Vitamins Appear To Increase Risk of Death For Women

Thirty-eight thousand women can’t be wrong. Or could they? That’s how many women–all in their 50s and 60s–recalled which vitamins and minerals they had taken over the previous two decades, as part of a scientific study of the efficacy, or not, of vitamins. The study, overseen by researchers at the University of Minnesota, had some surprising results. The Los Angeles Times reports that researchers found that those who took multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, magnesium, zinc, copper and especially iron died at higher rates during the course of the study than those who did not take supplements. The paper reports that of 15 supplements analyzed by the researchers, only calcium was associated with lower risk. The researchers also found that supplement use was widespread and growing. In 1986, 65 percent of the women reported taking one supplement daily; by 1997, that number had gone up to 75 percent; by 2004, to 85 percent. Curiously, the researchers found that women who took supplements tended to be healthier — with lower rates of diabetes and high blood pressure, and lower body mass index — than women who didn’t, yet they died at slightly higher rates. The newspaper quotes Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, warning that it’s very hard to conclude cause and effect from the study, and advising readers against changing their behavior based on study results. Read more in the Los Angeles Times.

BBC reports that the data suggests that rather than improve the women’s health, multivitamins, folic acid, vitamin B6, magnesium, zinc, copper and iron appeared to increase mortality risk. The research  linked iron tablets with a 2.4 percent increased death risk that was dose-dependent, meaning the more iron taken the higher the risk. Calcium supplements, on the other hand, appeared to reduce the risk of death. The BBC quotes Drs Christian Gluud and Goran Bjelakovic, who review research for the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, warning that “for all micronutrients, risks are associated with insufficient and too-large intake.” Meaning too little and too much are both too bad. Read more from the BBC.