Vitamins bad for your health?

Or a biased study?...........




A yahoo report today;http://uk.news.yahoo.com/28022007/140/vitamin-pills-increase-risk-death.html states that rather than helping increase your life expectancy, taking Vitamins A and E increases your risk of death! I've put a comment at the end of this article.


Millions use antioxidants Beta carotene and Vitamins A and E across the globe and it
has previously been alleged they helped protect against heart disease and cancer.

Scientists in Denmark, now say that antioxidants "significantly increase mortality". BUT critics said the finding was based largely on studies of people who were already chronically ill before they were treated with supplements!

The study related only to synthetic supplements and not to fruits and vegetables, which are natural and contain less concentrated levels of antioxidants.

Researchers did not pinpoint any biochemical mechanism that may be behind the increased death risk. But it may be that "by eliminating free radicals from our organism, we interfere with some essential defensive mechanisms," the study concluded.

The report stated that those taking Beta carotene and Vitamins A and E had a 5% higher death risk than those not using them.

It also found no evidence that Vitamin C increases longevity. Although Selenium tended to reduce mortality, more research is needed on that topic.

Speaking as someone who takes vitamins (not A or E but C), I'm always interested in these sorts of articles but this one has been taken out of context and reported correctly but incorectly, if you see what I mean? The results are absolute and truthful however this report needs to be added to many others before a declaration is made about the vitamins concerned.