Vitamin Supplements Are Harmful?
The results of studies at Copenhagen University involving 230 000 people have been published lately. The Cochrane Collaboration informed that antioxidant vitamin supplements (such as vitamins A, E, beta-carotene and selenium supplements) bring no health benefits and they do not cut the risk of dying as most people think. Instead, these studies show that the supplements may even shorten our life.
Vitamin Supplements: the Study
Volunteers involved in the trials were divided into two groups. One group included people who were healthy and took supplements for disease prevention; the other consisted of sick volunteers who also took the supplements. The researches at the Cochrane linked vitamin A to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% and vitamin E to a 4%. As far as vitamin C concerned, there was no negative effect found.
Colleagues’ Opinion
Pharmacologists at the Institute of Pharmacology supported the idea that heavy consumption of some vitamins can be harmful.
Vitamin Supplements and Lung Cancer
Some other scientific studies have looked at the lung cancer problem. The findings show that 77 721 of people who took part in clinical trials over 10 years experienced no tangible health benefits as they took vitamin C supplement, but 521 of them who took much of vitamin E got the lung cancer.
Tips on Vitamin Supplements Consumption
The results of these studies encourage us to be more diet conscious. We should eat well and be extremely careful about using the supplements of vitamins A, E and selenium. If you really need more vitamins, get them from vitamin complexes and fresh-squeezed juices.
Where Do You Get Vitamins?
Natural food is the best way to get all essential vitamins, antioxidants and mineral salts to promote overall health. For example, such foods as liver, milk, eggs, carrot, oranges and all other vegetables and fruits that are red or orange in color provide a rich source of vitamins A, E and beta-carotene. Grains, fish, eggs are rich in selenium, other antioxidants and mineral salts.
