As many of you are aware, I am not a strong proponent of vitamin supplements.
It’s not that I have anything in particular against them; it’s just that I’m a skeptic.
Data on vitamins contained in healthy foods is legion, but two recent studies published in respected journals currently calls into question the benefits of vitamin supplementation.
There is no question that a healthy diet of increase vegetables and fruits leads to improved length and quality of life (although I’ve met fellows who eat meat and potatos are are looking strong into their 90’s)
Still…..it is unclear whether or not the benefits are derived from the foods and diet themselves, or from the vitamins contained within.
As I am a skeptic on all things….medicine research as well as all topics in general….I have considered the legitimate possibility that vitamins can have negative effects on our health by providing essential nutrients needed by fast-growing cancer cells. It seems logical that is cancer cells lose control of their growth cycle (one of the hallmarks of cancer cells), then clearly they will need lots of materials to make more and more cells just like themselves. Such materials if provided in abundance, via vitamin supplements, might be just the thing that cancer cells want and need for unrestrained growth.
So…..despite the beneficial effects on the healthy cells of the body and the purported ‘anti-oxidant’ effects, they still might have more negative than positive impact.
These studies are not conclusive, but they do ‘fire a shot’ in the other direction and cause one to ponder the possibility that we may be doing the entirely wrong thing in supplementing heavily with vitamins.