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Buying a mega-dose of vitamins is a waste of your money ON CALL >>

October 5, 2008 12:16 am

IF YOU ARE taking a handful of vita- mins each morning, I have some good news, and some bad.

The good news is you are making a significant contribution to the $24 billion-dollar vitamin industry, and in these hard economic times, every dollar you spend helps our collective consumer-driven economy.

The bad news is that you are literally flushing those dollars down the toilet. Seriously.

Most vitamins are water-soluble, and when you ingest more than your body can absorb, the vitamins you did not use will then be present in large amounts in your urine flowing swiftly down the drain.

As with all things, we cannot look for black-and-white, this-or-that answers about meeting our nutritional needs. The devil is in the details. So, let me explain a little bit about what you don't need to take.

Our bodies need adequate vitamin C intake for our immune systems and skin, and we get it--scurvy went out of style shortly after pirates stopped wearing eye patches.

We all need adequate iron, B12 and folate in order to fuel our bone marrow.

However, what the multibillion-dollar "neutraceutical" industry does not want you to know is that we are able to take in all of the nutrients we need from a balanced diet.

There is no medical evidence to suggest that mega-doses of any single vitamin are helpful.

"A daily multivitamin is a great nutrition insurance policy. Some extra vitamin D may add an extra health boost."

This is a quote from The Nutrition Source, the definitive Web site maintained by the Harvard School of Public Health. And with these two sentences, I would be likely able to stop writing this column, but I am hoping you want to know more.

So, what vitamins should you take?

The answer to the above question is likely to change six times before this is published because of ongoing research. What I can tell you is about recent research results.

Vitamin E has failed, in several controlled trials, to prevent heart disease and does not prevent any kind of cancer. This is usually the first vitamin I encourage my patients to stop if they are already taking it. There is some weak evidence that it may even prevent the beneficial effects of statins.

Vitamin C is important, but you get what you need in either a glass of orange juice or a multivitamin. The mega-dose supplements are a rip off. Airborne™ is a product that contains massive doses of vitamin C, but recently, the Federal Trade Commission settled its lawsuit with the makers of Airborne™ for making false claims that it prevented illnessto the tune of $30 million.

Vitamins B6, B12 and folate are all "B vitamins." While these vitamins are necessary for a variety of physiologic functions, mega-doses don't help. Recent trials examining if B vitamins reduce heart disease have been less than conclusive, and certainly have not show them to be dramatically helpful.

You can get what you need in food--folate in fruits, veggies and cereals; B6 in cereals and fish; B12 mostly in animal proteins like eggs, dairy, meats and in those fortified cereals.

Some still believe the myth that B12 shots will magically reduce fatigue--notice I said myth. Beware the placebo effect.

If you are a strict vegan, you are at high risk for B12 deficiency, so make sure you eat your fortified cereal, take a multivitamin, and consider seeking B12 testing if you end up with anemia, or odd neurologic symptoms. And in case you are wondering, I do not think leading a vegan lifestyle is an odd neurologic condition.

GETTING VITAMIN D

The goal of any pharmaceutical or vitamin we ingest is to either lengthen our life or enhance the quality of our life. Which vitamins have been proven to achieve these goals?

Vitamin D appears to be a winner at the moment. There have been a bevy of recent trials suggesting that individuals with a low vitamin D level in their blood suffer an excess of cardiovascular events and deaths.

It is critical to have adequate calcium and vitamin D, especially for young women, in order to build healthy bones to prevent osteoporosis that can begin with menopause.

Vitamin D deficiency has also been implicated, although not nearly as neatly with bone health, in the natural history of depression.

Vitamin D really comes from an interplay of three factors: 1) dietary intake, 2) creation of vitamin D in the skin, and 3) enzymatic processing in the kidney.

So, you not only need to ingest vitamin D, but you also need 10 to 15 minutes of direct sunlight each day (without sunscreen--just don't stay out so long you burn!). You also need healthy kidneys. If you have kidney disease, you should be tested regularly for your vitamin D and calcium blood levels.

So, feel free to purchase any multivitamin. With fast-food diets, we all need some insurance. However, be sure to ask your doctor about the risks and benefits before you spend your hard-earned money on any expensive, and likely to soon be flushed, mega-vitamin.

Dr. Christopher Lillis is an internist with Chancellor Internal Medicine in Fredericksburg. He can be reached at
Email: newsroom@freelancestar.com.