Multivitamins Under Fire:Boosting Cancer Risks in Men

[Guest guest]

does anyone have any thoughts on this?.............Lynn

 

Multivitamins Under Fire:

Boosting Cancer Risks in Men

Written by

Gloria

Tsang, RD

Published in March 2008

 

 

(HealthCastle.com) Although physician-scientists and

supplement manufacturers are often at odds, they don't spend much time

sparring over multivitamins. Health experts mostly don't publicly support

or refute multivitamin supplementation, reasoning that even if they don't

help, they won't hurt either. However, the latest Harvard publication is

among the first to recommend that men toss their multivitamins

away.

 

Multivitamins and Cancer Link in

MenIn the March 2008 issue,

 

Harvard Men's Health Watch notes that recent studies have linked

multivitamin use to prostate cancer. More specifically, studies have

linked high intake of folic acid to colon polyps, the precursors of

colorectal cancer. Researchers speculate that a higher intake of folic

acid, which was first added to grain products in the 1990s, may have

contributed to an increase in colorectal cancers in the mid-90s.

Possible Culprit? Multi + Folic Acid

FortificationWhat does all of this have to do with

multivitamins? Now that folic acid is added to so many grain products, a

healthy diet combined with a multivitamin could boost a person's daily

folic acid intake to 1,000 mcg or more, potentially increasing the risk

of colorectal cancer.

In December 2007, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition

Research Center on Aging cast doubt on the benefits of folic acid

fortification in the

 

Tufts Journal. They found that since the United States and Canada

started fortifying enriched-grain products with folic acid in the

mid-90s, cases of neural tube defects have decreased significantly - by

as much as 50% in some studies. However, during the same period, 15,000

more cases of colorectal cancer were recorded in the United States and

1,500 more in Canada each year.

The Bottom Line

In light of this research, Harvard Men's Health Watch

suggests that the average man give up the multivitamin, at least until

scientists solve the puzzle of folic acid and cancer. Ensure to speak

with your doctor about starting or stopping your multivitamins.

As for the ladies taking multivitamins, since fortified foods are widely

available, the National Institutes of Health panel of experts recommended

choosing a multivitamin with amounts less than 100% of the daily value (%

DV) of the included ingredients to avoid overdose.

[Guest guest]

Lynn and the group,

 

I have done quite a bit of research on vitamins and supplements, and

would tend to agree that some vitamins can not be trusted. What I

have learned is that the percentages of different vitamins is not

always correct for our bodies. Some are way too much, and some are

not enough. However, that is only part of the problem. Many vitamins,

supplements, and minerals are not made so that they even get into our

blood or cells to do us any real good. I was amazed to find that

there is a huge amount of fillers in many over the counter vitamins.

In my research I found that some manufactures fill them with ground

up glass, ground up sand, and ground up plastic. Now while we may not

be getting much nutrition out of these types of vitamins, what does

that do to our systems putting these kinds of fillers in it everyday.

Then there is the fact that many are made over seas, such as China,

where they put lead in them.

 

There is not much regulation on vitamins, supplements, and minerals.

That leads some manufactures to put in just about what ever they

want, weather it is healthy for us or not. After all many

manufactures are just out for the billions of dollars they make off

of selling us the vitamins, not really caring if it helps our health

or not.

 

One report that I read was from a group of health professionals, they

refer to this type of vitamins as bullets. The reason being that in

hospitals and nursing homes they pass threw people so whole that they

hit those bed pans like a bullet. Even those that do dissolve, what

good are they doing us if the vitamin never gets to our cells, to

make us healthier.

 

I have fibromyalgia, and was looking for things that would help me

naturally to have better health. One of the things that I found that

would help me was getting proper vitamins, minerals, and supplements.

I did find really good nutritional supplements, and they helped me

feel so much better. I could really tell a difference, in my health,

once I changed over to better products.

 

I feel it is a very important part of our health to get the right

vitamins, in the right dose, that actually do our bodies good. As in

many things, the buyer has to beware of what they are actually

spending their money on. I for one have made a lot of changes in my

life, to take me to better health, better nutrition being one.

 

Annie

 

 

 

, Lynn Ward <lynnward

wrote:

>

> does anyone have any thoughts on this?.............Lynn

>

>

>

>

> Multivitamins Under Fire:

> Boosting Cancer Risks in Men

>

> Written by

> <http://www.healthcastle.com/press_gloriatsang.shtml>Gloria Sang, RD

> Published in March 2008

>

>

>