More than half of America take vitamin supplements. 68 percent of those who take vitamins are 65 and older. Of that 68, 29 percent take 4 or more supplements of any kind. Are older Americans taking too many vitamins?
Wanting an Easy Solution
The National Institutes of Health have spent more than 2.4 billion dollars since 1999 studying vitamins and minerals. They don’t appear to have much to show for it. There’s no conclusive evidence that dietary supplements prevent chronic disease in the average American. While there’s been the occasional positive finding, it isn’t enough to recommend it to the general public.
Part of the problem is believed to be that people think they need more vitamins than a regular diet provides. This includes doctors as well. Even though research shows that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables are plenty healthy without vitamins.
Granted, Western diet has some issues with too much sodium, sugar, saturated fat, and calories in general, it’s not short on vitamins. People just want to swallow a pill and be better instead of putting some effort into creating and maintaining a good diet.
Taking Too Many Vitamins
There are more than 90,000 dietary supplements to choose from. Federal health agencies and advisors still recommend that Americans meet their nutritional needs through food, especially fruits and veggies.
American food actually tends to be highly fortified. There’s vitamin D in milk, iodine in salt, B vitamins in flour, and calcium in some types of orange juices. This can make it hard for proper studies because it’s not easy to find a control group who haven’t partaken in these fortified foods.
Taking too large a dose of vitamins and minerals—amounts that you wouldn’t get from food alone—could be causing more trouble than its worth for people. For example, an early study suggested that beta carotene, a substance found in carrots, could help prevent cancer. In the tiny amounts provided by fruits and vegetables, beta carotene appears to protect the body from a process called oxidation. This damages healthy cells.
Experts were shocked when a study done in the 1990s found that beta carotene pills actually increased lung cancer rates. A similar study found that vitamin E in large doses increased the risk of prostate cancer in men by 17 percent.
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