Nutritional supplements may not necessarily prevent cancer and heart problems

There is little evidence that vitamin and mineral supplements protect people from cancer and heart problems, according to a new analysis. On the basis of these conclusions,
a U.S. government-backed expert group issued a recommendation report
and issued a draft recommendation
/
reiterating their earlier conclusion that vitamin and mineral supplementation is not recommended or opposed to the prevention of these diseases.Dr Michael LeFevre
said: 'in the current situation,

does not have sufficient scientific evidence to determine the benefits or harms of preventing cancer and heart disease by taking vitamin or multivitamin supplements.
”LeFevre
is co-chair of
the U.S. Federal Preventive Medicine Task Force



, an organization that issues recommendations to help guide doctors and health systems.
the USPSTF
sponsored the new research analysis.statement prepared by the panel also said neither
βcarotene nor vitamin
E
should be used to prevent heart disease and cancer.earlier,
β
-
carotene was found to further increase the risk of lung cancer in high-risk groups.about
,
000 people die of heart disease in the United States each year, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
. The American Cancer Society
says
580,000
died
cancer.cancer and heart disease have some common risk factors, including inflammation, the researchers wrote in the annals of internal medicine

. Animal and laboratory studies have shown that nutritional supplements may be able to prevent some of these risk factors.estimates that the U.S. spends $12 billion a year on nutritional supplements
12 billion
the U.S.For the new analysis,
Dr.
Stephen Fortmann
of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research
in Portland, Ore., and colleagues analyzed studies that focused on testing vitamins and minerals used to prevent cancer and heart disease.the researchers entered data
from
26,
studies by searching the
's online medical research database published between
1
and

January
, 2005 and january
, 2013.these studies have tested the effectiveness of multivitamins or specific vitamins used alone or in common with minerals.the study covered participants from different regions, aged between
22-77 and
, with a sample size of
128,
to more than
7,000
. But the average age of most of the study participants
over
50.participants were not supplemented with nutritional supplements due to a known nutritional deficiency, such as low levels
vitamin
D.found no difference in deaths between people who were supplemented with multivitamins and those who were supplemented with placebos or nothing. Moreover, multivitamins have no effect on fatal and non-fatal heart disease.two trials in
more than
years showed a small decrease in new cancer patients, but only for
.
Fortmann
and colleagues concluded that there was no consistent evidence that nutritional supplements (multivitamins or otherwise) affected the risk of heart disease, cancer or death in adults.this is consistent with earlier studies, they wrote. However, they warn that few high-quality studies have been
nutritional supplements other than
β E and
β -carotene.evaluating
6
trials one by one, the researchers found that vitamin
E
had no benefit, and
β
-
carotene increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers."
"
's main message is that there is not much evidence that most people are taking vitamin supplements with long-term health benefits," Fortmann
told
reuters Health
.
” “
But this assessment has to be validated because we only consider evidence of heart disease, cancer and death, and it is difficult to have an effect on these diseases.
”
Steve Miste
, president and chief executive of
The Council for Nutrition
, says most people don't prevent heart disease or cancer by taking vitamins or minerals."We
not only official
but
our own annual consumption survey, " says Mister. People take these vitamins or multivitamins mainly because they know
that they don't eat the diet they actually need
... And
nutritional supplements
help fill these gaps.
”CRN
, a Washington, D.C.-based trading group that represents dietary supplement manufacturers and ingredient suppliers." we tell consumers to talk to health care providers and recognize that multivitamins are part of a healthy lifestyle," Mister
, who was not involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. This is not a high trick to save you from all the things you do.
”Fortmann
that message and said people shouldn't use nutritional supplements as an excuse for a bad diet.said,
"
if you're taking vitamin supplements, you shouldn't be overconfident that it can prevent any heart disease or cancer."
” LeFevre
who is also a professor at
the University of Missouri
in Colombia, said the findings don't mean
nutrition doesn't matter
. Told Reuters Health: "
"
good nutrition is important, but may be important for heart disease and cancer.
”