Do we really have to?
The evolution of society over the recent past has been nothing short of dramatic. We have become unapologetic perfectionists,discontended and afraid. We have become control addicts,wanting to control everything,leaving nothing to chance and her companion,fate.We even want to have a plan in place in case we get ill and can’t make our own decisions.We take vitamins and minerals in our quest to ensure the perfect health.We refrain from some of life’s little pleasures in case we land up with some dreaded ill. After all we cant afford to get sick,right? We are simply too busy,and somehow in all the busyness we have come to believe that we can control our destinies.
By now you are wondering what i am on about. Well,enough of the suspense. I am talking about how we have convinced ourselves that we can buy good health,the greatest leveller of all, over the counter.I am not at all suggesting that we descend into an abyss of gluttony without observing a few fundamentals of good health.I do challenge you to look at how much of what we do is actually beneficial.Do we really have to ingest vitamins and all manner of supplemetal antioxidants daily?Does it matter?
I am well aware that i may be treading on somewhat shaky ground here,and that i may invite the wrath of vitamin proponents. Afterall,didn’t most of us grow up with our well meaning mothers coaxing us to “drink up and be a good girl”?Vitamins have come to be the holy grail of healthy existence,but should they?What is the evidence?
Please don’t get me wrong,there is certainly a place for taking vitamins and minerals in the maintenance of the health equilibrium .For example,women with osteoporosis and increased fracture risk benefit from calcium and vitamin D supplementation.Pregnant women and women of child bearing age must be on folate supplementation, as it plays an important role in neurological development of the unborn child.Certainly young women do benefit from iron intake,especially if they have heavy menses,and resultant iron deficiency anemia.
Furthermore, people with documented vitamin deficiencies like Vitamin B12,must receive a monthly B12 injection. Conditions that would predispose to this include a certain type of gastritis(inflammation of the stomach lining),gastric bypass surgery,vegan diet, and alcoholism.An otherwise healthy individual does not need to take additional vitamin B12,as it is present in adequate amounts in animal fats and dairy products.
An area of interest,though, has been whether vitamins can prevent chronic ailments like cancer and cardiac diseases.The results are conflicting,but the weight of data suggest that vitamins are at best feel-good,placebos with no real impact on our risk of disease.
The studies conducted are too numerous to detail in this article,but the majority do cast a shadow of the impact of this age old tradition.It is important to also remember that there are a lot of predisposing factors at play,that would place a particular person at risk of developing cardiac disease or cancer,and those complexities are unlikely to be annihilated by taking a low- dose multivitamin daily.
There are more powerful and effective tools to keep diseases at bay,like smoking cessation,whose benefits are innumerable. Alcohol overuse is also known to cause a myriad of health problems,among others liver failure and cancer,head and neck cancers, heart failure, irreversible neurological deficits and dementia.
Exercising assists in maintaining weight and as a result decreasing the risk of all obesity related diseases:backache,diabetes ,high blood pressure,cardiac problems, to name but a few.
We can also modify our diets to include more fresh fruit and vegetables,less salt and more “good” fats,as in olive oil.A balanced diet is usually adequate,obviating the need for further supplementation.
A common question is whether high doses of vitamins and alternative medicines provide additional benefit,either alone or in combination with chemotherapy in patients already diagnosed with cancer.Available mainstream data show no benefit in the use high doses of vitamins alone or in combination with chemotherapy or radiation treatment. In fact preliminary data has shown that these can actually interfere with the efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs.There will always be sporadic cases of someone “cured” of cancer using a vitamin infusion as treatment,but at this point in time strong ,robust evidence,acceptable by a scientific and statistical standard is lacking.
Most of the herbal alternatives and supplements can actually interfere with the breakdown of the drugs in the liver,by either causing rapid breakdown(eg St Johns wort),thus decreasing the efficacy of the chemotherapy,or delayed breakdown(eg grapefruit juice), exposing the patient to unacceptable side effects.
It is thus important to ask your physician about possible interaction between any vitamins or herbal formulation and medication you may be taking.You may be surprised that something that seems innocuous may actually have significant and often unfavourable effects when combined with other medications.
Vitamins definitely have a role to play in improving our health in defined clinical scenarios, and they are certainly not harmful.However we must get into the habit of examining and weighing the evidence. Not everything we purchase in the name of health is necessarily beneficial.
(Cancer patients wanting to verify the effect of supplements they may be taking on their disease can visit www.cancer.org).
