Multivitamins Could Actually Worsen Health

In 1994, the National Cancer Institute studied 29,000 Finnish men. They were all smokers and over the age of 50, chosen because they were at a high risk for cancer and heart disease. Patients were given vitamin E, beta-carotene, both vitamins, or neither.

In 1999, a study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center of more than 18,000 patients who had been exposed to asbestos and who were at a high risk for lung cancer, found that patients who took vitamin A, beta-carotene or both were at a 28% and 17% higher risk of dying from lung cancer or heart disease respectively than those who took no supplements. The study was brought to an abrupt halt.

Findings Opposite to Scientific Thought

The thought behind multivitamin use is simple. When we eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, we take in a lot of vitamins and nutrients, including antioxidants. People who eat lots of fruit and veg tend to be healthier - so surely those who take supplemental vitamins and nutrients will gain the same health benefits? Scientific studies have proven that vitamin supplements could have the opposite effect.

Study after study has shown this not to be true - unless you are a vulnerable person, an elderly person, pregnant, breastfeeding, or a young child.

However, patients who are not vulnerable, and who do not need to take a specific vitamin in order to treat a condition or to maintain their current health are generally advised not to take multivitamins. Taking multivitamins on top of a normal diet and lifestyle could cause a build up of certain vitamins within the tissues of the body, and this build up can lead to certain disorders - taking too much vitamin D, for example, could damage the blood vessels and the kidneys.

Most adults will get all of their vitamin needs from their diet and by eating the right foods - a wide range of plenty of fruits, vegetables, full fat dairy, lean meat, protein, whole grains, pulses and healthy fats. Eating microwaveable meals and taking a multivitamin is absolutely no substitute for the benefits that a healthy diet can provide.

Read More: Multivitamins and Women

Synthetic vitamins are also very difficult for the body to process - because they are made in a lab, rather than in nature, the body finds it hard to metabolize the vitamin and so often, much of the vitamin will be flushed through the waste system of the body.

Why waste money on something that could literally be flushed straight down the toilet?