Do you need vitamins?
A review of evidence on the appropriateness of vitamin and mineral supplements is published by the Journal of the American Medical Association
Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow
Review of evidence on the feasibility of using vitamin and Mineral supplements Vitamin and Mineral Supplements. What Clinicians Need to Know is published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to the author of the review, Dr. Joann Manson from Harvard Medical School, who heads the department of preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, vitamin and mineral supplements have become an integral part of the diet of half of the adult population of the United States and other Western countries.
In this regard, the question arises, do people take the supplements that they really need, and are they necessary at all? "It is important to learn how to separate facts from fiction, because there is a lot of advertising hype around dietary supplements, but often their benefits are very limited," the author of the review notes in an interview with NPR radio. The main thesis of Joanne Manson: for the majority of the population, it is better to get vitamins and minerals from food, they are best absorbed in the body from it and it is there that they are present in optimal biological ratios.
Two main points of Manson's review: point one – healthy food is better than pills, point two – for certain population subgroups, sufficient evidence has been obtained in favor of the expediency of taking vitamin and mineral supplements. But in general, there is no need for supplements for a healthy population with a good diet.
The information base for the review was the guidelines of several professional medical societies, as well as the results of a number of randomized clinical trials and analysis of medical literature. In addition, Joanne Manson and colleagues conducted their own studies on the effects of increased doses of vitamins C, E, beta-carotene and folic acid.
The conclusion from these studies leaves no doubt that, in general, a healthy, well-nourished and relatively young person does not need additional vitamins and minerals.
Those who are shown certain supplements are divided into four subgroups.
First of all, these are pregnant women who need folic acid and special prenatal vitamins.
Infants who are breastfed need vitamin D before weaning, and iron from four to six months.
Some middle-aged and elderly people need vitamin B12, vitamin D and calcium supplements.
Another risk group is patients with impaired nutrient absorption, osteoporosis and taking certain medications.
Currently, a large-scale study is being conducted on the possible role of vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and multivitamins in reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Reliable data on this will not appear earlier than in two or three years.
Pay attention:
1) we are talking here about the population of the United States and other Western countries;
2) a healthy, relatively young and well-nourished person does not need vitamins (not hamburgers and not like in the picture below) – VM.
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