Doctors Change Stance - Now Recommend Daily Vitamin

AMA to Change Stance; Doctors Now Urging Adults to Take Multivitamin Every Day
Reversing a longstanding anti-vitamin policy, the Journal of the American Medical Association is advising all adults to take at least one multivitamin pill each day. Scientists’ understanding of the benefits of vitamins has rapidly advanced, and it now appears that people who get enough vitamins may be able to prevent common chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis, according to Drs. Robert H. Fletcher and Kathleen M. Fairfield of Harvard University, who wrote JAMA’s new guidelines.
The last time JAMA made a comprehensive review of vitamins, about 20 years ago, it concluded that normal people shouldn’t take multivitamins because they felt people received all of the nutrients they need from their diet. They added that only pregnant women and chronically sick people may need certain vitamins. Researchers now hope that JAMA’s endorsement will result in more people benefiting from a daily vitamin.
Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, chief of antioxidant research at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging said, “It’s nice to see this change in philosophy that’s saying we can make public health recommendations based on this really compelling set of data.”
Blumberg said the JAMA recommendations are also important because they underscore a growing concept among nutrition experts that the recommended daily allowances, or RDAs, for many vitamins are set too low. RDAs essentially were established to prevent symptoms of vitamin deficiency disorders, he said. But there is growing evidence that higher levels of many vitamins are necessary to achieve optimum health. The National Academy of Sciences is revising its recommendations based on the new evidence.
Dr. Michael Sitrin, director of the University of Chicago’s clinical nutrition research center, said there is a growing conviction that taking a multiple vitamin a day would improve overall health. Fletcher and Fairfield said efforts to get people to eat healthier diets have not been very successful. The nation’s doctors need to upgrade their nutrition knowledge and tell patients to take multivitamins.
The Harvard researchers reviewed more than 150 studies to determine the health benefits of nine vitamins. They concluded that suboptimal levels of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 are a risk factor for heart disease, neural tube defects and colon and breast cancer; low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteoporosis and fractures; and inadequate levels of the antioxidant vitamins, A, E, and C may increase the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Although the articles did not specifically recommend vitamins for children, Fletcher said they probably should take a daily multivitamin for the same reason as adults. “The old advice was that you ought to take a vitamin pill while you’re growing up, but once you are an adult, you don’t need to take them anymore,” he said. “The new evidence counters that advice.”
Fletcher said most popular over-the-counter brands of multivitamins are sufficient and cheap, costing $20 to $30 per year. However, men and non-menstruating women should probably avoid multivitamin tablets that contain iron, because it may increase the risk of hemochromatosis, a blood disorder caused by excessive iron.
High potency vitamins should also be avoided because excessive amounts of fat-soluble vitamins, such as A and K can accumulate in the body and become toxic.
Source: CHICAGO TRIBUNE June 19, 2002, n.p. © 2002, Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Distributed by Knight-Ridder / Tribune Information Services