Multivitamin pills hardly help in cancers, heart disease

New York, February 10: Multivitamin pills are hardly beneficial in preventing cancers or heart disease in women. The biggest ever study on multivitamins-use, involving 161,808 postmenopausal women, has reversed all beliefs in vitamin diet supplements.

Multi-vitamin supplements account for more than £ 330 million worth of sales a year in United Kingdom. Americans too spend billions on these supplements, without knowing any substantial evidence of their benefit.

The study has put forward some brutal facts, disappointing those who have been regularly taking vitamin pills for years to boost their health. The findings refute the fact that supplements can substitute for a healthy diet.

The 8 years long study found that the pills did nothing to prevent heart disease or common cancers in older women.

Considering the evidence that vitamin-rich diet helps against cancers and heart disease, the researchers conducted trials on multivitamin pills to look for same benefits from them.

Researchers studied the data from two Women's Health Initiative trials, which had 161,808 post-menopausal women aged 50 to 79 years as subjects.

It was found that about 41 percent women had been regular users of multi-vitamin supplement for 15 years.

Observing the women for eight years, it was proved that vitamin pills did not contribute to prevent the risk of kidney problems, breast disease, cardiacdefine ailments or any form of common cancers in women.

Almost equal number of vitamin users and non-users developed cancers and cardiovascular diseases after eight years.

However, vitamin use also did not increase the risk of these diseases, if not helped against them.

Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancerdefine Research Center in Seattle and study’s lead author said that vitamin pills do have their share of benefits in case of poor diet, but there is no need to take supplements if one eats regular vitamin-rich food.

Neuhouser advises: “Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements”.

Eric Jacobs, an American Cancer Society epidemiologist, agrees that though vitamins may not help fight cancer, they are important to maintain healthy weight. He stresses on the need of balanced vitamin rich diet.

The study appears in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.