Are These Vitamins Dangerous?

Are vitamins dangerous? Well, once upon a time, saccharine . . . red dye . . . buttermilk, all graced our mothers’ kitchens until “researchers” found that they were bad for our health. Now, another mainstay has been deemed perilous – vitamins. Sound silly? These studies could make you think twice:

Barry Halliwell of the National University in Singapore found that while antioxidants in foods are healthy, those same minerals taken, as pills may be harmful.

In another study involving 232,000 participants, doctors compared the overall health of people who took daily vitamin supplements with those who did not. The supplements studied were vitamin A, vitamin C beta-carotene, vitamin E and selenium.

The findings found that groups who were given the daily vitamin supplements had an actual increase in mortality. Compared to the control group, those who took vitamin A had a 16 percent increase in mortality rates, beta-carotene – a seven per cent increase, and vitamin E – a four per cent increase. For vitamin C and selenium there was no significant increase or decrease.

In addition, beta-carotene may actually fuel lung cancer in smokers. Vitamin E may raise the risk of a second heart attack, and Selenium may not prevent cancer after all.

Why the danger? How could something that seems so good be so wrong? First, daily vitamin supplements do not react in the body in the same way as vitamins from food.

A Daily Vitamin Supplement Is Still The Choice For Many Busy People To Get Enough Vitamins & Minerals

A Daily Vitamin Supplement Is Still The Choice For Many Busy People To Get Enough Vitamins & Minerals

Rather than comparing apples and oranges, experts at Cornell University compared apples to capsules. Apples are rich in vitamin C, but when compared to vitamin C tablets the following occurred: the apples contained not only vitamin C, but many other naturally occurring substances that are anti-allergenic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral. No tablet can deliver this. In addition, one apple was found to have 1500 mg of vitamin C – an amount equal to a mega-dose supplement, which cannot be found in a daily supplement.

Here is another conundrum: free radicals are not all bad; in the right doses, they actually keep our bodies healthy. If you remember back to high school Chemistry, you’ll know that free radicals are highly reactive atoms that are missing an electron and desperate to replace it. They have no problems stealing electrons from a cell wall or even bits of our DNA. An excess of these guys may cause cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

Yet free radicals are essential for our bodies to convert air and food into chemical energy. They also help our immune system by attacking foreign germs or particles inside our blood stream. Hydrogen peroxide, for example, is crucial in fighting germs and bacteria.

Furthermore, too many antioxidants may begin a process of pro-oxidation, which accelerates the removal of electrons from atoms, and thus turning them into damaging free radicals.

Several studies have confirmed this antioxidant paradox: people who did not get the daily recommended allowance of vitamin C had increased in free-radical damage to their DNA as well as those who consumed mega-doses of the vitamin. Apparently, vitamin C can worsen cell damage once it has already started.

For example, when laboratory animals that received vitamin C before they were exposed to the carcinogenic chemicals were protected from cancer. However. Animals that received vitamin C after exposure developed high rates of cancer. The antioxidant actually exasperated damage inflicted by the carcinogens.

If this all seems complicated, then take heart – although a daily vitamin supplement is still the choice for many  busy people to get enough vitamins & minerals, you could still make a concerted effort to eat a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and lean meats. That way, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy a healthy life.