Without vitamins in our diet we would not survive, but taking too much can be harmful. There is a limit to what we really need.
However, since the discovery of vitamins – or “vital amines” as they were originally dubbed in 1912 – the idea that more is better was promoted, much to the benefit of manufacturers of a billion pound industry.
Driven by health-conscious people and a certain skepticism towards traditional medicine, the global market is huge. Vitamin supplements do not have to meet the restrictions of “synthetic” drugs, so no special license is needed to sell them.
Despite a drop in sales, the UK market for dietary supplements and vitamins remains worth around £385 million a year.
One of the driving forces behind the high doses of vitamins many of us now take came from the support of two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling. In the 1970s, he strongly promoted the work of American biochemist Irwin Stone, who claimed that very large amounts of vitamin C could be used to treat the common cold and even cancer.
Despite the excitement – and our lingering belief that large doses of vitamin C will cure our colds (for example, taking the recommended daily amount of 793% in a Berroca tablet) – the cold hand of scientific trials has put that idea to rest. . Several rigorous trials have shown little effect of vitamin C as a palliative agent that relieves the symptoms of a cold or more serious cancer.
More cases of cancer not less
Worse still, for several years the antioxidant properties of vitamin C, vitamin E and the beta-carotene form of vitamin A (commonly found in carrots) were considered anti-cancer agents. A series of clinical trials later, and it looks like they have no effect or may actually increase the incidence of cancer. Vitamin E supplements did not reduce prostate cancer, but instead resulted in a statistically significant increase of the disease. The increase was also evident in long-term patient follow-ups, suggesting that adverse effects may continue after treatment ends.
A study on vitamin E and beta-carotene found that these did not reduce the incidence of lung cancer, along with beta-carotene actually increases lung cancer and heart disease mortality rates. Similar results have been found with beta-carotene combined with vitamin A. Unfortunately, more recent studies don’t paint a better picture; the use of dietary vitamin and mineral supplements among older women has increased their risk of dying.
The conclusions then for the use of vitamin supplements to prolong life seem rather bleak.
Some Anti-Oxidants Are Bad in High Doses
The purpose of these trials was to see if taking more vitamins was a good thing. But the question may have been answered by taking a closer look at how these vitamins actually work. Take beta-carotene for example. It is an antioxidant and suggested by some to prevent cancer and help fight the effects of aging, but it can be broken down in the body into a molecule that interferes with the body’s own system that prevents cancer.
Beta-carotene is part of the vitamin A family that controls many body systems. Vitamin A is converted in the body into retinoic acid which is an instructional molecule; it binds to proteins (receptors) that tell cells to stop dividing, the underlying basis for the uncontrolled growth of cancer.
It’s ironic then that beta-carotene can be broken down in the body into particular chemicals that block the action of retinoic acid on its receptor, and therefore an essential system in the body that protects against cancer. This may negate the beneficial antioxidant properties of beta-carotene and explain why beta-carotene at the wrong high dose can be harmful.
We need to know a lot more about how vitamins work and the biochemical consequences of high doses – especially since we take so many without thinking they’re harming us. A better and more complete understanding of vitamins could help us find a beneficial mixture for disease.
Vitamin supplements have saved millions of people from death or disease in countries where there is a deficiency in these essential nutrients. And new findings show that nutrients like vitamin A play unexpected roles in the brain and may be essential for necessary processes for learning and memory.
But we still need to figure out how to get the right benefits in vitamin-rich countries. Until we get this right, my advice would be to get all of your vitamins and nutrients from a balanced diet that includes fruits and vegetables.
The billions of pounds spent on vitamin supplements are wasted in the western world and it is a crime that supplements are not redirected to countries that could actually use them.
