Dear Dr. Garner,
My sister swallows vitamins like they are candy. You can name any vitamin, and I guarantee that she takes it.
She doesn’t go to the doctor, and I am afraid that all these pills could be harming her.
She is 57 years old and basically in good shape. Do you think she could be harming herself?
Worried sister in St. Island

Dear Worried sister,
Your question brings up a very important topic. I was just talking about this with my good friends and colleagues from New York Methodist Hospital, Dr. Peter Mastrorocco and Dr. Anthony Saleh.

Most Americans have become accustomed to taking vitamins. The latest figures show that more than half of all Americans take some sort of nutrition supplement or vitamin.
Most, believe they are safe and have been carefully reviewed by the FDA. Unfortunately this is not the case. The drug companies that make these products are pretty much left to their own designs, and quality assurance practice. They decide the composition of their pills.
It is difficult to make a blanket statement on the value of vitamins. Some people have special requirements which dictate they take extra amounts of specific vitamins. For example, a pregnant woman needs to take folic acid to protect the developing fetus.
Someone who has had stomach surgery may need to take extra vitamins as they may not be absorbed properly from food. Postmenopausal women may need extra vitamin D and calcium to keep their bones strong.
Studies of wide varieties and numbers of patients have found little evidence that multivitamins, the most common type of vitamin pill taken, prevent chronic disease in healthy people.
This past spring, a study of more than 160,000 postmenopausal women was published in a major medical journal. It found that the all purpose one a day vitamin, did not prevent cancer, heart attacks, or strokes and did not reduce overall death rate.
In 2006, a study was performed by the National Institute of Health to evaluate evidence that vitamins and supplements could prevent chronic disease. The conclusion was that evidence for this was just not there. Those taking vitamins and supplements did not have less chronic disease than those not taking them. There was no evidence for “beneficial health related effects for supplements and vitamins.
Even anti-oxidants, which include vitamins A, C. E and beta carotenes have not lived up to expectations. They supposedly work by fighting harmful elements in the body known as free radicals. These free radicals, it is claimed, damage cells and contribute to aging.
It turns out that in a 2007 study of 232,000 people, that the vitamins, failed to protect against heart disease, stroke and cancer and that they actually increased the risk of death.
It is not clear why they do this, but studies at Sloane Kettering have found some very disturbing links between supplemental anti-oxidants and increasing risk of cancer. Apparently some of the antioxidant pills make cancers grown faster and may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy. It seems that vitamin may actually make cancer cells grow more quickly.
A related interesting study, showed that mice, who had cancer, who were fed a diet that was low in antioxidants actually had their tumors shrink. It seems that the free radicals that were thought to only do harm, may actually have a positive role in fighting cancer.
Despite the possible risks of vitamins and cancer, about 80 percent of cancer survivors swallow a daily dose of multivitamins each day.
Why then do Americans spend 25 billion dollars a year on supplements?
Vitamins provide a powerful psychological crutch for us. One might reason, that he doesn’t have time to work out, but by popping a pill it will take care of everything. This is totally false thinking, but feels good.
Some even imagine feeling more energy after taking a pill. This energy is not due to the vitamin one has just taken, but to the placebo effect. This means that if the mind believes the body will have more energy from a pill, then the body is likely to feel this way. The energy however, is not related to a vitamin, but to the placebo effect.
Another example of the placebo effect is demonstrated in a study of vitamin C. It was designed to see if vitamin C could make colds milder and fewer. The scientists gave half the group vitamin C and the other half a sugar pill. They told both groups they were getting vitamin C. In the end, both groups had fewer and milder colds.
Once again the mind took control of the situation- not the vitamin.
If vitamins did not have harmful side effects it would not matter much if people took them. Unfortunately, this is not the case.Vtiamins have many harmful effects including birth defects related to vitamin A, kidney stones from vitamin C, liver problems from vitaimin D and nerve problems from vitamin B.
A study recently pulished in “The Archives of Pediatrics concludes that most children who end up taking vitamins don’t need them. They are being subjected to unnecessary risk, with no benefits.
I urge your sister to stop her harmful practice. She should discuss her medical condition with her doctor and decide what, if any viatamins she needs.
For the rest of our readers, the message is not to say that all vitamins are unnecessary, but rather that they are medications that should not be taken lightly. It is important to know why your are taking them and to follow how successful they are working with appropriate lab and other medical tests.
Speak to your doctor and see if there is any reason you should be taking these pills.
There are some legitimate reasons to take supplements and vitamins, but in the vast majority of cases, they are not needed.
What should be prescribed is a healthy diet, with plenty of fruit and vegetables, along with a dose of exercise- this is the best prescription to avoid chronic disease and to live a long and healthful life.
Be well.

* Reprinted with permission of The Tablet