Multi-vitamins do not prevent cancer study finds…

A recent large study finds that multivitamins do not prevent cancer in older women.  So stop wasting your money on those vitamins according to these researchers.

“Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements” the lead researcher states.

Okay…hold on here.  Let’s step back and look at the facts behind the sensationalism.

• Firstly, this study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  A little biased towards the pharmaceutical industry?
• Secondly, the cohort was taken from the Women’s Health Initiative study.  So we’re not solely dealing with the intake of multivitamins, but also other factors such as hormone replacement therapy and dietary modification.  If you’ve been keeping up with my articles, you’ve seen that the WHI was cut short because the majority of the cohort developed cancers linked to hormone replacement therapy.  So let’s throw in multivitamins to see if it will prevent cancers from developing due to HRT (because really, that’s the cause of these cancers), but it doesn’t so let’s publish an article saying that multivitamins don’t work!!!
• Thirdly, the study fails to state what multivitamins these people were taking.  Were they all taking the same ones?  What about dosage?  How bioavailable were the supplements?  Were the people even absorbing the supplements?
• Fourthly, the study states that only 41% of the cohort were taking multivitamins.  Hmmm….

The lead researcher does make a good point, however, when she states that people should use supplementation as ‘insurance’ and that they should eat whole foods rather than relying solely on supplements for nutrition.  Exactly!  That’s why they’re called ’supplements.’  They add on to what you’re already getting from your diet.  To prevent cancer and other degenerative diseases, you must take a multi-factorial approach.  Proper diet, exercise, rest, stress management, detoxification, supplementation are all basic parts to optimize your health.

Your take away: don’t buy into the media hype…do your research and be informed!

I recommend the Essentials by Usana Health Sciences as the most bio-available and complete multi-vitamin on the market.  They are rated to be the #1 multi-vitamin/mineral complex on the market, so it makes sense to go with the best.  If you would like more information about theses supplements…please fill out the form below and I will get back to you.