Supplements offer no apparent benefits for already healthy people.
Credit: Sarah Schmalbruch/Insider
Despite the sheer number of vitamins and health supplements on the market today, little proof exists that these pills and powders have health benefits for the general population. Some research even suggests supplements can actually harm your health.
A new study offers even more evidence that vitamin supplements aren’t helpful — and could even create risks for otherwise healthy people. According to the study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, dietary supplements don’t help people live longer or offer any other notable health benefits.
Researchers looked at a variety of supplements, including vitamin A, vitamin K, and zinc, and found that they offered no health benefits, but also no health risks.
Vitamin D was a different story. Researchers found that people in the study who took 10 micrograms of vitamin D supplements daily— but had no pre-existing vitamin D deficiencies — increased their overall risk for cancer and death.
“The potential harm of vitamin D supplement use among individuals without […]
To some extent, this article is old news for those who knew that pure ingredients are not absorbed, as are the same compounds when ingested in whole foods the way nature intended. As an 8-year whole foods plant-based adherent, I take only B12 and Vit D because I live in a northern climate and don’t wish to eat the dirt on the carrots and beets I grow. 🙂
Consult with my doctor who is a part of a profession that makes America the most medicated of any country on the planet? No thank you. By the Grace of god and no pharma I have made it to almost 70 by taking a lot of various supplements over many years. While I’m sitting here my mother-in-law is watching her TV where drug ad follow one after the other. The unstated mantra might be “if there is not something wrong with you then you just don’t know that there IS something wrong”. Who knows for sure we will all be dead at some point which as I age has become more and more a present awareness. Just hope to die healthy without being indebted to pharma and the med profession.
I must disagree with this article and the study it represents. First of all the Vitamin D discussion does not discuss the fact that people who are forced to live inside and get no sunlight need Vitamin D supplements to keep from having stomach problems. My wife found that out this past winter. As soon as I got her on Vitamin D supplements for a few weeks, her stomach problems went away. She also needs to take Co-enzyme-Q10 because she takes statins and they lower Co-Q10 and cause severe problems. We both also take prebiotics and probiotics which we need to help us to digest our food and we never have any stomach problems because we use them, although we used to have stomach pain at times before we started using prebiotics and probiotics. Some supplements are very good for your health especially when you get older and your body does not supply all the necessary nutrients even though we eat well. This study is just wrong, period.
That’s why I urge people to discuss this with their medical advisor.
Yes consult your physician, but make sure they know what they are talking about. The best doctor is one who is versed in natural medicine, if you can find one. My wife had a problem when she became unable to get a heart medicine called Bumex and I made sure her current doctor got in touch with our pharmacist and they could not get the correct medicine to replace the Bumex and she ended up in the hospital because the Lasix medication was not strong enough and she ended up in the hospital and nearly died because the did not give her enough. Luckily her heart specialist brought her out of it by increasing her Lasix, but not until she suffered cardiomegaly and it almost killed her. After that, her doctor quit and her pharmacist retired because they knew they were at fault and we could have sued, and probably should have. We hate pharmaceutical products and trust the supplements we take more than pharmaceutical products.