Vitamin and mineral supplements are a "waste of money", a group of doctors declared yesterday after a series of studies finding them failing to help prevent heart disease and cancer.
A major review, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found the only evidence of benefit was from regular multi-vitamins helping reduce men’s risk of cancer – but this effect was only "borderline."
Together with other studies in the journal, this led to five doctors writing an editorial declaring "enough is enough: time to stop wasting money on vitamin and mineral supplements."
The authors of the editorial included Dr Saverio Stranges, of Warwick Medical School, UK, together with journal deputy editor Dr Cynthia Mulrow. The journal is published by the American College of Physicians.
The review authors, from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Oregon, USA, warn that the vitamin beta-carotene increased risk of lung cancer in smokers and did not prevent heart disease or cancer.
They conclude: "Limited evidence supports any benefit from vitamin and mineral supplementation for the prevention of cancer or cardiovascular disease."
The findings were rejected in the UK by the Health Food Manufacturers Association.
Executive director Graham Keen said: "Vitamins and minerals are essential for good health and wellbeing.
"Evidence from the National Diet and Nutrition Surveys shows that a significant proportion of the UK population simply doesn’t achieve nutritional sufficiency through diet alone."
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: An Updated Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Ann Intern Med. 17 December 2013;159(12):824-834-834. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-159-12-201312170-00729 [abstract]
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