{"id":955,"date":"2014-03-04T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T19:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/?p=955"},"modified":"2016-05-17T10:34:09","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T17:34:09","slug":"taking-multivitamins-still-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/2014\/03\/04\/taking-multivitamins-still-good-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking multivitamins – still a good idea."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Multivitamins\"A recent\u00a0report<\/a> from the US Preventive Services Task Force in the Annals of Internal Medicine <\/i>focused on the use of vitamin, mineral, or multivitamin supplements.\u00a0Their conclusions are that the current evidence is insufficient<\/i> to assess the benefits and harms of these\u00a0supplements with respect to prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. However,\u00a0they did issue caution for high doses of vitamin E and beta carotene supplements.<\/p>\n

For the most part, experts at the Linus Pauling Institute agree with these findings, as\u00a0they are supported by an evidence-based review of the scientific literature on vitamin and mineral supplements.<\/p>\n

But LPI wants to make this clear: you shouldn’t stop taking your multivitamins.<\/p>\n

One of the key words in the USPSTF report is \u201cinsufficient.\u201d Although the report does not thoroughly examine the limitations prevalent in vitamin and mineral supplement trials, it is clear that large, clinical trials of vitamin supplements employ imperfect or inappropriate methodologies<\/a> that render them largely useless in determining the real value of these micronutrients on supporting health.<\/p>\n

LPI analysis of the literature also shows that the conventional trial design \u2013 although a\u00a0\u201cgold standard\u201d for\u00a0\u00a0pharmaceutical drugs \u2013 is strongly biased against <\/a>showing benefits of essential nutrients.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the report combines a very diverse set of interventions together into their recommendations. While a review of the scientific literature can be very powerful, lumping studies together with completely different designs significantly weakens conclusions that can be made. So if the USPSTF statements sound weak, its likely due to these limitation.<\/p>\n

However, the report acknowledges that limitations exist in the research conducted to date.\u00a0Methods are not standardized, levels of\u00a0insufficiency are not well defined, and the validity of\u00a0current models is questionable. All of this “further hinders progress in understanding potential benefits of dietary supplements.” In general, this echoes the LPI message, and highlights all of the points that have limited micronutrient research.<\/p>\n

\n \"Balz<\/a>\n
LPI Director Balz Frei, PhD<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Nevertheless, it is still worth noting that much of the US population does not meet intake recommendations for many vitamins and minerals<\/a>, including the vitamins A, C, D, E, and K, and also calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These gaps can easily be addressed by the long-term use of multivitamin supplements, and when they are,\u00a0some protection against diseases has been noted. The largest and longest trial on multivitamin use found a reduction in total cancer incidence<\/a> and\u00a0cataract<\/a> incidence. This is nothing to be ignored.<\/p>\n

The fact that these conclusions were reached in a health-conscious group (medical doctors) and conducted with the conventional study\u00a0designs suggests that the results of these studies (and the effect of the multivitamin\/mineral supplements) may be even greater when applied to\u00a0general population.<\/p>\n

LPI\u00a0has been on the forefront of supporting the use of multivitamin\/mineral supplements to support a normal diet<\/a>. To quote Balz Frei, director and endowed chair of the LPI: “The persistence of poorly controlled studies within the field of micronutrient research undermines efforts to recommend multivitamins\/minerals as a safe, economical, and effective means of promoting health.” Dr. Frei goes on to say that repeating poor studies “weakens efforts to fund additional, well-designed [trials]”\u00a0and “serves to confuse and detract from the real issue of nutritional inadequacies”.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking a daily multivitamin\/mineral supplements is a safe, affordable, and simple way to help fill nutritional gaps and improve micronutrient status of Americans.”<\/p>\n

Everyone needs vitamins and minerals to keep their bodies functioning properly. Multivitamins are\u00a0a cheap and effective way\u00a0to support good health.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent\u00a0report from the US Preventive Services Task Force in the Annals of Internal Medicine focused on the use of vitamin, mineral, or multivitamin supplements.\u00a0Their conclusions are that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of these\u00a0supplements with respect to prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. However,\u00a0they did issue caution for… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5337,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[582787,582791],"tags":[7439,582822,160036,123729,165491],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-expert","category-lpi-take","tag-cancer","tag-cataract","tag-multivitamins","tag-supplements","tag-vitamins"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1053,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/2014\/07\/03\/following-evidence-multivitamins-revisited\/","url_meta":{"origin":955,"position":0},"title":"Following the Evidence: Multivitamins Revisited","author":"Alexander Michels, PhD","date":"July 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Are\u00a0multivitamin supplements useless? Does\u00a0the science all point to these pills\u00a0being\u00a0a complete waste of money and time? This is simply not true, and you should know why. 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The Linus Pauling Institutes that reading headlines may bring you to the wrong conclusions as they\u00a0ignore the totality of the evidence from decades of nutrition research. 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The Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University has a different point of view - one that is based on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LPI Take"","block_context":{"text":"LPI Take","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/category\/lpi-take\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"multivitamins","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/files\/2014\/01\/multivitamins-300x140.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1186,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/2015\/04\/08\/everyone-needs-vitamin-e\/","url_meta":{"origin":955,"position":3},"title":"Remember: You Need Vitamin E","author":"Alexander Michels, PhD","date":"April 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Clinical trials involving vitamin E supplementation have been mixed\u00a0\u2013 some showed benefits, while others did not.\u00a0Some trials even\u00a0reported negative\u00a0outcomes associated with taking vitamin E. 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Below we offer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Supplement FAQs"","block_context":{"text":"Supplement FAQs","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/category\/supplement-faqs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"supplement bottle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/files\/2017\/01\/vitamins-26622_1280-150x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1699,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/1699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/linuspaulinginstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}