The advice is everywhere. Taking a daily multivitamin is good for you. Although I do take one myself, because I have a healthy, well rounded diet, I have often wondered if it was really necessary. Others have wondered also, but the recommendation to take one persists. I have heard a doctor or two saying that multivitamins do no harm except to your wallet. Take one if it makes you feel like you are helping your health. One well known media doctor refers to people who take vitamin supplements every day as having “expensive pee”. Now comes some different news implying that taking a multivitamin may actually harm your health.
You can read the article I saw on the WebMD site, but pretty much what it says is this: If you are a woman and take a daily multivitamin your risk of breast cancer increases by 19%. Now this is just one study, but the results are concerning. The WebMD article offers a few possible reasons for the increased risk but does not mention one that comes to my mind. Perhaps small slow growing cancers that already exist are prompted to grow faster when exposed to the excess vitamins contained in the daily pill? In any case, this article has me rethinking my daily multivitamin, what about you?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
hi Will,
It sure is tempting to wish the simplicity of popping a pill everyday will help us, but my completely-unscientific-and-non-expert-uneducated guess is (assuming one eats healthy) taking a multi-vit really doesn’t do much, good or bad.
I’ve always thought that if you eat a healthy diet, a vitamin pill has no added benefit. I also think a vitamin pill is a poor substitute for a good diet with lots of fresh steamed broccoli, and garden ripened tomatoes when in season.
Good post. ~ Steve
Steve´s last blog ..Trade Show Outboarding
I agree with you Steve. But then I eat a healthy diet and still take a daily multi/mineral pill. Old habits die hard, and the list of what is in the vitamin pill is so long, it makes me think I could not possibly be getting it all from my diet. So I guess I think one thing and do another!
lol Will ‘multivitamins do no harm except to your wallet’ I think hurts my wallet too. I am not big one on any vitamins, because I like to eat well, but then I have personal doctor (my husband) who things I should, lol. Anna
Anna´s last blog ..Who Is The Artist?
I always try & eat fairly healthy. Only occasionally eat junk food. I haven’t taken vitamin pills for years
Having neon colored pee is fun, but it seems like vitamins put an unnecessary stress on your kidneys. Just eat fruits and veggies – having a better diet will make you feel better overall.
“Neon colored pee” :-O
Yeah I have often wondered about that. The B vitamins especially go right through. Indeed your kidneys are seeing the bulk of the vitamin. No idea whether that is good or bad for them though?