Deadly side-effect in vitamin boosters

By JEREMY LAURANCE

Vitamin supplements increase the death rate of people taking them, medical researchers have found - but they don't know why.

About one in three women and one in four men in Britain take dietary supplements to boost their health.

But a review of 14 trials of vitamin pills taken by 170,000 people found they increased the death rate.

The researchers, writing in British medical journal the Lancet, say 9000 of every one million people taking the supplements will die prematurely as a result.


Dr Goran Bjelakovic, of the University of Nis in Serbia, who led the review, said: "We could not find evidence that anti-oxidant supplements can prevent gastrointestinal cancers. On the contrary, they seem to increase overall mortality."

Two British experts described the findings as "somewhat chilling".

Professor David Forman, of the University of Leeds, and Douglas Altman, of Cancer Research UK, say in the Lancet: "The prospect that vitamin pills may not only do no good but also kill their consumers is a scary speculation given the vast quantities that are used in certain communities."


Professor Forman said yesterday that supplements could be useful for people such as pregnant women and the elderly who might be unable to get adequate vitamins from their diet, but they were not a short-cut to better health.

Most people ate healthy diets and had no reason to take vitamin supplements.

"If someone has a good reason for taking these supplements other than to prevent cancer, they should continue to do so. But I remain sceptical of their overall value."

The Lancet study is the latest to cast doubt on the value of dietary supplements.

A huge trial of beta carotene (pre-cursor of vitamin A) and Vitamin E in male smokers in 2000 found it increased the lung cancer rate 18 per cent and the death rate 8 per cent. Smokers are now advised against taking these vitamins pills.


The Lancet study researchers acknowledge that they did not look at all trials of vitamin supplements in preventing death and say their results are preliminary.

And the Lancet commentary says the study is "work in progress" and "does not provide convincing proof of hazard".

If such a hazard were confirmed, the researchers would have to identify which supplements were dangerous.

- INDEPENDENT