Source: China Daily

02-17-2009 14:52

Taking multi-vitamin supplements as 'health insurance' to help you live longer is a waste of time, warn researchers.

Taking multi-vitamin supplements as 'health insurance' to help you live longer is a waste of time, warn researchers. (File photo)

The biggest ever study of its type found no benefits from vitamin pills against cancers or heart disease, and they did not protect against dying prematurely. Sales of supplements have exploded to more than ?

330million a year in the UK, with one in ten adults regularly buying them. However, there is little evidence of any benefits. It is thought the results of studies showing a protective effect may have been skewed by the type of people habitually taking vitamins.

They also tend to look after their health in other ways, such as eating plenty of fruit and vegetables and doing exercise - making it hard to determine if supplements are responsible.

The Food Standards Agency has warned that taking pills is no substitute for a healthy diet.

Scientists in New York combined data from two Women's Health Initiative trials involving 161,808 post-menopausal women aged 50 to 79 years.

Some 41 per cent took vitamin pills for a total of 15 years - mostly multi-vitamins with minerals, says a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal.

There was no beneficial effect from multi-vitamin use on the risk of breast, colorectal, endometrial, kidney, bladder, stomach, ovary or lung cancers.

Researchers also found no link between using vitamins and the risk of heart disease, or death. The findings also showed multi-vitamins did not increase the risk for these conditions.