Vitamin pills can reduce life expectancy

Study: Vitamin supplements left the life expectancy of older women

10/13/2011

The drug industry is promoting artificial vitamin supplements and mineral pills to allegedly increase the health and performance of the consumer. According to a US study, regular intake seems to do the opposite. During a long-term study, it has been found that continued intake of vitamin-rich supplements reduces the life expectancy of older women.

In all variations, vitamin pills are offered commercially. The manufacturers advertise with positive health effects. Instead of the hoped-for life extension, the artificial pills have a negative impact on the relative life expectancy, as a research team in the Iowa Women's Health Study report. Only the calcium tablets were able to achieve positive effects, as the study authors write.

Vitamin pills shortened lifetime
A total of 38,000 women took part in a long-term study. All study participants were at the beginning of the research work 22 years ago, an average of 62 years old. During the period, the subjects were questioned at equal intervals three times in total about their consumption of vitamin-rich dietary supplements. Women's questionnaires should provide answers to individual product types and duration of use. After the observation period, about 40 percent of the subjects had died. The researchers then compared the death rate with the intake of vitamin supplements and recognized a direct relationship to lethality.

In the evaluation, the scientists distinguished vitamin pills and mineral supplements with the ingestion intensity. The result: Almost all vitamin and mineral supplements led to a higher risk of dying women. Among the multivitamins, the death rate was 2.4 percent higher than among those who did not consume these pills. In vitamin B6 and iron, it was about 4 percent higher in folic acid, the death rate was even just under 6.0 percent higher than in the comparison. The only exception was the calcium tablets. Here, the research team was able to make a 3.8 percent lower risk of death.

Results are a rough guide
However, the study results are only a rough indication that the consumption of artificially produced vitamins harm the human organism, as the researchers emphasized. Because in the study, other risk factors such as the state of health were not included. Earlier research had shown, however, that the intake of vitamins on an artificial basis harm health rather.

Sufficient supply of vitamins guaranteed
In the Western world, vitamins are added to almost all kinds of ready-to-eat foods. In addition, the supply of fruits and vegetables is rich, so that additional vitamin medicines in healthy people are completely superfluous. If people eat a balanced and full-bodied diet, extra pills are unnecessary. Only in certain life constellations it may be necessary to take certain preparations on the advice of the doctor. These life situations include, for example, pregnancy, lactation or severe chronic diseases. "That's definitely not necessary," says nutritionist Isabelle Keller of the German Nutrition Society (DGE). The supply of healthy food is manifold in Germany all year round. Consumers have the opportunity to spend the whole year „to provide enough vitamins without problems.“ An overdose of supplements can cause harmful consequences. Vitamins A, D, E and K as well as beta carotenes accumulate in the body due to their fat-soluble nature. There is no European guideline for legal requirements for maximum levels in vitamin products. For the nutrition expert, this is one „gray area“. If you want to keep healthy, you can get enough vitamin supplements in their natural form. A plate of fruit brings more than 100 pills and tastes much better. (Sb)

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Image: Juliane Drechsel