By Tara Parker-Pope
Countless consumers believe in the healing power of vitamins. Trouble is, the best major medical studies have failed to show any benefit.
The lack of evidence to support the “megadosing” vitamin movement is the subject of my Well column in today’s Science Times. Many of the major vitamin research studies are highlighted in an editorial last month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. A more lengthy but slightly older summary can be found in the National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference Statement from May 2006.
“We call them essential nutrients because they are,” said Marian L. Neuhouser, an associate member in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle “But there has been a leap into thinking that vitamins and minerals can prevent anything from fatigue to cancer to Alzheimer’s. That’s where the science didn’t pan out.”
Read More