A medical study entitled “Dietary Supplements and Mor tality Rate in Older Women,” was re cently pub lished in the Archives of In ternal Med icine. This has caused some concern among the public about the safety of vitamin supple ments. This study seemingly brought into question the very use of supple ments in enhancing health, and even questioned whether supplements in creased the risk of death. The New York Times followed with an article with the sensational ized title, “More Evidence Against Vit amin Use.” What was omitted in the spectacular head lines was the author of the study’s own conclusion: “It is not advisable to make a causal state ment of excess risk based on these observational data…” In other words, you cannot claim that supplements lead to more deaths, simply because it was ob served that the group of women tak ing supplements seemed to have a higher mortality rate.
I have thoroughly reviewed this study and have found numerous flaws the study’s design and its findings. Please contact me if you would like detailed in for mation about this.
We need medical studies, but we also need to be mindful of what types of conclusions can be drawn from them.
My patients know that I recommend different types of supplements, some times for brief periods and targeted uses, but all based on appropriate lab work. First and foremost, I recom mend a balanced diet, rich in nutri ents, and the kind we can only get from eating whole foods. Supple ments are just that—supplements! They are never substitutes for a poor diet, no more than Lipitor should be a reason not to stop eating greasy French fries everyday.
