Supplements No Guard Against Country’s Top Killers - East Idaho News
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Supplements No Guard Against Country’s Top Killers

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GETTY 22514 Vitamins?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1393327366788Sorin Popa/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The millions of Americans who take daily supplements may be doing nothing to cut their risk of cancer and heart disease, according to updated guidelines released Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

Nearly half of American adults take at least one dietary supplement, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a daily ritual that costs an estimated $12.4 billion. In light of this, researchers have been striving to determine whether vitamin and mineral supplements have any benefit in preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer — two of the greatest killers in America accounting for nearly half of all deaths in the U.S.

The USPSTF, which sets the standard for the country’s doctors, reviewed all of this research to come to the conclusion that there is inadequate evidence to support or discourage the use of multivitamins and individual vitamin or mineral supplements in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer.

While these findings may benefit some wallets, Dr. Michael LeFevre, co-vice chair of the USPSTF and practicing family physician, said he finds these results “disappointing.”

“You would think that for something done so commonly as taking a vitamin or multivitamin supplements that science would have progressed,” he said. “But we have still don’t have enough science to support that there is any benefit or harm for these supplements. We just don’t know.”

There was enough science, however, for the Task Force to recommend against taking beta-carotene or vitamin E as supplements. Beta-carotene, when taken in excess, appears to increase risk of lung cancer for those at higher risk, including smokers and individuals exposed to asbestos in the past. And while vitamin E does not seem to come attached with any real risks, there seems to be no apparent reason for those in the general population to go out of their way to take supplements to boost their dietary levels of it.

The new USPSTF guidelines build on previous recommendations the group issued in 2003 by adding other supplements such as selenium, calcium, vitamin D and folic acid to a list of supplements that those in good health probably do not need more of to prevent cancer and heart disease — a list that already included vitamins A, C and E.

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