin. In the future when you read a newspaper headline that says vitamins don’t work, the first question you ask should be, Were the vitamin doses in the study high enough to work?
In contrast to vitamins this study looked at, there are numerous multivitamin products sold in quality health food stores across the United States that do deliver the nutrient potencies that have been shown to reduce the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. Look for higher potency multivitamins at your local natural foods stores.
Michael Mooney is a long-term health researcher. Michael co-authored a book about complementary medical options Built To Survive, with all profits donated to non-profit HIV research organizations. He is a consultant to companies in the dietary supplement industry and several non-profit medical research organizations.
Reviews of a study by Neuhouser recently hit most major newspapers with the title: Most Multivitamins Show No Benefit in Preventing Chronic Diseases. The article opens by saying; The news about vitamins keeps getting worse. It then references a number of studies that have been published over the last few years that said that vitamins didn’t really do anything and they might even be harmful. I believe that this study confirms once again that vitamins taken in potencies too low do not reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. The medical/ pharmaceutical industry is creating these studies in its long-term strategy to protect itself from the healthy competition that the progressive use of vitamins represents.
Misinforming Doctors and Patients Alike
Unfortunately, many doctors don’t have time to search for and read the full text of all the studies that are published, so they get too much of their information about nutrition from poorly-grounded newspaper headlines. Like other studies of its kind, the conclusion of the above study will likely have a great affect on physician’s statements to their patients about the use of multivitamins, causing doctors to say that multivitamins have no value in reducing the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
If the authors of that study had fully disclosed what thousands of other published studies show, they would have added, This [conclusion] applies only to very low potency multi-vitamins, like Centrum. Numerous other studies suggest that vitamins with higher potencies may have significant effects on reducing the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. However, the authors left out this disclosure and in effect created a feeling that all vitamins don’t work, deceiving the public by omission. The newspapers continued the trend towards deception by emphasizing this in the text of their articles, and not providing a counterpoint.
Other higher quality studies have given good indications that certain vitamins and minerals in higher potencies do reduce risks of some cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Typically, optimal dose-dependent effects for most nutrients occur at doses far greater than the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which is a survival dose that guarantees only that one will not suffer nutrient deficiency diseases and die. The RDA for vitamin E, for instance, is 30 IU per day, less than one tenth the 400 IU daily vitamin E dose that was shown to effectively reduce the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. RDA doses have never been considered to be doses that optimize human metabolism. Numerous studies confirm the concept that vitamins and minerals have threshold potencies where they begin to cause significant beneficial effects for human metabolism. For example:
Vitamin D Dosing Higher Than the RDA
Still another study found that women who had low vitamin D blood levels (https://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400420/Does-Lack-of-Vitamin-D-Worsen-Breast-Cancer.html) have five times more risk of breast cancer than women with higher blood levels. While studies like the Women’s Health Initiative showed that vitamin D at 400 IU per day had no effect on reducing the risk of breast cancer, numerous studies have shown that vitamin D dosing over 800 IU per day resulted in significantly less risk of breast cancer. Highly regarded vitamin D authority Dr. Michael Holick confirmed the need for higher vitamin D dosing to reduce cancer risk in correspondence published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006.
Selenium At 200 mcg Per Day
Selenium, a mineral, taken at 200 mcg per day, has numerous publications supporting its anti-cancer effects, with one quality study showing a 25% reduced risk of total cancers. Another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a reduced risk of prostate, lung, colorectal and total cancers and a 49% reduction in the risk of total cancer mortality when selenium is supplemented. Yet another study showed a 63% reduced risk of prostate cancer with 200 mcg of selenium per day taken over a 10-year period.
Vitamin E At 400 To 800 IU Per Day
Cardiovascular risk reduction has also been seen with higher vitamin doses. The Iowa Women’s Health Study found a 47% reduction in cardiac mortality as well as a significant reduction in the risk of colon cancer of more than 50% as vitamin E supplement dosing increased, with 400 IU per day being the highest vitamin E dose noted in the study. In the best known of these trials, The Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study, vitamin E at 400 IU to 800 IU per day significantly reduced the incidence of overall fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease events by 47% and the incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction by 77%. In fact, dose comparison studies of Vitamin E consistently show that doses of supplemental Vitamin E of 400 IU or higher can produce important health benefits that lower doses can’t provide. For instance, one placebo-controlled dose-response comparison study showed that while Vitamin E dosing at 60 IU or 200 IU per day had no effect on reducing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that can precede the formation of cholesterol plaque in arteries, increasing doses of 400, 800 and 1,200 IU produced dose-related increasing reductions in the oxidization of LDL cholesterol in the blood stream of 25%, 58% and 61%.
(To read more about studies that show what doses of nutrients are effective see: https://www.michaelmooney. net/VitaminSafetyDosesComplete. pdf)
Many Vitamins Have Optimal Potencies
In summary, Neuhouser’s study looked only at low potency vitamins and minerals, doses that are too low to be effective, and Neuhouser concluded that they didn’t work. Notably, the only multivitamin mentioned in the study was Centrum Silver, a very low potency multivitamin, which was described in the study as a standard multivitamin. In the future when you read a newspaper headline that says vitamins don’t work, the first question you ask should be, Were the vitamin doses in the study high enough to work?
In contrast to vitamins this study looked at, there are numerous multivitamin products sold in quality health food stores across the United States that do deliver the nutrient potencies that have been shown to reduce the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease. Look for higher potency multivitamins at your local natural foods stores.