Other reports have come out with information showing that taking large amounts of vitamins for many years has no effect. Are vitamins dangerous or ineffective? “Neither” is the short answer.
Newspapers are not the most reliable source of scientific information, and scientific information is not always reliable. Even so, the collective multitude of information that proves vitamins to be safe to take and effective against many illnesses is overwhelmingly convincing. Practically not a week goes by without the publication a of new scientific study which shows a positive effect of a vitamin, mineral, or other dietary supplement, on a health problem.
There are a number of factors which can have negative influences on the results of scientific studies on vitamins’ effects on illnesses. These factors should be considered when looking at the conclusion of such studies, also when the studies show vitamins to have few or harmful effects. Here are some examples:
- Too low doses are prescribed. The dosage of vitamins required to prevent an illness is not always the same as the dosage required to alleviate symptoms of an illness.
- The vitamins used are not easily absorbed. The use of synthetic vitamins which for example are “d-forms” where “l-forms” should be used can decrease absorption. They can also be poorly chelated, which is to say not bound to optimal delivery molecules.
- One, or few, vitamins are used in the study. Vitamins and minerals do not work optimally alone, but cooperate in the body. One supplement should be properly balanced with other supplements which should be taken in the proper doses. This is a problem in scientific studies where the effects of one or very few vitamins are tested.
- The study does not run for enough time.
- Test subjects are so sick at the start of a study that the tested supplement cannot better their symptoms/illness. Sicker patients therefore lower statistical results.
- Test subjects receive other medications which can counteract or interact with the vitamins’ effects.
- Test subjects are removed from the study before it is completed to a degree that the study becomes misinforming.
- So called Meta-analysis are used. These studies collect and interpret the results of earlier studies. Sources of error can easily accumulate in meta-analysis and these studies can easily be manipulated. Meta-analysis is also used by pharmaceutical companies to show how much better their product is than the competitor’s.
- There are other errors in the study’s design. Such errors can be hard to detect without scientific/statistical training.
