Vitamins: friend or foe?
01 March 2014 , 6:48 AM by Rob Minshull
This goes for a tremendous range of supplements that many people imagine to be beneficial. Multivitamins, say the studies, do not reduce the chance of cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Controlled, randomised studies-where one group of people take supplements and another takes placebos, and the groups are compared, have produced little evidence that antioxidants protect against cancer.
Many studies appear to show that vitamin C does nothing to prevent common cold, a misbelief that dates to a theoretical suggestion made by a scientist in the 1970s.
Of course, our bodies need these vitamins; it is just that the diet of most people who live in developed countries already includes them in abundance. In many cases, most scientists agree, taking high amounts of them in a refined form (especially vitamins A, C and E and beta carotene) can actually be harmful.
Nevertheless, there are a handful of vitamins and supplements that, studies suggest, are actually worth taking for people with specific conditions. Anthony Power is a Brisbane-based nutritionist.
Photo courtesy of bradley j flickr.com
The original idea for this interview was based on an article in The Smithsonian magazine.
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