Relationships | 02/10/2009 10:10 am

Multivitamins Don't Prevent Cancer or Heart Disease in Post-Menopausal Women

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Forget that one-a-day multivitamin habit. A major new study of post-menopausal women found that supplements don’t do a bit of good when it comes to warding off cancer or heart disease — the top two killers of women.

The study, which drew on the 161,808 women enrolled in the prestigious Women’s Health Initiative, suggests that women should get their nutrients from food instead of from dietary supplements.

"Women can be encouraged by the fact that these vitamins seem to do no harm, but they also seem to confer no benefit," said study co-author Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "The kind of vitamins you get from diet is quite different, because foods are very complex and have a lot of chemicals we don’t know about that interact with each other. [Eating a varied diet] is not the same as distilling it into a pill. The message is to eat a well-balanced diet, exercise and maintain weight."

Sure, but taking a pill is so much easier!

23 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Good article in the NY Times today on this very subject.

By f p on 02/10/2009 10:21 am

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Link please, I’m lazy today.

By EKA - on 02/10/2009 1:26 pm

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Here’s the link. doesn’t tell us much. I never thought vitamins warded off cancer or anything else for that matter. I always looked on them as a supplement. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/health/research/10regi.html?_r=1&ref=t…

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 02/10/2009 5:40 pm

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There is not only cancer and heart disease to consider. I was just told that fish oil and flaxseed oil might help with eye health. I have extremely dry eyes and use artificial tears and drink extra water for this condition. And, a multivitamin provides being provided with some minerals and vitamins we might not get in our food because of eating habits. One thing I notice is that I don’t get enough potassium in my diet and take the pills. How can I tell when I don’t get enough potassium, I get leg cramps. Since I can’t run and get a banana or avocado when I need one, I take a pill. As important as heart health and breast cancer prevention is, we have other parts to our bodies that need help too so if a multivitamin every day provides any help, go for it.

By Judy K. on 02/10/2009 10:36 am

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You are so right Judy. My husband has Macular Degeneration and his doctor told me that the only suggestion he has for me towards not getting such a problems was a good multi-vitamin. And I also need to take potassium, I am always low in it and bananas don’t stay fresh long enough to make them a viable source for regular use. There a lot of good reasons beyond cancer and the heart for that vitamin pill to be taken.

By Sandbee (FB) 54 on 02/10/2009 10:49 am

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Sandbee, bananas can be frozen quite easily without potassium wasting - that makes them a prime ingredient for smoothies, too. But, peel them first, wrap them in Saran wrap or put them in a Lock & Lock in the freezer, with some lemon juice squeezed over them. When you make your smoothies, or need some banana for spreading on a sandwich, or bran muffin (yummy), it’s ready, willing and abled! I do mash mine first. If adding to smoothie, they take the place of ice, which thickens a smoothie. Sometimes, just some water, orange, a handful of frozen strawberries, and the banana, wheat germ, flax-seed oil, and yogurt is all that one needs for a perfect meal. If you’re not used to “such tings,” start “short.” Just add the banana to some OJ in a blender. Or, 2% milk (must have 2% butterfat to absorb the calcium in the milk), the banana, a shake of vanilla, some sweetener or nectar to taste, and enjoy. Little steps make for easier trips.

By C jay on 02/11/2009 12:03 am

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C jay, thanks for great ideas, was never sure about freezing bananas, don’t know why except they seem different than alot of things. Will give it a try for sure. Do believe you get the potassium better if you get it naturally.

By Sandbee (FB) 54 on 02/11/2009 6:35 am

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I have dry eyes too and have Punctum plugs in each of my lower tear ducts. I also use Restasis eye drops. They are prescription drops, but this has kept my dry eyes in check, and what a relief.

By Lizzie R. on 02/10/2009 9:20 pm

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Hogwash! I eat healthy, I exercise and will continue to take any vitamin that I choose. I am so over studies that take twenty women and pretend to come to a scientific conclusion on just about any subject….20% of women wearing red on any day that ends in 2 in studies show they sweat more profusely, I bet.

By Agyness O on 02/10/2009 11:15 am

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I absolutely wholeheartedly agreee. Studies or not, eating healthy, nutritious foods, and regular exercise, in addition to vitamins have proven to me (no study needed) all i need to know. Are these studies backed and paid for by the Federal Food and Drug Admin. by any chance????????

By anne wilcox on 02/10/2009 1:48 pm

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You crack me up, agyness. The last astronomical heart “drug” study was skewed - what they weren’t telling “us,” was how long were those “almost 50% on this drug” on it without having a heart attack. At which point in the “research.” There were far too many gaps in it, and ended up sounding like another drug compnany last-ditch effort to get the public to “Ask your doctor about such and such - it’ll save your life.” Such inane ads ignore traffic accidents, lung cancer, et al. For some reason, we never ask to see the data - I remember when the NIH Breast Cancer consensus about the taxols came out, and it was recommended that I take them, too!!! My first question after looking at the data, “where are those women, today?” I didn’t take it, thank goodness, now. There are ways to interpret the data, and obtain scientific help with that chore, too - my oncodocs were wonderfully helpful thank goodness. I think I’ve noted this before, it was noticed in an extensive study in Japan - practices that reduced cancer led to cvd (cardiovascular disease) and vice versa. In truth, if we live long enough we are going to have cancer or heart disease. For 99.9% of humans, it’s not being dead that gets to us, but getting there. Hence, having a top team in place, after carefully choosing those members, is the best thing one can do for oneself, IMHO. Even then, life’s a brut at times.

By C jay on 02/11/2009 12:14 am

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We should always try to eat healthy. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day to eat the right foods. Be careful, just because the bottle says it’s a multivitamin, you may not being getting the right nutrients. Check the label and read a little more on the right kinds of vitamins, plus dosage. Also, CoQ10 is great for the heart. It’s especially important if your taking a statin drug, as that drug depletes your body of CoQ10.

By Barbara Taylor on 02/10/2009 11:46 am

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Statins are the reason we now know about mitochondrial myopathies. Guess that’s good, but it’s also not good.

By C jay on 02/11/2009 12:27 am

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but I agree with CoQ10 - I’d like to see some controlled studies done on it, but at the same time, like Goldenseal (we all took it “around the house” when we were coming down with the grippe - ). As with Goldenseal, as a nationally infamous pedi once told me, “Shhhh. If we say too much about it’ll be put in the Pharmacopoeia and cost us $20.00 a tablet.” So goes CoQ10.

By C jay on 02/11/2009 12:30 am