Daily doses of multivitamin tablets

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7357.173

BMJ 2002;325:173-174 ( 27 July )

Editorials

Daily doses of multivitamin tablets

Regular consumption will probably do you no good, with a few exceptions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Some 20-30% of the population in developed countries take a daily vitamin supplement. Does it do them any good? Our currentestimates of vitamin requirements are based on the amounts neededto prevent deficiency diseases; in most countries deficiency isno longer a major problem. The question is whether higher levelsof intake provide health benefits. There are two ways to answerthis question: to identify biomarkers of optimum nutritional status,rather than the absence of deficiency; or epidemiological studiesto identify nutrients associated with a lower incidence of chronicdiseases, followed by intervention studies. Neither approach hasyet provided satisfactory answers, and a recent review finds littleconvincing evidence in favour of supplements.¹

A number of promising suggestions for biomarkers exist, including metabolic markers of damage from radicals, immune responses,and damage to DNA. None is responsive to only a single nutrient,and all are affected by a plethora . . . [Full text of this article]

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