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About 90% of American adults do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, but many try to catch up by blowing up pills. According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, 75% of US adults consume one type of dietary supplement. Many people believe that multivitamins provide a one-step way to get the nutrients they need.
But new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that vitamins and supplements may not be enough to keep you healthy.
According to the study, nutrients consumed through supplements do not improve health and longevity as effectively as those consumed in foods. Fang Fang Zhang, co-author of the study, badociate professor of epidemiology at the Friedman School of Tufts University, says that consuming the right nutrients in the right amounts of food was badociated with a longer life. Science and nutrition policy.
"For the general population, it is not necessary to take supplements," says Zhang. "More and more evidence suggests that there are no benefits, so we should go with what dietary recommendations suggest to get proper nutrition from food, rather than relying on supplements. "
The researchers used data from about 30,000 US adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2010. Each person provided information about the use of his supplements in the past month – more than half have used at least – and their eating habits. The researchers then used this information to determine participants' nutrient levels.
During the follow-up period, which lasted approximately six years, more than 3,600 people died.
When Zhang and her colleagues started looking at the data, it appeared that dietary supplements were badociated with a lower risk of premature death, she said. But after adjusting for factors such as education, socio-economic status, and demographics, it became clear that most high-income and more educated people – who are more likely to Being healthy at first – taking supplements. After this adjustment, the link between the supplements and longevity has disappeared.
The researchers found that getting enough vitamin A, vitamin K, magnesium, zinc and copper was badociated with a lower risk of dying quickly, but only when these nutrients came from food.
In fact, some supplements seemed to present health risks. People who took high doses of calcium as a supplement had a 53% higher risk of cancer death compared to those who did not take supplements, the study says. But excess calcium from food has not been badociated with a similar increase in mortality risk, says Zhang, suggesting that the body may not be able to suppress excess excess calcium as well as the natural calcium. The link between excess calcium and cancer is not yet entirely clear and will require more research, she said.
The researchers found that people who took vitamin D supplements but did not have vitamin D deficiency also had a higher risk of death during the study period, but the supplements did not appear to increase the risk of death for those who lacked vitamin D. Some studies have shown that vitamin D supplements could reduce the risk of death and illness, while others do not.
The new study, however, indicates that there is not much evidence that supplements of any kind can prolong your life, despite their widespread use. Supplements are also not strictly regulated in the United States, which means that they can pose problems of safety, efficiency and quality. A study conducted in 2015 estimated that dangerous or poorly taken supplements, including those for weight loss, send more than 23,000 Americans to emergencies each year.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the supplements to the same standards as conventional foods or drugs; manufacturers are therefore responsible for managing safety testing and labeling; the FDA intervenes only in case of problem with a product already sold.
According to Zhang, some people could benefit from certain supplements, including the elderly – who often have difficulty absorbing nutrients in food – and those whose dietary restrictions can lead to deficiencies. But with an abundance of uncertainty and a lack of evidence for supplements, Zhang says that an average person should simply eat a balanced diet that contains a lot of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, rather than turn to over-the-counter solutions.
"More than half of Americans use them, and the reason is to improve or maintain their health," Zhang said. "This state of mind must be changed, given the evidence."
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