Are you the sort who regularly pops vitamin pills in the belief that you are assured of a long and healthy life? If so, then you may have to think again.
According to the latest study published in the American Medical Association, people who are on a regular intake of vitamin A, E and beta-carotene might actually be risking an earlier death! All the three mentioned supplements are sometimes recommended by doctors under the assumption that they provide the body with much needed antioxidants and slow down the aging process. Researchers from Copenhagen University hospital in Denmark found, however, that these vitamins are having exactly the opposite effect. The study estimates after 47 trials conducted on 180,938 subjects that those who intake vitamins have a 5% greater risk of dying than those who refrain from it.
The study claims that vitamin C, which many believe increase longevity, may have no such effect on the human body. Only selenium, the researchers state, ‘tended to reduce mortality’ but stressed that further studies are needed before people are lulled into taking regular supplements of selenium on such a premise.
As with any study, experts are quick to point out apparent flaws. Balz Frei, the director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University says that the findings of the study can be disputed considering that they tested people already known to have risks such as heart disease or cancer rather than completely fit and healthy people. It has long been known in the medical community that antioxidants won’t work in disease treatment, he claims.
Well, I am not going to throw away my bottle of supplements but what this study proves to me is that there are simply no alternatives to a healthy diet.
Via: The Guardian