Multi-vitamin supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry in the USA. If you’re an American, there’s a good chance a multi-vitamin supplement is sitting in your medicine cabinet. Go, check it out.

If you find that bottle of multi-vitamins, it isn’t actually surprising. Statistics confirm that half of Americans use a dietary supplement. 30% of Americans believe that multi-vitamins prevent cancer.

What is on the net

How true is this belief? The cancer blog discussed that intake of green and leafy vegetables are much better in preventing cancer than consuming them in a capsule.

Fact

And here’s the research. A study was conducted by the University of California involving 600 participants in a ten year period. Half of them were taken multi-vitamin supplements . The other half were given a placebo. The results had been published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute. It revealed that men who received vitamin B supplements developed more prostate cancer than those in the placebo group. What’s interesting is the discovery that men who ate vitamin B from veggies had a lower incidence of prostate cancer.

Quest in talk forum

A dialogue in the forum on Calorie Count have shown that multivitamins are way much better if taken from natural sources than from a pill. Veggies and fruits are naturally loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. 30-50 percent of those vitamins in a pill are absorbed. Obviously, it’s a waste of your hard earned money.

Cancer research

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, would it be wise to supplement with multi-vitamins? A study from the journal of clinical oncology revealed a recurrence of stage 3 colon cancer after patients took multivitamins. These patients were monitored by the researchers after standard therapy. It’s terrifying that cancer can come back after a treatment. And here’s more dismal news. The research concluded no preventive or therapeutic effect. This is just what you read on those multivitamin labels. Even though multivitamins don’t increase chances of metastasis they don’t increase your chances at survival. The only positive effect, according to the research, is an increase in your energy level. You’ll just void expensive urine.

The plus side

Vitamin D is the only vitamin that is inadequate because of less sun during the winter months. This happens in the northern and southern regions of the world. It might be wise to supplement during those dark winter days. Talk to your doctor but about 1000 IU should be enough.

Bottom line

Be aware! Whenever an ad for a multivitamin pops out in the net and you’re tempted to buy, now you know better. Taking a multivitamin supplement is a waste of money if you got no carency. Instead, take a healthy diet of 5 to 10 servings of fruits and veggies every single day. Exercise daily. Save your money.