Need a supplement?
Any trip to a grocery or health food store can tell you that there are lot of different supplements out there. Finding one that suits your needs is not always an easy task. Brands, formulations, doses, and health claims on the label can leave people baffled.
What makes matters worse is the possibility that what is listed on a supplement label might be completely different than what is actually inside the bottle. Continue reading
“Don’t waste clean thinking on dirty data.”
For decades we have been trying to understand the effects of vitamin C on the immune system. Linus Pauling wrote Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970, and sometimes it feels like we haven’t made any progress.
The best and most comprehensive analysis of the data at hand, collected from decades of research studies, shows that vitamin C has some effect on the common cold – but it is very limited.
This has led many to conclude that taking vitamin C to ward off a cold just isn’t worth it. Is this the final word on the subject?
Short answer: not even close.
Are multivitamin supplements useless? Does the science all point to these pills being a complete waste of money and time?
This is simply not true, and you should know why. Continue reading
A recent report from the US Preventive Services Task Force in the Annals of Internal Medicine focused on the use of vitamin, mineral, or multivitamin supplements. Their conclusions are that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of these supplements with respect to prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. However, they did issue caution for high doses of vitamin E and beta carotene supplements.
For the most part, experts at the Linus Pauling Institute agree with these findings, as they are supported by an evidence-based review of the scientific literature on vitamin and mineral supplements.
But LPI wants to make this clear: you shouldn’t stop taking your multivitamins.
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